Review: Hotel Books – Run Wild, Young Beauty

Posted by admin on Apr 8, 2015 in Featured, Noise, Reviews | 0 comments

I’ll be honest, I’ve been waiting for the new Dance Gavin Dance album for a long time now. Acceptance Speech was one of my highlights of 2013, and their follow up has been marked to top my album of the year list since it was announced. And of course, they released it for streaming last night. That’s the same night that I was supposed to review the new Hotel Books album, Run Wild, Young Beauty. I honestly wasn’t quite sure how I was going to do that. I wasn’t sure how I was going to stay focused long enough to not jump back to DGD. It’s not that I’m not a fan of Hotel Books, but the build up to the DGD album had proved to be a bit too much for me to handle, apparently. I could not have possibly been more wrong. Midway through the opening track I was eating my words. If I had no integrity in my journalistic presence, I would have simply just published my notes, but seeing as they are mostly comprised of the word “wow”, I figured I take a crack at writing something of some substance.

New Tune Tuesday (4/7/15)

Posted by admin on Apr 7, 2015 in Featured, Latest, New Tune Tuesday, Noise | 0 comments

–Written by Kevin Madert

A smattering of new music from across the genre spectrum. Did we leave out your favorite band’s latest material? Let us know!

Kill The Noise & Tommy Trash – Louder

Having lived a relatively math-free life since I skated a B- in my requisite lecture hall course freshman year someone may have to check my calculations here, but I’ll give it a shot. A longtime bass music powerhouse + a longtime house music don = one hell of a tune. Accompanied by Rock City on vocals, Kill the Noise and Tommy Trash turn in here a dark hard-electro tune that’s got a little bit of everything: growling basslines, massive syncopated drum hits, shouted lyrics, and a surprisingly nuanced drop that’s sure to tear up festival mainstages this summer. In tandem with the release, the duo announced a short co-headlining tour – including a stop at Washington, DC’s Ultrabar. You can find more information about that here.

Frequency of the Week No. 6: Defunk

Posted by admin on Apr 6, 2015 in Featured, Latest, Noise | 0 comments

–Written by Kevin Madert

Once in a while an artist comes along that captures you attention and refuses to relinquish it. Defunk – a native of Calgary and the topic of this week’s FotW – fits that description like a snug sweater. His arsenal of production tools is formidable even by 2015 standards and he possesses a unique dedication to re-imagining the music of yesteryear from a modern-day perspective. With the word “genre” nowhere in his vocabulary, Defunk is a multifaceted producer poised to carve out a serious niche for himself in the world of electronic music.

AltFreq Weekly Planner (4/5/15-4/8/15)

Posted by admin on Apr 5, 2015 in Featured, Latest, Reads | 0 comments

–Written by Kevin Madert

It’s nearly impossible to keep track of all the events going on in the area, so we’re here to let you know what’s happening in live music over the next few days. Watch out on Thursdays for the “Weekend Planner” where we’ll cover the most important 72 hours of the week.

Festival Frequencies: The Six Festivals That Should Kick Off Your Summer

Posted by admin on Apr 3, 2015 in Featured, Latest, Noise | 0 comments

–Written by Kevin Madert

While music festival scheduling has expanded to encompass just about the entire calendar year, summer is still the true peak of “festival season.” Days are getting longer, the air is getting warmer, and before you know it your jeans and jackets will be relegated to a dark corner of your closet in favor of booty shorts and pasties – er, t-shirts and shorts.

If you’re looking to start the summer off right, you may want to start planning a late May or early June getaway. That’s where we come in; read on for a quick rundown of AltFreq’s can’t-miss early summer festivals.

Weekend Warm-Up No. 15: Metalcore Edition

Posted by admin on Apr 3, 2015 in Featured, Noise, Weekend Warm-Ups | 0 comments

–Words and list by Mike Hogan

I’ve been on a bit of a roll with metalcore this week (you can blame August Burns Red for that one). It’s seen me revisiting the genre, and listening to some of my favorite albums, whether old and new. As we prepare to begin our weekend, I figure there’s no better way to get pumped than some good ol’ breakdowns and ridiculous guitar work.

So here are 10 tracks that’ll get any circle pit started, almost all from bands that you can go out and see live right now. Enjoy, and as always let us know what you think; we’d love to hear what songs you would have chosen for this playlist!