The Seldom Scene – Joshua
Wanted Man – Interlude
Dane Paris – Sharp Minds
Wicked Olde – Old Joe Clark
The Moderate – Late 90s
Memphis Gold – Serves Me Right
Theater of Soul – Memories Of A Time Long Ago
Annette Wasilik and the Wonder Band – You Are Free
Time Is Fire – 100 Pieces DUB 2
Nancy Joie Wilkie – Which Way To Go
Justin Jones – You Saved Me
Rod Hamilton – Zoey
Jan Knutson – Blink
Lo-Fang – Look Away
David King – Razor Sharp + Interludes (Bend Language, Sketches 1 & 2)
K-Murdock – Lunar Illusion
Marian McLaughlin – Your Bower
Hailu Mergia and the Walias – Muziqawi Silt
Anthony G. J. M. – Universe Collide
Swings – New Year

Patuxent Partners – Washington County
ZOMES – Ruminants
Supper Club – Chambray
Fort Knox Five – Swinging On a Rhyme (Instrumental)
Tomás Pagán Motta – Love In Her Lies
Justin Jones – Miracles
Kev Brown – Always (Instrumental)
Be Still, Cody – Wrong Right
Buildings – Everything Is Possible
Lifted – Silver
Sun Machines – Mono Mind
Derek Evry – Wake Me Up
Iritis – Pedal
A Tale Of – Oh, We Owe This to Ourselves
Nitemoves – Ashe
The Petticoat Tearoom – Kundalini
Jonathan Parker – CO86
Girls Love Distortion – Sleepwalking
Dawit Eklund – Lies Are Chic
Masego – I Do Everything (More For Cruisin’)
Otis Infrastructure – Furniture
Oooh Child Ensemble – Diko’s Groove
Extra Golden – It’s Not Easy
Kev Brown – Party People Dedication (Instrumental)
Marian McLaughlin – Your Bower
The Greatest Hoax – Opus no. 28
Marvin Gaye – What’s Happening Brother
Aerialist – Naiad
Wanted Man – Interlude
Baby Bry Bry – Slumzzz
April + Vista – Theme In Adagio
Stranger In the Alps – Love/Afraid
Swings – New Year

Polyon, Blue EP
Recommended track: “Faults”

The latest from post-rockers Polyon is called Blue, but don’t think it’s a sob story. “These songs aren’t about being sad,” frontman Ryan McLaughlin tells CMJ.com. “They are about awareness and an inner shift that occurs as you get over berating yourself for your flaws.” Not that Polyon’s blown-out EP (out Nov. 13) contains zero berating — it sounds like drummer Brandon Korch is angry at his kit. Polyon plays Nov. 20 at Songbyrd.

The Split Seconds, self-titled
Recommended track: “Cutting Out” (video)

The Split Seconds call themselves “classic pop punk,” aligning their sound with English groups The Clash, The Buzzcocks and The Damned. But there’s a lot of Southern California on the band’s debut full-length, too — particularly in vocalist Drew Champion’s sneer. (While you’re scanning The Split Seconds’ tunes, I recommend reading this fascinating article about the so-called pop-punk accent.)

Swings, Sugarwater
Recommended track: “Dust”

The last time Bandwidth chatted with D.C. slacker-rock outfit Swings, they told us they had gotten really into Chicago footwork. Now the band has evidently embraced Auto-Tune, as heard on Track No. 1 from Sugarwater, out Nov. 13. But while the effect forces vocalist Jamie Finucane to conform to a pitch, the slurry singer still sounds uninterested in enunciation. Swings plays Dec. 4 at Songbyrd.

Top photo: Young Trynas, July 14.

Based in Tenleytown and Capitol Hill, the trio (formerly Anchor 3) says it was obsessively listening to the late Chicago footwork pioneer while formulating what would be its forthcoming album, Detergent Hymns, out Jan. 17.

“For me, [“Heavy Manner” is] like a trance club banger,” says bassist Zach Lewton, 20. Guitarist and vocalist Jamie Finucane, 19, says it’s supposed to be repetitive — wavelike. They call it a “straight rip-off” of Rashad, but the listener would be forgiven for not picking up on that.

“Most of the trouble we had with writing ‘Heavy Manner’ was trying to incorporate the footwork beat into one of our songs in general,” Finucane writes in an email. “It’s a beat that comes from black Chicago dance culture, and [it’s] pretty different from anything we ever play, despite how much we listen to it. So it was kind of a challenge to incorporate it in a non-gimmicky and non-appropriative way, without a ‘wink wink ha ha’ kind of vibe.”

While the Rashad influence is unexpected, the lyrics’ inspiration may surprise most of all. “I guess it’s just about weight,” says Finucane. “About emotional weight in general, but through a metaphor of eating a pizza and stuff.” The opening line — “I didn’t know I’d burn my tongue on you, but at least I’m alive” — was inspired by a tweet from Finucane’s girlfriend, who put a minor pizza-induced injury into admirable perspective.

Compared to the rest of the songs on Detergent Hymns, “Heavy Manner” took the most time to finish. “That song had a lot of periods it went through, and it wasn’t really finalized until we actually recorded,” says drummer Dan Howard, 19. “We were trying to stitch together a lot of disparate things for a while,” Lewton adds. But the recording process whizzed by: For the most part, the ensemble tracked it straight through in about an hour and a half at Howard’s aunt’s home in Timberville, Virginia.

When Bandwidth spoke to Swings, the band was back at the Virginia studio, hard at work on whatever album comes after Detergent Hymns. Why the rush? The trio has to be disciplined with its schedule — every member is still in college.

Swings plays an album release party Jan. 16 at The Commune.