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Coming off like a more youthful Broken Social Scene, the Welsh band Los Campesinos! plays bratty indie-pop, with an emphasis on pop. Hold on Now, Youngster... is big on punky energy and never lets up.

Backed by just an electric guitar, folk-punk legend Billy Bragg took the stage at The Current's showcase, on the corner of 7th and Red River in Austin, Texas, for SXSW.

Hugh Masekela devoted the prime of his life to the struggle of his lifetime –- ending apartheid in South Africa. Short in stature but great in presence, Masekela has that spark that continues to engage us. Masekela's band performs a concert at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival.

These five songs are for those wishing to wallow in Valentine's Day's sheer, soul-wrecking brutality. Each has been carefully selected to provide a vivid soundtrack for those moments when alcohol isn't even necessary, so drunk is the listener on his or her own misery.

With a frenzied organ groove, the song repeatedly stops and starts on a dime, like a dance-crazy game of musical chairs. It's from an album of music for kids, but adults should appreciate it, too.

In any ongoing quest for mind-blowing music, each year brings an assortment of new left-field discoveries. KEXP's Kevin Cole offers up a selection of 13 excellent under-the-radar CDs, any of which could end up being your favorite of the year.

KUT's David Brown offers up his picks for 2007's most memorable recordings, and finds that his hometown of Austin, Tex., is well-represented. But alongside the local likes of Spoon and Okkervil River were international juggernauts like Radiohead and Amy Winehouse.

Lawrence Otis Graham writes about the unique history of one U.S. senator in his book, The Senator and the Socialite. Graham's book is a true story about Sen. Blanche Bruce, who in 1875 became the first African-American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate, and his wife, Josephine Willson Bruce.

Alternating between carefree indie-rock and melancholy synth-pop, the North Carolina husband-and-wife duo The Rosebuds writes some of the year's catchiest hooks and sing-along choruses. Hear an interview with the band, as well as an in-studio performance.

Critic Maureen Corrigan is back with summer-reading suggestions from the nonfiction shelf — titles from Susan Richards Shreve, Jon Katz and Juliet Nicolson.