Earth, Sir Richard Bishop, James Blackshaw
(Tractor) Earth's shift from ambient-metal dirge-aholics to sensei of twangy, desolation blues has been remarkable. Their thing has always been rock minimalism, but how they've transformed it testifies to Dylan Carlson's disciplined approach to composition, instrumentation, and arranging. Where Earth once meditated in the dense muck, they now do so from the mountaintop. Sir Richard Bishop—now a solo artist after the Sun City Girls' demise—tours the globe as a versatile guitar virtuoso who can slay you with his fleet-fingered playing and between-song banter. His encyclopedic musical knowledge, phenomenal dexterity, and ability to shift from reverence to irreverence while avoiding kitsch always makes for riveting live entertainment. If you ask nicely, he may even play "Esoterica of Abyssinia." DAVE SEGAL

Club Pop: TacocaT, Broken Nobles, Braidstorm, DJ Reflex, DJ Recess, DJ Expendable Youth
(Chop Suey) Last year, Holy Ghost Revival relocated to London, England, to break out across the pond. Their drunken "ugly American" antics garnered them some high-profile press and attracted a few rabid fans, but then the money ran out, their label folded back into its parent company, and the band came home and promptly broke up. Now, Holy Ghost Revival frontman (and Stranger nepotista) Conor Kiley has formed a new band, Broken Nobles, whose sole published song, "Tin Soul Jazz," points toward more subdued, melancholy moods and acoustics than theatrical rocking. Still, it's only one song, and theatrical rocking seems pretty deep in that boy's blood, so who knows? As for TacocaT, rumor is that the band have been talking to Kill Rock Stars, which would of course be the ideal home for them. ERIC GRANDY

Listen to a couple Broken Nobles tracks via MySpace.

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