What? Prior to Raleigh, NC-based outfit Annuals' blaze upon the blogosphere with their kitchen-bangery polyrhythmics and Broken Social Scene-esque six-piece crescendos, guitarist Kenny Florence held the songwriter reins with a project called Sedona, in which he explored his penchant for jazz and '70s prog.

Post-hardcore fave Jim Ward always had a soft spot for his country forefathers, or so the sentiments went last night at Chicago’s Empty Bottle, where the Sparta frontman and At the Drive-In member swapped punk speed chops for lap steel and harp pulls. His screaming pipes, however, only stayed subdued for so long before exploding in hybrid proportions.

Who? Bridging the gap between dolphin squeak and Yoko Ono shriek, Ponytail vocalist Molly Siegel rounds out this genre-bending quartet of Baltimore art-punks, who all met at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

What? Recognized as the band with a tap dancer instead of a drummer, Team Love's flagship kid-spirit act Tilly and the Wall -- see debut LP Wild Like Children, Sesame Street appearance, etc. -- are always ones to disguise their sweet cheerleader-harmonies in tales of disillusionment and unrequited love.

Two weeks into their U.S. tour behind debut full-length Hold On Now, Youngster..., Welsh brat-punkers Los Campesinos! commandeered an indie rock cacophony, reserving no amount of glockenspiel tinks, Korg blasts, or violin pulls to reach maximum heartache and squawk last night (May 27) at Chicago's Empty Bottle.

Blake Hazard brought her Pippi Longstocking smiles and threads to Chicago, batting her eyelashes to husband John Dragonetti's guitar hooks from the duo's heartache ditty, "Peace and Hate," before blossoming into eight out of ten post-marriage-bliss ditties off April's sophomore release, Honeysuckle Weeks.