Headbanging, warbling, meaning it.

There's always that guy, the one who doesn't say much, but when he does, the room stops and records scratch and all ceases in order to hear what's being said. Matt Kivel is probably that guy to his friends. His quiet, beautiful brand of singer/acoustic-guitarness sucks you in and demands that you listen...at which point, you notice the wicked-depressing and sometimes graphic lyrics. Many of these allude to death, and while he certainly comes off as a bit Elliott-Smith-ish in the final analysis, let's hope he chooses to live and to keep making pretty music. His voice, unlike Mr. Smith or really most singer-songwriters, seems equally at home in a high tenor (almost counter-tenor) range as well as a baritone range. That in itself is worth a listen.

Oozing Wound had me at their name. Then, they had me at their gloriously creepy cover art. And, upon listening, they just straight-up have me. It's thrash metal that's, in their words, "by and for people with a desire to slay." And the riffage is undeniable. As someone who's listened to metal somewhat sporadically over the years, my general beef with the stuff I didn't like was that it didn't rock hard enough, plain and simple. And when something did rock hard enough, the subconscious headbanging that ensued confirmed it. Oozing Wound's debut "Retrash" is such an album, as my head and neck region will attest.

My first encounter with Nine Inch Nails was likely similar to that of most other fans: I fell in love with the loudness, the violence, the despair. Lyrics like "I'm the one without a soul/I'm the one with this big fucking hole" made me say, "Yeah, that totally describes me!" (It didn't, remotely.) And then, admittedly, I didn't keep up with Trent and Nine Inch Nails as well as I could have, and the next thing I know, "The Hand That Feeds You" is coming out of my radio and I'm all, "What HAPPENED to you, Trent? When did you stop singing like you mean it?" But with his latest, "Hesitation Marks," there's some of the Nine Inch Nails we fans loved: his amazingly tidy production value, and how much better his voice sounds when he doesn't try so hard. And there's something new: nuance and maturity. And best of all, it sounds like he means it.

Haley Fohr is the imposing alto behind Circuit des Yeux. And, at a young age and in a vastly different decade, she's managed to channel some of the greats of 20th Century avant garde music, bringing to mind Diamanda Galas and, instrumentally, the repetitive minimalism of Phillip Glass. But her take is much more informed by a succinct singer/songwriter's approach. Still, these pieces aren't movements in a performance art piece, they aren't art songs, but to call them merely songs doesn't seem like enough. The emotional intensity brings them to another level—it can be a lot to handle, but you'll be glad you took the time. This is unlike most music you're likely to hear today.