If independent music itself had a theme song, it could be “The Verge” by D.C.’s own Bad Moves. Like a lot of entries in the band’s oeuvre, it is a cathartic outburst of crunchy, guitar-driven pop about fighting to hold on to youthful optimism while grinding away at a soul-sucking day job. The band members trade off lead and backing vocals for most of the song’s two-and-a-half-minute run, but join in a collective shout for the “oh oh ohs” and the final verses. The last one goes like this: “I was walking through my life and feeling sick, that’s when/ I started plotting out a course to getting free again/ While making pennies for some psychopath businessman/ I started thinking that I might be on the verge of something.”

“Having worked in the service industry for two decades, it means a lot t

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