Wailing guitars and screaming Rock stars have their place in the hearts of many Americans, but they’re certainly not needed to make great Rock music. A quick listen to Hoots & Hellmouth will prove exactly that. The boys of Hoots make music that may be different from what graces Top 40 radio, but it’s far from unique. They’ve fashioned their tunes after stuff we’ve listened to for decades.  

 Although Natural Child coalesced back in 2009, they sound like they’ve been around forever. Almost stereotypically young, the Nashville trio’s influences date to their parents’ record collections and that sense of musical classicism is infused with an appropriate dose of hormonal rage and rebellion.   

Talking about race is always a dodgy premise, but Carolina Chocolate Drops and their music practically encourage such discussions. “It's a very strong statement to say that you're a black string band musician,” said Drops' Dom Flemons in an interview with Fairfield Weekly. “That helps people open up the article or what-not and then they get to find out a whole part of the Folk music history that they might not have known before.”


  

 Australian Pop/Rock band Men At Work hit me — and many other music fans around the world — at just the right time. I was 12 when the single “Who Can It Be Now?” exploded onto the charts. I was intrigued by the group’s quirkiness, but it was singer/guitarist Colin Hay’s voice that initially drew me in.  

In a relatively short time, Joshua Steele has become something of a Dance Pop/Dubstep poster boy in his native England and is well on his way to similar status in the U.S. The renowned DJ, producer and co-founder of Circus Records, better known by his flashier marquee name Flux Pavilion, came to prominence last year with his big UK hit “Bass Cannon."  

Pink Floyd tribute band Signs of Life make their only hometown tour stop this Saturday at the Madison Theater in Covington. The winners of Cincinnati Magazine’s “Best Tribute Band” for 2011, Signs of Life delivers a powerfully authentic experience for its audience.   

Eight years ago, guitarist/vocalist Justin Ringle relocated from his native Idaho to Portland, Ore., and very quickly shifted his stylistic allegiance from the aggressive Rock he had played at home to a gentler Folk sound. He formed Horse Feathers to pursue his newfound acoustic passion and garnered rabid fans and critical acclaim, with reviewers consistently pointing out the wonderful tension between the dark poignancy of Ringle’s lyrics and the expansive beauty of the music that surrounds them.  

 Calling all recently dumped Cincinnatians! The All-American Rejects are coming to town and they know just how you feel. Let the musical therapy begin.  

Baltimore Noise Punk foursome Dope Body introduced itself to the Indie Rock world with the donkey punch that was last year’s Nupping, the band’s first full-length. A chaotic barrage of guitar harmonics, muscular drum/bass pummeling and howling vocals combine in Dope Body’s assault.   

Long before Jack and Meg White made it fashionable, Scott Lucas and Joe Daniels made serious waves as Indie Rock duo Local H. Anything’s possible at a Local H show; tickets for their 2007 morning gig at Cellular Field were available only by finding Lucas on the street and addressing him, “Attention all planets of the Solar Federation, we have assumed control.” The countdown is on.  

The seeds of Chicago quartet Strange Arrangement were planted in 1996, when the members were still in high school. By the end of high school, the band was solidified, but the members headed to Iowa to study at the School for Music Vocation. By 2000, the band members had gone their separate ways to find jobs in music. It appeared Strange Arrangement was finished. But in 2005, all four members ended up in the same city once again — Chicago.  

Flora and fauna have long been Jonathan Meiburg's most beloved fixations. The leader of the Austin-based Shearwater has populated his work with natural imagery of all kinds — especially birds. The band name (which comes from a species of seabird) and the 2004 and 2008 albums Winged Life and Rook are also tributes. February's Animal Joy continues the course on the imagery front, but the music cracks surprising new ground.  

While many bands spend years toiling around, looking for their place within the music scene, Rise Against found their niche over a decade ago. They lead the way in making mosh pit-stirring music with actual substance.   

 Title Fight was started by Ben and Ned Russin back when they were 12 or 13, and the brothers began collaborating and even touring with Shane Moran and Jamie Rhoden soon thereafter. Despite its early start, the group's discography consisted of seven-inches, EPs and other odds and ends until May 2011 when well-connected Punk label SideOneDummy Records released Title Fight’s debut record, Shed.  

Consistently exciting and breathtakingly brilliant Portland Cello Project mixes original compositions with powerful baroque Classical rearrangements of slamming Hip Hop tracks. PCP’s new album, the just released Homage, features cover art that leans in the direction of Rousseau while pumping out Mozart-y versions of Lil Wayne’s “She Will,” Kanye West and Jay-Z’s “That’s My Bitch” and Outkast’s smash hit “Hey Ya,” which one might suspect will have you shaking it like a Gainsborough oil portrait.