In the hands of the wrong musicians, experiments on ProTools and other home recording software can come out sounding inauthentic and useless, which makes Gojogo a godsend is so many ways; they are a classically trained quartet in the music of several root cultures, including African and Indian, and are passionately devoted to the kinds of sounds that are introduced into musical climates when languages speak to each other.

There was something electric swirling through the Gulf of Mexico in the ’60s and ’70s that bred a twisted psychedelia with some serious stamina; it burrowed in the sticky corners of Houston, Texas and bled inland. Three and four decades after their emergence, Jandek is touring, Roky Erickson (13th Floor Elevators) is out of the mental hospital, and The Red Krayola have carte blanche on Chicago’s incomparable Drag City.

Reminiscent of Blur’s 13, Viva Voce open their third LP, Get Yr Blood Sucked Out, with a subtle groove, exploding first with a resonant bass drum, only to add a semi-audible chant layered upon the slow emergence of a swirling psychedelic guitar riff. Infectious to say the least, it has you hooked after a mere three minutes, nine seconds.

With the name of a poet and the voice of a mountain, William Elliott Whitmore seemed to be bred for folk music. Growing up on a horse farm on the banks of the Mississippi River, it would seem as though the life of this man has culminated itself into a collection of stories that are told over simple banjo or guitar pickings that harkens back to the days of American folk music being played on front porches all across the South.

Few bands excel at toeing the line of an obscure cult institution as well the many incarnations of Wooden Wand. With dozens of unofficial self-released records and a handful of beautifully packaged vinyl, CD, and cassette releases under their belt, this lo-fi folk outfit has found a niche for themselves in a scene that seems to be similar to the underground trading of hand-made packaged noise recordings.

From the ashes of the now-defunct Breather Resist comes Young Widows, and with them, a decidedly less hardcore sound. Though the album was originally intended to be the next Breather Resist release (minus singer Steve Sindoni), the three remaining members felt that the entirely different sound of Settle Down City warranted an entirely different name.

Sharing members with Book of Knots, Red Sparowes, and Made Out of Babies, Battle of Mice may seem like an afterthought, the “red-headed stepchild” as it were. However, A Day of Nights does all it can to prove they’re a force to be reckoned with.

The term “industrial” is as good as any for describing Laibach’s music, but it doesn’t capture the operatic, faintly campy grandeur of their sound.

In an amazingly refreshing yet classic take on ’80s-style punk, the Montreal-based Fucked Up attacks each song on Hidden World with enough reckless abandon for an entire army of Hell’s Angels.

Two years after the release of their third full-length, King Heron’s Blues, Califone present Roots & Crowns, their newest album on Thrill Jockey. As usual, Tim Rutili and Co. offer up some lazy, daydream inspired alt-country tunes that have changed little in the last ten or so years.

Micah P. Hinson arrives trailing a drugstore cowboy background that landed him in jail; whatever he took from that experience, whether wisdom, regret, or qualudes, it seems to have served him well.

Pyramids, the third release from Chicago’s Pit Er Pat, is anything but a smooth, simple ride. A Midwestern middle ground between Denali and later Blonde Redhead, the trio’s post-rock sound is moody and idiosyncratic.