Every summer in DC’s Tenleytown, Fort Reno is home to a free
summerlong festival showcasing hometown indie bands.  And after
decades of this tradition, it has seen a vast array of bands and
genres including Fugazi, the Dismemberment Plan, Ted Leo, and our own
NextWavers the Chance.  And unlike other festivals sprouting up around
the globe- this one’s free (aside from Virgin Music Festival), it's all ages, 
and you can bring your pets!

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Ian MacKaye, The Evens. 2007 by Phijomo
Last year was a scare, as the park, which was once a battleground in
the Civil War, was temporarily closed due to a slight detection of
arsenic in the soil.  As quick as the fence went up blocking out
visitors, it came down due to a mistake in the reading.  Festival on!
The stage went up, attendees laid out their blankets, and the music
went on as scheduled.

Fort Reno 2009 is already in effect with several acts performing every
Monday and Thursday night, including Mary Timony’s new group Soft
Power, Batala (the giant all-girl drum brigade {see previous blog}),
Noon:30 (these girls are gonna skyrocket!) and many more so check out
the roster of upcoming shows at Fort Reno’s site.
 
 

Here in lil’ ole Washington DC, musicians of the scene have an experiment going on that is bound to explode into a creative battle of the wordsmith.  It’s called “DC SWEAT” baby, as in DC’s Songwriter’s Word Experiment and Test.  Every week, a new random word is unveiled, and they have an entire week to write and record a song based around that word.  Past words have included “alert”, “mortal”, “slightly”, and my personal favorite “huh.”

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The experiment was started by Death By Sexy’s front-man Jason Griffenhagen, and some other participants of the showdown come from bands such as Middle Distance Runner, Greenland, Sad Crocodile, Mother, and Deleted Scenes.  Their finished pieces are thrown up on the Myspace page every week as well as a documented process and lyric sheets.  

It’s also not genre specific, so listeners can be surprised to find words like “north” used in anything from a rap ballad to a surf-noise jammer.  So, are you ready to take on the next word of the week?  Bust out your keytar, get crackin’, and learn more here.

 
 

FK5 has just minted the third in a series of 12" singles featuring remixes from their debut album, "Radio Free DC".

This year’s first two releases featured world renowned A Skillz (from UK sizzlin’ breaks label Fingerlickin Records) delivering a hip-funk-hop-electro-beat fusion of "Insight"; Top Aussie breaks producer, Nick Thayer with a twisted mix of "Funk 4 Peace”; Malente's Champion Sound no hold's barred Mix of “The Wonder Strikes Again” and a bangin’ thunderhouse mix of “Killa Soundboy” by Sub Swara.

Steve Raskin, Jon Horvath, Rob Myers, and Sid Barcelona still set the new gold standard that defines the Fort Knox Five. Bringing genre defying rhythms to the dance floor and rocking parties across the land. Their world renowned Fort Knox Sound interweaves live instrumentation, dub and funky electronic breakbeats.A leading force in the international funk and breaks scene, they have over 20 remixes to their credit, including mixes for Ursula 1000, as well as remixes the legendary Tito Puente and Bob Marley.

With their third single release should we expect any thing less than the best from these midas touched masters?  Whether it’s the dubroll of Aussie Jon Ohms mix or the unstoppable club bop of UK native Featurecast, a spacey Latin disco mix of “Sao Funky” or the full-blown party on the floor from the QDUP Foundation, the resounding answer to the timeless question : Who got tha funk? FK5 Radio Free DC Remixed Vol. 3 that’s who. For downloads, etc. check out --www.fortknoxrecordings.com