Aliver Hall If you’re a fan of jam bands and Aliver Hall isn’t on your radar yet, you are blowing it big time. The group has been laying down its blend of progressive rock drumming and moving bass lines, mixed with dynamic and incisive guitar playing, all across NEO and outlying cities, much to the delight of fans. While the live show is the band’s bread and butter, it has taken advantage of the studio to explore a lusher soundscape and structures. Aliver Hall will be releasing its new record this month and is hosting a release party at the Beachland Ballroom on April 14 to celebrate. You might want to be high, but there ain’t going to be nothing better than being there. The Zou Youngstown’s The Zou plays some skewed indie rock that sounds like a polished Dismemberment Plan getting all loaded up on mushrooms, and lord knows what else, then running through the tracks from the “White Album.” Dirty and poignant, introspective and frantic, this sonic experiment hits all the right marks. Heavy, fuzzed-out bass lines form a foundation for guitars that are at times thin and winding, and at others crunchy and distorted. Watching them recreate this aural menagerie has got to be something else. Check it out at www.thezouhasawebsite.com and stalk them on Facebook until they book some local shows. Ashley Brooke Toussant

Part Dusty Springfield, part folky indie rock and all the way cool, Toussant’s voice has a nostalgic quality that brings to mind simple summer days. If someone said that the Byrds named “Sweet Heart of the Rodeo” after her I’d believe it. Her songs carry a childlike wonder with dark undertones at times, like a fast-moving storm that soaks you before you even see the clouds cover the sun. Check her out at the Happy Dog in Cleveland on April 14 at the Weapons of Mass Creation Fest III Benefit Show.