1. Monkey Tree – Mother Mother
   Monkey Tree is a super fun tune with an amazingly intoxicating melody. What exactly is a monkey tree, and where can I find one? The world may never know.
2. The House That Heaven Built – Japandroids
   This song reminds us a little of, brand new mixed with motion city soundtrack? Anyways. This song features a high energy tempo and reminds us of our high school – teenage angst days.
3. Next Year – Two Door Cinema Club
   We know – this song just got added to your 2017 new years eve party playlist. We won’t judge. We love the upbeat feel along with the use of a – marimba perhaps?
4. Open Season – Josef Salvat
   This song is hot. This song is so hot right now. It’s like making out while your are floating in space – will probably never happen, but has probably felt like it happened. I don’t know what that means. It’s just a hot song.
5. Pressure – My Brightest Diamond
   The opening is like that one Beyoncé song with the marching band. It’s a good song that varies up the phrasing and has some memorable elements to it. Definitely unique.
6. Venice – The Lighthouse And The Whaler
   That moment when…. We told ourselves we would never open a sentence like that. Damn. Anywho – we like the guitar in the verse and the swelling strings. It really can make everything seem like a movie.
7. Closer Than This – St. Lucia
   Something about St. Lucia sounds so retro – but also modern at the same time. This is not the first St. Lucia track we have featured and for good reason. This song has so many good elements it was too good to not include it.
8. Burn – The Temper Trap
   Admittedly, we only really knew that sweeeeeeeet diiiisssspooooossssiiitttion song by them. We were jamming out before we realised – “oh man – this is that band!”. The singer has a great voice that reminds us a bit of Band of Horses.
9. Dancing With The DJ – The Knocks
   Reminiscent of the disco era – Dancing With The DJ brings the 70s into the 2070s. If Napoleon Dynamite was made when this song was on, perhaps his famous dance scene would be to this song and not to Jamiroquai (although that song is still dope).
10. Guns Out – Young the Giant
    We felt the need to let you cool off after listening to the hypmachine 2016 that was the last song. Guns Out has a nice melody with a wide vocal range including awesome falsetto parts.

Local Artist:
This month’s local featured artist is the awesome and talented Jake Mimikos (aka The Internal Frontier). Hailing from Vienna, VA, Jake has put together some great tracks. You can find a lot of his work on his ReverbNation page. The track we chose for his featured spot is called Jayco – one of his many radio-ready songs. You can view a video of the song below:

A spotify playlist with this month’s songs is available right here!

1. Photomaton (Jean Tonique Remix) by Jabberwocky
   Get up and dance. You know.. In a way you would dance at a Cake concert – above shoulders only with a duckface. That’s what you have to do when you turn this one on.
2. Polite Dance Song by The Bird and the Bee
   Imagine this song had a choreographed dance like the Cha Cha Slide. I bet it would look something like a college art film. Only speculating.
3. Animal by Miike Snow
   The beginning gets us off beat – Every. Damn. Time. Try to not imagine flying a kite as the chorus kicks in.. Now you can’t unthank it, can you?
4. Compliment Your Soul by Dan Croll
   What a tune. We are jealous of the brass. We are like Christopher Walkin – we need more cowbrass.
5. Let’s Go by Matt and Kim
   I guess we are in a dancey mood. This upbeat song has catchy written all over it! The ooOoooOos will stick with you don’t listen to it in the morning or you will be busting it out at your morning meetings.
6. Black Rock by The Infamous Stringdusters
   Bluegrass without vocals. You can put this on and just work away the same way you can with techno / EDM.
7. The Story of My Life by Astronautalis
   This Astronautalis track has another artist on that effortlessly weaves their words back and forth. It’s a great song that really makes you think hard on when they’re actually speaking in metaphors. Plus – They mention DC!
8. Vagabond by Caamp
   This band will really make you think of a slightly more southern version of Mumford and Sons. When they scream “YIP” is when they go full Mumford.
9. The Hymn of Acxiom by Vienna Teng
   This might be our first a capella choral tune that we’ve featured. Vienna definitely channels Imogen Heap throughout this song with her slight use of vocoder.
10. Birds of Broken Wings by Ben Caplan
    Emo, gothic, gypsy, folk? All of those words apply here but we’re not sure exactly what to call it, but it features clarinets and fiddles. Give it a listen and let us know.

A Spotify playlist with this month’s songs is available right here!

1. Redshift by Darwin Deez
   If you don’t understand all of the scienc-y / Bill Nye-y references … Go watch an episode of Cosmos and give this a listen.
2. Euphrates by Town of Saints
   Lots of fiddle and mumford-ish leanings, quick lyrics, upbeat. Yeah I can listen to this. I wanna “Say hello to people born in a different time.”
3. 24-25 by Kings of Convenience
   This one is a nice acoustic easy-listening tune with two guys harmonizing. Kinda sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
4. Take These Thoughts by Chris and Thomas
   This one is a nice acoustic easy-listening tune with two guys harmonizing. It’s like Deja-vu all over again, only this time it also has mandolin.
5. Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra
   It took me till the second chorus to realize this song was sampled by Common (go check that out too). It’s hard to believe this song was made in 1977 with all of the synthesizers and whatnot.
6. Heroes Get Remembered… by Four Year Strong
   Yes we do listen to music with electric guitars – we promise! The vocals in this song are mixed … differently. They are more in the background, and the rhythmic guitar chills right in your face the whole song. These guys remind me of Mayday Parade + New Found Glory.
7. We The Common by Thao & and The Get Down Stay Down
   Nothing crazy unique about this indie / folk / pop song except it gels sooooo well. The odd banjo used in a pop setting and layered over itself is interesting. Also – weird name.
8. Left Alone by Native Kinds
   No idea how we found this song. This band has like < 1000 listens on all their songs, but they sound like a less goth-emo version of Ghost Town. The dropout at 1:23 always gets me.
9. Lava Glaciers by Riff Raff
   So, one of us was working while listening to Spotify and quietly thought – damn this is gangster. Little did we know the song was by Riff Raff. Who cares – it’s dope – the world should know. (plus it features Childish Gambino!)
10. Could Have Been Me by The Struts
    The song doesn’t start out strong, but as it goes on, they bring the thunder. They’re very anthem arena rock taking a touch of Fun. It took a while to grow on me, but this track is diggable.

A big thanks to Gema for the track recommendation! If anyone else has somethin’ special they’d like to share, shoot it our way.

Local Artist:
No local track this week – we’ve been holed up in a room working on a very special project…

A spotify playlist with this month’s songs is available right here!

1. Swimming in the flood – Passion Pit
   We have always had a passion for Passion Pit (see what we did there?). This song is buried on one of their earlier albums and is a nice song that builds well on itself. We enjoy the counter melodies and vocal chords the most. (Side note Vocal Chords is an awesome name for a high school a capella group.)
2. I Feel Fine – TWELVES
   Who doesn’t like to feel artsey from time to time? Well – you may not, but WE certainly do. For some reason this one compels us to put on leather clothes, colored glasses, and hit our nearest underground art gallery.
3. Minnesota, WI – Bon Iver
   This one is on the list because we think Bon Iver stole our idea to name a song after a city. Just admit it Mr. Iver – you thought our idea was awesome!
4. Song for no one – Mike Snow
   Pour yourself a cup of coffee and hit the books – or start your day. This friendly tune makes us smile with it’s up-beatness and happy tune..
5. Don’t Move – Phantogram
   This song is a weird mix of indie and dubstep. We enjoy the vocal and old-style samples that make up the quick cut dubstep background interspersed throughout the song. Give it a listen – then you will understand.
6. Aluna George – Your Drums, Your Love
   Our friend Gema showed us this track at work the other day and it’s been a contender in our heads ever since. The lyrics definitely sound like “your druuuumms…your druuuummsss….your drummms” not “your love”, but whatever. George’s english accent and that stylish piano in the background on certain points of the song are reason enough to give this track a close listen.
7. Rilo Kelley – A Better Son/Daughter
   Although this song takes some time to get started with that “longer than it should be” lo-fi intro perfectly captures the sometimes a bit rough lows of being a musician and the all-to-excellent highs.
8. C2C – Down The Road
   We’ve liked this blues / electronic track for some time! Why are there 90% naked women bouncing around a grown up McDonald’s play land? No idea. Stop asking questions and listen.
9. Melanie Martinez – Sippy Cup
   Fun electronic sounds abound here, but this song is absolutely obnoxious. We get that. She says sippy cup WAY TOO MUCH and half the time it sounds like she is smiling while she’s saying it. Alas… this song has that stick in your head quality. Excellent production.
10. Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s – Broadripple is Burning
    This is a chill song from a band that’s been kickin’ for years. It sounds a bit dreary, but the ethereal voice feels so good in this song. We have no idea why all the girls are huffin’ glue while the boys pick up chicks though. The female voice in the chorus is a great touch.

A big thanks to Gema for the track recommendation! If anyone else has somethin’ special they’d like to share, shoot it our way.

Local Artist:
We’re doing something a little different this month for our local artist. Dan Barry recently hooked us up with our new friend Antonio for his radio show Voices from the DMV. The show airs on Fridays at noon on WERA 96.7 FM. It’s pretty dope. We’re sharing the podcast/radio show’s first episode featuring Dan Barry for this month’s local track.

A spotify playlist with this month’s songs is available right here!

1. Trapdoor Social – Away
   4 on the floor baby. Clapping. Anthemic choruses. It’s a fun song. Good way to start a Friday morning.
2. The Taxpayers – I Love You Like An Alcoholic
   We love a good metaphor, and these folks remind me of The Mountain Goats dripped in bluegrassey blues. It’s also nice when there’s male and female voices going back and forth.
3. Hey Marseilles – To Travels and Trunks
   YAY SONGS THAT ARE AMBIGUOUSLY in 6/8 but sometimes sorta feel like they’re in 4/4. The lyrics are fun
4. Bombadil – Sunny December
   Sort of a sad song, but we like how fast the lyrics are in this slow song.
5. Big Data, Joywave – Dangerous (feat. Joywave) –
   We admittedly listened to this track at first because the artist is called Big Data and we’re both computer nerds.. There is a joke in the computer business that Big Data is a lot like teenage sex: everyone talks about it, but nobody is doing it. We think that joke is hilarious – but oh, how we have gone off topic. This song has this driving, sick hot bass that makes you want to get up and get dangerous.
6. James Blake – Retrograde
   James Blake will make you pee yourself with his milky vocals. If that doesn’t get you to listen to his track then I don’t know what will. His off-scale sounding background vocals give this song an entrancing feeling. Real baby-making music.
7. Pretty Lights – Finally Moving
   Oh who doesn’t love Adele? Adele is especially awesome when she is in a Calvin Klein-esque commercial sounding remix. BUT WAIT THERES MORE. The vinyl scratch makes the right kind of comeback in this one as well. Try not to nod your head and feel cool while walking the streets of D.C.
8. Savoir Adore – Dreamers
   This song makes us feel like we just made it to outer space – or maybe we just got lost in the album art. This driving tune gives off a M83 feel in its own unique way. The track melds a dynamic range of sounds from 80s to trance.
9. The Barr Brothers -Love Ain’t Enough
   We predict this song will be on a silver-screen soundtrack to the next big RomCom this summer. We can just hear it at the climax of the movie where the couple in question have the dramatic irony moment of not knowing the other is actually madly in love. Cue the shot/counter-shots of the two on their own thinking of what the other is thinking and going about their lives while this song is playing. Yes, they eventually get together at the end. Oh – SPOILER ALERT.. Are we too late?
10. The Ready Set, Kitty – Trash Talking Love
    Wonderfully fun song with a great beat. We’ve been trash talkin’ love since middle school. Our only quibble with this song is that when the female begins singing, her voice is mixed a little low. It’s hard to hear her.

Local Artist:
Our local Artist of the month is Louisa Hall! We met her playing the 9 Songwriter Series a while back at Iota and we all shared the stage and had a great time. We love her tenor ukelele, witty lyrics, and ridiculous kazoos. And she makes some seriously awesome music! Unfortunately she doens’t have any studio albums out yet, but we eagerly await their arrival. We better keep an eye out on her homepage just to be sure.

A spotify playlist with this month’s songs is available right here!

1. James Taylor – Millworker
   Freaking love this song. I guess it’s from the perspective of a female but the whole story is masterful.
2. Passenger – Scare Away the Dark
   Good voice in an english(?) accent. Once I found these guys I went and listen to the rest of their stuff and it was pretty good.
3. Cake – Nugget
   Oldie but a goodie
4. Tickle Me Pink – Typical
   A little hard rock, a little pop? This band is hard to describe and if you listen to the rest of their catalog it begins getting even more difficult. We intentionally don’t place a lot of hard rock/metal here on this blog but this song is an accessible song from the genre.
5. Fleetwood Mac – Landlisde
   Josh was recently chilling with some family and one of his… Uncle in law’s began playing the song and it instantly made me put it on my Spotify playlist.
6. I Prevail – Blank Space
   Stupid hard rock cover of a Taylor Swift song and I love everything about it.
7. Perma – Two of a Crime
   This is the band made up of the guy from Say Anything and his wife. True love makes good music.
8. Twiddle – When It Rains It Poors
   Weird voice but it’s a good song.
9. Hoodie Allen (Feat. Ed Sheeran) – All About it
   Due to Josh’s cousin Brittney.
10. David Wilcox – Top of My Head
    Josh’s uncle in law sang him this song recently and it stuck to the top of his head.

A spotify playlist with this month’s songs is available right here!
playlist

The theme for this month is – A little off…

1. The Head and the Heart – Lost in My Mind
   A little acoustic-ish number that makes us happy. OOOoo OOOooo….
2. Crooked Still – Ain’t No Grave
   The chug-chug violin at the beginning is great and the banjo has a solid entrance, followed by a very pretty voice. The male harmony is just sugar on top. The banjo solo at the end is SERIOUS.
3. Half Moon Run – Call Me in the Afternoon
   This gent’s voice reminds me a bit of The Lumineers, then the beat comes in and it’s a little more complex than what they would normally do. I really like the beginning of this song but not the end. .
4. No Diggity – Blackstreet/Dr. Dre
   We totally didn’t see this in the Pitch Perfect movie or anything which made us want to listen.
5. Band of Horses – No One’s Gonna Love You
   What a misleading title. EVERYONE loves us, and no other band is gonna love their fans like we do! #overlyattachedband (see our business cards)
6. The Presidents of The United States of America – Peaches
   Spoiler Alert – We don’t really like peaches.. But – eh, this song is aight…
7. Harvey Danger – Little Round Mirrors
   We all know that Flagpole Sitta song from Harvey Danger… but WOW – we came across this gem from the same band and thought it was so good! They definitely need some recognition for this track.
8. Cake – Sick of You
   This one goes out to all of our fans… JUST KIDDING – more like – This goes out to YOU Catscan!
9. PHOX – Slow Motion
   While sampling the Discover Weekly playlist via Spotify, Slow Motion by PHOX came on. It is like a continuous vocal solo. We also like the clarinet sprinkled in there.. It is truly a unique sound!
10. The Pharcyde – Passin’ me By
    We at The Capitol Heights love old school. We love it even more when we hear an old one and say … Hey, didn’t that other song we know sample this? Listen and tell us what song sampled this one in the comments section below! You may get a prize!

Local track:

Matthew Shuster – You Could Tell Me

We met Matt at Iota Club a month or two back and he gave a great set! We’ve kept up with him and his music makin’ self and can’t wait to hear what comes in the future when his lazy ass gets out of school and starts makin’ music again. You can find him on twitter at @mshustermusic3.

A spotify playlist with this month’s songs is available right here!

The theme for this month is uncomfortably good.

1. We Are the In Crowd – The Best Thing
   I love punk with female vocals! A hint of electronica….and hearing someone talking about breaking someone’s jaw makes it great workout music. It reminds me of early Paramore.
2. The Civil Wars – Billie Jean
   There’s not much to say here – a stellar cover. Amazing songwriting combined with an even better performance.
3. Jon Bellion, Audra Mae – Luxury
   A really nice fusion between pop and rap, but the term pop-wrap leads me to think of explosive bubble wrap which sounds dangerous and daring. The main hook “Won’t you lay with me” is definitely reminiscent of Sam Smith’s Stay With Me. Tell me I’m wrong. The lyrics in the verse speak of God which doesn’t happen all that often in the hip-hop I listen to. Finally, the trumpet provides a classy final touch – you totally can’t tell who picked this track can you?
4. B. Dolan – Joan of Arcadia
   This song is definitely NSFW, but the social commentary is as biting as it is explicit. The lyrics in this song are abrasive and exceptional. The ambient piano textures also give the song an eerie and ominous feel.
5. Stages and Stereo – Anchorless
   Yeah his voice is a little whiney, but it works. A nice melody and lyrics that ring of sad truths.
6. Mandolin Orange – Until the Last Light Fades
   Maybe we’ve been listening to more mandolin oriented music because we’re playing a lot more mandolin lately, and we’re so happy we found this track because of it. The way the male and female vocals blend here is the reason you listen to music in the first place.
7. X Ambassadors w/ Jay-Z – Jungle (Remix)
   You should really listen to the original track before the remix, cause it’s phenomenal in its own right, but Jay-Z’s vocals at the beginning are great. I have no idea why he’s rapping about Brazil, but I’m glad he is
8. Youth in Revolt – Royals
   This is a great cover of the song everyone’s tired of hiring. Youth in Revolt breathes new life into it.
9. The Virginmarys – You’ve Got Your Money, I’ve Got My Soul
   A coworker once described the vocals in this song as a “dying sea lion”. But I like it. These guys are one of those bands putting out impressive material that are not getting nearly enough credit.
10. Jamie N Commons – Wade in the Water
    This old southern spiritual is odd coming from someone hailing from that hunk of land to the west of France, but Mr. Cocker’s low voice pulls it off quite nicely.

Local track:

The Blue Jinns – Poor Girls
We ran into this band this past Wednesday at Iota Club and they were refreshingly spectacular! We were the featured artist, but realistically they stole the show. And were totally fine with that. Khadijah’s vocals are what all the buzz is about and for good reason.

A spotify playlist with this month’s songs is available right here!

This months theme is – cult underground.

1. Neutral Milk Hotel – King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1
   This is a classic band from the late 80s / 90s. If you were an 80s [cult underground] baby – you were a fan of NMH.
2. Daniel Johnston – Life In Vain
   Daniel Johnston is the epitome of cult underground. He struggled with mental issues his entire life, but still managed to crank out some interesting and meaningful music – so much so, a tribute CD was recorded in his honor by famous musicians such as beck, the flaming lips, and death cab for cutie. Oh, he even had a documentary made about him. It’s super interesting as well!
3. The Mountain Goats – Going To Georgia
   The Capitol Heights are from Georgia. That means you must listen to this song. The Mountain Goats have a Daniel Johnston-esque sound. I can imagine it being played around a camp fire… ahh.. Anyways. The lyrics tell a deep and slightly dark story – there is no spoiler here – so you need to listen to it yourself!
4. Iron & Wine – Faded From The Winter
   Oh man. We just listened to some old Iron & Wine.. This song – along with many others – is phenomenal. If you like this one, we strongly suggest you go back and listen to pre-such great heights Iron & Wine.
5. Jose Gonzales – Heartbeats
   How can you get through a cult underground list without mentioning Jose Gonzales? You can’t. There is a constitutional amendment about it. If you are going to put a picture slideshow of your life (in sepia tone), you are going to put one of his soft, angelic, songs as the music track.
6. Beck – True Love Will Find You In The End
   Guess what? Remember that Daniel Johnston guy? This is Beck doing one of his songs. Boy.. Did we pull out all of the hipster stops….
7. Sufjan Stevens – Holland
   We are big Sufjan Stevens fans.. We do have to confess……. We first found this particular songs on an episode of Weeds.. We know.. How could we call ourselves real fans?! Anyways.. This is an immensely beautiful song on his CD Michigan. If you like that one. Put on his CD Illinoise. Both are gifts to the world.
8. Okkervil River – Westfall
   This song uses interesting harmonies throughout the song. It also features a slammin’ mandolin solo. Reminds us of a band we know… Oh yeah.. The Capitol Heights! =]
9. Jeff Magnum – I Love How You Love Me
   We stumbled across this song on the interwebs by clicking on related artist after related artist on spotify. We put this on the list because – it’s underground – it is unplugged, and it has beautiful lyrics. Kudos to Jeff Magnum for this excellent song.
10. The National – Fake Empire
    Fake Empire begins with a piano playing in a non-standard rhythm. We are all about non-standard. We enjoy this song because it has a great timbre, it builds nicely over the course of the song, and the melodies are soothing.

Local track:

The local track is an artist by the name of Ian Kraft. We had the privilege of playing with him at Northside Social’s last open mic. We were lucky we went. We shot this video of him and posted it to our YouTube channel. We hope to cross paths with him again!

A spotify playlist with this month’s songs is below!

There’s no special theme this month, just a fun set of songs.

1. The Hush Sound – Boys are Too Refined
   I JUST LOVE HER VOICE. It’s sad that the band basically broke up after this CD was released, because it was truly fantastic.
2. Metallica – Unforgiven III
   This is my favorite sequel to a sequel ever. The moment the guitar solo comes in … it just sounds so violent. A good work out song.
3. Memphis May Fire – You’re Lucky It’s Not 1692
   I know, I know. Hardcore music isn’t our target audience, but the guitar in this song is so fun. Memphis May Fire has only gotten better from their first release, which is where this song’s from.
4. Billy Talent – Viking Death March
   There’s nothing too special about this song, but it’s definitely not objectionable. It’s a good tune for a workout playlist. Maybe there is a theme this month?
5. Brand New – Jesus Christ
   My little brother used to PUMP this whole CD while playing halo and drinking way too much code red mountain dew.
6. Ghost Town – Game Freak
   This song is solid. You might say it’s a little overwritten, but both the electronic and acoustic versions are quite fun to listen to. The only objection I’d have is that the subject matter isn’t the best, but whatever. The underlying chord structure is great and this guy can SING. We put both versions of this song on the playlist.
7. Pearl Jam – Just Breathe
   The big issue with Eddie Vedder is that he’s amazing. Shutup and listen. Although I do think part of this song sounds a little too close to a song from Damien Rice’s first album…But don’t tell Eddie I said that. He stil owes me $20.
8. Pocket Theory – Juliet
   At this point, naming a song Juliet should put an artist in jail. Yet everyone’s still doing it. I like this song because of the fun little punk story they tell.
9. Still D.R.E – Dr. Dre/Snoop Dog
   Due to excessive use of a certain word, I have to stop myself from singing’ along with this song while I’m walking to the Dupont Metro.
10. Sent by Ravens- New Fire
    YES I KNOW IT’S A CHRISTIAN BAND. But I like the rage. Especially self-righteous rage.

Featured track:

Edwin Mccain – The Rhythm of Life
Our friend Chris Ambrose recommended this track, and frankly he’s right – this whole CD is fun and DAYUM son does this guy got both pipes and songwriting ability. I gotta admit, before Chris showed me this CD, I thought Edwin’s most famous song – “I’ll Be” was sang by the Goo Goo Dolls.

Local track:

Rachel Levitin – Secret’s Safe
We met Rachel last month when she was a featured artist at Iota club. She was delightful and actually had a fair amount of swagger when she played. It’s not often you can keep a packed house at Iota fairly quite, but she had the whole place fervently listening. Listen to (or buy!) her new song, or just watch the video below. DO WHAT WE TELL YOU.

A spotify playlist with this month’s songs is below!