Long Island’s Twin Sister have deftly perched themselves on a fine line between kitschy pastische and artful eclecticism, forging a distinctive and winsome musical aesthetic which they put on convincing display at the Rock and Roll Hotel on Monday night. Currently touring behind their first full-length record, In Heaven, the quintet delivered a dynamic performance that affirmed their place amongst the most promising young bands on the current indie scene. more ›

Towards the end of the night, it started to feel like a last man standing match between Gang Gang Dance and the audience. After a late start (the band didn't hit the stage until after 11) and pummeling the crowd with its blend of fusion dance, few were left on their feet as the room emptied just before midnight. more ›

In some circles, "jam" can seem like a dirty word that conjures up visions of excessive noodling, overindulgent solos and the accompanying aging hippies that have been following every note for twenty years, man. White Denim attempts to disprove such notions. more ›

By Odd Future's standards, last night's trip to the Rock and Roll Hotel must have seemed relatively tame. No riots happened outside, no glass bottles graced the stage (the Rock and Roll Hotel staff made quite sure of that) and even the oft-publicized misogynistic banter seemed subdued, coming more from the crowd than the stage. more ›

As we've noted a couple of times this week, Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, a.k.a. OFWGKTA, a.k.a. Odd Future are playing at the Rock and Roll Hotel this evening. Cue the excitement! more ›

On February 11, 1964, The Beatles played their second U.S. show (first appearing on the Ed Sullivan show two nights prior) here in Washington, at the now-empty Washington Coliseum near Union Station. Over 8,000 fans filled the stadium to capacity as 362 D.C. police officers tried to keep them at bay as they screamed, shouted and fainted in the aisles. The British Invasion had reached American shores, and this performance, plagued by faulty equipment and terrifying fans was the tipping point of Beatlemania. Last night, Ellie Goulding kicked off her first U.S. Tour at the Rock and Roll Hotel, not too far from the site of that fateful 1964 show. more ›

White Rabbits lived together in a Brooklyn loft for a time (yeah, all six of them), writing and practicing their music whenever the mood struck. Perhaps the roommate bond is where their onstage chemistry springs from, enabling them to easily trade instruments onstage, even allowing them to cover for their bassist while he takes a bathroom break, then laugh at him while he admits to the audience that his break was rather poorly timed.

Or maybe this is just an exceptional band. more ›

Tuesday night's gloomy, just-above-freezing-with-a-threat-of-ice weather conditions were the perfect setting for a Radio Dept. concert. The Swedish band, known for its icy, New Order-inspired indie pop made its first trip to Washington D.C. on its first real tour of the United States. The band is not known for being showy or for doing things fast -- having been around for over 10 years, The Radio Dept. has only three full-lengths and a handful of singles, collected on the recently released Passive Aggressive (Singles 2002-2010). more ›

Despite their name, change is nothing new for The Concretes. The eight-piece music collective from Stockholm, Sweden did start out as a female three-piece after all. So in 2006, when lead singer Victoria Bergsman up and left the band, drummer Lisa Milberg got out from behind the kit and took over vocal duties. Tuesday night's show at the Rock N Roll Hotel, a seemingly short but very sweet hour-long set, gave D.C. their first look at Milberg as the band's new frontwoman. more ›

Despite what genre labelists may say, there are really only two kinds of musical acts: ones that clearly have fun onstage, and ones that might. However, hip-hop trio Das Racist makes other acts in that first category look like stuffed shirts by comparison. Nothing, be it racial relations or the stage setup at Rock and Roll Hotel, was safe from ribbing and lest Future of the Left actually come through town, Das Racist may win this year's Andy Falkous award for bitingly hysterical stage banter. more ›

UPDATE: It appears that the club intended to call the incident a "tragic" death, according to a version of the email newsletter which was sent out after the version we received. We just got in touch with Steve Lambert, the booking manager at the Hotel, who confirmed the typo and told us that he couldn't believe that he made the error. "Everything about this situation is so sensitive," Lambert said. "This was something I knew I had to spell check and read a few times before I sent it." more ›

It's unfortunate that Marnie Stern is only really known for her prowess across the fretboard of her guitar. Sure, the spit-fire precision of her finger-picking is easy to admire; but it was the songs themselves that stood out in front of the clatter Tuesday night at the Rock and Roll Hotel. Songs like "For Ash" and "Transparency Is The New Mystery," while saturated in swirling guitars and manic drums, show a different side of Stern: a vulnerable one. more ›

MONDAY

Last seen in D.C. opening for She & Him at the 9:30 Club in July, L.A. folk-pop duo The Chapin Sisters bring their enchanting vocal harmonies back to Iota tonight, showcasing new material from their well-received second album, Two. Leslie Stevens and Neema open. $12. 8 p.m. more ›

MONDAY

Insipidly talented singer/pianist Sara Bareilles plays tonight at the 9:30 Club in support of her second record, Kaleidoscope Heart. Greg Laswell and Holly Conlan open. Sold out. 6:30 p.m. more ›

Last night, seven brave men and two fearless women took the stage at The Rock and Roll Hotel to compete in the 2010 D.C. Air Sex Championship. Air sex is like air guitar, but instead of an imaginary instrument, you have an imaginary partner. Last night's air sex performances were often confusing -- Is she opening a door? Making a sandwich? Giving a reach around? Who knows? -- and occasionally awkward, but pure comedy gold. more ›

At the start of a weekend in which most local music fans were excited to revisit the hits of a bygone era, Friday night's sold-out show at the Rock and Roll Hotel celebrated two bands currently enjoying their moment, even as both made plenty of reverent glances to the past. more ›

It's easy to understand the backlash against Best Coast. Their setlist reads like a page ripped from a teenage girl's notebook, complete with multiple song titles referencing boys and internet-speak shorthand like "Crazy 4 U." Their lyrical content, on initial listens, does little to sway listeners from this perception of Best Coast songs as whiny high-school break-up tunes. Two of the choruses are repetitions of "I want you so much" and "I wish he was my boyfriend." more ›

Considering the speed with which the tickets for this show sold out, it's a safe bet that this will likely be the last time in a long while that we'll see explosive duo Sleigh Bells in a venue as small as the Rock and Roll Hotel. The overabundance of praise heaped on vocalist Alexis Krauss and guitarist Derek Miller certainly has some validity: their formula of engaging female vocals paired with violent beats certainly worked for their label head, a little-known performer named M.I.A. Add in guitar riffs that sound like they came from a post-hardcore veteran (which they did: Miller's last band was Poison the Well) and their debut album, Treats sounded like a machine gun being wielded by a cheerleader. Which is to say, a bona fide hit. more ›

Shooting guns from one's pointer fingers, making lazy karate chops and wriggling like a snake are the sort of dance moves that would look ridiculous if the person performing them doesn't look slightly demented. But tall and lanky frontman Angus Andrew fits that bill, so this occasional silliness which punctuated his otherwise terrifying command of the microphone at the Rock and Roll Hotel Wednesday night just added to the atmosphere of insanity and darkness crafted by the (now) L.A.-based Liars. more ›

Two and a half years ago, roughly two hours before Austin's Okkervil River packed the Rock and Roll Hotel to the point of immobility, a man named Jonathan Meiburg sat onstage and played a few mournful tunes before returning as part of the OR lineup. That solo set, accompanied only by guitar and trumpet, felt like an afterthought. Although the power of Meiburg's voice was unmistakable, the performance seemed wan, forlorn and forgettable. It couldn't have been more different from Meiburg's awe-inspiring appearance with Shearwater on Friday. more ›

Perhaps the result of these economical times, but satisfying triple bills continue to pop up throughout the District's spring calendar, with Saturday night's lineup at the Rock and Roll Hotel yet another convergence of quality and value. more ›

You’d think we’d have learned our lesson by now. Just because well-read blogs and overzealous Brooklyn tweeters proclaim bands the next big thing does not make it so. Having lots of friends four hours north might get a band a lot of buzz, but eventually they're going to tour, and touring is when you find out just how capable a band really is. more ›

Fans of the global groove should take note of a show taking place on Saturday at the Rock & Roll Hotel. The triple bill of Bio Ritmo, The Funk Ark, and Cheick Hamala Diabate will bring together the sounds of West Africa and Latin America for a night that is sure to bring smiles to faces, and feet to the dance floor. more ›

By DCist Contributor Dan White more ›

From the first time I heard the music these guys make, whether together as the King Khan and BBQ Show, or in any of their other many incarnations (King Khan & The Shrines, Mark Sultan's unbelievably good solo album The Sultanic Verses, and so on,), I was in love. The nexus of garage rock, punk, and doo-wop could not be farther up my alley. In a world of electro-this and that, and sad-faced boys and girls singing sweetly, Blacksnake (King Khan's... real name?) and Mark Sultan bring a refreshing dose of pure, dirty, fun rock 'n' roll to the table. more ›

When the Dodos last visited D.C., we were so impressed that we had considerable difficulties keeping our excitement down to one paragraph. The group's youthful exuberance was just barely outmatched by their technical skills, and they excelled at making surprisingly full-bodied sounds using primarily drums and guitar. But their flourishes with additional instruments (trumpet, vibraphone, extra percussion) pushed were what pushed that set over the edge, providing an accurate mirror to last year's excellent Visiter. more ›

Before starting their set at the Rock and Roll Hotel on Tuesday night, the members of Akron/Family taped up a torn American flag with a blue and white tie-dyed square in the upper left hand corner. This flag, which adorns the cover of Akron/Family's latest release, Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free, might initially give the impression that the band are followers of the Book of Phish and that album title, a mantra torn from one of those pages. And Akron/Family certainly projects a communal atmosphere and engages in some extended improvisations. But the sheer expanse of their stylistic range keeps them from being pigeonholed as a "jam band." They're far more interesting. more ›

Drop Electric has long been committed to social issues, performing regularly at benefit events and donating their proceeds to local charities. While the band has been concentrating on out-of-town and festival dates in recent months, on Saturday they will return to the Rock and Roll Hotel to headline an eclectic bill. True to form, the night's proceeds will benefit Empower DC, a community organizing group that works to improve and promote self-advocacy among the District's low and moderate income residents. more ›

To start, this was a record-breaking show. First, for temperature. It was, bafflingly, the hottest show I've ever attended by far. And second, for decibels achieved, by both the band and the audience. more ›

The late Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré was among Africa's most internationally renowned musicians. Listening to him, it was easy to draw the connection between the blues and its West African roots. If he was the bridge between two traditional forms, then it is only fitting that his contemporary counterpart is his son, Vieux Farka Touré. One of world music's rising stars, Touré will be performing on Monday night at the Rock and Roll Hotel, playing what he describes as "the new reality of African music." more ›