Hailing from Charlottesville Va, Kathryn Caine records deliciously realized traditional country bluegrass with a soulful edge that sounds familiar yet somehow very contemporary.

Tags: Americana, bluegrass, Charlottesville, country, dobro, honky-tonk, Kathryn Caine, mandolin

It’s rare that a place like MZ that hears literally hundreds of new songs by hundreds of new artists every month, encounters something this good, that it hadn’t known about before. But it’s really that good. Humbodlt Lagoon, for those of you too fickle, ADD or otherwise, to listen, is pulsing, breathing, stream of consciousness, mind-bending, intellectual, visceral and totally rocks.

Tags: Artist of the Month, best new indie artist, Chi-Town, chicago, Deftones, Fugazi, His Name Is Alive, Humboldt Lagoon, Jesus Lizard, LA music blog, Mercury Rev, Obama, Pavement, Phleg Camp, Shudder To Think, Soundgarden, Sparklehorse, Tool, Tricky

No 8 min., self-absorbed solos. No charts. Jazz Punks strives to serve up classic jazz styles in an electrifying, unique manner – that appeals to the jazz layman as much as the jazz aficionado.

Tags: billie joe armstrong, dizzy gillespie, jazz punks, john coltrane, Los Angeles, punk, the roosevelt hotel