Yeah Right

Song of the Week

My first DC concert of the year will be Kacey Musgraves at the Anthem on Thursday, so I'll go with "Slow Burn" as the SOW:

Download These Songs Now (And Thank Me Later)

Lady Gaga – “I’ll Never Love Again”

Icona Pop – “Rhythm in My Blood”

Regina Spektor – “Birdsong”

Lykke Li – “Bad Woman”

Ex Hex – “Cosmic Cave”

File Under: Awesome

A solid KEXP performance from Dilly Dally

Song of the Week

T-minus a few days til I head to Vegas for two Lady Gaga shows. Hopefully she'll sing a bunch of the A Star is Born soundtrack at her piano show. Let's go with "I'll Never Love Again" as the SOW:

Song of the Week

The first 2019 release that I'm super pumped for is FIDLAR's new album Almost Free. So let's go with "Can't You See" as the SOW:

Life Imitates Art

Dumb and Dumber edition

File Under: Awesome

A solid Buzzsession from Sun June:

Best of 2018

One day late, but here we go. 2018 was an outstanding year for music and TV. Plus Lady Gaga made a movie and it was awesome. Here are my favorites of the year:

Album of the Year: Lots of competition this year. In the end, Future Me Hates Me by New Zealand's The Beths was my favorite. Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves, Dirty Computer by Janelle Monae, Nudes by Lucius, and By The Way, I Forgive You by Brandi Carlile round out my top five. Honorable mention to the albums by Mitski, Robyn, Snail Mail, and Hop Along. 

2018 Playlist:

Snail Mail - "Pristine"

Kacey Musgraves - "Slow Burn"

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper - "Shallow"

The Beths - "Happy Unhappy"

Slothrust - "Peach"

Janelle Monae - "Take a Byte"

Mitski - "Washing Machine Heart"

Robyn - "Missing U"

Cover of the Year: Lucius' acoustic album was fantastic and the highlight was their cover of Tame Impala's "Eventually."

Concert of the Year: I had a clear top three this year and it is hard to pick among them. But I will: Lorde's Melodrama tour at the Anthem was perfect. The opening acts (Mitski and Run the Jewels) were steller, Lorde's setlist did not have a bad song in it, and her choreo was just as weird as you would hope it would be. Runners up: Dan Auerbach at the 9:30 Club and Jen Cloher at Rock and Roll Hotel.

Music Video of the Year: John Mayer's "New Light" video is amazing. The best music video from a song I actually liked is Florence and the Machine's "Big God."

TV Show of the Year: Several excellent new shows and a few great limited series this year, all of them on HBO. My overall favorite was Barry. I've never been a big Bill Hader fan, but hot damn was this dark and hilarious. Noho Hank is clearly the best part of the show. The show that made me the biggest laughs of the year was Sally4Ever, which I haven't heard anyone else talk about, so I hope I'm not the only person watching. Julia Davis is outrageous and the stuff that comes out of her mouth as Emma...I just can't. Succession built well over the course of the season. It has the best ensemble cast. And if Amy Adams doesn't win an Emmy for Sharp Objects, I give up.

Film of the Year: Did I mention that Lady Gaga made a movie and it's amazing? The music...the acting...I was all in on A Star is Born. The soundtrack would have also been my favorite album of the year had they not put the dialogue bits on it. Runner up: The Favourite, even though it had a ridiculous ending. 

Sports Moment of the Year: The Caps winning the Stanley Cup was awesome (my first time attending a SC Final), but witnessing The Goal by Wayne Rooney in person was probably the most memorable plays I've ever witnessed.

Pop Culture Tours: I did a lot of fun pop culture tourism this year. My top three, in order are: The Warner Bros studio tour in LA (aka I saw all of the locations from Gilmore Girls), Highclere Castle (aka the set of Downton Abbey), and Paisely Park (the home and studio of Prince). 

2019 Pop Culture Moment I'm most looking forward to: Lady Gaga's Vegas residency, duh. I'm going this month.

The Year in Concerts

I only went to 62 shows this year, which is low for me. And for the first time since I moved to DC, the venue I went to most often was not the 9:30 Club. The Anthem (still in the 9:30 Club family) won that honor:

1. The Wombats – 9:30 Club
2. The Killers – The Anthem
3. Yacht Rock Review – The Hamilton
4. Laura Stevenson – Black Cat
5. Typhoon – 9:30 Club
6. Jen Cloher – Rock and Roll Hotel
7. Olivia and the Mates – Black Cat
8. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – The Anthem
9. Sleigh Bells – 9:30 Club
10. Public Access T.V. – DC9
11. Nada Surf – Black Cat
12. Jessica Lea Mayfield – Songbyrd Music House and Record Café
13. High Up – Black Cat
14. MGMT – The Anthem
15. Judas Priest – The Anthem
16. Dan Auerbach – 9:30 Club
17. Lucius – Lincoln Theatre
18. Lorde – The Anthem
19. Black Lips – 9:30 Club
20. Franz Ferdinand – 9:30 Club
21. Titus Andronicus – Rock and Roll Hotel
22. Lucy Dacus – Rock and Roll Hotel
23. P!nk – Capital One Arena
24. Beck – The Anthem
25. Haim – The Anthem
26. LCD Soundsystem – Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles)
27. Brandi Carlile (Night One) – The Anthem
28. Brandi Carlile (Night Two) – The Anthem
29. Pussy Riot – Black Cat
30. Jack White – The Anthem
31. Roger Daltry – Wolftrap
32. Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation – Merriweather
33. Lee Baines and the Gloryfires – Songbyrd Music House and Record Café
34. Melissa Ethridge – Kennedy Center
35. Reba McEntire – Wolftrap
36. Weezer – Budweiser Stage (Toronto)
37. Arcade Fire – Jiffy Lube Live
38. Weezer – BB&T Pavilion (Camden)
39. Weezer – Jiffy Lube Live
40. Courtney Barnett – The Anthem
41. Echo and the Bunnymen – The Anthem
42. The xx – 9:30 Club
43. Avett Brothers – Wolftrap
44. FIDLAR – 9:30 Club
45. Liz Phair – 9:30 Club
46. Priests – Knockdown Center (Queens)
47. Nine Inch Nails – The Anthem
48. The Beths – Songbyrd Music House and Record Café
49. Django Django – U Street Music Hall
50. Death Cab for Cutie – The Anthem
51. Chvrches – The Anthem
52. Garbage – Lincoln Theatre
53. Wavves – Black Cat
54. Slothrust – Black Cat
55. Mitski – 9:30 Club
56. Downtown Boys – Black Cat
57. Haerts – DC9
58. Cloud Nothings – Union Stage
59. Weezer – The Met (Philadelphia)
60. Puddles Pity Party – Kennedy Center
61. Snail Mail – 9:30 Club
62. Margo Price – 9:30 Club

File Under: Awesome

An excellent Tiny Desk Concert from boygenius: