Justin Jones – Racine
K-Murdock – The Prelude
Abu Jibran – Bring Back Hippy Jesus
Cynthia Marie – Harbor
Night Kitchen – Chief
Kindlewood – This House
Star FK Radium – The Clearing
Joe Garner – Waiting
Prolyphic – RDNY Instrumental
Adam Stamper – Seemed Less
Ronny Smith – Valentine
Stripmall Ballads – Home
Daniel Barbiero & Massimo Discepoli – The Occulted Measure
Aquarium – Maxxo Sesh
Ben Dransfield – Here Now
Yoko K. – to my helsinki
Benoit & Sergio – Day Residue
Cigarbox Planetarium – Tiny Dream Car
DC Improvisers Collective – Triptych 2: Dream to Sleep Revisited
Empresarios – Sabor Tropical (Nappy Riddem Instrumental Remix)

Aaron Leitko – Flip Flops (This Can’t Happen)
Yoko K. – take off
Fellow Creatures – Seance (Shuka)
Drop Electric – What Now, of Paradise?
Detox Retox – Dispatches from the Chernaya Rechka
Waltz Brigade – Strange Names
nick tha 1da – circular drizzle
Jonathan Parker – East Lorain
Abu Jibran – Not Good Enough
Sunwolf – Velvet
Extra Golden – Ilando Gima Onge
Once Okay Twice – I Have An Illness
Restoring Poetry in Music – Luba
Little Hunts – Nocturne (Part 2)
The Wine-Dark Sea – Breaking Through the Cracks of Our City
Night Kitchen – Salt Water Taffy
The Shifters – She’s So Fine
igloo two – the big ego scene
Aquarium – Slow Space
Tone P – Chandelier (Instrumental)

Jordan Clawson – Camera Man
Bumper Jacksons – Them There Eyes
Big Easy E – Don’t Cry For Me
John Lanou – Hannukah
Dub City Renegades – High, High, High (dub)
Joey and the Waitress – Country Road
Gordon Withers – Cast Into The Sky
Bossalingo – Les Feuilles Mortes
Night Kitchen – Thai Iced Tea
Golden Looks – Rooftop
Mbandi – Destiny
Aquarium – Channel 9
Arlin Godwin – Bangkok Matinee
Junhee – Call for War
Rare Essence – Turn It Up (feat. DJ Kool)
Brian Wilbur Grundstrom – An Orchestral Journey
Jonathan Matis – On the illusion of permanence
The Internal Frontier – Gravity
Motion Lines – Howl
Fugazi – The Kill

David Marc Alterman – Tango for Violin and Piano Opus75
Pan American Symphony Orchestra – A Tiempo
Motion Lines – The Yearbook
junhee – Home
South Rail – Wandering Soul
Shannon Gunn and the Bullettes – Stormy Monday
Warren Wolf – Grand Central
Famous For A Century – War
Young Rapids – Goods
Night Kitchen – Chief
Drive TFC – Summertime Unkind
Thievery Corporation – Samba Tranquille
Benoit & Sergio – Your Darkness
Terri Bocklund & Curr Kowalski – Aurora
Knuckleberry Finn – Disney World
Foozle –
Lands & Peoples – Lullabye
Smoke Bellow – Middling 1
Ronny Smith – 95 Drive
Q and Not U – Wonderful People

The book is “about a kid who keeps dreaming that he’s flying through a night kitchen with these chefs who try to bake him into a cake,” says vocalist and guitarist Jordan Levine. “I read it when I was a kid.”

Levine and Night Kitchen drummer Emmett Parks met in elementary school. Now 19 and 20, they have a bassist (Wyatt Rexach), a new EP and — as made clear in one of their new songs, “Vertical” (listen below) — an informed opinion on what “local” is starting to look like. (Let it rise. Bake. Share with coworkers.)

The final track on Hunger Games, released June 4, “Vertical” requires an attentive listen. “I’m talking about urban development changing the way things look, especially in areas outside of D.C,” Levine says. His lyrics speak to the theme: “They take what they want to, not what they need. All the same, they help themselves.”

The track sounds hungry for answers, and Night Kitchen isn’t the only one ordering them up. Other D.C. bands — including Chain & the Gang — have railed against gentrification in the Washington region.

But Levine hasn’t lost all hope.

“The DIY scene has really built up over the past five years,” the musician says. “There are people [from Maryland] who’ll travel to D.C. for a show… and vice versa, so it’s a lot of the same people. I think the growing DIY scene has made it cool and communal for people to support live music, which is good for music in general.”

It’s that optimism that prevents “Vertical” from succumbing to a bitter aftertaste.

Night Kitchen performs July 8 at VFW Post 350 in Takoma Park and July 15 at DC9.

Now add Houston, Texas, record label and website Funeral Sounds to Casa Ruby’s list of supporters: The outlet is getting ready to release a benefit compilation for the organization, featuring tunes from D.C.-area acts Two Inch Astronaut, Ricky Eat Acid, Tomato Dodgers, Holy Crust, Teen Suicide and Night Kitchen, in addition to songs from nonlocal bands.

One highlight from the bunch: Two Inch Astronaut’s chaotic cover of Taylor Swift’s “Fifteen.” (Stream it below.)

Funeral Sounds has been slowly unveiling some of the comp’s songs over the last couple of weeks, but the release formally drops June 6. All proceeds go toward Casa Ruby.