By Margaret Adams
D.C.-based techno duo, Vanity Police, has released their explosive new LP Chapter 1. The duo, consisting of electronic DJ and producer Tommy Tranq and singer-songwriter Sidney Riley, have officially initiated their collaboration with this seven-track album; this is the duo’s first official, full-length project together after collaborating on the re-versioning of Riley’s smash hit, “Exposure.”
Created almost entirely digitally during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the new project was the product of a coffee meeting between the two musicians at Dunkin’ Donuts; it then turned into demos being passed back and forth that would eventually become a truly collaborative effort in the toughest of times.
The first track, “Darkness,” opens up the album to a wonderful start, with incredible use of hypnotic beats. “Follow Orders” is the first song to deviate from the incredibly high-energy pattern the rest of the songs follow; it’s a bit darker, with interesting vocal manipulation. “Down in the Mud” is a personal favorite, as the duo utilizes clear R&B influences in the production. With the influences that both Riley and Tranq have, Vanity Police has succeeded in making this album full of music that compels the listener to move.
“It was kind of like two head chefs in the kitchen, each adding different ingredients to a huge pot on the stove, taste testing it throughout, and finishing with something we both thought was a good blend of delicious music that spoke to each of our styles,” said Riley on the process.
Chapter 1 is available on Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, and YouTube. Check out “Down in the Mud” below. Follow our Alchemical Multigenre Mixdown playlist for more great music featured on the site.
Margaret Adams is a Psychology major and Rhetoric and Writing minor at The Catholic University of America from New Orleans, Louisiana. In addition to her work with Alchemical, she writes for CUA’s student newspaper, The Tower, and has recently been named Quill Editor. She enjoys reading, writing, and looking at pictures of her dog, Bella.
Recent Articles March 21st. A day that I will always think of amazing album releases. DC-based musician, producer, and singer-songwriter, Rachel Levitin, released Witty Banter
By this point in his life, Foghat founding drummer Roger Earl has visited quite a few doctors. But what may be surprising is that the percussionist, 77, is quick to point out that many of the medical professionals who have worked on him also enjoy rocking out.
“Nearly all the doctors and surgeons I know, they all play something: trumpet, sax, violin, guitar,” Earl said recently. “There’s not too many drummers that are surgeons, there’s probably a good reason for that!”
Earl half-jokingly invites his surgeon-rockers to join him and the other members of Foghat onstage at the Fillmore in Silver Spring March 9, where they will be headlining the Rock and Roll for Children Foundation benefit for the Children’s Inn at NIH. Earl, the only original member of Foghat still in the band, will be banging the skins behind guitarist Bryan Bassett and other members Scott Holt and Rodney O’Quinn. “Slow Ride,” the band’s 1975 megahit, is all but assured to be on the setlist, along with tunes from Foghat’s most recent record, “Sonic Mojo.”
When D.C. venues were ready to reopen after COVID-19, indie pop duo GLOSSER was ready to perform. The two, Riley Fanning and Corbin Sheehan, formed the band pre-COVID out of a shared aesthetic vision and passion for music storytelling.
Their first album *DOWNER* was released in January 2023, however they have decided to release a deluxe version exactly one year later containing four new tracks – two remixes, a reimagined song, and a cover – that they are hoping will give it a second life and allow them to continue performing around the area.
The band explains that they have spent many shows opening for touring bands that traveled through D.C. “We made music and then venues started to open again,” Sheehan says. Rather than having the “typical grungy” D.C. band experience, they uniquely went straight to club shows.
Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
