Imperial China plays their final show tonight, but not before releasing one last new song.

Imperial China‘s final show is tonight at the Black Cat Backstage and we talked to singer/guitarist Brian Porter about the highlights from the band’s five+ years.

As told in the words of the label head and his collaborators and artists, here is the history of Sockets Records.

For all of the impressive albums, singles and mixtapes that local acts released this year, 2012 was actually pretty rough year for the D.C. scene.

It’s hard being a band from the District in a post-Fugazi world, but the trio from Imperial China manage to take two steps forward on their full-length debut, How We Connect, while still making the occasional nod to the band that helped influence their blistering post-punk sound.

Hear “Limbs,” a new song off the post-punk trio Imperial China’s upcoming album.

Sockets Records first came across our radar due to, surprise surprise, an old Three Stars interview. This one. Then suddenly, they were everywhere. There were Sockets artists like Layne Garrett performing at the Sonic Circuits Festival. Then bands like Buildings and Imperial China put out releases under the Sockets imprint. Then they put on a showcase, selling out the Black Cat Mainstage and demonstrating that they also put out funky hip-hop acts, like the…

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…