Those who showed up at the 9:30 Club on Saturday night with any doubts about The Kooks’ talent were certainly persuaded, and maybe even wooed into super-fan territory. The four lads from Brighton played a pitch-perfect set that had all the classic elements of an epic rock show, including crowdsurfing and a young woman who threw her underwear up on stage. The Kooks have been on the fast track to superstardom since forming in 2004,…

Remember that episode of The Simpsons where Barney is dating a Japanese art student? And they show up at Moe’s and she orders “a single plum, floating in perfume, served in a man’s hat”? We can kind of imagine Blonde Redhead frontwoman (and former art student) Kazu Makino ordering that same thing. And Makino’s otherworldliness is so captivating that, like Moe, we probably wouldn’t bat an eye. Decked out in a menacingly short shirt-dress, Makino…

The man with the coolest name in contemporary rock music drew the largest crowd we’ve ever seen at the Rock and Roll Hotel last night. Keep in mind that it was a Wednesday. John Vanderslice also completely demolished the “fourth wall” between the audience and the stage, handing out Mrs. Field’s cookies, inviting a gaggle of fans to the stage for a sing-along of “me and my 424,” and descending from the stage to play…

When we arrived at Adams Morgan bar Felix last Tuesday to catch a Justin Jones show, we found Jones himself standing in the doorway as Felix’s de facto bouncer. “Can I see some I.D.?” asked the stubbled 27-year-old. Then, with a wry grin and a “Nah, I’m just messing with you,” Jones waved us inside. Offstage, it’s tough to tell when Jones is just messing with you. Which is ironic, because as soon as he…

If we were in the business of judging books by their covers, here’s what we would assume about the line-up at last night’s installment of the Six Points Music Festival: The Glory and the Majesty are emo, The Jaguar Club are a bunch of car enthusiasts, Life in a Hospital are bleak and brooding and Lejeune are French. Ultimately, only one of these assumptions proved correct; read on to satisfy your curiosity. First up, Arlington’s…

The Appleseed Cast have long been associated with teen angst, unrequited love, and learner’s permit drives around suburbia. So we came to see them last night curious as to whether we could still rightfully refer to the Lawrence, Kansas rockers as an “emo” band, or if they’ve managed to shrug off that pesky label in 10 years of evolution. Pitchfork called the ‘Cast’s latest album, Peregrine, “an emo record for people who hate emo,” but…

MONDAY >> Looking for an act whose name you are sure to forget at least once over the course of the evening? We give you an Orlando hip-hop duo with a name like a serial number: X:144 and SPS. Okayplayer called their debut collaboration, M.E., “a producer’s wet dream.” At the Red and the Black. 9:30 p.m., $8. >> After releasing solo CDs and making babies, Aterciopelados, Colombia’s finest rock en español outfit is back…

The Washington Post reports today that Congress is set to vote on a landmark resolution to allow the likes of Snoop, Green Day, Kylie Minogue, and scores of other popular musicians to perform on the Capitol grounds for Live Earth, Al Gore’s series of global-warming awareness concerts. Concurrent Resolution 17 was introduced in the Senate yesterday by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). Live Earth, which is scheduled for July 7th,…

“What kind of music does Rob Crow play” is a question that stumped us more than once when we told people we were going to his show at the Rock and Roll Hotel on Sunday. Umm… indie rock? That doesn’t really tell you much, does it? How about math-rock? Alt-metal? Prog-rock? All of the above? Crow’s music is so difficult to classify because he’s something of a whiz-kid, with too many side projects to keep…

You might know him as, “the handsome grandson,” “the outta work superhero,” or by the name on his birth certificate, “Dathan Harbor.” But chances are you’ve never heard of Flex Mathews by any of his many monikers. You may have no idea that, since he moved to D.C. in 2002, a rising star has been right under your nose. The rest of the country seems to be noticing. In 2005, URB magazine named Flex one…