Rusty Anderson has been an unsung hero of popular alternative music in the last 20 years. He’s been Paul McCartney’s right hand man and lead guitarist since 2001. He’s worked with Willie Nelson, Elton John and Regina Spektor. He even contributed the now-famous guitar riff to Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca.”

When I initially received a disc of Live in New York! by The Two Man Gentlemen Band, I had severe reservations. Novelty music is the slipperiest slope a group can climb. When it’s good it’s as funny as the greatest standup comics, but when it’s bad it’s more annoying than Dane Cook giving you mosquito bites.

What Paul Simon is to Vampire Weekend, The Beatles are to The Young Veins. On their debut Take A Vacation! the band serves as a throwback machine that incessantly pumps out song after song of fun and catchy retro-pop in the same — well — vein of the music that made the Fab Four famous in the 60s.

It’s pitch black on the stage. The lights are off and the sound is growing. Matt Paradis’ silhouette stands boldly as the sound grows. This was the face of Statewide Emergency Saturday night at the Fox Theatre.

Darker Circles, The Sadies’ latest work, is appropriately titled. The album is as cyclical as it is dark. Guitar chords and drum riffs allude to previous tracks constantly, building a solid and steady album that concludes beautifully.

The most obvious culprit for this lack of seriousness is Reed's almost novel approach to vocals. His overly abrasive voice, best exemplified when he sings "This could be your life" on the final track, "Six Shallow Women," makes the whole EP feel almost like a caricature of Willie Nelson.

Here’s the deal, snobs: There’s this Danish quintet called The Kissaway Trail that gathered some steam back in 2007 after they released their debut and performed at music festivals and supported bands like The National and Interpol. They’ve got a great sound, tight composition, and some killer drums. There’s really only one problem — they’re not exactly unique.

Otis Taylor’s got a lot going for him when it comes to the blues. He’s got a Randy Newmatic voice, a masterful grip of how blues guitar should be played, and some pretty imaginative ways of making the blues sound fresh. All of these tools come into play on his new album, Clovis People, Vol. 3.

If an album has a song called “Lasers ’N Lesbians,” what’s not to love? That’s pretty much all that can be or needs to be said about Double Panther, the latest album to come out from Diego’s Umbrella, a gypsy-rock band from San Francisco. The sound of Diego’s Umbrella varies wildly, but it’s usually somewhat cocaine-induced. The album and its creators are clearly enjoying themselves thoroughly: When you take the CD out of the case, the first thing you see are the band riding winged unicorns and waving various flaming weapons. The band make a point of not taking anything too seriously while maintaining an enjoyable intensity in their crazy music.

The set was kind of funny at first. There were two drum sets next to each other, eight guitars on a rack in the back, a keyboard, and a few more guitars sprinkled on the stage for good measure. It almost looked like the front window at a music store.