Aside from the trial run last week, this will be the first entirely local show to take place at The Crocodile – and it's a good one, with four solid bands filling out the bill.

I've thoroughly enjoyed Hotels in the past, even writing of one of their recent shows (making the Joy Division comparision months before they killed it at Factory Records Tribute Night last month):

They have an electronic, keyboard-heavy sound that seems influenced by OMD or Depeche Mode and whose singer, Blake Madden, reminds me an awful lot of Ian Curtis (at least his harmonies do) – albeit more stable and less self-destructive.

Hotels was the first band this night to get a few people dancing. They really have emerged as a very good and very consistent rock band. Their sound often has some surf guitar parts to compliment they keyboard parts. They had just gotten a new keyboard player… who seems to have grown more confident as he’s spent more time in the band – and on stage. While seeming nervous at first, he started to get more comfortable on stage and the band got better and better.

New Faces bested Fleet Foxes (and everyone else) to win TIG's annual reader's poll. They have tons of fans, and it's easy to see why. I hadn't seen one of their sets since Capitol Hill Block Party last summer, where I noted:

They're not rewriting rock or doing anything innovative (but who is these days anyway?). They borrow liberally from The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, and Interpol and are not subtle about it. To be fair, though, those bands also cribbed extensively from the Velvet Underground, Gang of Four, and Joy Division while finding their own sound. But hey — the New Faces shouldn't be penalized for listening to CDs, and they certainly shouldn't be penalized for listening to the right ones.

…

Their influences are obvious but they do them justice.

What do you have going on for this Wednesday night?