Light Beams are a D.C. trio that uses samples and a live rhythm section to write songs about staying positive. No computers. No set lists. No dudes staring at screens onstage making music that reduces you to staring at your screen offstage. Instead -- Voila! -- music that makes you move, makes you feel good and never, ever overstays its welcome.
Founded in 2015 by drummer Sam Lavine, bassist Arthur Noll, and sampler/vocalist Justin Moyer, Light Beams has risen from the ashes of D.C. bands both legendary and obscure -- and definitely too numerous to mention. Self-Help, its first full length out 1/31 on Don Giovanni records, fuses its diverse influences -- abstract expressionist painting, Terminator X, 80s New York freestyle, Dischord bands, Sheila E. -- into a melange of cross-genre innovention the band calls "BLOCK ROCK." Recorded at Solar Power Station, Moyer's sun-kissed studio in downtown Washington, and mixed (in yet another twist) by metal legends Brian McTernan (Battery) and Mike Schleibaum (Darkest Hour), this record dares offer listeners overstuffed on streaming services' offerings something that cannot be contained by any playlist.
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