There are few artists in the music industry that can hold the title “independent” with as much depth as Brad Skistimas of Five Times August. The 26 year old singer/songwriter has passed up opportunities with major labels to go at his career alone. Based out of the small town of Waxahachie, TX, the indie Southerner has garnered enough success in his own stride to ignore the pipe dreams of glitz and glamour so many bands tend to get caught up in. He is a true patriot to the DIY work ethic. His only aid is manager and wife, Kelly, making the two a legit “mom and pop store” in the midst of a large corporate industry. With the release of Five Times August’s latest album “Life As A Song,” the dynamic duo plan to push boundaries and set the standard for what being a truly “indie” is all about. Join discussion...

Lunar Youth’s songs are glorious celebrations of place. Over echoing guitars and cascading synths, Simon Berlin’s laid back, romantic croon tells of youth cults, forgotten nightclubs, and futuristic dystopias. Influenced by the glamorous aesthetic and sound of Roxy Music and the imagist poetry of Arthur Symons, Lunar Youth play slick, sheen pop rooted in young emotion. Singer and guitarist Berlin is joined by his bearded brother Adam on drums and the famed man about town Peter Davies on bass. Join discussion...

Regina Spektor writes the kind of crazy-quilt confessionals we used to hear a lot from 1990s alt-rockers but don’t get enough of these days. The Russian-born Lower East Side piano punk has the European yelp of Björk, the loopiness of Fiona Apple, the too-much-information torridness of Tori Amos and the slanted critical eye of Liz Phair. But none of those girls ever interrupted a song about long-term commitment to uncork a flurry of dolphin noises, as Spektor does on “Folding Chair,” one of the stranger — and catchier — moments on her excellent third major-label record. Join discussion...

American Bread is an absolute revelation. For anyone who digs his more punk, raucous numbers, you may find yourself scratching your head a bit at first. Produced and crafted with help from David Vandervelde, Bare’s vocal performance is his most reserved and restrained to date, but it also shows off a subtle power that can sometimes be hidden when he is shredding a tune like “Nothin’ Better to Do” or “The Heart Bionic”. The aforementioned, “I Need You” is the true standout performance, thanks to the restraint that hints at madness possibly lurking behind the seemingly calm facade of Bare’s vocal. Join discussion...

Headed by film composer David Wingo, Ola Podrida have performed their atmospheric, folk-tinged, majestic noise at sold-out headlining shows in New York, at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Europe, and with like-minded contemporaries including Fleet Foxes and Beach House. Chockfull of unsentimental love songs, Belly Of The Lion pulses with the burgeoning sexuality borne of feral adolescent summers spent in the sprawling suburbs of the South. It’s hard not to be wooed, as the songs gingerly lay to rest the calamities that inevitably befall an adventurous heart. Join discussion...

Free follows Gavin DeGraw’s eponymous second album by less than a year — a quick turnaround by any standard, but its swiftness is shocking considering that it took him half a decade to deliver a follow-up to his 2003 debut, Chariot. Join discussion...

After the initial shock fades, the existence of Christmas In The Heart seems perhaps inevitable. After all, the thing Bob Dylan loves most of all are songs that are handed down from generation to generation, songs that are part of the American fabric, songs so common they never seem to have been written. These are the songs Dylan chooses to sing on Christmas In The Heart, a cheerfully old-fashioned holiday album from its Norman Rockwell-esque cover to its joyous backing vocals. Join discussion...

Hurricane bells used to hang from the tops of seaside trees, heavy bells designed to ring out only when a storm approached. Fittingly, Tonight Is The Ghost, the debut album from the band Hurricane Bells, is a moody affair. A mix of somber undercurrents and chiming guitars, the album is at once plaintive and triumphant, bathed in echo and reverb. Yet there’s a looseness, hope, and soulfulness in its melancholic tempest; a late night thundershower with a new day on its heels. Join discussion...

Assembly of Dust are bringing their “voltaic, raw live performances” to the masses when they continue on a fall tour in support of their critically lauded new album ‘Some Assembly Required,’ which kicked off on September 10th. ‘Some Assembly Required‘ is being hailed as a triumph. USA Today says the band “dazzle” and the album’s tracks “stand tall,” while the NY Times says for the band’s lead singer and frontman “here’s to Mr. Genauer” and saves some praise for the band, “a four-piece that works here with clarity and concision.” Join discussion...

Matt Lowell’s combination of soulful rock sounds set his new EP apart from the new generation of attention grabbing musicians. Matt is set to release this “Second Storm EP” this fall. Second Storm was co-written and produced by Lowell and Crit Harmon, winner of 2008 Boston Music Awards producer of the year. Join discussion...