Washington, DC is a town that is in the middle of a massive cultural shift, and I.M.P Productions (the folks behind the 9:30 Club) are at the forefront of this change. Recently the mega-promoter signed a 40 year lease on the historic Merriweather Post Pavilion and has announced plans to open another venue - The Anthem - on the shores of the rapidly developing DC waterfront. Marcus Dowling (Bandcamp, Decades) is joining us to talk about what these changes mean for this "small town", what I.M.P's impact will look like, and how this relates to cities struggling to support the arts all around the world.

On his 11th album, The Iceberg, DC "ex-pat" Oddisee has delivered his strongest musical statement yet. A potent mix of philosophy, history lessons, and beats drives the latest collection of songs from one of hip-hop's most unique voices. 

PLUS! Columbia, MD based rapper K.A.A.N. is back with Abstractions, his new EP produced by Klaus Layer, and we've got its first single "Toonami" for you to check out!

For 30 years now, SXSW has brought the best and the brightest of the music industry to the music capital of the world for for a week of controlled chaos and musical overload. Music journalist Marcus J. Moore attended this summer camp for music nerds for the first time this year, and he’s hanging out with us to report back on what went down.

Laura Gibson has made a career of making sublimely beautiful folk music, but on Empire Builder she beat back adversity and ended up with her best album to date.

Oddisee is back with a free album Alwasta, and we’ve got a politically charged track off of it to rock your freaking dome.