One of the problems with so-called indie rock is often artists who are grouped under that banner are too concerned with being cool and/or are afraid to completely rock out for the fear that they'll lose their hip standing and might come off sounding too much like the classic rockers that their parents like. The Hold Steady have no such concerns, nor fears. Those mere facts make them one of the coolest bands on the planet. Check out this exclusive live performance of "Sequestered In Memphis" from the band's fourth and most recent album, Stay Positive, for proof. (And, feel free to right click and select "save as" on the audio links below each performance to add these exclusive live performances to your digital library).

Sequestered In Memphis

The Hold Steady are based in Brooklyn, New York, also known as East Coast hipster central, yet part of the reason-as singer/guitarist Craig Finn and lead guitarist Tad Kubler note in our exclusive interview-they stand

In this day and age when everyone seems to be oversharing every bit of personal information on social networks and every move they make via Twitter, it's refreshing to stumble upon an artist that's keeping some things to himself. Rather than making the big reveal a daily process, Cass McCombs is still reveling in mystery four albums into his career. This much is known about McCombs. He was born in Concord, California, but by the time he was 23, he sold his instruments and records, and split for the East Coast trying to escape. "I was just sick of life," he once said. Although he had ditched his gear, McCombs did end up performing at open mic nights New York City. But don't attach too much meaning to the locale from which McCombs sprang from, nor any of his stops along the way. "I can't stand it when people market themselves as being from a region, like drawing '212' on your forehead," he told Vice magazine.

That said, McCombs once sang, "So I got a job cleaning toilets at a nightclub

Film soundtracks are often a great way to discover new artists. Thanks to (500) Days Of Summer, which opens on Friday (July 17), I discovered a great new act called the Temper Trap. The band's "Sweet Dispostion" is featured on the soundtrack--out today (July 14)--alongside classic tracks by the Smiths, Simon & Garfunkel and Hall & Oates, as well as songs by newer acts Feist, Doves, Black Lips, Wolfmother, Regina Spektor, and France's first lady, Carla Bruni. The disc is capped off by the film's co-star, Zooey Deschanel, covering the Smiths' "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" with her musical partner M. Ward in She & Him.

While all the aforementioned music is ultra-fine, let's focus on the Temper Trap. Here's the trailer for (500) Days Of Summer featuring the band's "Sweet Disposition" followed by the official video clip for the song, which just happens to fall smack dab in the middle of the film's soundtrack album.

That song--with its atmospheric opening--sounds like the

Chip Taylor is a music legend. The American songwriter born James Wesley Voight is actor Jon Voight's younger brother and Angelina Jolie's uncle, but he's probably best known for writing the rock classic "Wild Thing." That song became monster hit for the Troggs in 1966 and was famously covered by the Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Monterey Pop Festival in the summer of '67. Taylor also penned "Angel In The Morning," a hit for Merrilee Rush in 1968, Juice Newton in 1981, and covered by the Pretenders in the '90s for the Friends soundtrack.

About this time you're probably thinking, "OK, but what does this grizzled old tunesmith have to do with new artists?" Rather than merely coast off his past glories and wait for his royalty checks to arrive in the mail, Taylor has dedicated his energy over the last decade to working with new artists. In 2001, he met fiddle-playing singer/songwriter Carrie Rodriguez at the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. The pair went on to record several