In the early- to mid-80s, Raven--who play Saint Vitus on Sunday--and their "athletic rock" were essential to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Known for their wild live shows, they opened for the likes of Ozzy Osbourne and Iron Maiden before joining Metallica's first major American tour in 1983.

(Want to hear about a Lars Ulrich hissy fit? Keep reading.)

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Matthew Houck has been making music under the moniker Phosphorescent for over 10 years, but his latest album Muchacho, with its stunning single "Song For Zula", is the first to really catch the ear of a mainstream audience. We caught up with the Brooklyn-by-way-of-Alabama songwriter during a pit stop on his sold-out national tour, where we talked to him about how Mexico colored Muchacho, blending reality and fiction in songwriting, and the 10 years it took to find overnight success.

See also: Phosphorescent's Van, Gear Stolen in Greenpoint Last Night

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If there are two lessons Jonny Fritz learned throughout the creation of Dad Country, his big label debut, they're the following: be honest to a fault, even if you're saying something that won't go over well in the slightest, and pay attention to the kind words people say in bars because you never know when a simple invitation will come along and change your life.

When Fritz was writing and playing out in the months following 2011's self-released Down on the Bikini Line, he was doing so in good company. The songwriter from Nashville--who, up until this record, played under the moniker of Jonny Corndawg--toured extensively with that roving band of brothers in rock made up of Deer Tick, Dawes, Delta Spirit and Middle Brother, the amalgamative side project featuring the lead singers from all three bands. Frequently brought up onstage to perform with any and all of these acts at festivals (South by Southwest, Newport Folk) and a handful of cities in between the main stages on numerous tours, Fritz, clearly, was receiving an enthusiastic leg-up of sorts from those who were in the midst of redefining the marriage between country and rock music on the indie front themselves. This endorsement officially crystallized when Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes suggested he and his band back Fritz when it came time to head back into the studio, and the two friends agreed to go about working on his next record together.

See also: Deer Tick's John McCauley Likes Booze, Hates Pitchfork

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The first three albums by Foot Village, the Los Angeles noise/drum/holler/weirdo quartet, were about a future world in which the only survivors of the apocalypse were those living in a place called Foot Village. The band's new album, Make Memories, is not billed as a continuation of this trilogy. But it sure feels like it. There are a lot of hyper-orgiastic rhythms and manic yelps and cult gibberish, as well as some undeniable doomsday proclamations. Why can't these kids shake the apocalypse?

"I don't know," says drummer/vocalist Grace Lee. "We talk about the end of the world a lot. For me, I have issues with things ending, and the whole concept of change and letting-go. When we sing about it, it's about learning to be okay with that. And learning to find ways of letting-go and rebirth and becoming comfortable with new things."

Speaking of new things, Foot Village has recently become extremely fascinated with strip clubs. Apparently every time the band is touring and touches down in a new European city, they go looking for weird sex clubs. As you might expect, this has led them into some dicey situations. After Grace and I talked about the apocalypse for a bit, we talked about how Foot Village once searched for an underground maze in Berlin where something called a "Sex Minotaur" was rumored to live. And then we talked about the time in Prague when she thought they were all gonna die.

Foot Village play Death By Audio April 13, and Silent Barn April 15.

See also: The Ten Best Noise Tracks of 2012

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Harley Streten, A/K/A Flume

Harley Streten blames Jersey Shore for the rise of EDM culture. "It seems like a trend," says the 21-year-old Australian producer, who records and performs primarily as Flume. Halfway through his eight-show run of his first South by Southwest-- which he describes as "CMJ on steroids"-- Streten was able to squeeze in 20 minutes with me on the patio of the Hilton Garden Inn in Austin, Texas. "Bros, like festival bros, are just dudes on steroids with their shirts off. They don't go there for the music, they just go there to get fucked up. Then there's the orange chicks." We silently listen to music filtering in off the street for a beat or two before he asks, suddenly unsure, "Would you classify me as EDM?"

See also: Why EDM Is Thriving While Other Genres Are Sinking

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Evan Jewett

It's when Marnie Stern, bundled in a gold puffer jacket, steps away from the Starbucks counter that I see she's covered from waist down in day-glo, neon lemon shoes sticking out from electric cerulean pants declaring her the brightest person on the Upper East Side before she's even opened her mouth. It's not like she needs the color to stick out, either. Her music sounds like no one else's, bending guitars around powerful emotions in a furiously delicate, delicately furious way that's pigeonholed her as a "shredder" in the past, though the label seems immensely antiquated upon listening to her newest album, The Chronicles of Marnia, which was released earlier this week and is her cleanest sounding record to date. She's been tired through the beginning of the press cycle, which technically continued from last week's South by Southwest festival where she burned through shows and topped it off with a birthday bender.

See also: Our "Win A Date With Marnie Stern" Application

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With nothing more than an EP, a smattering of superlative endorsements from the international press and a forthcoming debut record they haven't even mixed yet, Chvrches are set to become your new favorite band--and this is a phenomenon the Scottish electropop trio is still adjusting to. "We're taking baby steps, as it's our first time outside of Europe as a band," says Lauren Mayberry, Chvrches' lead vocalist, "and we're just trying not to take any of this for granted. The fact that it's the first tour of a British band relatively unknown in America and it can sell out in, like, a day is ridiculous. I guess we're just aware of how lucky we are to be in that position, and it's a privilege I've never had before. I'm just trying not to take things too lightly and avoid all the shiny stuff and concentrate on making a good record."

"Lies" and "The Mother We Share"--the first songs released by Mayberry, Iain Cook (previously of Aerogramme) and Martin Doherty (formerly of The Twilight Sad) as Chvrches--caught the attention of BBC's Radio 1 and NME in 2012 for their intricate breakdowns and Mayberry's approachable, confectionary crooning. Their Recover EP, out March 26 on Glassnote, follows suit in that it provides ample opportunity to indulge the familiar themes of your favorite love song in an unexpected oasis of synthetic, electronically engineered bliss. Below, Mayberry takes a breather before sound check on the second night of their seminal American tour to navigate Chvrches' meteoric rise, their artistic growth and what they've learned about themselves as performers over the course of a whirlwind year.

See also: The Thermals Are Huge Fans of The Thermals

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Mouse on Mars

Germany's electronic duo Mouse on Mars have long been experimenters. Over 11 studio albums and countless collaborations Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma have played in their own corner of the sandbox, allowing a furious amount of sonic investigation into strange realms without pretentiously denying the listener entrance into those realms. Cameron Macdonald once referred to them as "post-everything." We recently spoke with St. Werner as he travelled from Minneapolis to Chicago, touring behind MOMs latest album WOW. (Which looks like an upside-down version of the acronym of their name.) He seems like a busy guy, joking that he had the phone taped to his head while tweeting with his feet; but he's also warmly intelligent, introspective, and chats freely with the vivaciousness of a renegade professor.

Mouse on Mars play tonight, March 3, at Santos Party House

See also: Electronic Producers to Watch For in 2013

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Gary Copeland

Miami stoner rock band Torche write music that's something of a paradox. It's definitely heavy, but it's also sunny and pop. Is it metal? Some say yes. Some say no. You can decide for yourself if you see them play Saint Vitus Saturday night. Guitarist Andrew Elstner spoke to us from Florida, where the band was recording two new songs, and we got his thoughts on the whole "happy metal" thing and the correct pronunciation of "Torche".

See also: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2012/12/10_best_metal_albums.php

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Some people may only recognize Nick Offerman from his role as the iconic Ron Swanson on NBC's Parks and Recreation or from his appearances in movies like The Men Who Stare at Goats and the recent-ish remake of 21 Jump Street. But only knowing Nick Offerman in this context is a tragedy, because he is arguably one of the most talented guys performing on pop culture screens right now. Luckily for you, he will be live-taping his one man show, American Ham, at Town Hall Theater tomorrow, March 2nd (you should find a way to get there). Luckily for us, he was kind enough to answer our questions about red meat and social media and woodworking.

See also: Neutral Milk Hotel's Parks & Rec Shoutout

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