Most come to DC9 expecting – to some degree – a warts and all show that leaves a little to be desired. One thing you don’t tend to expect is the kind of polish that came from The Hatch last night. Formed at Washington University in St. Louis, relocated to L.A. to record and practice, they’re now calling New York home, hunkering down in an apartment/rehearsal space and starting a residency at Piano’s next month. And all that practice and time together has served them well – they’re an extremely tight band, well-trained in all their songs' melodic turns.

Their MySpace page will tell you all you need to know about how they sound – it’s a lot like Maroon 5. But, as one friend put it (with mild derision), “The lead singer sounds more like Rob Thomas than Adam Levine.” So you kinda get what we’re working with here. But since we here at DCist aren’t in the business of dismissing musical taste wholesale, let’s discuss.

They kicked off with a slightly hollow, yet assured “New York City Women,” and moved into the rollicking, vaguely post-punk “Dancefloor.” “Morning” featured the set’s strongest melody – a clean slice of pop melancholy – but also earned the above Rob Thomas comment. The Hatch’s best tune by some distance, “A Place Like This…”, even had some unexpected twists; played hard and aggressive, it was the sort of modern rock that could get this band a hit someday. And, all things considered, their cover of Bill Withers’ “Use Me Up” was perfectly competent, if not exactly what you might expect Maroon 5 disciples covering Bill Withers to sound like.

The Hatch seem to have a number of things going for them – for one, lead singer Sean Douglas is Michael Keaton’s son – but underneath all that polish we were hoping to find a little scuzz to keep things interesting. An optimist might also call it good stage presence and duly note that they got the crowd up and dancing, but some spontaneity could go a long way.

The crowd thinned a little for local boys and GW alums Jukebox the Ghost. And so it goes – the band specifically targeting popularity (the Hatch’s website mentions “an indie-rock business model to yield an album of radio-ready rock music”) gets the crowd and the girls, but the one with a little more musical ambition and better tunes doesn’t quite get their due.

Which would be a shame, because Jukebox put together a really nice set of piano-led rock songs, recalling everyone from Ben Folds to Franz Ferdinand. That there’s less to say about Jukebox’s set is really something of a virtue: the band stuck to their guns, pumping solid pop songs with lively performances. Of the two lead-men, guitarist Tommy Siegel’s songs were more interesting – wrapped into tighter coils, breaking their post-punk drive only for coy falsetto breakdowns and fuzzed-out guitar bits.

Piano guy Ben Thornewill’s songs were uniformly strong too, with their chiming and rollicking keys and big harmonies reminiscent of 10cc. Some of the material derives a little too much from Ben Folds and there were a few bland Five for Fighting moments, but “Beady Eyes” transcended the comparisons with great ringing and effects-heavy guitar. But of the whole lot, closer “Hold It In” was their finest moment – a loud and ambitious mix of Futureheads’ jagged guitars and urgent piano, crammed between softer sections. It was a considerable piece of music, and left us hoping we see more of Jukebox the Ghost down the road.