Taking cues from the post-punk era, local quintet The Rope have planted their dark bass-driven sound in the Twin Cities music scene. Formed in 2010, The Rope could easily be mistaken for a band from the 1980s.

Brooklyn singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur has released "The Graduation Ceremony," his first solo album since 2006. While also working on new music, he's pursued an art career with gallery openings in Paris as well as an interests in politics -- particularly the Occupy Wall Street movement.

When indie music first started gaining ground in the early 2000s, one of the most successful bands in receiving mainstream attention was Mates of State, the married duo of Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel. Now they are back with their seventh album in a career that spans 14 years.

Ximena Sarinana released her critically acclaimed debut album "Mediocre" in 2008 and cemented her reputation in both Mexico and the United States with two Latin Grammy Awards nominations and an American Grammy Awards nomination under her belt. She's credited with helping to bring back the style of nueva cancion, a genre of Latin-folk popular in the 1960s-80s.

When you hear the word "design," you might think of iPods or I.M. Pei: artfully-conceived objects, be it architecture, gadgets, automobiles, or clothing. In this edition of Policy and a Pint from Monday night, our panel discussed the potential human impact that design and aesthetics can make.

Belgium's Black Box Revelation is a two-piece that sounds more like a ten-piece rock band. With layered guitars and booming drums, BBR's garage rock explodes with riffs and hooks.

After college at Northwestern University, Rachael Yamagata got her music start with Chicago band Bumpus. After six years of touring, she decided to go solo releasing her first self-titled EP in 2003, which she followed up with her first full-length "Happenstance" a year later.

tUnE-yArDs is the moniker and musical project of Merrill Garbus. Influenced by her experience and travels in Africa, she became interested in Afrobeat. Combined with her new Sony ICD-TK digital voice recorder and a new laptop, Garbus began recording melodies, noises, and lyrics which led to the release of her first album BiRd-BrAiNs, which she recorded on recycled cassette tape.

Major contributors to the roots-based musical hotbed that is the Twin Cities, Pert' Near Sandstone fuel the flame with their high energy old-timey tunes.

Mike Doughty led the influential band Soul Coughing in the 1990s known for its idiosyncratic sound rooted in improvisation. At the turn of the last decade, he made his way into the solo scene, soon signing to Dave Matthews' label ATO Records.