For their 15th album (and 2nd this year), Australia’s King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard take yet another musical turn, this time into THRASH METAL. Infest The Rat’s Nest has everything: HUGE CRUSHING RIFFS! THUNDERING DRUMS! SCI-FI ECO-DIMENSIONAL HORROR! It even has SATAN!

But it’s that second-to-last point that’s so important. Somehow, impossibly, King Gizzard has made a metal album that not only sounds timeless but speaks to the horrors we’re all going to face as man-made climate change runs its course. Metal enthusiast Casey Rae (William Burroughs and The Cult Of Rock ‘N’ Roll, Dead To Me) joins us as we follow King Gizzard down the highway towards oblivion on an all-new episode of Discologist!

On their seventh album (and first in five years) The Hold Steady isn’t so much “We’re BACK mother****ers!” as they are “Alright. Alright. Alllllright”-ing their way back into our hearts.

Thrashing Thru The Passion finds the band sporting a slightly looser and expanded sound (horns!) and songwriter Craig Finn’s druggy, party-filled universe, a little older, a little beat down, but no less full of life. Join us as we dig into all of the good, bad, and magical highs found on the “return” of one of America’s most celebrated bands.

Washington, DC native, and second-generation Ethiopian American Kelela Mizanekristos spent years honing her musical chops in the underground scene of the nation's capital before moving to Las Angeles, dropping her last name and beginning her ascension to one of the most essential voices in R&B today.

On her acclaimed 2013 mixtape Cut 4 Me and 2015's Hallucinogen, the singer/producer made it clear that she was a force to be reckoned with. Now, on Take Me Apart, her first full length, she's building on some of the themes from her prior work to craft a vital statement about personhood, womanhood, and the perils and pitfalls of love.

Kevin and Marcus (Dowling) are sitting down to discuss one of 2017's most notable albums to find out if Kelela has got the goods, or just if the ideas she's exploring are ultimately more important than the execution.

Together, Melissa Wright and Daniel Zezinski are known as Mink's Miracle Medicine, and from their trailer in Harpers Ferry, WVA they're making music that might just heal what ails ya. On their first full-length House of Candles, the duo explores country, folk, and even punk traditions to deliver a stripped down set of poignant (and often hilarious) songs centered around relationships, small-town life, and existing in the modern age. Recently the duo paid a visit to the basement to talk about minimalism, Patsy Cline, the joy of a good riding mower and much, much more.

PLUS! DC synth-pop "revivalists" Loi Loi are dropping a five song EP on Blight Records later this year, but you can check out the first track "1985" right here, and right now!

After a string of EP's and years of anticipation, Washington DC neü-punk provocateurs, Priests, have finally delivered their debut full length, Nothing Feels Natural. On our latest podcast, Kevin, Paul, Eduardo and Marcus Dowling (Pitchfork, Bandcamp) are hanging out in the basement, getting to the bottom of this raucous new album. Is it the right protest album at the right time, or just another "punk" album for the masses? Tune in to find out.

PLUS! R&B jams from the underground! Sonder's new EP Into is laying down the bedroom vibes, and we've got it's lead track for you to sink your teeth into.

In our final regular podcast of 2016, we're enlisting Paul Vodra (Hometown Sounds), Joe Lapan (Owner, Songbyrd Music House), and Marcus Dowling (Pitchfork, Bandcamp) to work through the year that was here in our hometown of Washington, DC, take a look at the "big picture", and much, Much more. 

PLUS: Thoughts on the tragedy of the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, CA. What can we do to help, and what can we do to try and make sure this doesn't happen again. 

Washington, DC based BRNDA's infectious "snack-punk" can be hard to classify… and even harder to get out of your head. Hot off the release of their sophomore release, Year Of The Manatee, Dave Lesser (guitar), Leah Gage (drums) and Jhn Whytefoot (bass) pay a visit to the basement to talk about the history of the band, where their uniquely fearless music fits into the current DC scene, how to make it as a modern artist in a modern world, and much, much more.

PLUS! Kevin shares some thoughts on this past weekend's inaugural Landmark Music Festival, and Dirty Ghosts are back with Let It Pretend, the follow up to 2012’s Metal Moon and we’ve got “Cataract”, the album’s first single for you to shove in your ears and verily be rocked.

Get ready for a serious, and seriously fun, conversation with one of the most exciting bands going in DC today on Episode 134 of ChunkyGlasses: The Podcast!

This week Kevin sits down with Beauty Pill front-man/mastermind Chad Clark to talk about their astounding new record Beauty Pill Describes Things As They Are. Initially conceived of in 2006, the project was unexpectedly put on hold when Clark fell ill in 2007. Multiple life-saving surgeries and a new outlook on life later, Clark and his cohorts have crafted a rare, exploding-with-life masterpiece that sounds as big as the universe while managing to tackle smaller, more personal matters of the heart (often quite literally) with sophistication and ease. 

Tune in for a deeply human, moving, and life affirming conversation on Episode 114 of ChunkyGlasses: The Podcast.

*Photo courtesy of PJ Sykes

On this week’s podcast, Andrew Grossman and Michael Hernandez of DC’s The North Country stop by the basement the morning after a most triumphant show at Babe City to talk about their upcoming album There Is Nothing To Fear. A pastiche of early 2000’s indie rock (think Arcade Fire, Wilco, My Morning Jacket) mashed together with whip-smart observational lyrics and sublimely honest, observational, lyricism, Fear not only marks the arrival of a major musical force on the DC scene, but happens to be one of the best albums of 2015 to date.

Whether you’re already a fan, or just getting hip to The North Country, this is one conversation you’re not gonna want to miss on Episode 112 of ChunkyGlasses: The Podcast!

On the just-released Pattern Matching, the sophomore album from DC-based indie-folk outfit Stranger In The Alps, main man Steve Kolowich and friends have built upon the foundation he laid with 2013’s Honey If You’re Lucky to produce a record that is as willingly playful with its songwriting and use of language as it is with the boundaries of the genre which it operates in. For our latest podcast Kevin sat down for an in-depth discussion with Steve to discuss the making of the album, the art of songwriting, the DC scene through his eyes and much, much more.  It’s a double-sized, music-nerd extravaganza on Episode 102 of ChunkyGlasses: The Podcast!

The idea of a house show is nothing new, but over the past few years, Washington, DC has seen a veritable explosion in the number of highly structured alternative venues popping up in every part of the nation’s capital. On a cozy street in Petworth lies the Paperhaus, the veritable epicenter of this movement, and in it resides one Alex Tebeleff. Not only does Tebeleff play in a band that shares it’s name with the house, but he has spearheaded a resurgence in DIY, or DIT (Do It Together), that has not only brought the varied DC scene closer together, but has paved the way for more and more musicians and music fans to try their hand at concert promotion right in the comfort of their very own living room. We sat down with Alex on the back porch of the Paperhaus recently to talk about how he got his start putting on these shows, how he sees this movement growing, and how the DC scene is continuing to amaze. 

In the first of what will be an ongoing series of round-table discussions we sit down with Rabbl CEO Wade Lagrone and Listen Local First co-founder Chris Naoum to discuss the good and the bad of the crowd-sourcing platform that made waves in the DC music community a few short weeks ago. Whether you think it’s the future of music promotion, or nothing more than another example of the “pay to play” model, it’s a talk that everyone who is passionate about the issue should hear. 

Washington Post Pop Critic Chris Richards has covered Bad Brains, Lady Gaga and everything in between. In this episode of the podcast he sits down with us to discuss his job as music critic for one of the most prestigious publications in the world, his “infamous” review of Arcade Fire’s Reflektor, the state of modern music criticism, and more. Music nerds, this one's a must! 

This week we double down on the interviews with a duo of quick but killer conversations with two of our favorite bands. First up, Suzie sat down with DC’s very own EX-HEX before their tour kickoff at the Black Cat a few weeks ago to talk about the genesis of the band, the making of their as yet unrecorded debut, and more as the bar literally opened around them. Then, Austin, Texas’s HUNDRED VISIONS stopped by the basement before their gig opening for Okkervil River...

In this episode, Kevin sits down with DC's very own Justin Jones to talk about his solo career, balancing music and family life, what it means to be a working musician today, and most importantly, his newest band, The Deadmen!