Last Saturday, 2/6, a beautiful thing happened at DC9 Nightclub. A sold out crowd was treated to a night of wonder as DC-based bands The Duskwhales, Broke Royals, and Wylder performed their superb music, with Wylder performing a full cover of Weezer’s debut album. Despite a late start and minor feedback problems, this show was not worth missing.

The Duskwhales kicked off the night with their typically exuberant style, belting out fast-paced, dreamy indie rock. Channeling the best of times long past and the days ahead, their sound is the stuff of youthful excellence and highly stylized stage presence. Vocalist and guitarist Seth Flynn brings a unique flavor to the stage, bushy hair masking his face and ruby red fingernails flying over his guitar. This trio has a highly refined musicality and standout personality on the scene. They released a video for their latest single, Emerald Skates, today. Also, they’ve declared themselves the only thing worth knowing in Manassas, VA, aside from the Civil War battlefields.

Following up, Broke Royals pursue being the epitome of smooth, rocking out in vests and belting out feel-good alt rock. Drummer Colin Cross possesses stellar skills at the drum kit, frequently twirling a drumstick without error between beats, while lead vocalist Philip Basnight work the crowd into a bopping mass of adulation. Their performance was energetic and engaging and they really pumped up the crowd. They recently put out their third album, The Luxury of Time Pt. III, keeping it simple for fans, and they’re releasing a new single, On My Way, on 2/19.

Headlining the night, indie folk group Wylder put their own spin on Weezer’s Blue Album for the show, executing the cover perfectly and adding to the classic masterpiece with violin and keys. Hitting all of the high notes and owning the title of DC’s best Weezer cover band, the band invited The Duskwhales onstage to sing along to The Sweater Song, which was thoroughly harmonious. Following the end of the album, Wylder rounded out the night with some of their originals, including their forthcoming release, Swells. The new single drops 2/15 and it is a fantastically upbeat, anthemic track.

-Jonathan Goodwin

This past November, Providence power pop quartet Jets Can’t Land released its ruggedly sweet debut EP, ‘You Can’t Linger On.’ As heard in the irresistibly nostalgic, guitar-fuzzed opener “A ‘70s Photograph” (streaming below), which excitingly melds the jagged splendor of Bowie’s “Queen Bitch” with the pure warmth of The Kinks’ “Powerman,” the six-song effort shows a band not so much enslaved by past struggle but ennobled, and even strengthened, by it. Jets Can’t Land plays at AS220 in Providence, Rhode Island on 2/19. – Zach Weg 

Rapzilla.com cites Th3 Saga as one of the primary reasons Christian Hip Hop is “back on the map.” The Queens-based MC has garnered a fair amount of attention in the national Battle Rap scene, and his faith is worn proudly on his sleeve. His tracks don’t push boundaries as far as the sonics are concerned, but provide a suitable backdrop for Th3 Saga’s lyircal praise and penitence. He rides beats with a sharp staccato reminiscent of Tupac, but lyrically keeps Christianity in the forefront rapping, “You sayin’ that I’m a pioneer, all I’m worried ‘bout is that the Messiah’s near.” From the Bronx’s BoogieMonsters to ATL’s Deepspace 5 to Philly’s The Grits, Christian rap comes and goes. Perhaps it will be Th3 Saga’s battle prowess which prevents him from becoming just another martyr.

In the late ’60s, Jim Morrison, in this interview, clearly predicted the future of music, envisioning something unimaginable at the time: a one person act, using tapes and electronic equipment as his or her band. We wonder if the psychedelic icon’s dream looked and sounded similar to HNRY FLWR’s video for "Down, in Carolina," which we are premiering below. Even though, in it, musical instruments are nowhere to be seen, David Van Witt, the psychedelic mastermind behind the project, doesn’t do anything to hide the fact that he has full control of his creative output: the video plays like a solo dance full of glam overtones and lush with sensual background projections, during which David seems to do its best to… woo himself – in a self courting ritual that’s synonymous with art. Those who, like us, love the the quirky and somewhat meditative psychedelic pop of Grandaddy may have found a new friend. Hnry Flowr will be playing in quartet setup at Shea Stadium on February 10.