It may take a few days to nurse yourself back to health after your New Year’s party hangover, but I’ve got news for you:  The music scene waits for no one.  So be prepared, stock up on water and junk food so you can recover as soon as possible.  2011 is going to be a great year for local live music.

And what better way to get it started than with a night of new (but classic) D.C. post-hardcore?  Sounding reminiscent of a heavier Sonic Youth, with female/male vocal tradeoffs and no shortage of guitar breakdowns, Gangland Buries Its Own will be playing at Velvet Lounge on Thursday, January 6.  (Doors 7:30PM/Show 9PM/21+/$8)  Memories From the Space Age will be the opener.

Make a resolution you can keep this year:  Rock till you drop and support local music.  -Jarrett

Prominent in the city’s anti-folk scene, Cheese on Bread’s songs sound raw and unfinished. This is probably due to the fact that the duo recorded their album in their bathroom – initially because of purely economic reasons, later from habit. But because of their low-tech recordings, the songs sound more authentic, like if they were recorded by a couple of friends, and thanks to this the people and places in their stories sound more familiar and real. They’re silly and undeniably charming in a Kimya Dawson way, their songs bearing the same honesty and emotion as high school lovebirds. – Katherine Bennet

With an impressive list of recording credits, including indie rock legends TV on the Radio, Regina Spektor, and Pete Yorn, Eric Biondo still has time to front his own modern big-band, wittily named “Beyondo”. Biondo adds trumpet and a falsetto akin to fellow Brooklynite Justin Rice (Bishop Allen), to reggae-inspired down-tempo tracks. Following the pattern of many of his songs, “Gambler” is calypso jazz, structured around quick African drumming, a full acoustic back-up band, maracas, and funky organ chords. In traditional jazz style, his songs are built off improvisation, and have energetic, spontaneous, and definitely danceable attributes. – Katherine Bennett

Telltale play with the same macabre overtones as goth-wave god Robert Smith (their lead singer even looking a little like him, with wiry black hair and sunken eyes, entirely black ensemble) use as much feedback as noise-pop pioneers The Jesus and Mary Chain, and drown in distortion along with My Bloody Valentine, quavering vocals secondary to the calculated chaos of the guitar. Atonal walls of sound employ reverberation to create shimmering ripples of guitar echo, layering noise upon noise until the sound becomes a tangible presence, shaking your skin and quickening your heartbeat. – Katherine Bennett

After quitting a woodwork apprenticeship in Nevada three years ago, Amber Rubarth picked up the guitar for the first time and started writing songs, and gaining a steady fanbase, ever since. Her soulful, thick, unique alto reflects the blues influence of idol Tom Waits, and her songs tell stories in traditional folk fashion; in “Washing Day,” winner of the 2010 New Song Mountain Stage Contest, she sings of lost love, “too much whiskey, too much smoke/ Last night’s tears hang on my coat.” She will be recording a new release with Grammy Award-winning producer Jaquire King (Tom Waits, Kings of Leon, Norah Jones). Check out the top 2 top songs on the Myspace list.