Sockets Records is by no means the biggest name in D.C. music history, but the record label, started by local noisemaker Sean Peoples, celebrated its fifth birthday with a whole crew of friends. The Black Cat Mainstage was even more packed Friday night than it was for the Slumberland Anniversary show a few months ago, even though Sockets has only been around one quarter of the time.

The Sockets lineup consisted of bands that roll slightly off the beaten path, but beyond that there were very few similarities between them. The lyrically provocative but musically laid back hip-hop of the Cornel West Theory sounded nothing like the post-rock of Buildings or the experimental electronics of Big Gold Belt. Percussion-heavy local favorites Imperial China, whose first full-length album will come out on Sockets next month, brought in the night’s biggest draw (and included the night’s best inexplicable fist pump). But Hume proved to be the wild card that came up aces. Britton Powell’s penchant for dissonance and interest in orchestrating a movement more than writing a rock song bears a strong resemblance to the Dirty Projectors’ David Longstreth. But Powell’s voice is sweeter and his musical direction, broader, so the full band truly delivered on an impressive vision.