If you get out to nightclubs in the Twin Cities at all, there's a good chance you've heard Karen Vieno Paurus play and sing. She's often seen with Lili's Burlesque Revue as the "Sultry Chanteuse" and has been involved with a few MPR "Stage Session" shows at the Fitzgerald Theater.

Most people who turn 21 are excited about their new legal ability to consume alcohol. The three 21 year olds from Liverpool, Miles Kane (guitar), Joe Edwards (bass), and Greg Mighall (drums), who make up The Rascals are thinking bigger. As former members of The Little Flames, they opened for bands like The Coral, The Zutons, and their new best friends, The Arctic Monkeys.

Armed with a multitude of instruments, laptops, video, paint and canvases, the environmentally-friendly local band Cloud Cult are making their second trip to SXSW this year.

Were you one of many people with the "Eanie Meany" earworm? With a repetitious chorus of "eeeeennnneeeee meeeeaaannniieee," maybe you were watching the 2006 World Cup where encountering Jim Noir's catchy soccer anthem "Eanie Meany" was next to impossible.

Singer Nick Urata founded DeVotchKa nine years ago with the idea of mixing together the music of east and west. He did not found it with the hopes of selling music to McDonald's. The band turned down a request to use one of their songs in the fast-food giant's commercials.

Glasgow's Sons and Daughters recorded This Gift in a house in the village of Adfern on the west coast of Scotland. The band's Adele Bethel said, "We wrote and practiced all day and played poker and got drunk at night." Sons and Daughters cancelled a late March Minneapolis performance, so your best chance to hear them live is right here.

It is likely that every story you ever read about Jesca Hoop will mention this -- she got her big break while she worked as a nanny for Tom Waits' kids. He passed her demo on to some influential people in the business. While it might be hard for Hoop to escape that biographical bullet point, her music certainly stands on its own. Her SXSW appearance is her second on The Current.

With The Raveonettes' fourth CD Lust Lust Lust landing on the Billboard Top 200 chart, the band has secured their position as Denmark's most popular musical export ever. Sune Rose Wagner began writing the album at a rehearsal space in London, where he churned out seven songs in the first day. The result is 14 songs that his cohort Sahrin Foo describes as "direct and in your face."

Local bluegrass band Pert' Near Sandstone performs in studio to promote elementary music fundraiser at First Avenue.

David Hanners and Bernie King are among several Twin Cities musicians are gathering on the anniversary of Townes Van Zandt's birthday, March 6,2008 at Lee's Liquor Lounge to pay tribute to the late songwriter.