The cabin fever is really starting to kick in, so now more than ever, we need our music therapy. Two boxes of fresh new wax just landed from Juno Records, and we’re ready to play! Tune in on the Underground Quality Live YouTube channel from 10pm ET on Saturday April 18th for quality underground house, techno, disco and everything in between served up fresh from the wax by Andy Grant & Katrina Mir. We’ll also have a virtual party going on Zoom so you can hang out during the show. Watch this space for details!
Well this sucks. No clubs, no dancing, no DJing, no fun 🙁 To stop ourselves from going completely mad, we’re gonna be playing records from time to time and streaming it to the Interwebs. Bookmark this page, and check back everyday… we’ll likely be going live around 7pm.
OK, so remember a few weeks back I posted about the 5 year anniversary of DC House Grooves Top Picks? Well, we’re finally getting around to celebrating! Join me, Andy Grant, Ramirez, Katrina Mir and Kochi this Friday at El Techo for the DC House Grooves 5 Year Anniversary celebration, the perfect way to get your Friday night off to a great start. If you’re familiar with El Techo, then you know the drill. Quality eats with serious beats are the order of the day, all washed down with some amazing summer cocktails. Even better, they now accept Rooam for your tab, so you can get crazy and worry about the bill later 😉 As always, the DC House Grooves crew will serving up the finest underground house music fresh from the wax, so you can get warmed up for a night on the dance floor. I hope you can join us!
After we wrap at El Techo, we’ll be heading over the street to celebrate Kaufmann‘s birthday with Taiga and Mike Harvey, part of a stellar Friday night line up at Flash, which includes George Fitzgerald and Jandro on the club level and DJ Soul and Tony G in the bar.
For a taste of what to expect at our celebration on Friday, check out Episode #053of the DC House Grooves Show on Underground Quality Radio with me, Ramirez and Katrina Mir. Mark your calendars and make sure you tune in to Episode #054 on Saturday August 17 at 10pm ET, when our special guest will be DJ Aakmael. Can’t wait to host Aakmael in the DC House Grooves studio. It’s going to be one serious session!
Before I get into this week’s listings, a quick mention of a forthcoming event from Grand Ancestor, Roam, Sequence, Sticky Fingers Collective, Sleaze, Team Zapata and TNX billed as DC24. On September 20th and 21st, the above mentioned crews are getting together for an epic 24 hour event featuring a killer line up of local talent, a warehouse party overnight with a day party on the Saturday, kicking off at 10pm, and keeping the grooves going until 10pm the next day. Great to see all the crews getting together for such an epic event! Advanced tickets are available now, and you can see the full line up below. Hopefully it will be an huge success and DC House Grooves will be invited to join in the fun for the next DC24 😉 Advance tickets: https://www.residentadvisor.net/events/1301604 RSVP & Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/682040952264755
Ok, here are my Top Picks of the best underground house and techno events in Washington DC this weekend, Thursday through Sunday. I’ve included galleries showing Flash and Eighteenth Street Lounge‘s line ups for the weekend, then event listings Thursday through Sunday. Plenty of great events to choose from this weekend, so I don’t think you’ll have a hard time getting your groove on. Whatever you do, I recommend wrapping up your weekend at Eighteenth Street Lounge for Sam Burns weekly residency and Sundays Rooftop with Detroit house legend Alton Miller. Hope you see you at El Techo on Friday!
Flash Lineup August 9 to August 12
Eighteenth Street Lounge Lineup August 9 to August 12
Here we go again with another DC House Grooves Top Picks. I guess it’s no secret that I haven’t really been into these weekly DC House Grooves posts lately. Been kinda phoning it in for a while, missing weeks here and there, and generally not enjoying it the way I used to. I’ve been seriously considering giving it up, but somehow can’t seem to stop. All this tells me that it’s time to switch things up a bit. Up to now, I’ve tried to be as complete as possible with non-EDM electronic music events in DC and Baltimore, including everything from house to disco to techno to drum and bass to whatever in my Top Picks, but with so many events happening these days, it just takes too much time to compile everything, so from this point on, I’m going to be much more selective about what I include on DC House Grooves. Quality underground house music events are in, as are disco / soul / funk / boogie / reggae events that look like they’ll have a good groove going on. I’ll continue to cover techno events, and events that explore the techier and more soulful side of house music. With regard to tech house, it all depends on the event. If its something interesting, looks cool, or showcases primarily local DJs and artists, I’ll include it. If its dull, repetitive, unimaginative tech house, not so much. If an event does not support locals DJs, I’ll no longer be including it here. DC House Grooves has always been about supporting and promoting local DJs; if there are no locals on the line up, no dice. I’m sure your out of town DJs are amazing, but I can guarantee there’s another competing event giving a platform to our local talent. Sadly, I’ll no longer be including drum and bass events and bass music events in general. No disrespect to the drum and bass massive, I love what you guys do, I just don’t have the time to cover it all, nor do I have the knowledge to distinguish the quality events from the crappy ones. EDM will continue to be ignored, as will all those EDM-lite “house” or “techno” events. If the event page proudly touts the number of SoundCloud follows or Facebook / Instagram likes your headliner has, your flyer is full of DJ logos, the music has weird chipmunky vocals, or your party vibe is all about that drop, it probably doesn’t belong here on DC House Grooves. No disrespect to that scene, it’s just not what we’re about. Having said all that, if I think any events falling into the categories above is cool, I reserve the right to include it. Hey, it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want. And if you’re throwing an event that’s super cool and you think it should be promoted here on DC House Grooves, send me a message through the DC House Grooves Facebook Page and make your case. In general, expect to see fewer Top Picks each week, but those you do see will pretty much all be “must attend” events. Will save us all a lot of time. Please don’t get upset with me if I won’t be covering your thing anymore. If you’re passionate enough about it, start your own blog and give it the coverage you feel it deserves.
OK, now I’ve got that off my chest, let’s get on with breaking all the rules I’ve just defined 🙂 Here are this week’s DC House Grooves Top Picks, featuring all the best underground events in Washington DC, Thursday through Sunday. Just click the link for each day to see the (much shorter than before) list:
Our highlight for the weekend is DJ Meegs and Raha Wala‘s Souled Out! party at Zeba Bar this Saturday, featuring special guest, DC House Grooves Show & Beats Maneuver resident Ramirez (Roots & Spirits) with Regan Carver on sax and Reemz on keys, with support from residents Meegs & Raha Wala. If you’ve not been to a Souled Out! event before, this is a great time to start. Pairing quality soul, funk, jazz, and disco-influenced dance music with live instrumentation, vibes are guaranteed, and with our main man Ramirez at the controls, you’re in for an amazing journey from start to finish. The DC House Grooves crew will be out in support, and you should be there too. No cover, no excuses!
Friday night, we’ll be warming up for Ramirez‘ appearance at Souled Out! with a special Friday edition of the DC House Grooves Show on Berlin’sUnderground Quality Radio, with live video stream on the Underground Quality Live YouTube channel. Tune in from 10pm ET on Friday for quality underground house music from me, Katrina Mir and Ramirez. Whether you’re going out or staying in, we’ve got the right vibe.
Other highlights for the weekend include Playlist with Jubilee & Friends at Eighteenth Street Lounge on Thursday, Love & Happiness with Mark Farina & Ken Lazee at U Street Music Hall and The Bunker 15 Year Anniversary with Bryan Kasenic and Eric Cloutier at Flash on Friday, Sunset and Chill at Olde City Farm, Osunlade at Flash and Autumn Tactics with Dj Double 07, Anish, Arthur J and V-Coch at Jimmy Valentine’s on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon, I recommend Baronhawk & Jahsonic at El Techo, then head to Eighteenth Street Lounge for Sam Burns and Good Buddies with DJ Nav, Joe L & Philco. All quality events to keep you grooving through the weekend. See you on the dance floor!
