Arin Greenwood leads the arts section this week with a profile of The Nobis, a Japanese electro-pop band that’s restarting its career in D.C. post-tsunami. Mike Madden, Michael E. Grass, and I plot out the first season of H Street, an ill-advised sitcom that’s allegedly in development. David Dunlap reviews the new record by Pentagram, a classic D.C. doom metal act that’s returned with monster riffs but a conspicuous absence of Satan. Casey Rae-Hunter reviews the latest from Joan as Police Woman, from whom he expects more in the age of the indie chanteuse. Tricia Olszewski reviews Heartbeats, which on first glance looks kind of nouvelle vague-y but upon actual viewing is simply an egotistic piece of crap. Chris Klimek has an OK time at Signature Theatre’s Art and a better one at Studio’s The Walworth Farce. And in One Track Mind, Marcus J. Moore talks to R&B singer Maimouna Youssef about her new, bluesy solo EP.

In City Lights: A guide to Record Store Day, a seriously murderous tire, Capital Fringe’s Wattage, William Cepeda on film, Bread and Puppet Theater, and Meghan O’Rourke‘s grief memoir.