When local indie-pop singer Olivia Mancini decamped to New York last fall, it seemed as if D.C. had lost yet another artist to that giant creativity magnet to the north. Not so, says Mancini, who is playing at the Black Cat on Friday with her band, The Mates. She swears she is just there to [...]

The Guardian asks a question that followers of indie rock in D.C. should think on: Has the Internet killed local music scenes? Hazel Sheffield writes:

The idea of the local scene has always been an attractive prospect, playing on tribal mentalities and a very human desire for order. It has helped define emerging music, and in [...]

To judge by their tightly wound, country-tinged pop songs, Olivia Mancini and the Mates aren't shorting their craft. But even the most polished band needs its R&R, and this local act—featuring two former members of Washington Social Club—loves to curl up with a good book. That's the impression, at least, left by "Graphology," a rollicking gem [...]