Josh Ritter's latest record flirts with Folk and Rock and leaves AltCountry in the dust, capturing the Idaho singer/songwriter whispering melodies over pianos and acoustics or getting a little dirty with organs and guitars. 'So Runs the World Away' is one of his most lyrically dense records, with the reanimation-themed song "The Curse" leading the narratives. In fact, released in April, the record is a nod to Shakespeare's 'Hamlet.' Ritter references the Bard's canon like it's The Bible.  

Josh Ritter’s latest record flirts with Folk and Rock and leaves AltCountry in the dust, capturing the Idaho singer/songwriter whispering melodies over pianos and acoustics or getting a little dirty with organs and guitars. So Runs the World Away is one of his most lyrically dense records, with the reanimation-themed song “The Curse” leading the narratives.  

Tokyo Police Club will probably deliver another EP of Electro-laced Indie Rock in late 2011, but most of this year brings month-long tours and time for jamming. So says guitarist Josh Hook, who checked in by phone from Austin, Tex., more than 1,500 miles from his home in Toronto.  

Tokyo Police Club will probably deliver another EP of Electro-laced Indie Rock in late 2011, but most of this year brings month-long tours and time for jamming. So says guitarist Josh Hook, who checked in by phone from Austin, Tex., more than 1,500 miles from his home in Toronto. "It might be an album, it might be an EP, it might be whatever the next format is in six months," Hook says about the next recording. "I really like the idea of EPs. Maybe it will be 'Extended Extended.'"  

"I think a lot of people associate skill with show-off-y-ness," The Thermals' drummer, Westin Glass, says by phone from Portland, Ore. "They thought that (bandmates) Hutch and Kathy had told me not to play more complicated parts, but that's exactly what I wanted to play." He's OK with simplicity. The Thermals play a free show Thursday at Mayday.  

Let's flash back to the summer. Westin Glass is sitting in his downstairs neighbors' apartment. He pops in The Thermals' forthcoming release, 'Personal Life,' and awaits their feedback. Perhaps Glass skips around, touching on crunchy AltPop tracks, and perhaps he mentions that Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie produced the record. "Well, you're a better drummer than that, right," the neighbors ask.  

Irony is something The Hold Steady has worn for years — and really, the fact that multi-instrumentalist Franz Nicolay left the band in January seems like a stitch in that overcoat. The designer of such irony is Craig Finn, guitarist and storyteller of the Brooklyn foursome, a group charged on Indie Rock and, especially lately, a touch of Springsteen.  

Irony is something The Hold Steady has worn for years — and really, the fact that multi-instrumentalist Franz Nicolay left the band in January seems like a stitch in that overcoat. 'Heaven Is Whenever,' released in May, finds Craig Finn and Co. trading some Indie Rock muscle for Alt Country kisses while also issuing their usual anthemic and ass-rattling Rock tracks like "The Smidge" and "A Slight Discomfort."  

Comic book conventions empower creators, helping them fly above the seemingly countless submissions flooding the comics industry. These are some boiled-down comments from locals Woodrow J. Hinton III and Josh Blair, both appearing this weekend at the Cincinnati Comic Expo.  

You might already love Sun Green. You might already love her flowing blonde hair, her activist demeanor and her happy place, the Double E Ranch. She is the center of the Greendale “musical novel” and film, both written and produced by Neil Young.