Alt-Rock 2017: DC101 DJ Mike Jones Reveals His Favorites

WASHINGTON, DC — If you're into alternative rock music, there's a good chance you often listen to DC101 (WWDC). And if you often listen to the station, there's a good chance you've heard disc jockey Mike Jones. He has the daily 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. slot, and during that time frame the 10-year veteran of the station regularly asks for feedback from listeners about what they liked and what they didn't regarding this song or that song. Simply put, he's a music junkie who genuinely wants to know.

Jones, 37, also knows what he likes and why he likes it. He already has heard many songs from yet-to-be-released albums, and he likes the way these final three months of 2017 are shaping up in terms of quality cuts. We asked him last week to list his favorite alt-rock songs of year — so far, anyway — and he enthusiastically agreed. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts. Also, like us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

He came up with nine, and here they are, in alphabetical order (Jones liked them all, so there's no ranking):

BLEACHERS "Don't Take The Money"

Jack Antonoff from Bleachers, he could have been doing huge fun things, but then he said. "You know what, I want to do my own band," and he formed Bleachers. They had a lot of big things on their first album, Strange Desire, and now, Gone Now It's the second one, the follow-up one. He came up with this first single, Don't Take The Money, and he was just pouring it out there like, "You know what? Don't go and do things people tell you to do, do it because you want to. Don't just go for the cash grab," and I think he was kind of saying that about certain people in his life — he said it was about Lena Dunham but probably also himself in a lot of aspects, too. There's going to be a lot more to come from Bleachers, as well, for sure. Jack Antonoff is one of those guys who everybody wants to work with. He produced Lorde's new album; helped here write a bunch of songs; same with Taylor Swift. When he puts out music, you know he's gonna do it right.

CAGE THE ELEPHANT "Whole Wide World"

It's not even one of their songs. It's actually a cover of the Wreckless Eric song whole but Cage The Elephant did it during their acoustic tour, and they put it into their set for something different. They didn't change it up all the way, but I'd say they sprinkled their own Cage The Elephent magic in there. It's just something about the way they did that song. It came out in 1979 first but it's still so fresh and so relevant for 2017. Cage The Elephant kind of gave it a fresh kind of paint, you know, and it just kind of stuck out for me as one of the best songs this year.

DAN AUERBACH "Shine On Me"

Dan Auerbach, the Black Keys singer, this year he said he was putting out a solo album which he was working on with a bunch of his friends in Nashville, and we weren't really sure what to expect from it. The song is like mid to late 60s, kind of trippy, fun and folksy. I think Dan, he may have had this one for a long time in his back pocket and may have thought, "You know what? This just isn't right for the Black Keys — this is something I want to do," and it's a song that may have gone under a lot of people's radar this year. I don't know how many people know that Dan actually put out a solo ablum. But this is one, Shine On Me, that if you're a Black Keys fan you should give this one a listen and see what Dan does when he's writing for himself.

FOO FIGHTERS "Make It Right"

The just put it out, on the 15th, on Concrete and Gold. There's a lot of standout songs on that album, but this is the one when I gave it my first couple of listens, Make It Right, where I said, "Wow." This one I think is the best on on there. Its classic Foo Fighters. It's got that drive to it, and i feel like this one could be the real shining star of the album. I mean, of course, there are five or six others you could pick from in there, but for me, Make It Right is the one that grabbed me.

THE KILLERS "The Man"

Brandon Flowers, he said this song was about himself, and it was about when he coming up in the early days of The Killers and he was kind of cocky and arrogant, and you listen to the lyrics and you say, "OK, I can see that, of course," but it's also such a fun song and you can't help but sing along to it. And you listen to the lyrics and you're like, "Yeah, this a windows-down-blaring-it kind of song."

LIAM GALLAGHER "For What It's Worth"

I don't know if Liam had the success that he wanted to between Oasis and now with his band Beady Eye. He's coming back strong with a new album next month called As You Were. This song, for what it's worth, is simple and it's slow and it's Liam kind of, well, it seems to me like an apology to his brother for all the fighting they've done. But it's also saying to the world like, "Look, I know I've made some mistakes and we hit some speed bumps but I'm doing the best I can and this is what I know and this is me." I thought that song, it just really sticks out for Liam really opening up, and we've not heard him do that in a long time.

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE "The Way You Used To Do"

You know what? It's Queens Of The Stone Age doing their slick rockabilly as only Queens Of The Stone Age can do. And and Josh Homme, with this new Villains album, I know he spent a lot, of time working on this thing. This is a good play for Queens Of The Stone Age, 'cause the last two albums have been uh, they've been good, don't get me wrong, but they've been more of a hardcore sound for the Stone Age band. Whereas this one, it has a much broader appeal and it's like it's inviting everyone to the Queens Of The Stone Age party.

SIR SLY "High"

Sir Sly, their first album was You Hauut Me, and I thought Sir Sly had some really good songs in there, but with this song, High, they went in a different direction and it's kind of more, well, it has more of a mainstream appeal to it. It's about their singer, Landon (Jacobs). and the first time he tried weed. It was such a mind-blowing experience for him that he had to write a song. And actually, this song, the guys had written a full album before they did this new one, which once they wrote High they said, "No. You know what? We've got to throw the other stuff away." This was the the basis of their newest album, Don't You Worry, Honey, and I think the guys made the right choice here, 'cause it's really fun and it's got a lot of eyes on Sir Sly now. It's taken them to a whole new level because of it.

WEEZER "Feels Like Summer"

How can you say anything but greatness about this Weezer song? It's Rivers Cuomo doing what he always does. He writes these fun, happy sounding bouncy songs, and then you read the lycis and you follow along, and this one's talking about a guy that lost his girlfriend or his wife, whoever it was. Someone died in his life, and it's like, "Oh. Damn, dude. That's some really heavy stuff right there." It's Weezer doing what Weezer does, and I'm really looking forward to next month when their Pacific Daydream album comes out. They had a lot of great songs on the last one, the White Album, and I feel like they're continuing that California surf rock vibe once again with what makes Weezer really Weezer on this next one.

Asked for his "lemon" of the year, Jones went with Everything Now, the Arcade Fire album. "I'm just like eh, it's not really my thing. I hear it, and it doesn't really do it for me. It's OK I guess. It's there. But i just don't see the mass appeal to it. I mean, there was so much hype about it and it just fell flat. It really did."

In exchange for his insights, Jones asked for a plug, so here it is, per the station: Click here for information about the DC101 Office Party, Nov. 29 at The Anthem, 901 Washington Ave., SW, Washington DC. Acts include The Lumineers, J. Roddy Walston and the Business, Joywave and Barns Courtney. Presale tickets will be available 9-28 from 10 a.m-10 p.m. To get the code, sign up for the DC101 Newsletter HERE. Tickets officially go on sale on 9-29 at 10 a.m.

Photo courtesy of Mike Jones