From Up & Coming:

Trees, PussyGutt, Story of Rats, Same Sex Dictator

(Comet) Story of Rats, the solo project of Ear Venom's Garek Druss, focuses on free-floating, anxiety-inducing drones. It's an esoteric yet important niche in the vast universe of music-making, and the Seattle synthesizer/harmonium wiz does an effective job of triggering intense yet amorphous emotions through wordless, beatless pieces. Portland's Trees produce glowering, sadistic doom metal, somewhere between early Swans and early Earth, but without the blunt, basso profundo of the former's Michael Gira. Boise, Idaho's PussyGutt ooze out a solemn black shroud of aural gorgeousness, which does for orchestral goth folk what Boren & Der Club of Gore do for jazz metal: slows it to a crawl, drastically reduces its sonic footprint, and freezes your blood with its subliminal power. DAVE SEGAL

S

(Sonic Boom Ballard) Jenn Ghetto provided the hushed, haunting female foil to Mat Brooke's sullen mumble in their dearly missed former band Carissa's Wierd; S is Ghetto's long if intermittently running solo project. Carissa's Wierd buoyed her worrying with warm, live band arrangements and lyrics that turned tragedies into small, hard-bitten triumphs. Alone, or with only her own echoing voice doubling back on her, Ghetto's songs as S are significantly darker, cornered and possessed by a kind of nervous twitching anxiety. Which is not to say they don't make for fine listening or that her songs are entirely without hope or grace. Bedroom metal guitar riffing turns into spacey drone by way of chilly, lo-fi production; unexpectedly upbeat drum loops propel even the saddest songs; and throughout, Ghetto's singing is quietly commanding, the kind of voice that can hold a room with a whisper. ERIC GRANDY

The Sounds, Foxy Shazam, Semi Precious Weapons

(Showbox at the Market) We can't get enough of these good-looking Swedish pop/rock bands, can we? Witness the Sounds, whose vocalist Maja Ivarsson earned a coveted spot in Blender's "Hottest Women in Rock" feature, before that magazine folded its print operations. Besides that motivating factor to see them, the Sounds—who are touring in support of their third album, Crossing the Rubicon—write bright, shiny, spotless songs that fill one with a fleeting sense of hope. This is easily digestible, instantly catchy teen music par excellence. I've already forgotten about it. Foxy Shazam's name is better than their hollow, faux-Queen-y rock. Semi Precious Weapons play camp glam rock that's not nearly as sexy as they think it is. "I can't pay my rent, but I'm fucking gorgeous," frontfop Justin Tranter sings in the band's eponymous song. Die now. DAVE SEGAL

Meshell Ndegeocello

(Triple Door) Yes, we cannot separate Meshell Ndegeocello from the 1990s, the time period that contains the peak of her popularity. But unlike the bulk of R&B from that decade, Ndegeocello's tunes, particularly those on her first album, Plantation Lullabies, which was released in 1993 on Maverick Records, transcend their era. Also, unlike the bulk of R&B artists, Ndegeocello can play instruments. (This, of course, is something hiphop producers do not have to worry about, because they do not make music but meta-music.) I will go as far as to say that Ndegeocello is to the '90s what Sheila E. was to the '80s. Both are very talented and very beautiful women. CHARLES MUDEDE

And there's always more in our complete music calendar listings.