My Morning Jacket: This indie rock band released their first album in 1999. Although they didn't reach commercial success on their first try, My Morning Jacket managed to craft a following of devoted fans and continued to tour and perform until they became a national sensation. My Morning Jacket tour dates are scheduled nationally throughout spring and summer 2011.

Under the direction of frontman Jim James, the Kentucky band formed in 1998, after the dissolution of two local indie bands. They called themselves My Morning Jacket and signed with Darla Records, releasing their debut album, The Tennessee Fire, in 1999. After the release of their sophomore set, At Dawn, and some lineup changes, the band signed with major label ATO Records in 2002, and released a third effort in 2003. The album had some impact on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart, and the single "Run Thru," was hailed as one of Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitar Songs.

My Morning Jacket released their critically acclaimed fourth album, Z, in 2005 which peaked at #67 on the Billboard 200 album charts. My Morning Jacket tour dates were booked at the Boston Symphony Hall, and in 2006, the band released a live double album from their concerts entitled, Okonokos. They also booked a performance on Letterman in 2006.

The band recorded the follow up, Evil Urges, and released it in on June 10, 2008. In support, My Morning Jacket tour dates were booked at Radio City Music Hall and the band's concert schedule included a spot at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival as well as the Bonnaroo Music Festival, both in 2008. Their now legendary performance at Bonnaroo lasted nearly four hours and featured My Morning Jacket playing 35 songs, proving that mainstream success hadn't taken away from their ability to jam. My Morning Jacket tour dates were booked throughout Europe in 2008, but were subsequently canceled after Jones' suffered an injury on-stage. Despite the set-back, they were nominated for the Best Alternative Rock album at the 2008 Grammy Awards and booked the opening slot on Neil Young's Australian tour.

My Morning Jacket is currently recording their follow-up album with plans for a late 2011 release date. James stated in an interview that "There's something old and dirty-sounding" about the new record, which is being produced in an old Louisville church. Until the album is released, you will have to catch the band on the road. My Morning Jacket tour dates are scheduled nationally throughout spring and summer 2011. Don't miss out on rock's most resilient performers: use Eventful as your source for all the latest My Morning Jacket tour dates and concert schedule information.

Shabazz Palaces: Palaceer Lazaro, the man at the center of the enigmatic Seattle avant-rap project Shabazz Palaces, is otherwise known as Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler, one third of the boho-rap trio Digable Planets and frontman of the alt-hip-hop group Cherrywine. (He's also the cousin of fellow Rising artist Gonjasufi.) But he'd prefer not to talk about any of that. In fact, he'd prefer not to talk at all.

Lazaro initially declined Pitchfork's interview request, replying that he'd prefer to read a writer's take on Shabazz Palaces' music rather than offer his own answers. He won't name any of the other people involved in the project. He wouldn't send us a photograph; instead, he requested that we run the graphic you see above. Shabazz Palaces have no MySpace page, and they self-released two albums into the ether last year on their website. They're a group happy to work in the shadows.

Lazaro downplays that sense of mystery, but it works well with the music. On tracks like the BNM'ed "32 leaves dipped in blackness making clouds forming altered carbon", Shabazz Palaces make a clanking, discordant form of rap much colder and harsher than anything Butler ever made with Digable Planets or Cherrywine. Drums hit at irregular intervals, John Carpenter synth-smears bubble up from nowhere, and tracks follow their own internal logic, voices tripping over and interrupting each other. But as heady and experimental as these tracks may be, they still work as straight-up headknock rap music, as visceral as anything on the new Young Jeezy mixtape. It's smart, tough music.