Ever fantasize about vacationing in the serene English hillside? If the answer is yes, we're happy to introduce you to Skinny Lister, a vibrant, Punk-in-spirit Folk/String band that will appease those idyllic sensibilities.  

Frontdude Grayson Sanders is a classically trained musician and composer with a soft spot for “Stravinsky, Ravel, Bartok, Ligeti and Autechre,” influences that clearly color the band’s 2011 full-length debut, Laminate Pet Animal.   

Robert Earl Keen has always straddled the line between Americana and Country Blues music. But, more than anything else, he is a singer/songwriter who has the ability to weave sonic tales that are vivid, interesting and fun.  

Sometimes it only takes a well-placed reference to bump an artist up to the next level. French-born guitarist Stephane Wrembel was already enjoying an acclaimed career when director Woody Allen tapped him to score the theme of his 2011 Academy Award-winning film Midnight in Paris, which he performed live to the millions who tuned into the ceremony’s telecast.
  

Despite more than 10 years passing since the height of Marilyn Manson’s career, his music has continued to be exceptionally good. His latest album, Born Villain, is full of the same scream-laden, pain-filled AltMetal he’s always done and yet it continues to sound fresh.  

Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Swear and Shake coalesced just a couple of years ago, but from the sound of its debut full-length Maple Ridge, you’d swear (and shake) that this electric Folk marvel has been percolating over the course of a decade or more with a half dozen previous releases under their belts.
  

Fever Fever is a Columbus four-piece (not to be confused with the U.K. Art Punk band with the same moniker) whose “Beautiful Dream” crystallizes the joy and confusion of fresh love in a tight, understated package.   

Apparently, Chris Denney has only been writing songs for the past four years, but he’s clearly channeling a lifetime of pent up creative energy in the tunes he’s unleashing with his Nashville quintet, Denney & the Jets.  

At age 14, Sean Scolnick started writing his first songs, penning Nirvana-inspired missives about authority, school and “stuff that a lot of 14-year-old kids probably write about.” Now in his early 30s, Scolnick doesn't employ those subjects as inspiration anymore. Listening to his story-heavy goulash of Folk and AltCountry reveals nary any traces of Cobain and Co. at all.
  

The Punknecks’ bio doesn’t mince words. Calling themselves “Punky Tonkers,” Jason Punkneck is from Nashville while Polly Punkneck is from Kansas. The duo, along with their drummer Nick Punkneck, are apparently known for “a rowdy show of drinking, drugging, Jesus, smokin’ pot and living between heaven and hell.”   

 In the case of the effervescent seven-piece, The Duke of Uke & His Novelty Orchestra, their inclusion of “bacon” as an inspiration on their Facebook page — alongside the more conventional choices of Motown, Funk, Ragtime, Jazz, Rock and “Popssical” — is telling for multiple reasons.
  

Mondo Generator has been perhaps the most consistent part of bassist Nick Oliveri’s life since 1997. Blending the Hard Rock of his previous projects with more Punk Rock chaos, Mondo has built a strong cult following for itself.  

With two full-length albums and a couple of EPs under their belt, Blackberry Smoke began to attract some attention from Rock music fans who wanted a little grit in their musical gravy in this new century. Then, they began to get bigger and better gigs, opening for ZZ Top and the Zac Brown Band.
  

Experimental live-Electronica/Rock band You, You're Awesome brings MOTR Pub a weird, wild and wonky transition into 2013 with a special New Year's Eve performance.  

In late October, ’90s AltRock heroes The Afghan Whigs played their first show in Cincinnati — the city in which the band formed — in 13 years at Bogart’s in Corryville.