2001 was a good year for Radiohead clones. Muse released their second album, Origin of Symmetry, to the fanfare of British rock critics. Coldplay finally attained mainstream success in the United States. And Travis cemented their international popularity with the Nigel Godrich-produced The Invisible Band. Meanwhile, in Denton, Texas (about as far away from Oxford as you can get), five jazz students at the University of North Texas released an EP under the name Midlake….

Jeff Antoniuk grew up listening to 1970s and 80s R&B, and funk like Michael Jackson, Earth Wind and Fire, and Average White Band, in addition to the required Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. He then discovered jazz fusion, which then led to classic acoustic jazz. In between all of this, he was studying classical piano classical theory and his master’s studies also included world music and ethnomusicology. The result is a wide range of…

There is a lot of great jazz coming up in the D.C. area throughout the next week, much of which is FREE, an important word here at DCist. Of course, the big news for jazz aficionados is the annual Big Band Jam, which began on April 20 and runs through April 29. We already told you about the service bands playing at Blues Alley, but there are many other shows to check out. Here are…

DCist took in three phenomenal bands on Monday night at the Black Cat. Midlake, Cold War Kids and the Sound Team played the backstage, much to our confusion, and they just may have put on the best show that little room has ever seen. First up was Midlake, a five piece from Denton, TX that embrace interactivity as much as they do fancy instruments. Midlake’s been around for a while, gaining fans and success in…

Perusing the dessert menu, we’re always a bit skeptical when we come across something such as “ice cream (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry)” or some permutation thereof. If nothing else seems appealing, and we’d like a bit of ice cream, then we take the chance. If we’re lucky, we’ll get some good local stuff from Thomas Sweet or Gifford’s. Or on the corporate side of things, we’ll likewise feel honored to scarf down some Haagen-Dazs, particularly any…