The pairing seems a little odd at first glance...and even at second glance. Raleigh's artsy Annuals project an Animal Collective meets Arcade Fire sound, whereas Atlanta's Manchester Orchestra feels more like an emo band in Whiskeytown clothing. They certainly didn't attract the same group of fans and in between sets there was a visible changing of the guard in the area right in front of the stage. Still, the co-headliners actually have a lot in......

The new record for the longest amount of consecutive days without measurable rainfall at Washington National Airport is scheduled to end later today, as showers and possibly a pretty heavy thunderstorm are predicted for this afternoon. But CapitalWeather.com says this rain event won't be enough to make a dent in the area's drought, as the rain will be short-lived and the amounts modest for the most part. Still, it's been a while since you had......

We're soldiering on with the second installment of our local lineup of 2006 favorites. Today we've got picks from Geologist of Animal Collective, Kat of Hello Tokyo, DJ Kaveh Soroush, DJ Aaron Lee of Dirty Sugar, and Chris & Alexia of Soft Complex. Geologist J Dilla, Donuts This album comes pretty close to perfect for me. I like hiphop but i'm not really into the lyrics so the beats have to do a lot for......

By DCist contributor Abby Lavin On any given night, most bars in D.C. would be more fun if you got to pick the music, right? But to convince a bar to let you play iPod-commando (unless it’s Café Saint-Ex on iPod Jukebox night), you’d have to have some serious indie-rock street-cred. You’d practically have to be a member of experimental rock demigods Animal Collective. Fancy that! A member of Animal Collective (Geologist) is going to......

MONDAY >> As far as rock history is concerned, the name Ray Davies is right up there with names like Paul McCartney and Sly Stone. He led one of the 60s' most important bands, The Kinks, and continued to be prominent throughout the years, stopping along the way to have a daughter with Chrissie Hynde, write short stories and a memoir, and get shot in the leg. Now he's touring in promotion of his brilliant......

This is the third entry in this week's Three Stars local music roundup. Check out Tuesday's piece on Death By Sexy and yesterday's take on Barakus. Today Jason Linkins spreads the news about Full Minute of Mercury. Pictures are from Full Minute of Mercury and Earlash, respectively. Full Minute of Mercury For many years, Washington’s most notable rock exports took the form of Dischordian austerity and the post-graduate sounds of the TeenBeat and Simple Machines......