Whether he's banging away on an acoustic or spinning sinewy sounds on guitar or keyboards with the assistance of a nearby outlet and an appropriately volumed amp, Dan Tedesco writes and plays with the heart-sleeved sensitivity of the best Folk troubadours. 

Just how good can music be without a healthy pinch of myth-making pixie dust sprinkled right over it? “Not very,” is how Winston Yellen would probably respond.

 One minute the Hussy is thundering like the bastard twin of The Stooges and The Nomads and the next it bops around like The B-52s if they'd envisioned "Rock Lobster" as a brutal, lo-fi Punk manifesto.

Call it Chamber Pop, Baroque Rock, Orchestral Rock (as many have) or whatever, but the characteristics are thoughtfully introspective lyrics, naturalistic vocals, sumptuous melodies and arrangements featuring string sections, brass and exotic coloration from resonant acoustic instruments.

 After a handful of consistently diverse indie albums, Portugal. The Man got the call from the big leagues and delivered a world-class major-label debut with 2011's glam-charged In the Mountain in the Cloud.

One gets the sense that John Darnielle would completely lose it if he couldn’t write songs. Seriously, is there anyone on the current musical landscape who seems to get more out of unloading his fertile imagination than the prolific Mountains Goats ringleader?

Doom Metal five-piece Windhand is still a very nascent project, but it has a good shot at becoming a big name in its niche, since top-notch Metal label Relapse already signed the band in March.

It is both easy and hard to define the music of We Were Promised Jetpacks. At times Big Beat Rock and other times resembling energetic Euro Alternative Pop, the one thing the Jetpacks are not is minimalist.

Patterson Hood, one of the most prolific and literate rockers of the last decade, rolls into Newport next week with his eclectic solo band, The Downtown Rumblers.

 Josh Tillman is a funny, hyper-articulate guy with an absurdist streak that makes itself readily apparent in interviews and between-song live-show banter.

Upstart two-piece (and, when live, four-piece) Pure Bathing Culture — led by old friends, romantic partners and Vetiver members Sarah Versprille and Daniel Hindman — filled the genre box on its Facebook page with “New Age/Slow Dance/Adult Contemporary/Spiritual.”

Death Grips is a primal force of nature that seems built to subvert. Entering the world of this experimental Hip Hop trio is akin to being trapped in a demented, all-immersive video game.

There are more than a few surprises in the long and fairly illustrious timeline of Nappy Roots. The Hip Hop collective first assembled in Bowling Green, Ky., in 1995, and then spent the next four years honing their craft and sharpening their skills. 

Everybody Loves Sausages, the 21st (or so) recording in the Melvins’ improbable 30-year existence, features 13 cover songs that, according to founder/frontdude Buzz Osborne, “will give people a peek into the kind of things that influence us musically.”  

The Lumineers’ upward trajectory began in early 2011, when they secured management after posting a YouTube video of a performance of their future hit single, “Ho Hey.”

Passion Pit’s jaunty Electro Pop and frontman Michael Angelakos’ perpetually high-pitched vocals belie troubling subject matter that ranges from relatively common stuff like love-life problems and family issues to darker concerns like depression and substance abuse.

 About 10 years ago, Col. Bruce Hampton played the now-defunct Barrelhouse here in Cincy. Now, Hampton brings his latest band to Stanley’s Pub, following last year’s release of the documentary movie, Basically Frightened: The Musical Madness of Col. Bruce Hampton, Ret.

New Found Glory is a rarity in contemporary music; a band that attains iconic status without succumbing to compromise or internal fracturing.