Canadian synth-poppers Dragonotte are fronted by the foxy vixen of a singer songwriter Martina Sorbara and backed on bass, guitar, and drums by her male bandmates: Dan Kurtz, Chris Hugget, and Joel Stouffer respectively. Dragonnet combine remarkably versatile and complex synth layers with loud fuzzy guitar, all driven by unrelenting, bouncing dance beats, to create catchy dance-rock that is smeared with bright red lipstick and dripping with sex appeal. Their sophomore release Fixin’ To Thrill and their subsequent world tour has won them a giant wave of new fans, don’t get left behind, catch a ride and take a listen. Dragonotte will be at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotel on August 15th.

Dragonette – I Get Around (mp3)

Dragonette – Easy (Fabian Remix (mp3)

Several days ago I had the pleasure of conversing with Thomas Redmond of DC’s own True Womanhood. We talked beer and music and art, among other things. It was interesting and informative and I’m excited to see Thomas and his two bandmates open for NYC’s Bear Hands this Wednesday at U Street Music Hall @ 9 P.M.

While only three musicians, True Womanhood combine to create a lot of noise. Driving bass, pounding drums, droning guitar licks, and a profusion of loops, samples, and string arrangements combine for a churning, mangled melancholy mess of experimental, ambient rock. And by that, I mean it’s awesomely awesome. You can buy their Basement Membranes EP here. Since my financial resources are pathetically low at the moment, I have not had the means to replace my broken tape recorder, and therefore am unable to record phone conversations. Due to these circumstances, and the fact that Thomas and I used a lot of really big words and made several obscure musical references, I have done my best to summarize and paraphrase and edit our question an answer session into something most fitting for Blisspop and its audience. Check it out …

Brooks: Is the band name some sort of post-feminist social or political commentary? What does it mean?

Thomas: Not exactly. True Womanhood comes from The Cult of True Womanhood which was the prevailing chauvinistic view of women during the nineteenth century, especially in New England, and it served to keep women confined to their domestic duties in the house and kitchen. We as a band clearly stand for basically the opposite of all of the Cult’s original tenets. But I’d say it’s not really a political statement. The name was chosen because it’s interesting and colorful; as a band we typically come from the arty side of things as opposed to the political, so the name was mostly chosen for artistic reasons.

Brooks: I know much of your recent EP was recorded at Death By Audio in New York, and that you all are very inclined to experiment with electronics and set ups and pedals, is any one of you a McGiver-like electrical wizard?

Thomas: I don’t know about that. We recorded our most recent album, which will come out soon, with our friend J. Robbins at his Baltimore Studio. But our last EP was mostly recorded at Death By Audio. As a band we love to experiment with new instruments and new electronic set ups. We regularly tear down our set-up and build it anew, in order to find new sound and encourage creativity and sonic exploration as we write new songs. We’ve recently employed a vocal processing device that runs through my midi guitar and allows me to sing and play vocal harmonies on my guitar at the same time. It was originally intended for cheesy country singers, but we’ve re-imagined it for our own purposes, and we get really psyched about stuff like that. The typical use of shoegaze pedal effects and the like can get rather monotonous, so we try to mix it up.

Brooks: Give me some DC bands to look out for, that I might not have heard of yet?

Thomas: I recently saw Luke from Laughing Man and Gideon Forman play as their new duo called Zigaurat at a jazz night at Bossa. They played a looped sax and crazy guitar riffs to form sort of free jazz art rock.  I also really dig Shock Diamond and Connect the Dots: they’re both really new, young bands that are starting to take off.

Brooks: Do y’all ever play covers at your live shows?

Thomas: We have yet to play a cover. We’ve been so busy recording and rehearsing new material we never have time to practice cover material for a live gig. But we definitely talk about it, and want to cover a song soon. Covering music is always good practice when we are looking to find new sound and direction for the band. We’re looking to learn “All I Need is the Air that I Breath” by the Hollies.

Brooks: I just moved here, so give me some good bars to go to.

Thomas: The Raven in Mt. Pleasant is really cool. We Fought the Big One is a DJ party thrown every first Friday at Marx Cafe, also in Mt Pleasant, and it is always really fun. Little Miss Whiskey’s on H Street is a very cool bar with a good selection of beers.

Brooks: Sounds good, I’ll see you there. Who did the artwork for your MySpace page and who did the photo for your last album?

Thomas: For the album cover we did a shoot in a Cold-War era bomb shelter with photographer Alyssa Lesser who does work for BYT from time to time. The artwork on our MySpace page is by one of my/our best friends from High School. His name is Maciej Makalowski, he’s from Poland, and he’s living in SF now. The painting is a self-portrait, it’s actually about six feet tall, and it’s an outlier piece in a series called “People Who Desire.” The rest of the paintings in the series are all portraits of sex offenders.

Thanks Thomas! And all of you readers, come see Thomas and his band True Womanhood at U Street Music Hall on Wednesday.

True Womanhood – Magic Child

The indie buzz surrounding Brahms is slowly filtering out of the New York City bubble, garnering more and more attention and attracting new fans across the blogosphere. Headed by indie music vet Cale Parks (Joan of Arc, White Williams, Aloha), this trio produce a complex cacophony of percussion, synths, and guitar. Their dynamic electro-pop/rock seems in the vein of Animal Collective but less experimental. Other times it strikes a more complex and uptempo Chill-wave vibe. And sometimes it’s dark, brooding, pulsing synths recall Depeche Mode. Throughout, their energetic vocals can be likened to the rhythm and structure of MGMT’s musical magic. Brahms‘ forte has to be their percussion, as Cale’s precise overlay of different beats, drums, and various tempo transitions helps lay the driving backdrop for some quality electronic music. Big things are ahead for these guys, and I’m hoping they get to DC soon. Don’t take my word for it though, have yourself a listen below.

BRAHMS – Brought It Out (mp3)

I’ve recently traded e-mails with John Davis, formerly of DC darlings Q And Not U and Georgie James, and now doing solo work under the stage name Title Tracks. I was able to get his take on the DC music scene among other things; you can check it all out below. John recently released his debut solo album It Was Easy to the joy of fans and critics alike. Davis’s repertoire and new album is full of straight-up, uber-catchy, grooving rock ‘n’ roll tunes. He struts his stuff most effectively when he let’s the former-drummer inside him drive the songs, packing a pulsing punch of energy into powerpop songs like “Every Little Bit Hurts” and “Steady Love.” John brings his melodic energy and scientific-like song craftsmanship to U Street Music Hall on Sunday @ 9PM, with DC up and comers The Points opening. Should be one hell of a show! See you there.

Brooks: Have you played U Street Music Hall before? If so, what did you like? If not, what are you expecting/excited/worried about?

J: No, this will be my first time playing there.  I’ve been by before, though, so I know what the place is like and am really looking forward to the show.  I have a lot of respect for the venue and its ethos, so hopefully it’ll be somewhere that bands will play frequently in the future.

Brooks: What was the most enjoyable non-DC crowd you’ve played for in the last couple years? Favorite non-DC venue?

J: D.C. is my favorite place to play but there are plenty of good spots elsewhere, too, of course.  On the tours that we did this spring, I liked Gallery 5 in Richmond, Bottom Lounge in Chicago, Vera in Seattle and Golden West Cafe in Baltimore, among other spots.

Brooks: What new DC bands have we/I/your audience not heard about yet, but are going to make some press in 2010?

J: Hard to say if people know about them or not, but some of the D.C. bands that I like best are The Points, True Womanhood, Foul Swoops, The Cheniers, Edie Sedgwick, Imperial China, Casper Bangs and Roofwalkers, among others.

Brooks: What DC band have you particularly enjoyed sharing the stage with?

J: We played with Authorization back in May, which was the second show we’d done with them.  I like them a lot.  They’re pretty different than we are, musically, but I like shows like that.

Brooks: With your acclaimed solo-work as of late, do you see yourself to continue forging into new musical ground alone, or are you eager to collaborate more in the coming year?

J: I’m writing a new record right now and I’m doing it the same way as the last one, where I write all of the parts myself.  I do definitely think I’ll collaborate with people again in the future, though.  I always like working with other writers and seeing what comes out of it.  I figure that I’ll just go back and forth on that in the future, depending on the project and what I’m up for.

Brooks: Do you get the sense that DC is no longer going to be known for it’s hardcore scene, or are you leading a power-pop revival, or is its reputation slowly becoming more of an alt-folk / indie-avant-folk-rock / americana kind of town? Or is the scene too eclectic to pigeon hole it like many try to do?

J: I don’t think the current D.C. scene has a national reputation right now but there are a number of good new bands in town and hopefully they’ll get out there and tour and get known.  The various scenes from the past will continue to cast a long shadow but I’m sure bands will continue to emerge from D.C. and make themselves known.

Brooks: Where do DC artists go to get a beer and get away from the stage? Do DC bands hang out together a lot at some super secret club where you come up with evil plots of musical anarchy?

J: Well, I’m not especially social, so I’m probably the wrong person to ask about this.  I’m sure there are some bands that hang together but I’m not sure where.  I’m friends with people from all aspects of the local music scene — bands, DJs, promoters, writers, etc. — but I only really tend to see most of those people out at shows.

Brooks: And finally a random one, do you have a favorite lawn sport? I love lawn sports, so this is more for me. Any good lawn sport stories (horse shoes, corn hole, bocce, etc)?

J: If I had to choose one, I’d pick horseshoes, but I don’t think I really have a lawn sport of choice.  I love playing sports but none of them really take place on the lawn.  Tennis, hockey, baseball, etc

Title Tracks : Steady Love from John Davis on Vimeo.

I’m not going to lie, I missed the boat in 2004 when Funeral was released. At that point in my life, I was only just beginning to understand there was more than the Grateful Dead and The Beatles in the world of music. Luckily, I was older, more mature, and more musically aware by the time the hype storm surrounding Arcade Fire‘s Neon Bible rolled through town. But unfortunately, the release was a huge disappointment. However, I had the brains to go back and grab the release that put them on the map, just to see what all the hoopla was about in the first place. I’ve been addicted ever since. Forever one of the great indie rock albums, I could listen to “Tunnels” and “Haiti” and “7 Kettles” and “Wake Up” (not to mention the rest of the album) over and over again without growing bored. Arcade Fire has the strange ability to combine solid indie rock musical chops and a beautiful and unique anthemic quality that makes for driving, emotionally-charged, often-bombastic indie-rock theatrics. Their unique style (and long hiatus in between records) has fans all over the world, including me, giddy and bouncing around their rooms in anticipation of their newest release The Suburbs in August. For our sanity, or for cruel teasing, the band has released several sneak preview tracks. Sounds like they’re back to their same old tricks as some of the more experimental, daring, and brave musicians out there, and I couldn’t be more pumped. Check ‘em out below. I’ll see y’all at Merriweather Post Pavilion on August 6th!

Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (mp3)

Arcade Fire – Ready To Start (mp3)