Mason Jennings stopped by The Current studios for a live performance and chat with Current DJ Mark Wheat.

Known for her lush, textured voice and skilled interpretation of classical, pop, and jazz piano, Alicia Wiley has steadily built a coterie of fans and admirers in the Twin Cities.

The five-piece, Joey Ryan and the Inks, have been winning fans over with their energetic stage presence since they formed in 2009. Many of the members knew each other through other musical dealings around town and playing in various bands together.

Middle Class Rut is good ol' fashioned alternative rock, a band which has collaborated live with the likes of Alice in Chains and Social Distortion.

If you haven't heard of Canada's Hollerado yet, you will soon. Having already been hand-picked by Jack White to open for The Dead Weather as well as opening for esteemed acts like Andrew WK and Malajube, they also scored big with a viral internet video for their song "Americanarama" depicting 24 actors stacked in a grid dancing out specific patterns, done in all one take with just $4,000. It goes to show you that this Canadian outfit is a resourceful bunch, ready to expand their creativity to a wider audience.

This Twin Cities staple has been making emotionally-fused experimental rock for years, packing venues with capacity crowds entranced by live painting, dozens of instruments and encouragement to sit on the venue floor and become fully absorbed with the sound surrounding them.

You'd never be able to tell that the majority of Buffalo Moon's members are originally from South Dakota (except for lead vocalist Karen Freire, who hails from Ecuador). Their unique hybrid of bossa nova, samba soul, and electropop is perfect for the oncoming winter when you need reminding that summer will, eventually, be back.

This quartet of college-aged guys from California play nicely tinged Southern-style rock and have already made their television debut and played the First Ave mainroom on the strength of just one album.

You would expect the side project of Swedish singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez to sound a lot like, well, Jose Gonzalez. But in fact, Junip was around before any of his solo material hit the market, and after a five year hiatus, the trio have reunited to play a krautrock form of folk with haunting drumkit and keys in tow.

Describing themselves as "saltlick of the earth, blue collar sons of fathers who worked on their own cars in cold garages," the Rockford Mules jam so hard that their bassist broke a string during their in-studio session.