It's been a while since U.S. Royalty have played a show in DC proper. They rocked the Sweetlife Festival pretty hard in May (as documented above) and they recently did a national tour with Third Eye Blind. It feels just about right for them to be finding their way back to the 9:30 Club for a show this Friday night with True Womanhood and Birdlips . We've got one pair of tickets to giveaway to the show. In the comments section leave your favorite member of the British Royal Family - [...]

There are some upsides and downsides to working for Earmilk. The upside is... well, duh. I work for the most ill-nasty-hardcore-"Hold her back captain! We're going into DEFCON5!" music website on the internet. The downside is since we're so awesome, I tend to live under a deluge of "Hey, check out this band." in my email. Since I'm an elitist music snob (my friends like to use the world "hipster"), I disregard their overtures with a "Ha! You don't know what good music is. I was listening to Yeasayer when they were 15 weeks in utero gurgling amniotic fluid." [...]

Eleven o'clock is quite late for me…do not judge or try to guess my age. However, having sampled "One In Seven" and shortly thereafter discovering Birdlips was playing live that night, I shrugged off my week night regimen of bedtime by 10 and decided to head downtown. Cliff Usher and Lindsay Pitts, the ethereal duo behind the name, are magnetic to watch. Equally striking in appearance and poise (Lindsay's petite frame and overall glow led me to speculate she survives solely on a diet of kelp and good cheer) their sound goes beyond all that is [...]

Lately I'm more than happy to hear a new band playing music that is so deep in throwback mode, I'm not actually certain it's new. Because the deal is, I'm not looking for new artists to re-invent the wheel, I just want to hear more of a sound that's already so good I can never get enough. This is where the Virginia-based duo Birdlips and their oh-so-dreamy lounge-pop LP One Tongue enters the picture. Guitarist Cliff Usher and keyboardist Lindsay Pitts have embodied the very essence of a [...]

At one point or another, most bands will find themselves on a figurative journey. Whether that means looking for different sounds or finding new members to augment a lineup, searching for fresh inspiration is usually in the cards during the tenure of a working band. For electro-folk-pop duo Birdlips (@birdlipsmusic), this journey is both a figurative and a literal one. They are in the midst of a project entitled DRIFT , which finds them expanding their sound while venturing out onto something that is part travelogue, part recording process. It's taken [...]

Here's a video by Billy Hunt for Birdlips' Under Crooked Trees , which is off their recently released album, One Tongue . Under Crooked Trees from Birdlips on Vimeo . This was shot in Charlottesville this winter at a demolished IX building site and mixed with projected footage from where they recorded their album in Florida. This album is currently available on Bandcamp as a name [...]
![Birdlips [Higher Vision]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3233171_lg.jpg)
The below track "Higher Vision" is from a duo out of Charlottesville, VA named Birdslips . The album One Tongue can be streamed here and was recorded on an 8-track in Destin FL. They will be playing a free show at Hotel Utah in San Francisco March 2nd. Higher Vision

Birdlips is the project of Virginia-based Lindsay Pitts and Cliff Usher: a duo who have been using their music to live out their rock 'n roll dream: they've been wandering the country for the past year, playing gigs and recording tracks along the way. Their latest mini-album, titled One Tongue, was recorded in Sandpiper Cove, [...]

Well, it's not really me doing the soliciting, I'm just asking for a friend. Really I am! What? You don't believe me? Oh shush! Here, I've copied Tim's email request exactly: "November is almost upon us again, so it's time to think about the Contrast Podcast Festive 50. This year it will be on episodes 194, 195 & 196 from the 15th to the 29th of December. So here is what I need you, your friends, the readers of your blog, your milkman and anyone else you know to do: 1. [...]

Date 8/26/09 Location Mohawk Doors 9pm Tickets $5 @ Door Local shows are solid this week and Mohawk on Wednesday night is a great option to check out some of that local talent. The lineup includes pop hit makers Loxsly , Birdlips and fairly new locals Ideal Soul Mart . The show is also in celebration [...]

Birdlips [photo by Greg Nash] Local Charlottesville indie-folk duo Birdlips is preparing to hit the road later this month for the band's first ever cross-country tour. I've become a huge fan ever since first discovering the band's full-length debut Cardboard Wings last summer and even now the album is one that is never far from stereo. So far the first nine tour dates have been announced with the tour kicking off at The Greenline in Philadelphia on July 17th. Announced tour dates are listed after the [...]
![Locals Only--Birdlips::Trac ks on Repeat [new single]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/1724002_lg.jpg)
Birdlips [photo by Greg Nash] Locals Only is the new Wednesday on The Velvet Rut. Every Wednesday I'll be dedicating the majority of my blog posts to specifically highlight Charlottesville artists, musicians, and concerts. --- A longtime favorite track to see live, Charlottesville's Birdlips have finally released their new single "Tracks on Repeat". Recorded at Monkeyclaus in Nelson County by Abel Okugawa and first [...]

Hope you enjoyed your Friday. Saturday and Sunday are no let down either. A few bands decided to come through the area starting Saturday and finish off elsewhere in the region Sunday, plus plenty of one-nighters to chose from. So I guess I'll get right to it. Spoon from bands myspace Not much hasn't been said about Austin-based Spoon . Probably THE indie band of all indie bands is the best way I can describe them. Chopped vocals, great instrumentation and [...]

in anticipation of a week of work (!) I'm laying around today listening to music purely for the pleasure of listening to music, no hidden agendas, no posts in mind, just letting my ears take me where I will.... it's been a long time. Some Kind of Death mp3 Cardboard Wings Birdlips ..... buy it Well mp3 Bitter Honey Eef Barzelay ..... buy it Half The Lies I Tell Aint True mp3 Above The Below Tragic [...]

May Tabol, formerly of Le Loup, is now fronting Pree . Very reminiscent of Modest Mouse and also likened to Regina Spektor and Joanna Newsom, they are having a little throw down at the Black Cat for the upcoming release of their new EP, A Chopping Block , set for official release the 24th on The Kora Records. Many musicians from some of your favorite area bands also made a contribution to the record, such as John Thayer and Susan Hsu of Exit Clov, Tom Hnatow of These United States, Vanessa Degrassi of Ash Lovely, and Randy [...]

mp3: pree - in the parlor mp3: birdlips - tire chains mp3: birdlips - some kind of death pree 's cd release show is backstage at the black cat tonight with birdlips and meridith bragg . i've been overwhelmed with laziness all week, but i've also been listening to a chopping block non-stop all week, so i'm going to try to drag myself over there... i'd also really like to check out birdlips live. so we'll see. pre-order a chopping [...]

Tonight in DC there's a swell show brewing over at the Black Cat with Andy Zipf (full band), Kaiser Cartel, and Paul Michel. Right across the way in Arlington Iota has a solid line up with Devon Sproule and Her In-Laws, Matt Curreri, and Birdlips. Up north in Philly the Northern Liberties Fest kicks off at the Fire with Chris Kasper, Andrew Lipke, Cowmuddy, Adrien Reju, and Zach Djanikian (of The Brakes). Enjoy! mp3: Birdlips - Tire Chains mp3: Paul Michel - Day's Looking Up

[photo by Greg Nash] Charlottesville's Birdlips , (who happen to be one of my favorite unsigned bands...period), announced earlier this week that they'll be hitting the road for a series of East Coast dates beginning next week. A couple shows of note: They'll be opening for The In-Laws tour (featuring Devon Sproule and Matt Curreri) on Feb. 10 at the IOTA in Arlington, VA and they'll be performing a hometown show at the Gravity Lounge with La Strada and DBB Plays Cups on February 12. [...]
Birdlips - Some Kind of Death.mp3 [Audio player] Birdlips - Blades of Grass.mp3 [Audio player] Another LP that has been getting a bunch of spins, Birdlips' Cardboard Wings is a strong collection of unique acoustic-folk out of Virgina. Some Kind Of Death reminds me of high school for some reason. birdlipsmusic.com - myspace - hypem - amazon - itunes

The Never , the ambitious young indie band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, makes a winter tour stop at iS (formerly Starr Hill Music Hall) in Charlottesville on Wednesday, January 22. I call them ambitious for a reason because it's not everyday that a band decides to release a concept album that also includes a 50-page book of original color paintings. But that's exactly what The Never achieved with their second full-length album Antarctica back in 2006. Released on Trekky Records, Antarctica received glowing reviews not only for the artwork by [...]