DJ Winterman – Finale
The Iris Bell – Globe
Reginald Cyntje – Wind
Nitemoves – Harbinger Group
Black Masala – Cool Breeze
Once Okay Twice – Indie Soul
Scenic MentaL Detours – Skip the Day
Elijah Cole – Stardust
Restoring Poetry in Music – Short Bus
Constant Alarm – Cairo
Adam Stamper – Movements of the Anansi
Luke Brindley – Time’s Arrow
Title Tracks – Piles of Paper
Spirit Plots – Pssst
Detox Retox – The Cult of Reason
Nerftoss – Virtue Walk
Bardoe – Flip it
Soleaux – Graffiti
East Ghost – Jericho
Clif Hardin – Gigue from Suite for Piano

Seth Kibel – Your Mileage May Vary
Screen Vinyl Image – I’m Not
Fire and the Wheel – Hooke’s Law
Machine Drift – Chaos Later
Mark Haag – Fringe Music #1
Jon Lanou – Minneapolis
Roger Aldridge – A Ballad For T
The Greatest Hoax – Pyrogens
East Ghost – Clouds and Their Shape
Oust – Alas, Posterity
Constant Alarm – Breathe You
Higher Hands – U-Turn
South Rail – Wayfaring Stranger
Rumpole – Canned Beans
We Were Pirates – Transmorgified
Outer Spaces – Rust
Thomas Zebovitz – PopThing: Cute
Atoka Chase – Black Pot
Throw Me A Rope – Punk Theory/No Theory
Spirit Plots – Allison

Title Tracks – All Tricks (Instrumental)
Beauty Pill – Idiot Heart
Masego – Disconnected (Shorty From VA)
Diggs Duke – Crazy Like A Fox
Yeveto – Remote Unelectrified Villages
Letzkus Lanou – Ted n Lindsay
Dupont Brass – Can We Talk
Opus Akoben – Ronin
Fort Knox Five – Swinging On a Rhyme (Instrumental)
Spirit Plots – Pssst
Stephen Allen Kochersperger – Headhunter Serenade
Deathfix – Hospital
00Genesis – Inside the Brown Paper Bag
Tereu Tereu – Savage Love
Stephen Robey – Charlotte’s Song
The Petticoat Tearoom – Kundalini
ZOMES – Black Magic Band
Teen Mom – Kitchen
Patuxent Partners – Victoria Waltz
GroundScore – Here We Are

“Let’z” single, Sugg Savage — Half of the freaky-cool duo Akoko, Sugg Savage no longer calls Maryland home. The emcee from Fort Washington recently swapped coasts to soak up sunbeams in Los Angeles. So maybe it’s the spike in Vitamin D that’s fueling her artistic growth spurt. As a solo artist, Savage has embraced a hip-hop/club hybrid that would sound right at home on Azealia Banks’ Broke With Expensive Taste. Her skittering new single “Let’z” finds her vaulting — with Bilesian finesse — from speedy rhymes to fluid vocals. “You know everybody don’t move like this,” goes the bridge, sounding both slyly boastful and 100 percent factual. (Listen to “Let’z” in our playlist, below.) — Ally Schweitzer

Spirit Plots, Spirit Plots — The D.C. trio has been building to this self-titled LP for a couple of years, and anyone who embraced the 2014 EP or the 2015 single will find a plethora of similar guitar-bass-drum vibes within. Don’t be intimidated by the 15-track inventory — most songs come in below 2:00, focusing on hooks where other D.C. bands with similarly precise sonics might choose to dwell too long in a postpunk groove. Obligatory comparison to a ’90s hero: Every corner of Spirit Plots abounds with hints of the wound-up intelligence found in Ted Leo’s peak work. — Joe Warminsky

Romantic Comedies, Foozle — The D.C. trio’s 11-song second LP captures part of the Gen-Y zeitgeist with its self-aware, post-teen angst and a conspicuous use of emoticons — “¯\_(ツ)_/¯” is the title of the closing track. The retro, lo-fi production never feels gimmicky, and the simple lyrics stay just clear of twee. The album cover depicts a half-unpacked apartment; the songs inside reflect this half-opened, half-boxed-up feeling. It’s ultimately an album about the need for — and fear of — emotional intimacy. (Listen to a song in our playlist, below.) — MacKenzie Reagan

“Wait Up” single, Prinze George — What would a montage of the most significant moments of your life feel like? The Maryland group goes there on “Wait Up.” It’s not just the lyrics, though they certainly help (“now we’ve allowed time and space to build a wall and break us”). It’s more so the ephemeral synths, overlayed with vocals that fall somewhere between Phantogram, Adele and Monsters of Men. A subtle beat and reverbed snapping carries you through a tortuous auditory expression of the “what could have been” — all coalescing in the single frozen moment right after you witness a car wreck and realize you’re still alive. Did I mention the song is good? (Listen to “Wait Up” in our playlist, below.) — Courtney Sexton

Young Jefe 2, Shy Glizzy — The Southeast D.C. rapper with close to 800,000 Instagram followers continues to earn praise for his melodic MC style, with Pitchfork calling him “simply a joy to listen to, one of the most distinctive and technically adventurous rappers working today.” Young Jefe 2 smartly plays up his verbal stylings, couching his sing-songy, introspective street tales within spacious beats. He’s due for a pop breakout at some point, but even if one never comes, he’s permanently solidified his position as one of D.C.’s distinct musical voices. (Listen to a song in our playlist, below.) — Joe Warminsky

Citadel, Dagger Moon — Dagger Moon effortlessly blends the pummeling, heavily distorted riffs of a sludge band with the gritty production and intense atmosphere of early black-metal bands. With the shortest track on Citadel coming in at just over six minutes, it’s an album that relies on a gradually increasing sense of anxiety, pushing and pulling the listener through its apocalyptic soundscapes. It’s gloomy, frightening and absolutely fantastic. — Keith Mathias

“Paused Parade” single, Young Summer — “Paused Parade” reminds listeners that the sunniest season brings a lot of rain, too. Gentle, sparse piano and whispers of percussion are paired with Young Summer’s hypnotic vocals to create a cocoon of serenity. The song ultimately builds a cool hideaway for self-reflection. When she sings, “Are you with me? Or are you with me?” … we’re definitely with her. “Paused Parade” will be part of an upcoming EP. (Listen to “Paused Parade” in our playlist, below.) — Teta Alim

“Blood In the Water” single, Prowess The Testament — Tia Abner, a.k.a. Prowess the Testament, grabbed attention earlier this year with the Air.Human|Breath.Divine EP, which instantly established the short-statured MC as a fierce, intelligent voice. She continues to rain down lyrical lightning bolts on her new single “Blood In the Water” (which also appears on the Right Where I Left It EP). Prowess wields Thor’s hammer and anvil, grinds gods into granules and annihilates the false authenticity of D.C. transplants and other pretend veterans, none of whom could walk a mile in her gladiator sandals. Producer P-Tech Santiago’s boom-bap beat frames it all with the excitement of a classic superhero comic. (Listen to “Blood In the Water” in our playlist, below.)— Justyn Withay

Any Day Now, Lee Mitty — What do you get when you take a slight savior complex and mix it with the realism of Baltimore’s woes? You get Any Day Now. The album, which focuses on the duality of vices — in Mitty’s case, the desire to break free of a tough system that also inspires her — is a complex listen. That’s because it also captures the duality and strife within the city itself. On tracks such as “Bang,” “Leave Me Alone” and “Muses,” Mitty puts her realistic, relatable lyricism over beats that are introspective without being heavy-handed. (Listen to a song in our playlist, below.) — Johnthan Speed

Wanted Man, Wanted Man — Forget vaporous subgenre designations and convoluted classifications — the full-length debut by Wanted Man is a rock album, the kind that showcases stellar musicianship and oozes with cool. Bassist John Scoops and drummer Rick Irby anchor each track with airtight rhythms, backing up Kenny Pirog’s guitar and vocals across 11 tunes that touch on everything from punk to surf. — Keith Mathias

Messix EP, Ocobaya — From Mike Petillo and Aaron Leitko, the two D.C. beat-heads behind Protect-U, comes a side project that’s less heavy on the math and more heavy on the psych. Numbers do still matter to them, of course — namely 4/4, as in the root time signature of classic techno and house. Overall, the Messix EP confidently expands the dance-music conversation happening at 1432 R, the D.C. label known so far for its Ethiopian connections. (Listen to a song in our playlist, below.) — Joe Warminsky

“Mrs. Jones” single, Neffy — The wrenching song from Arlington native Mecca Russell, a.k.a. Neffy, was featured on the “New School Free Press Live” series. Give the song a minute. Literally. The first 60 seconds are a slow, sleepy build to a moment of deep, pointed heartache that comes when Neffy hits the first note in the chorus — and it’s pure soul, killing you softly till the end. The video is great exposure, but doesn’t do the song, or the voice, justice. Neffy’s new EP is scheduled to drop in late 2016 or early 2017. — Courtney Sexton

Mirror Image/Mirage, Big Hoax — Hey, really, why shouldn’t a group from Baltimore take a shot at making an Epic American Rock Album? Vocalist and bandleader Luke Alexander likes to take his voice from a whisper to a yelp, and almost all the tunes build from nearly nothing to totally something (with help from banjo, cello and so on). That dynamic befits a band that calls itself Big Hoax and an album title that refers to a mirror and a mirage. The point here is actually realness, and it’s hard to argue that Alexander doesn’t find some at whatever folk-rock crossroads he’s picturing in his mind. — Joe Warminsky

“Summer” single, Innanet James The Maryland rapper’s most recent track belongs in crowded basements and open rooftops, as long as the heat wave rolls on and there’s enough humidity to make skin shine with constant sweat. Repping MoCo, Innanet James brings just enough charm with his flow so that his lyrical foreplay doesn’t cross over the line from teasing to sleazy. “Summer” is meant to be fleeting — a burst of bright, body-rolling fun that shouldn’t last too long. About his upcoming debut EP, James told Pitchfork in an interview: “I want you want to be like, ‘Oh, that’s witty as s–t.’ I want you to see the words.” (Listen to “Summer” in our playlist, below.)— Teta Alim

“Appalachian Motel” video, Greenland — A moody track from the D.C. rock band’s otherwise lively S***ty Fiction album gets an animated treatment that initially seems like a cryptic but largely two-dimensional commentary on notions of romantic and familial relationships. But then it gets really weird. What’s up with all of those long, pointy noses? No face is safe. — Joe Warminsky

Flash Frequency – Corner of The Room
David King – Suspension
The Jet Age – Don’t Make a Sound
Fields Burning – The Light On The Water
Jon Lanou – Minneapolis
Incredible Change – Pleasure Cruise
The_Acorns – Jollie Joe
PS Music Group – Waiting
Pax Musicana – Sixteen Nights
Tone – Antares
Language of Sleep – Act I
Blueheart Revival – Stone Feathers
John W. Warren – Mapa de tu Corazón
The Universal Friend Rays – Time Is Moving
Spirit Plots – Allison
Machine Drift – Chaos Later
Calm the Waters – Growing Pains
Fat Kneel – Prague Spectre
Birdlips – Walk Through Walls
PLOY – The End of Time

“It has a sort of negative connotation — of amateur bar bands,” says the leader of Virginia indie-rock troupe The Beanstalk Library. He doesn’t think the term represents the high-quality music coming out of the D.C. region.

So when Walker talks about the Magnificent Intentions Music Festival — a two-day concert he and bandmate Brian Pagels host in Arlington and D.C. this weekend — he calls the lineup “D.C.-area,” not “local.” He contends that people here shouldn’t care about these performers because they’re local — they should care because they’re good.

“We realized that there were a lot of bands and acts in the D.C. area that were making really good-quality, original music that’s largely not known outside of the area,” says Walker, 36. “We wanted to put on a festival that puts a spotlight on all that.” 

Now in its second year, the Magnificent Intentions festival takes its name from Charles Dickens’ famous quip that D.C. is a “city of magnificent intentions.” Walker says the moniker refers to something he considers scarce in the regional music scene: big dreams.

“One of the things I noticed growing up… is it didn’t seem very much of a hallmark for [D.C.-area] bands to have ambition,” says Walker, who lives in Arlington. “There are a few exceptions, but I’ve noticed a lot of bands… start to get some buzz outside the area, and then they break up.”

Or local artists who want to go national — like dream-pop duo GEMS and rappers Logic and GoldLink — simply move elsewhere.

When it kicks off Friday evening at IOTA Club & Cafe in Arlington, the Magnificent Intentions festival will host about five hours of music that Walker considers not just local-good, but all-around good. Fairfax singer-songwriter Jacqueline Pie Francis opens the bill, followed by several rock bands with promise, including rough-edged groups Short Lives and Spirit Plots and pop rockers Lighting Fires.

Saturday’s lineup at DC9 skews even poppier, with sets from producer Louis Weeks, the jaunty Title Tracks and polished rockers Middle Distance Runner, among others. (The El Mansouris had to cancel.)

“If you’re into what’s going on on a national level musically, these are things that are not of lesser quality than that,” Walker says. “In some cases, these are acts for whom ambition is not a bad word.”

The Magnificent Intentions Music Festival takes place Dec. 4 at IOTA Club & Cafe and Dec. 5 at DC9. Photo by Flickr user John Athayde used under a Creative Commons license.

“Our formula is Hook –> Chorus –> Bridge (repeat x2) –> End. Keep it under two minutes. Gold,” said guitarist Javier Diaz.

Now that the D.C. band has unleashed two new songs from its forthcoming LP — name and release date still TBD — I can happily confirm that formula hasn’t changed much. Both new tunes, “Burnt Tapes” and “Allison,” rip stuff up and put it back together again in tidy blasts. Neither even grazes the two-minute mark.

Diaz says Spirit Plots dropped the two tracks today to promote its July 13 gig with Teen Liver and Notaries Public at Fort Reno. That summer concert series is officially happening this year, as booker Amanda MacKaye announced today. Its lineup of bands has been announced, with a complete schedule still on the way.

Check out “Burnt Tapes” and “Allison” right here, and get primed for Fort Reno:

How does Spirit Plots do it? The band has a simple process, writes guitarist Javier Diaz. “Our formula is Hook –> Chorus –> Bridge (repeat x2) –> End. Keep it under two minutes. Gold.”

The group has a similarly straightforward story it tells with personality. The group first formed as a nameless duo between singer/bassist “Irish Dave” Johnston and drummer Sammy Ponzar. The pair worked together in a number of acts—including local favorites America Hearts—and began to experiment with making music on their own, following what sounds like an unceremonious ouster from another group.

“Sammy and I started playing our first batch of songs after we got kicked out of the band Teenage Aviation by our friend Julia in a King Herod-style killing of the infants,” Johnston writes.

Johnston continued honing his skills as a songwriter, then played his home recordings for Ponzar and Club Scout member Diaz. They pronounced them indie-rock gems. (“Dave writes very short songs,” Ponzar writes. “Maybe it will keep the post-MTV millennials interested.”) Diaz took up guitar. Then it came time to decide on a moniker. “It’s a pretty bad name,” Johnston says of the final pick. “It was either that, or ‘Hot Dog and the Buttcrackers.'”

EP closer “Set Out” demonstrates Spirit Plots’ simple formula at full strength: On the track—a near-epic at more than two minutes long—the band establishes a loose vamp and spends the rest of the song resisting it, while Johnston spouts a series of nonsensical rhymes from deep in the mix. The tune’s backstory is just as confounding.

“On the DVD commentary of the movie The Princess Bride, Wallace Shawn tells a story of how Andre the Giant told him on the set of the film that Samuel Beckett used to drive him to school in an ambulance because he wouldn’t fit on the school bus,” Johnston writes. “This song is about their adventures together.”

Like the EP’s cover art—a picture of Evel Knievel catching air—the EP comes across as a blink-and-you-missed-it moment, designed to be experienced first and figured out later. No breaks divide the songs. “It keeps momentum going,” Ponzar writes. Listeners can rest when it’s over.

Spirit Plots play Galaxy Hut tonight at 9 p.m. with Warm Sun.