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1. NEON SIGN Jonas Stein: "My dad used to own a restaurant, but it failed. I kidnapped this before he could sell it." Nathan Vasquez: "It was the only light source when we would practice."

While your Kids in the Halls and your Monty Pythons prefer to make funny in large gangs, and your Flight of the Conchordses and your Little Britains prefer to work in more intimate pairs, Human Giant—currently launching the second season of their eponymous MTV series—constitute the rare three-man sketch-comedy act. "You always

There's a new hip-hop/dance hybrid blowing up in the windy city. With a sense of unbridled fun not seen since rap's golden age, this new crew cherry-picks from two decades of club music, creating a gangsta-free, party-igniting sound that's made for inciting dance-floor riots.

For most of the '90s, Stephen Malkmus may have been the perpetually smirking face of indie rock. Pavement, the quintet he formed in his hometown of Stockton, California, with fellow singer/guitarist Scott Kannberg, became the figureheads of a scene, as passionate about elegantly formed pop songs as they were about noise, chaos, and diffidence.

Franklin, Tennessee -- 30 minutes south of Nashville – is one of the wealthiest towns in one of the nation's wealthiest counties. Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus, and Sheryl Crow live around here. So does half of the contemporary Christian-music industry.