If there’s one particular sound associated with Washington D.C., besides go-go, it still has to be the piledriving aggression of hardcore punk — Washington is, after all, where it all started for Minor Threat, Fugazi and Dischord Records leader Ian MacKaye, and for D.C. native Henry Rollins.

Bellflur sounds nothing like them. Although the indie-rock quartet does hail from Washington, the group has more in common with latter-day D.C. acts like Middle Distance Runner. Fronted by Carlos Gonzalez-Fernandez, Bellflur mixes twitchy rhythms with honeyed synthesizers and dreamy vocals on their latest EP, “Last Quarter of the 20th Century Blues,” which is holding it down for the group until its second full-length album, due early next year.

You may be asking yourself: wtf is up with the animal masks? Good question. Gonzalez-Fernandez explains on his publicist’s blog: “There was an old upright piano in the backyard of the farmhouse I lived in. When I would drive away at night, a piano with deer around it would appear out of nowhere. The spooky image of animals in suits using abandoned instruments to make music stuck with me.”

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Grey Sparkle Finnish Pig mp3

(Photo by Eamonn Aiken)

November 12, 2009 at 10:59 am | Share |