Category Archives: DC House Grooves Review

DC House Grooves Top Picks 4th of July Weekend Five Year Anniversary Edition July 3 to July 7

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Happy 4th of July! This week we’re not only celebrating the 243rd anniversary of the good old US of A, we’re also celebrating the 5 year anniversary of DC House Grooves Top Picks. It has been five years since my first post listing all the good stuff happening on the dance floor here in Washington DC, and I have published a post pretty much each and every week since that first post. While technically DC House Grooves is 15 years old (I registered dchousegrooves.com and launched the website when I first arrived on these shores from the UK in 2004), the first DC House Grooves Top Picks post was published on July 3rd, 2014. I started publishing these posts because I wanted to give something back to the Washington DC electronic music community, and I figured it would be a good way to support cool events when I couldn’t always be there in person. I also wanted to document all the cool stuff happening here in DC, and hopefully help steer people towards events showcasing our incredible local talent. Help put Washington DC on the international electronic music community map, as it were. I’ve had my ups and downs over the years, sometimes loving what I do, other times questioning why I do it, sometimes feeling the love, other times feeling taken for granted. I’ve changed up the format multiple times to try and cover as much as I can in as little time as possible as the underground scene has continued to grow, but ultimately it has just become something I do, and I guess I’ll keep doing it until the time comes to stop. Thank you for reading and supporting!

DC House Grooves 5 Year Anniversary Logo

So what did I cover in that first post? Quite a bit, as it happens! Lost on Thursdays with the ROAM crew, Philip Goyette’s Beats on Repeat, Soundwaves Boat Party with Juan Zapata, Jubilee & Raffi, a Back in the Day bash with Ray Casil, Distrikt, Matthew Dekay, Bedouin and an all-local Flash of July celebration at Flash, ROAM IV, The House that U Built with TNX and Keenan, and of course ESL Sunday with Sam Burns, Farid and Juan. Some serious good times right there! A lot has changed over the past five years, but a whole lot has stayed the same 🙂 Check out the gallery below with all the flyers for July 4th weekend, 2014.

DC House Grooves Weekend Event Round Up July 4 Holiday Weekend Edition

Before I get into all the amazing events happening over July 4th weekend 2019, a quick heads up about our homies Deep Secrets‘ upcoming 10 year anniversary, for which they’ve assembled an incredible line up featuring Rick Wilhite, Patrice Scott and Joaquin “Joe” Claussell across three nights at Eighteenth Street Lounge. You can catch me, Andy Grant, playing a very special B2B set with my brother from another mother Ramirez warming up the floor for Patrice Scott on Sunday July 21st. I hope to see you all there on the dance floor! Ticket links below; see flyer for the full line up.

10 Years of Deep Secrets w/ Rick Wilhite: https://www.residentadvisor.net/events/1278984
10 Years of Deep Secrets w/ Patrice Scott: https://www.residentadvisor.net/events/1278989
10 Years of Deep Secrets w/ Joe Claussell: https://www.residentadvisor.net/events/1278992

10 Years of Deep Secrets

One more thing before this week’s list: a new Meet the Locals Podcast from recent arrival in Washington DC all the way from Australia, Stu Kelly. Some great tunes to listen to while you’re figuring out your dance floor strategy for the holiday weekend:

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/dchousegrooves/dc-house-grooves-meet-the-locals-podcast-078-stu-kelly[/soundcloud]

OK, see below for the full list of Top Picks for the holiday weekend, Wednesday through Sunday. It’s a family affair at Jimmy Valentine’s on Wednesday night, with Team Zapata, Samantha Francesca, Hot Coffee and Joe L at the controls until the early morning, then on the 4th, escape your family and head to Flash for Flashworks, featuring quality beats all day and all night, kicking off a long weekend line up that featuring Ryan Elliott, Julia Govor David Waxman, Sandra Collins, Holmar, Jake the Rapper and a whole list of local talent including our very own Katrina Mir and brothers DJ Kochi and DJ Mate Masie at Vibe in the Flash Bar on Friday night.

  • flashworks 4th july
  • david waxman sandra collins
  • holmar jack the rapper dastan
  • focus at flash

Other highlights include Playlist with Jubilee & Ramirez at Eighteenth Street Lounge on Thurdsday, Werk Ethic with Ken Lazee & Nick Garcia at U Street Music Hall and Deep Sugar Rooftop Jam (if you can find a ticket!), then Late Night Mischief for the late night grooves on Saturday, and of course Eighteenth Street Lounge on Sunday with Sam Burns and Hold Tight with Dino Soccio and Martín Miguel.

werk ethic ken lazee nick garcia

Well that wraps it up for our five year anniversary special 4th of July holiday edition of DC House Grooves Top Picks. I can’t commit to another five years, but you never know. There’s a good change I’ll be back with another post next week, so check back same time next week for info on all the best underground house and techno events in Washington DC, Thursday through Sunday.

Wednesday July 3

Jimmy valentines july 3
subdistrick freedom rinse out

Independence Day Thursday July 4

playlist jubilee ramirez
flashworks 4th july
daylight dc 4th July
sleaze a grand old gag
district drop inn and out
Associate Radio Hour
preview happy hour

Friday July 5

focus at flash
carlos mena wild days

Saturday July 6

werk ethic ken lazee nick garcia
david waxman sandra collins
deep sugar rooftop jam 2
LENG lush percush sesh
deep tech xl zeba
dastan neko berg rainier sarasbrodir el techo
phunked up
one house one nation

Sunday July 7

hold tight dino soccio
ESL sunday with Sam Burns
holmar jack the rapper dastan

Headroom Sunday Party @ Ten Tigers

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I’m a regular at the Headroom workshops held on Flash’s main floor once a month. It’s a chance for local producers to play their works-in-progress on an excellent sound system and get feedback from their peers. I don’t produce or DJ, but I like to hear what’s new and it’s a good place to network. This party was a chance for Headroom producers to show off their chops, and damn it was fun.

Headroom Sunday Party with Analog Tara, Darius Twin, District & Circle, DJ Winterman, JP Jed, Nebo, Sid Waters & Symmetrical at Ten Tigers Parlour

I was late getting out the door and parking on a Sunday was trickier than expected, so I missed a chunk of DJ Winterman‘s set. When I came in, he was running smooth and energetic. Later he hit us with breaks and drum & bass.

The night was a sampler pack of styles, just as the Headroom workshops are. The audience came and went over the course of the night, but it was a great assortment of DC producers and DJs.

District & Circle laid down just good old house music, including some samples from classic Cypress Hill. Nebo slowed down the pace with a live set of contemplative piano, live guitar, and vocals. Lovely set. It was the calm before the storm.

Symmetrical hit his custom rig for a live set and kept on hitting it, he said later, because parts kept fritzing out. His sets are always lively but this one was the wildest mad-scientist techno I’ve heard him crank out. And he was deep in it, too, riding the storm.

Darius Twin took over next and piloted us out with smooth, hard techno. It was almost relaxing. JP Jed continued the techno grind, dropping one of his own tracks quite perfectly into the mix. And then Sid Waters smoothed us all down with some heavy trance. An excellent way to end the night, and it fulfilled my recurring “problem” with Ten Tigers: I always end up staying later than I meant to.

It was a long show, and on a Sunday, but no regrets. Here’s to hoping this becomes a tradition.

Dubfire at Flash

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DC House Grooves is all about local DJs, but if Dubfire is still from DC then he’s still technically a local. One who just happens to tour and headline at places like Movement 2016 where I last saw him spin.

Dubfire (Open to Close) at Flash with Felipe Valenzuela & Throe in the Green Room and Charles Martin & Jandro in the Flash Bar

In Flash’s downstairs bar, Jandro and Charles Martin served as openers since Dubfire’s “open-to-close” set was a good hour and a half late in starting. That wasn’t a first for all-night headliners at Flash.

90 minutes of excellent vinyl and digital grooving was no problem though. I’ve said it before and it still holds: the downstairs bar parties are where it’s at on Fridays and Saturdays. Everyone waiting for the upstairs to open seemed to agree with me.

I braved the main floor once Dubfire’s set began. Of course it was crowded. Of course the audience had other things on its mind than music. But for me… I got sucked into the beat within seconds and next thing I knew I’d been dancing for a solid half hour.

(I’m sorry to say that I spend more time hanging out and drinking than dancing, these days. I need to fix that.)

Downstairs, I could catch my breath and relax. Each trip back up pulled me in just as quick. When Dubfire’s set took a more abstract turn, the crowd was quick to bore and filter out to the rooftop, where Throe was surely keeping things rolling. That was fine.

It was such a good night that I wasn’t ready to leave at last call. Or when the upstairs closed again. Jandro and Charles kept going anyhow. Another great night at Flash for the locals!

Tech Yes at Dr. Clock’s

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I’ve heard live house sets of a few different flavors, here in DC. Occasionally there have been live ambient/experimental sets. Live techno has proven to be the rarest. I didn’t expect to find it on a random Wednesday night — I was there because I’ve seen LeDroit and Theta Flux spin with big DC names. But it was Dr. Clock’s Nowhere Bar, so you never know.

On a quiet night like that, things can really cut loose. LeDroit and Theta took the opportunity to cover a wide range of techno, from chilly mechanical to funk-infused to deep and dark. It was all carried on solid beats and maybe there were only a few of us on the floor, but we enjoyed it. I’ll be keeping an eye out for more.