Before Modest Mouse took the stage in D.C. last Friday, they had already laid the groundwork for high expectations. For one thing, the Portland indie rock heavyweights sold out the 9:30 Club in a mere five minutes. Then, they didn’t start their own set until midnight, bringing along three different opening bands (one of which could have likely headlined the club in their own right). Although Modest Mouse now has the clout to sell out…

Modest Mouse Check out this ad on Craigslist right now, posted in the tickets section for Friday night’s Modest Mouse show at the 9:30 Club:My tickets are free to the first person who helps me find a new job. That’s right–free. No joke, I swear. I’m ready for a career change. I’m a published writer currently working in news. I am open to new and interesting possibilities, thus the job does not have to…

It’s hard to identify Jim Fairchild without first acknowledging that he was formerly the guitarist in the Modesto, Ca. group Grandaddy. Fairchild, however, has kept himself busy since the group’s demise in 2006, touring with numerous other bands and also finding the time to record and release his first solo record under the moniker All Smiles. The resulting Ten Readings Of A Warning, a collection of charming, laid back lo-fi pop that belies his…

When joining the fray for a big music festival, it’s always important to have a game plan — even if large chunks of it usually get lost in the wash somewhere along the way thanks to a really long ATM line or running into some dude you haven’t seen since you were 14. This weekend several DCists and at least two of our readers will be heading up to Baltimore’s Pimilco race track for…

Ahhh, summer music festivals. As any music blog reader could tell you, as soon as the ground starts to thaw, they’re all the indie kids can talk about. Last year we were all lathered up about getting a mega-fest of our very own (or at least, within reasonable stomping-ground distance). Several DCists embarked upon Pimlico and were pleased to report that the festival was wonderfully organized, accomodating, really well done and… that it just…

It seems like, all across the network, folks were up to no good. Maybe it was all the green beer from last weekend… Gothamist spent the week writing about New Yorkers behaving badly: at the post office, at the Garden, and at the fertility clinic. Calvin Klein may not be misbehaving, but he’s just a little dirty, and in a completely different way than some NYC kitchens. SFist had its share of misbehave-rs, too, like…

Knowing little about either band, DCist attended Wednesday night’s performance by Chin Up Chin Up and The Oxford Collapse, armed only with a few tracks from each heard on Myspace, glowing reviews from Pitchfork, Mojo and a host of other publications, and a promise from a good friend that we would not regret it. Success on the Black Cat Backstage tends to be dependent on two things: your ability to soldier on despite often questionable…

What a beautiful weekend. Perfect enough for some croquet on the Mall, as seen here in this photo taken by mnewhall posted in DCist Photos. You can’t ask for much more than that. And the forecast looks pretty good too for the coming week. Highs in the 70s and 80s for the early part of the week growing warmer by next weekend, according to Capital Weather. Here’s what you may have missed on DCist the…

As a live act, with two drum kits and, at one point, six people participating in percussion, Modest Mouse is definitely driven by its rhythm section. At Thursday night’s show, it was impressive to watch the complementing drummers pound away, working to coordinate seemingly disparate sonic elements into the cohesive sound that is Modest Mouse. But then Isaac Brock chimed in with some vocals and the whole thing, unfortunately, sort of broke apart. Usually, it…

Given that there was such a controversy the last time we posted anything about early ticket sales in the D.C. area (to recap: a few people thought these sales should be on a “need-to-know” basis for “real fans”; we thought that was silly), we were perhaps a bit hesistant to spread the word about the latest hot ticket in town. But considering a lot of people we think of as “real fans” of Bloc Party…