Lingering somewhere around Minnesota, the Dakotas and Wisconsin, which is where they’re from, this month and the next is a musical threesome with an eccentric indie folk sound. Their thick, sweepy layers of music and lyrics have reached out like tentacles ensnaring music fans like those at Minnesota’s public radio program The Current and fellow musicians like Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, who mixed their debut out this month, In Difference to a Broken Back. The album was actually inspired by singer/bassist Jason Sunde’s struggle with a back injury a few years ago. more ›

Local band The Georgian Company rose from the ashes of the promising alt-country act Just Guns. Just Guns released one EP in 2004 and a full-length in 2006 before calling it quits in 2007. Four of its members now form an integral part of The Georgian Company -- brothers Topher and Travis Hyink, Phil McJunkins, and the versatile George Irwin who is the primary vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and also manages Pants of Fate records. more ›