Joshua Black Wilkins The title of Cory Branan's new album, Mutt, is the same word he uses when people ask him to describe what kind of music he plays. "It's graspable, you know? Like, what kind of music does Tom Waits play? He gets to do what he wants, he pulls from whatever form, roots music or klezmer or whatever," Branan tells Spinner. ...

Brian Danielson Justin Ringle has come nearly full-circle on Cynic's New Year, the new album from his indie-folk band Horse Feathers. Ringle started playing quiet, rootsy songs when he moved from Idaho to Portland, Ore., to give himself a break from the loud-all-the-time rock-band dynamic he had spent years navigating. "I kind of burned ...

Gilbert Carrasquillo, FilmMagic With no official duties at SXSW, the Roots came to party Saturday at Mohawk, blowing through 90 booty-rattling minutes of hip-hop, soul, funk, rock 'n' roll -- look, they can do it all, OK? Serving as the musical anchor on 'Late Night With Jimmy Fallon' has turned the Philadelphia hip-hop band into one of ...

Steve Gullick Like most young groups, the gritty alt-rockers Band of Skulls spent time opening for bigger acts after releasing their 2009 debut, 'Baby Darling Doll Face Honey.' The English trio regarded those support gigs as an excellent learning opportunity. "We did quite a big show with Muse, and seeing how bigger bands on a huge tour, ...

Tom Oxley When the Ting Tings came home after three years on the road, it took bandmates Katie White and Jules de Martino months before they felt they had decompressed enough to write songs for the follow-up to their 2008 debut, 'We Started Nothing.' After feeling normal enough to start again, the band spent a dreary eight months holed up ...

Anna Webber In between Son Volt albums, Jay Farrar likes to collaborate with bygone American icons: First Jack Kerouac, and now Woody Guthrie. Farrar's latest project, 'New Multitudes,' involved setting previously unrecorded Guthrie lyrics to music with My Morning Jacket's Jim James (in his Yim Yames persona), Centro-matic's Will Johnson ...

Justin Hollar Although School of Seven Bells lost one third of the band when Claudia Deheza left after 2010's 'Disconnect from Desire,' it barely slowed Benjamin Curtis and Alejandra Deheza (Claudia's identical twin, who goes by Alley) as they about-faced into 'Ghostory,' the group's latest, due Feb. 28 on Vagrant. School of Seven Bells ...