Tea Leaf Green plays Rock music, but not the kind you hear on WEBN or the sort that sometimes makes it onto Top 40 playlists. The only new(-ish) artist that even begins to compare to the band is Derek Trucks, and he’s not appearing regularly during the rush hour mix, either.  

Fans who love the music presented at the MusicNOW festival will want to be at the CAC this weekend for a special night of “electro-acoustic Chamber music” by a trio of notable musicians — cellist Clarice Jensen, violist Nadia Sirota and William Brittelle on electronics. In fact, Jensen and Sirota are alumni of MusicNOW, having performed with their ensemble yMusic last year at the fest.   

If you’re looking for yet another sign of the reemergence of American Roots music, look no further than Miss Tess and the Bon Ton Parade. The Brooklyn-based Tess has been around the country and back again, performing her version of folkie Jazz and Swing music from sea to shining sea.  

If you missed the Bright Light Social Hour when it shredded at last fall’s MidPoint festivities, the acclaimed Austin quartet must have missed you too, because the band has notched a slot on their winter tour for another swing through Cincinnati to level any shaky structures that survived the last visit.
  

When taking stock of the various scenes at the forefront of American music’s evolution during the past four decades, Milwaukee doesn’t immediately spring to mind. The fact is that one of the city’s favorite sons, Paul Cebar, has done as much as anyone to introduce hip audiences to the seductive wonder of Latin, African and Caribbean rhythms.  

Sweet harmonies and simple guitar. That is all The Staves need to steal (and break) your heart. The Staves are made up of three surprisingly young sisters — Emily, Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor.  

While Washington D.C., quartet Deleted Scenes uses some elements of Chillwave (obscured, gauzy vocals and muffled dance rhythms), the group puts those elements together in exciting, unpredictable new ways, producing a magnetic brand of Art Pop that is simultaneously catchy and experimental.  

There are parallel realities in Straight No Chaser, the a cappella men’s singing group named simultaneously for Thelonious Monk’s brilliant 1967 album of the same name and the popular bartender command. Fifteen years ago, Indiana University student Don Ponce started a men’s chorus with nine fellow students, dubbing the aggregation Straight No Chaser.   

Just four short years ago, Marbin came together in Israel when two musicians met just when both were in coming-of-age “crossroads” periods in their lives. Israeli saxophonist Danny Markovitz had just completed his military service (he was an infantry sergeant) when he met Israeli-American guitarist Dani Rabin, who had also just been through a rigorous experience, graduating with a degree from The Berklee College of Music.
  

It’s been a wild ride for the Christian Metalcore maniacs of The Devil Wears Prada since forming in Dayton six years ago. The sextet’s 2006 debut, Dear Love: A Beautiful Discord, brought them to the attention of the Christian Metal audience and earned the band invitations to Christian festivals like Cornerstone.  

The Cincinnati-based guitar hero will celebrate his latest work, Arthur’s Garden, with a live performance at The Monastery this Friday. Seating is limited to around 60 tickets, and the show will be pin-drop quiet — Hordinski will perform without amplification — so consider a babysitter.  

JC Brooks sweats Soul, lives and breathes Soul, possesses more Soul in his little finger than the entire Republican party could manufacture for a Detroit photo op in front of the Motown house. JC Brooks and his versatile band, the Uptown Sound, know Soul.   

This past May’s incarnation of Rock on the Range, the annual Hard Rock/Metal fest held in Columbus, Ohio, was far from noteworthy in terms of idiosyncratic performances. Heavyweights such as A Perfect Circle, Danzig and Korn played sets that were so technically well-orchestrated that they offered little in the way of spontaneity or unusual detail; most bands’ ROTR performances were interchangeable with any other night on tour.   

Mr. Gnome is the sound of the Cocteau Twins as guided by My Bloody Valentine and PJ Harvey’s pipes transplanted into Tony Iommi’s body, an Ambient Art Pop hush married to a hardass Shoegaze squall that is equally invested in achingly beautiful melodicism and psychedelically compelling noise.   

Stuart Baker's performances as Unknown Hinson featured equally exaggerated Country songs detailing his stereotypically illegal and immoral lifestyle, which included baby-making, vampirism and murder.