Phoenix’s new album Bankrupt! is yet another pleasant surprise to hit our ears this spring.

The band started receiving international attention with their 2009 album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix and seemingly blew up overnight. A band that used to play small appearances at Grimey’s Record Store in Nashville only a few years ago suddenly appeared on almost every festival line-up across the country. And not just as one of those small names toward the bottom of the line-up – no – in big, bold letters on top.

The band’s fifth and long awaited studio album charms once again with up-beat songs that make the heart smile while raising an eyebrow at the curiosity of the lyrics.

For those of you looking for an album just like Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, S.O.S. in Bel Air is your song. But it’s the rest of the songs that make this album so intriguing. The opening song, Entertainment, lures you in with a fast happy beat that makes you want to jump around your living room. But the lyrics let on to the struggles that come with sudden fame. “Headline from this day on; why do you keep pretending that you wanna let go,” Mars says, giving the impression that one should be happy with the hand they’ve been dealt.  However, in the end Mars admits: “I’d rather be alone.”

The title song Bankrupt! starts with experimental sci-fi tunes that make you wonder if your iPod accidentally skipped to another record. The first half of the song is so completely different from the other songs that it seems a bit misplaced, especially right in the middle of the album. But if you sit through it, the band rewards you with a transition into soft, dreamy tunes that remind of fellow French band, Air. A bit bi-polar perhaps, but it definitely breaks up the record.

Chloroform on the other hand is a slow jam easily mistaken for a love song. However, it quickly reveals itself as a snobby dismissive song. “My love is cruel,” Mars states - chasing after a girl one minute just to be bored with her and dismiss her the next. But hey, at least he wrote a song about her, right?

Oblique City gives the record a dancy finish with melodies that remind of early Phoenix days. Beautifully done, the record takes you through an emotional journey of a curious collection of tunes, leaving you confused and happy at the same time. It’s like looking at a Picasso painting trying to figure it out and learning to embrace the beauty in the deconstructed.

Known best for their dynamic live performances, The Royal Hounds have become a spectacle of the Knoxville music scene within the past few years.

Their new album, most of which they have already tested out on stage, boasts a total of 14 tracks that all revolve around their classic Rockabilly style that mixes country, punk rock, and swing music together into one continuously energetic sound. This trio consists of frontman Scotty Hinds on upright bass, Brian Lee on electric guitar, and Scott Billingsley on drums. A number of guest vocalists and musicians also appear throughout the album such as Ben Dockery on keyboard in "Golden Globe Award" and Mike Spirko on trumpet on "I'm in Love With a Zombie."

I'm in Love With a Zombie opens up with the fitting "Hillbilly Swing," which exemplifies the swing side of their music to the fullest. This one will accurately introduce you to their style if you've never experienced the trio before and will settle you in for what you can expect from the rest of the album.

As suggested by the eccentric album title, this release is filled with quirky lyrics that mix humor with an all around great sound. The extent of unpredictability within their lyrics begins with the title track, which appears third. Lines like, "Her smell it kind of gets to me, and she only has one eye. But all her sexy moaning makes me want to die," will keep you on your toes. The trumpet and melody altogether give the track a Spanish infusion unique to the album.

The dance-rock duo returns to Knoxville with a brand new bag of tricks

“Dance Music” is typically used as an umbrella term for electronically generated, beat-driven music, but somehow it just doesn’t do justice to the blues-based house music of Boombox. Presented by Midnight Voyage Productions, the Alabama based duo packed out Club NV in Knoxville’s Old City on Friday, April 12. The unique blend of Zion Godchaux’s electric guitar and Russ Randolph’s keyboard and synthesizer generated a verifiably feel-good effect judging by the non-stop action on the dance floor during the show and the abundant smiles afterward.

Opening acts White Noise and Boss Awesome started the beats around 9:30 p.m. as the crowd rapidly accumulated. When Boombox took the stage at 11:45, the venue was packed with people ready to move their bodies, contributing to the especially positive vibes. Randolph said of the crowd, “We’re just glad we had people who came to get down. From the first note, Grant (White Noise) had them worked up, already moving and making noise before we even started.” Cheers and whistles erupted as the house beats and alluring flashes of funk and blues picked up the energy and kept it going for more than two hours. Their set included songs from both of their studio albums, including “Round and Round,” “Headchange,” “India,” “Who Killed Davey Moore” and many others. The hyped crowd was reluctant to quit the dance scene even after the music ended and closing time forced everyone out.

Boombox’s Southern tour comes on the eve of their third studio album release tentatively due out this summer, a milestone all the more sweet for them because they also recently made major audio equipment upgrades. New sound monitors and individually controlled mixing consoles have especially helped them hear each other and the sound of the room more clearly and accurately during a live show. “We’re having such good times on stage, just in general, these days,” Godchaux said in the afterglow of the evening. “Our monitor system on stage is the best it’s ever been. We can really hear ourselves. It allows us to be able to really hear the details in the music, and it makes us play better. And it lets us have a lot more fun.”

His music simply can’t be classified. He’s performed country music, grunge, techno, blues, jazz and synthesizer rock and straight-ahead garage-style rock ‘n’ roll.

In 1983, Young’s career took a rockabilly turn when he formed the Shocking Pinks and recorded “Everybody’s Rockin’.”

The album represented a departure from the nonsensical “Re-ac-tor” and the techno futuristic tones of “Trans.” Both those albums flopped and were disappointments for critics.

“Everybody’s Rockin’” was also met with disdain from critics for some reason, but to dismiss this work is a mistake. Young goes back to rock’s early roots as he pays tribute to the likes of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis.

The 10 song collection includes rockabilly standards such as “Betty Lou’s Got a New Pair of Shoes,”  “Mystery Train,”  “Rainin’ in my Heart” and “Bright Lights, Big City.”

Young makes these songs his own, but the LP features six Young originals as he also experiments with the doo-wop sound.

Tracks like “Kinda Fonda Wanda,” “Cry, Cry, Cry,” “Wonderin” and “Jellyroll Man” stand nicely alongside any rockabilly classic.