"We wanted to help highlight the indie electro DJ scene here in DC," says founder Miguel Lacsamana, who conceived the site with his partner-in-electronic-folk, Stamen & Pistils bandmate Raul de Leon. Later on, "We decided to expand it a bit further and have it be a broader music blog, D.C.-based but not necessarily D.C.-centric."

Says Lascama, "It'll have your standard blog fare, music and show reviews, interviews, and features." So far, that fare includes a Time Machine interview, a couple podcasts, and a Weezer "Blue Album" birthday retrospective. In the future, All Our Noise promises to develop remixes, podcasts, and video, but hopes to stay low on the self-indulgence. "We won't be focusing too much on the 'scene,'" says Lasamana.

Lacsamana and de Leon recruited a bevy of local contributors (check out sexy shots of portions of their faces here) to help with the project, and got the backing of two local labels: Lacsamana's own Echelon Productions and Shelby Cinca and Håkan Johansson's Swedish Columbia. According to AON, "We all have our own projects going on at any one time, but this is our baby. We’d like to see it grow up and mature into a bright, bouncing youngster."

1. The Coats. I love the Coats. This three-piece does the ol' switcharoo, taking turns on guitar, bass, drums, and keys. They rock hardest on the keys. They sound kind of like the Doors, except good! Boy, do I hate the Doors.

2. Wild Fictions. I missed most of this band's set while buying a chocolate donut from the 7-Eleven down the street. I'm sure Wild Fictions was just as delicious.

3. Fever. The high-concept catch behind this benefit was that every band had to pen an original song entitled "Queen of the Water Dolphins." Fever—first a two-piece, now a new and improved three—was the only band to pull off an ode to Her Majesty that deserves to stick around for future shows.

4. Kitty Hawk. I had never heard this band before. They whisked me away to a tropical paradise of calypso beats and casually tied forehead bandanas. And rock.

5. US Royalty. I'm not sure what it is about this band, but when lead singer John Thornley stripped down from a sweater to a button-down to, finally, a light-pink, deep v-neck tee, the crowd went fucking wild. The key to the band's je ne sais quoi may be their haircuts: all immaculate. There's something almost too polished about them ... they may be androids.

6. Ra Ra Rasputin. Sexy.

7. Sugarcane Crawl. I first saw this band around six months ago. I was immediately drawn to the matching red, wavy mullets sported by two of the band's members (seriously, check out the pictures). I later learned that they worked for Vidal Sassoon, so I was a little surprised that their haircuts were roughly the same about half a year later. They broke a lamp.

Update, 1:52 p.m.: The benefit raised $1,354.

XXL: Are you following the presidential race?
DMX: Not at all.

You’re not? You know there’s a Black guy running, Barack Obama and then there’s Hillary Clinton.
His name is Barack?!

Barack Obama, yeah.
Barack?!

Barack.
What the fuck is a Barack?! Barack Obama. Where he from, Africa?

Yeah, his dad is from Kenya.
Barack Obama?

Yeah.
What the fuck?! That ain’t no fuckin’ name, yo. That ain’t that nigga’s name. You can’t be serious. Barack Obama. Get the fuck outta here.

You’re telling me you haven’t heard about him before.
I ain’t really paying much attention.

I mean, it’s pretty big if a Black…
Wow, Barack! The nigga’s name is Barack. Barack? Nigga named Barack Obama. What the fuck, man?! Is he serious? That ain’t his fuckin’ name. Ima tell this nigga when I see him, “Stop that bullshit. Stop that bullshit” [laughs] “That ain’t your fuckin’ name.” Your momma ain’t name you no damn Barack.

So you’re not following the race. You can’t vote right?
Nope.

Is that why you’re not following it?
No, because it’s just—it doesn’t matter. They’re gonna do what they’re gonna do. It doesn’t really make a difference. These are the last years.

But it would be pretty big if we had a first Black president. That would be huge.
I mean, I guess…. What, they gon’ give a dog a bone? There you go. Ooh, we have a Black president now. They should’ve done that shit a long time ago, we wouldn’t be in the fuckin’ position we in now. With world war coming up right now. They done fucked this shit up then give it to the Black people, “Here you take it. Take my mess.”

Right, exactly.
It’s all a fuckin’ setup. It’s all a setup. All fuckin’ bullshit. All bullshit. I don’t give a fuck about none of that.

Annandale's Strangeland Records won't close its doors until March, but the metal-industrial shop will toast to its end with its last blowout show tomorrow, January 19. The ten-hour affair (2 p.m. to midnight) will feature thrash act Battlemaster (pictured), death metal guys Three Faces of Eve, plain metal dudes High Five for Suicide, and eight other local doom/thrash/punk/indie bands.

Next Saturday, Strangeland will follow up with its final DJ event, bringing in 20 area spinners to show the store off.

I missed Wu-Tang pillar Ghostface Killah (a.k.a. Tony Starks, Ghostface, Pretty Toney, Ironman, and Captain America) last night at the 9:30 Club. But a reader, Jeffrey, caught the show—and took care to document a Killah rumination on women and sandwich cookies. Jeffrey paraphrases Ghostface's rant:

You know, when I'm on the bus, I like to have candy. So I was taking a nap, and I got up from my nap, and went up to the front of the bus to get some Oreos, and they weren't there, and I looked around, and my man had these bitches on the bus, and they ate my Oreos. Bitches ate my Oreos! Bitches ate my Oreos! And then he didn't even fuck them. He didn't get no pussy.

Ghostface then launched into a spirited rendition of "Greedy Bitches," a song that, by my count, says "bitch" nearly 40 times. How has VH1: Storytellers not picked up on this yet?