The Walkmen, a popular mainstay among the indie rock set who played at the 9:30 Club this Tuesday, is no stranger to D.C.—four of the five band members were classmates at the St. Albans School. Their latest release, 2008’s You & Me, was a stylistic departure from the group’s previous work. With more brass parts that incite visions of a far away mariachi band, the group embraced a more reflective sound. On Tuesday the band solidified this direction with a deluge of new songs featuring a more acoustic sound and horns-a-plenty.

Almost half of the set consisted of new songs, not unlike their new iTunes EP. Before the show we were able to meet with Kevin Moehringer, a member of the group’s brass section, to talk about the band’s recording process. The band’s brass section debuted on  You & Me, and has played an increasingly larger role in the group’s music. This summer the Walkmen went to Gigantic Studios in Manhattan to record new material for an upcoming album.

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Cool enough to date Rihanna? The cigar-cross-handkerchief combo says yes.

Who’s been keeping Rihanna company since her split from Chris Brown? According to gossip site Bossip, it’s someone close to us—Georgetown Law student Janero Marchand:

Our source says the two have been spotted at various NYC hot spots during fashion week and were last spotted getting comfy cozy with each other at Da Silvano’s for what was deemed as a business meeting … The two arrived and left separately to avoid the paparazzi as Janero does NOT want to be in the public eye, but it’s a  little too late for that homie.

While Marchand didn’t respond to a request for comment, he has been tweeting that the story is false:

How do you get your shyt taken off a blog? My shorty just called me whilin out on some made up story on a blog that is false.

Man Bossip be making up some bogus ass stories none of that is tru ya’ll it’s not EVEN a pic with me and Rihanna. Don’t believe it!

Before everyone gets excited about the possibility R&B starlets trolling Georgetown for bachelors, even if this story is true, it wouldn’t exactly be Notting Hill. Apparently, Marchand already travels in hip-hop circles, to the extent that he introduced Kanye West to that almost-bald woman he’s dating. But take heart, ordinary Hoyas–you can still get whisked away by a dreamy governor.

I don’t know if it’s possible to come across too many good songs in the span of a week, but this week I came pretty close. Mash-ups of David Guetta, remixes of Bone Thugs, and so many others.

Sadly, I had to narrow down our selection to a couple fabulous party tracks for the weekend: a new DJ Earworm mash, and a Dskotek remix of Bone Thugs N Harmony.

DJ Earworm in front of a giant fly’s eye.

The former’s mash of Sean Kingston’s greatest hits “hits” the mark. It’s a smooth and rather deadly combination of many of Sean Kingston’s greats including “Beautiful Girls,” “I Can Feel It,” and “Sean Kingston.” Say what you will about Kingston as an artist, Earworm’s rendition will make any party bump in sweaty ecstasy.

Real Thugz Jump Wallz.

The second track is a remix of the classic “Foe The Love of $.” You need to let this track grow a little bit on you, let it slowly intensify until it peaks at around 0:49, then shit gets real, real fast. I find songs like this are ideal for groups of drunken college students: most of them will be too drunk to notice the build up, but when it hits they trip balls and get dirt nasty.

Starting Thursday night and rolling on through Sunday, Washington D.C. will be treated to a series of free (FREE!) concerts, courtesy of the Kia Soul Collective Tour. Yes, that KIA, better known for mediocre motorcars than music, mirth, and mayhem.

No comment on the cars, but as for the music, they brought the goods: five of the rockinest, the groovinest, and the dancinest acts in the world, including MGMT, Wale, and Dan Deacon. Just check the lineup, pick your night(s) and show up!

Tickets are free (FREE!) but, fair warning, the MGMT show may cost you your dignity: to get tix, you’ll have to test drive a KIA car. And for the Thursday show, you’ll need to RSVP and have an ID that says you’re 21. But for all the rest, just show up to 3330 New York Ave NE and get on with it!

Hope that everyone’s first week of classes has gone swimmingly, and that you’re all ready for the first (three day) weekend of the year. To celebrate this joyous occasion I’ve got a couple hawtttt trax. The first is from D.C.’s own Kanye-esq Wale (pronounced Wal-a not whale), and the second is a remix from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ newest album It’s Blitz.

Wale gained popularity with his mixtape 100 Miles and Running, more specifically his clever use of Justice’s D.A.N.C.E. for his track W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E. as well as his clever (if at times redundant) lyrical style.

World Tour, the second single dropped from his upcoming album Attention: Deficit, demonstrates the same lyrical maneuverability seen on his previous mixtapes. (At one point he raps, “I did justice to Justice” referring obviously to that first great track, but that’s just the tip of the rap iceberg).

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As campus begins to buzz again with the usual beginning-of-the-school-year hype, I have been doing my best to scour the internet for the best that it has to offer in the world of up-beat music. This week’s findings will keep electro-heads, indie kids, and hip hop fiends equally happy.

The first track is from the infamous Teenagers, well-known for their chauvinistic song Homecoming. Cavaliers of Fun (COF) got their remix on with the French band’s Feeling Better and the result is pure amazingness. Adding a slew of synth drums and piano, COF takes the drier original and turns it into an indie dance club gem.

The second track, part of an older mash-album put together by Montreal’s own Tor, combines Sufjan Stevens’ whimsical John Wayne Gracy Jr. with Pete Rock’s Specialize. The resulting track reminds of Amplive’s remixes of Radiohead, as Tor manipulates the instrumental just enough to fit the Pete Rock’s vocals. The whole album is a pretty rare sample of mellow mash-beatz, so I would most definitely recommend getting your hands on it.

As per usual, I will continue to be vigilant in finding new dance, remix, and party music to make ears tingle and hearts flutter. Until next week, enjoy  and the last days of summer and the first days of classes. God speed.

For a kid who admittedly loves the bigotry of crunk rap almost as much as the tender melodies of indie-pop, the mash-ups of The Hood Internet, for the most part, provide the perfect amount of genre-bending.

The three Hood tracks that I’m posting this week exemplify the crazy skillz that Chicago-duo Aaron Brink and Steve Reidell have for mashing musical polar opposite into pure awesomeness.

The first track that caught my attention was a wondrous mixing of Beirut’s The Concubine and Ghost Face’s Save Me Dear. At first glance this pairing may seem more than a little absurd: bad boy former Wu-Tang member Ghost Face on top of the accordion laced instrumental of a Beirut song—impossible. Do not be so quick to judge. These songs, for whatever reason, meld perfectly together under the graceful touch of The Hood Internet.

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As summer stumbles to a close, and weeks of binge drinking wine at the beach inevitably turn into weeks spent poring over books in Lau, personally I start listening to mellower music, mentally and physically preparing for the onslaught of the school year.

To fulfill your chilled out remix needs I’ve got two perfect tracks: an awesome edit of Nancy Sinatra’s “Sugar Town”, and a little remix of Database and the French Horn Rebellion.

You may remember “Sugar Town” as the song that Zoey Deschanel uses to serenade Mr. Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the indie film to see 500 Days of Summer.

This edit by Sacha Di Manolo takes the care-free pinings of Ms. Sinatra and adds the occasional back-drop vocal samplings that give the song its new title, “Trouble Bubble Piano.” This track is perfect for long soaks at the beach, pool, or deck, and does wonders to precipitate a calm end-of-summer nap.

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After the quintessential robotic “Flossstradamus” start , the initial heavy drums sneak up on the unsuspecting listener, and before you know it the Floss duo throws down the stadium remix of Kernkraft 400 (a song that most reminds me of hockey games at my local San Jose Sharks’ HP Pavilion.) The mix continues unerringly throughout the whole track, keeping it hot and naturally matching the crunk rap of Act A Fool with Kernkraft’s intensity.

I have never been fully comfortable calling this a “remix”—for all intents and purposes it is a mashup between the remix of Zombie Nation’s Kernkraft 400 and Act A Fool.  However, whether this song is labeled a remix or a mash-up, it will no doubt, 100% make grown men cry, women swoon, and ravers of all nations get DIRT nasty. So as always download this booty-shaker, and pump up the volume until your neighbors try to call Metro

Flosstradamus – Act A Fool (Ravestradamus)

Oh, Tombs, you give love a bad name…

The rumors are true—Tombs will indeed be discontinuing their Wednesday 80s Night. According to the Tombs’ Executive Manager Ken Siegrist, attendance at 80s Night was lower than it had been in past years and, with a crop of freshman who can’t claim to be made in the 80s, they’re going to be introducing a new entertainment night.

Siegrist said that 90s Night has started to take off, but they have not yet determined a replacement theme for 80s Night. They will be having “focus groups” with customers and staff members to work out a good substitute.