Indie punk rock quartet Turtle Rising dishes out playful, pop jams, chirping guitar licks and grooving bass romps, but the band members’ voices are what make them fun to listen to. Their music is characterized by scraggly, energetic laments—think dive bars just before closing time—with lyrical jaunts that weave between articulate anecdotes and bursts of coarse and fervid punk rocker musings. -Joel Hersch, Good Times (Santa Cruz)

Oakland’s Guitar Wizards of the Future are a band that absolutely won’t be be defined by ANY genre. You’ll hear elements of hip-hop, funk, country, R&B,electronica and just about anything else over the course of their recordings. Formed by Coty McClung and Ryan Kauffman, the Guitar Wizards intentionally hit as many genres as they can. “I have a short attention span, so I could never stick to one style,” explains McClung. “There’s too many awesome styles of music out there. Any constraints on form seem like a bad idea.”