Tobacco is an electronic musician from Pittsburgh who moonlights as the founding member and wizard in charge of the psychedelic synth-pop band Black Moth Super Rainbow. Tom Fec is Tobacco, and he is mere weeks from releasing his second "solo" album, 'Maniac Meat,' which will come out May 25. The album, featuring Beck on two tracks, meanders and ...

Tommie Sunshine makes people move in many ways. As a producer, remixing guru and DJ he travels the world bringing his own hybrid style of house, rock and pop music to get people on the floor or on the charts. Spinner caught up with him before his SXSW appearance and he waxed rhapsodic about the past, present and future of electronic music. ...

Austin-based singer-songwriter Drew Smith is riding a groundswell of local praise since the release of his debut, 'Drew Smith's Lonely Choir,' in 2008. The record was named as the No. 1 Austin album of 2008 on Austin.com and blends Smith's love of '70s power-pop and classic genres with a smidgen or two of Texas-tinged Americana and blue-eyed soul. ...

Trampled by Turtles are not your father's bluegrass band. The Duluth quintet, led by guitarist/vocalist Dave Simonett, are blazing unchartered acoustic territory with a repertoire of rapid-fire fiddle, banjo and mandolin. This is pleasant, hard-charging, barn-burning music. The lyrics are introspective, and the songs are infectiously raucous. ...

Chapel Hill-based band My Dad is Dead is a rarity in this day and age of modern music. Twenty six years into a passionate musical journey and impressive output, they are still at it. As the post punk-inspired brainchild of Mark Edwards, the band spawned from Cleveland in 1984 with a first draft of guitar and drum machine, slowly purging songs that ...