Despite the overcast weather and eventual downpour, DC sustainable restaurant Sweetgreen’s Sweetlife Food and Music Festival filled the Merriweather Post Pavilion’s main stage tent as thousands more looked on from the expansive lawn area Saturday, April 28th. Boasting a diverse and exciting line-up as well as a variety of eco-conscious food options, it’s no wonder that the festival was packed–even with the rain forcing many who weren’t lucky enough to make it into the tent to don ponchos and open up umbrellas.

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Now two weeks after from the release of Beware And Be Grateful, Maps & Atlases have debuted a video for one of the album’s tracks, “Remote & Dark Years.” The song’s a somber one — far different from the previously-featured “Fever” — but fits perfectly with the video’s romanticized tale of car jacking and vandalism. Beware And Be Grateful is out now on Barksuk Records.

STREAM: Maps & Atlases – “Remote & Dark Years”

The Canadian quartet Metric has been a regular Juno award nominee since the band’s first release in 2003 and has since built a career littered with Junos and Polaris prizes for the group’s brand of rock blending electroclash with dancy beats, and Emily Haines’ underrated skill as a lyricist. While much of the the band’s lively work has relied on quick tempo changes with steady measures of anticipation leading into high-energy bars full of release, this new track, “Youth Without Youth,” off Metric’s upcoming full-length Synthetica, goes in a different direction. It emerges thick, textured and fully-formed. Instead of jumping back and forth between quiet and loud moments, the song maintains the same volume and energy level throughout. Though structurally it’s one of the groups most organized songs, a quick listen makes it clear that it’s also one of the most chaotically written. Haines’ slick, smoky vocals slither around the thick backbeats, a slippery strand tying together driving drums and beefy guitars with a story of lost innocence told through a series of images of corrupted childhood. The gritty lyrics match the dirty guitar riffs perfectly, and while I do hope the rest of the new album adopts more of the dynamic songwriting Metric has been known for, this first taste is certainly a compelling, acerbic, visceral one.

Synthetica will be released on June 12 via Metric Music International/Mom + Pop.

STREAM: Metric – Youth Without Youth

After suffering a tragic accident whilst filming a music video, Foster the People require a few changes under the hood to get back in action. See what happens to these musicians-cum-cyborgs in the band’s new video for “Houdini.” Foster the People’s Torches is out now on Columbia.

STREAM: Foster The People – “Houdini”

Last Thursday the one and only Alex Winston played one of her first shows in the States for a long while at a special edition of All Things Gold. Fortunately, U Hall now allows concert photos so we were able to capture her, along with fantastic openers Long Walks On The Beach, on camera. Scroll through some fantastic shots of the night, courtesy of the always-amazing Laura Lopez, after the jump.

STREAM: Alex Winston – “Velvet Elvis”

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Over the last few years, the state of Wisconsin has been churning out new American folk acts at an unprecedented rate. Field Report is the latest concoction from the Badger state. The band is the project of Chris Porterfield, formerly of Justin Vernon/Megafaun’s band DeYarmond Edison. When the band broke up, Porterfield stayed in Wisconsin and began writing his own songs. He has created something similar to his former bandmates, yet starker, combining guitars and echoing vocals in uniquely haunting ways. The lyrics are introspective, with lines like “They were blocking out the clouded out son/while he was hoping against a daughter” and “I could have been a preacher/if I suffered fools.” Porterfield paints the scene and lets the harmonies carry the message through the rest of the song.

MP3: Field Report – “Fergus Falls”
MP3: Field Report – “I Am Not Waiting Anymore”

Nothing about Clock Opera is effortless. If there’s anything bad to say about frontman Guy Connelly, it’s that he tries too hard, but in the same way Grizzly Bear tries too hard—the perfection throughout some songs is so striking you actually feel weighed down by how much effort went into crafting them. Like eating ice cream prepared with liquid nitrogen, you find yourself asking, “it’s good, but is it so good it was worth all the trouble?”

After listening to their new album, Ways to Forget I’d say yes. Calling it a “new album” is misleading; many of the songs have been floating around since as early as 2009. Now they’re finally coming together for the first time, like childhood friends who spent their college years on different coasts, counting down the days until they could graduate and share a flat in a foreign city with some pals they each picked up along the way. And while strong characters living together don’t always work out, the huge personalities of each track on Ways to Forget bring out the best in one another; like learning a new language, the intonations and crescendoes become predictable in an exciting way rather than growing old

Chose your own adventure: If you’re not familiar with their older songs, you can backtrack a bit with our coverage of “Lesson No. 7,” “Belongings,” their SXSW performances of “Once And For All” and “A Piece of String” and our interview with band. If you’re already acquainted with these excellent tracks, I recommend focusing your attention on Man Made, a night cruise in 5th gear, and “Move to the Mountains,” the soundtrack to your journey off the couch, out the door, and into the life you’ve always wanted. I got pretty stoked on the chorus of “The Lost Buoys,” as well, but I’m generally hesitant to recommend anything that “gets really good when the synths kick in.”

If you’re big into lyrics, Connelly’s obsession with impermanence and inescapable transience might strike you as heavy-handed, but again, nobody promised you subtlety. Stream the album below courtesy of Hype Machine. Ways To Forget is out now on Universal Island.

STREAM: Clock Opera – Ways To Forget

Ten years after The Walkmen‘s debut album, the lauded New York quintet is slated to release its latest effort, Heaven, on June 5th via Fat Possum/Bella Union. And as with many bands ten years in the making, the youthful moodiness and naivety has been replaced with a more mature, seasoned sound fit for the grown men and fathers they’ve all become. The album’s first single and title track, “Heaven,” features bright, elated guitar melodies, toe-tapping drums, and an infectious chorus of “Remember, remember/All we fight for,” that is just begging to be stuck in your head for days. It may have been a decade since the band’s first album, but if “Heaven” is any indication, the Walkmen are only steadily improving with lots more to offer as accomplished vets.

Produced by Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes, The Shins, Band Of Horses), the bands sixth album promises a “bigger, more generous statement,” as reported by frontman Hamilton Leithauser, even featuring Fleet Foxes’ frontman Robin Pecknold on two tracks. And if you’re looking forward to hearing some of the new material live, The Walkmen will be headlining The National-curated Crossing Brooklyn Ferry on May 3rd, as well as supporting Florence And The Machine‘s North American tour in July.

STREAM: The Walkmen – “Heaven”

From April 19th – 29th, the No Kings Collective and Popal Group will host the Water St. Project, a pop-up space along the water in Georgetown that will showcase some of the best art, culture and music that DC and beyond has to offer. On Friday, April 27th we’ll be taking over the space and curating a night of fantastic music. On the decks we’re bringing in Penguin Prison — who aside from being an amazing live act opening for Miike Snow the next night at the 9:30 club has some impressive DJ chops — and resident ATG beatsmith Lightwaves. On stage we’ll have ATG first-timers Nicos Gun. If this Philly four-piece has proved anything, it’s that they know how to get electric real fast.

Join us Friday, April 27th at 9PM at the Water St. Warehouse (3401 Water St. NW, Washington, DC 20007). Tickets are only $10 and the venue is amazing, so get on it people.

TICKETS: Eventbrite

STREAM: Miike Snow – “Paddling Out (Penguin Prison Remix)”

STREAM: Nicos Gun – “Dirty Girl”

STREAM: Nicos Gun – “Party Cult”

STREAM: Mausi – “sol. (Lightwaves Remix)”

The Black Lips want their fans on the dance floor, pronto. The B-side to their newest single, “Dance With You,” proclaims it so. But these rockers don’t exactly provide the sonic backdrop conducive to twists, turns, and shimmies. Nope. Head-banging, sporadic fits, kinetic freak-outs, guitar-smashing, and the gator dance would be more appropriate for this brooding, thrashing psych rock number. A bass line fit for a 1950s television series private eye serves as the canvas for the group’s signature sloppy, scuzzy garage rock glory. Enjoy.

MP3: Black Lips – “Dance With You”