Without Elvis Costello, Ukraine, and six degrees of separation, Poor But Sexy might never have existed.

Singer David Brown and guitarist Jason Caddell met in 2005 when Caddell was part of the Dismemberment Plan and Brown was in the D-Plan offshoot Travis Morrison Hellfighters. But it was an audio-engineering gig overseas that brought them together. The two worked for a political campaign in Ukraine during the winter of 2006.

In their downtime, Caddell and Brown started collaborating. Brown was working on demos, and Caddell offered to help him record.

Another former D-Plan member, bassist Eric Axelson, was also working in Ukraine and invited Brown to play in an Elvis Costello cover band the following summer as part of Run for Cover, an annual Washington charity show. In the Costello band, Brown would play with keyboardist David Durst and drummer Bruce Falconer.

A year later, Brown, Caddell, Durst, Falconer, and Travis Morrison Hellfighters bassist Brandon Kalber recorded their first EP as Poor But Sexy. The following spring, May 2008, Poor But Sexy played its first show at Arlington’s Galaxy Hut.

Now Poor But Sexy is working on its debut full-length album. The group of Washington musicians puts a funky spin on traditional rock—R. Kelly fronting Steely Dan is how the band describes itself.

“Everybody in the band has full-time jobs and other lives,” says Caddell, “so progress is slow, but we’ve managed to accomplish a lot.” The record should be out next spring.

For Caddell, Poor But Sexy is like a part-time job: “This is a very different animal than the band I was in before,” he says. “We all have jobs—getting in a van and going at it for six weeks isn’t an option. We’re content to play a fair number of local shows and regional shows and see where it goes.”

Tonight, the band plays DC9 with the XYZ Affair and Prabir and the Substitutes at 9 PM. Tickets cost $8 to $10. On Saturday, Brown will reunite with his Elvis Costello-cover-band mates—and a few additions—at the seventh annual Run for Cover event at the Black Cat, which benefits the free concert series Fort Reno. This year, Brown, Axelson, Durst, and Falconer take on Bon Jovi as Bad Medicine.

To learn more about Poor But Sexy, check out our full conversation with Brown and Caddell.

Photograph by Doug Kean.

There’s an edge to what the Fairfax-based band Jukebox Serenade does, but it’s all grounded in pop sensibility. From the guitar riffs to singer Lina Esposito’s voice, Jukebox Serenade is a balance between rough and rounded.

“Abigail,” the first single from the band’s debut album, Bliss, charges ahead with abrasive guitars and Esposito’s sugary delivery, and it’s an undeniably danceable track.

“It straddles pop, and it straddles indie, and that’s really where we’re at—in the middle,” Esposito says of the song.

There’s an even heavier edge to the four-piece group’s live shows, which lacks the polish of the studio recording, Esposito says. But you wouldn’t know it based on what the band plans to cover at the Bliss release party Thursday, July 30, at the Jammin’ Java: Rihanna.

“We like the pop covers,” Esposito says. “We want to do more contemporary covers.”

To learn a little more about Esposito and the band—formerly known as Ringleader—check out our Q&A with the singer.

Photograph courtesy of the artist.

Luke Brindley thinks a lot about love. His songs, influenced by the likes of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, talk about “looking for love, I don’t wanna fight / take me in your loving arms tonight” (“Loving Arms”), or how “only love’s gonna tear down these walls” (“Wrecking Ball”). It’s something he knows about firsthand, Brindley says. He and his wife adopted a drug-exposed baby from New Jersey—where he grew up—and according to his personal bio, they did it to “redeem a tragic situation through real love and hard work.” Brindley now seeks inspiration from his daughter and says he finds himself writing about her in his songs.

Brindley has received acclaim from the likes of the Washington Post, Paste, and Rolling Stone and has been graced with awards including Best Contemporary Folk Album of the Year in 2008 from the Washington Area Music Association. When he’s not recording, writing, or playing, he’s running Jammin’ Java, a venue which he owns with his brothers. Brindley is currently recording new music and hopes to release an album this fall.

Brindley has back-to-back shows at Jammin’ Java on July 17 and 18, where he’ll share the stage with Parliament Hill and Seth Glier. To sample some of Brindley’s tunes before heading to the show, check out his MySpace or follow him on Twitter (@lukebrindley) to see what he’s been up to.

Best Local Scene

For more than four decades, the Fort Reno concert series in DC’s Tenleytown neighborhood has nurtured local indie-rock and punk. At free shows, emerging local bands rock out on a charmingly ramshackle stage perched on DC’s highest point. Punk-rock teens, hipster parents, and neighbors sprawl on the grass with picnics, pups, and tots. Don’t miss the Night of 1,000 Cakes, an annual sugar-laced tradition. Mondays and Thursdays 7:15 to 9:30 pm, mid-June through late July; fortreno.com. 

Best Date Spot

Friday evenings, follow the TGIF throngs to the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden’s free Jazz in the Garden concerts, featuring everything from Brazilian to zydeco to salsa. Bring your own spread and blanket or split a cheese-and-fruit plate and a carafe of sangría from the Pavilion Café (be prepared for lines). Fridays 5 to 8:30 through September 11; nga.gov.

Best Jazz and R&B

Dubbed the Wolf Trap of Southeast DC by its National Park Service organizers, Fort Dupont’s free Saturday shows draw impressive crowds—up to 20,000. Concertgoers at the wooden amphitheater appreciate top-tier jazz and R&B—performers have included Herbie Mann and Wynton Marsalis—as well as the leafy park setting. Saturdays, rain or shine, starting at 8, July 18 through August 22; nps.gov/fodu.

Deleted Scenes has a simple principle defining the band: Never repeat yourself.

“It’s sort of the fear of looking at other bands that start repeating themselves and then start to suck,” bassist Matt Dowling says.

It’s an approach that the band took from Radiohead—not a bad band to model yourselves after. It requires jumping from genre to genre, however, which can have some unnerving results to the unacquainted. All the sonic shifts can have a dizzying effect, but it keeps the music—and the band—fresh.

“That’s the big criticism: that we jump all over the place,” Dowling says, “but it makes it fun for us—that’s just what we do.”

The quartet follows in the spirit of eclectic-minded groups of Washington’s past, such as the Dismemberment Plan, one of Dowling’s favorite bands. Still, Deleted Scenes is a band you can’t pin down, preferring to float in various stratospheres of the indie-rock universe.

Dowling’s best reference point? Modest Mouse. You could also say Talking Heads, though after a point comparisons become useless. This is a band forging its own path.

Deleted Scenes released its first full-length album, Birdseed Shirt, in March, and it received a very positive write-up from the taste makers at Pitchfork, meaning it can’t be too long before the band bursts onto the blogosphere.

But for now, Deleted Scenes is Washington’s band. “One Long Country Song” is about the Metro, after all. “It’s one long country song to the Metro / which is five blocks by anyone else’s count,” singer Dan Scheuerman croons. It’s a poignant acoustic track—like nothing else on the record, which is just way the band likes it.

Find out for yourself at the band’s 9 PM show at Velvet Lounge tonight, where it’ll be joined by the Fordists, Weekends, and Math the Band. Tickets cost $8. For the immediate fix, check out our full Q&A with Matt Dowling below.

Kid Architect is still a relatively new band—it formed in Fairfax in 2008. Though the guys are taking baby steps to release a full-length album, they’ve wasted no time recording and releasing an EP, PhilosoRaptor, to introduce Kid Architect into the Washington music scene. The band’s experimental rock sound is influenced heavily by Incubus (vocals) and Coldplay (the piano-infused songs), while bits of other inspirations from its own members are sprinkled throughout.

Mike Douaire (lead guitar), Thomas Bridgwood (piano, vocals, acoustic guitar), Clint Petty (bass), and Tommy Alter (drums and percussion) combined their musical talents after experiences with other local bands. Their four-song EP includes “Mata Hari,” a piano-driven tune about the exotic dancer and World War I spy. This track and three others can be streamed on Kid Architect’s MySpace page, where fans can also order the CD.

On Sunday, Kid Architect will headline the CD-release party for PhilosoRaptor at Jammin' Java in Vienna. Tickets are $8, and the show begins at 1:30 PM.

Read our interview to learn which member played the cello, when new music will be in the works, and their thoughts on the local scene.

Hooray: The Fort Reno summer music series has announced its full schedule! The concerts take place in the field at 3950 Chesapeake Street, NW; the closest Metro stop is Tenleytown/American Univeristy. Shows start around 7:15; they’re a real Washington music tradition, so even if you can’t make all of them, check out the schedule and catch a show in the next couple of months. The series highlights the best in local indie music; plus, what's not to like about sitting outside in the grass on a blanket, catching a concert and doing some seriously great people watching? Click below for the full schedule, and if you're into free music, don't forget to check out our guide to free summer concerts.

Get the full schedule below.