With a fragile voice and unwavering emotional clarity, Julia Stone dives into the chasm between our dreams and reality on her sophomore release, "By the Horns."

Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside played at Off Broadway last night, and proved that despite just releasing their first full length album last year, they are a band to watch.

On Thursday night, Gregory Alan Isakov performed a well-attended show at the Old Rock House. Behind him stood a projected, sepia-tinged, photo depicting a rural youth listening intently to a large, conical, medieval-looking, horn-shaped hearing device.

Down the stairs and past the bar, a screen on the Duck Room stage displayed a jerky psychedelic image resembling a collage of contorted faces.

Despite the intimate crowd at Off Broadway Tuesday night, the Spring Standards were able to generate a real party atmosphere on the dance floor.

There is nothing conventional about the Polyphonic Spree. Sonically they throw down with as many as 22 members simultaneously jamming, dancing and prancing about while creating layered grooves that are part gospel choir, part indie rock show and part cultish love-fest.

Ten years after trading in his gloves for a guitar, former Mid-South division middleweight champion, Tupelo, Miss. native Paul Thorn was offered a record contract and began his career as a touring musician. Specializing in raw and honest Southern rock and blues, Thorn has a penchant for translating his personal experiences into easily relatable tales that come from the heart.

The Mad Titans did their share to justify opening for the extravagant Mucca Pazza at the Firebird on Friday night, but it wasn't easy.

What happens when you mix one part Spiritualized, equal parts Pavement and Thurston Moore, a dash of late-'90s college radio and shake with a trumpet? Just another night at Off Broadway, where assorted and sundry independent music shook the rafters courtesy of Conduits, Cymbals Eat Guitars, and headliners Cursive.

Omaha-based indie-rock band Cursive came through St. Louis on Friday night and put on a high energy show at Off Broadway.

Bo and the Locomotive started the night off at the Gramophone with a swinging, mostly instrumental tune. From song one, I realized that the tall, guitar-wielding Bo Bulawsky and his band aren't into rushing a melody.

After all these years, beers, miles and piles and piles of country songs and stories, the Waco Brothers and Paul Burch really shouldn't be having so much fun. That they are is reason enough to celebrate their new collaboration.

It could have happened in any dimly-lit bar or club over the past 33 years. Mission of Burma, the iconic post-punk power trio from Boston, could have played any number of venues that have come and gone in St. Louis, but they didn't. In that sense, their show at the Firebird last night was indeed historic.

The Blind Eyes and Morning Teleportation rocked Plush as the artists for this year's lineup for LouFest rolled across a screen.

The Firebird was crowded with eager indie music lovers ready to witness two separate duo acts take the stage.

Alina Simone
"You Must Go and Win"
Faber & Faber

By her own admission in the essay collection "You Must Go and Win," Alina Simone has a very small fan base, and that fan base is comprised mostly of depressed Jews. Not a terrible fan base to have in my opinion, as it could potentially include Larry David, Woody Allen or pre-dental veneers Ben Stiller.

I'll be the first to admit that I was definitely 100% more interested in seeing the War on Drugs Saturday night at the Luminary Center for the Arts than headliner, Sharon Van Etten.

A late start and delays getting into the Luminary Center for the Arts did little to dampen the crowd's spirit. Sharon Van Etten held the crowd rapt with her confessional songwriting and layered harmonies. Co-headliners the War On Drugs, from Philadelphia, started off the night.

Hot off his newest release "The Ones Who Wait," Denison Witmer brings introspective, acoustic indie-folk to St. Louis' the Firebird on Saturday, March 31 in support of William Fitzsimmons.

In her book "Bossypants" Tiny Fey describes "30 Rock" co-star Alec Baldwin's "Irish Negotiating Technique" as Baldwin saying "they offered me more money and I told them to go f**k themselves." Baldwin might have too much money to care by this point, but his technique is not terribly different from that of Calvin Johnson, frontman of the Hive Dwellers.

An icon to hipsters, a bellwether to outsiders and a sincere supporter of underground music, Calvin Johnson has more than made a name for himself. His latest musical project, the Hive Dwellers, is about to do the same.

The wildness in the music of Great Lake Swimmers isn't what we've come to expect from indie bands, even of the folkier persuasion. It's a wildness of the heart, not of sound.

The Head and the Heart brought an abundance of sing-along sunshine from Seattle to St. Louis on Sunday night at the Pageant. Joyful attendees stomped, clapped and swayed along to the sweet folk-rock and harmonies offered throughout the evening.

For a while now, Cherokee has had a strong reputation for supporting the visual arts with its galleries, outdoor festivals and street art. Yet the proliferation of music venues and recording studios, including the five month-old Texas Room, is making Cherokee an increasingly good place to keep your ear to the ground for new homegrown sounds.

The Head and The Heart took the Pageant stage in front of an enthusiastic crowd, filled with fans both young and old.