Music

Father John Misty is a character — literally. A persona invented by singer-songwriter Josh Tillman, Father John Misty is there to showcase Tillman's rock-friendly side. In 2008, Tillman joined the Seattle folk-rock band Fleet Foxes as its drummer. After leaving the band at the beginning of the year, he loaded his van and hit the road.

Stop motion with live actors is nothing new in music videos. The Beatles did it nearly 50 years ago for the film A Hard Days Night. Peter Gabriel's 1986 "Sledgehammer" video is still mind-blowing. But few have done it as elegantly as Canadian rock duo The Zolas do for the band's mesmerizing, and amazing new video, "Knot In My Heart."

The country-rock band Lucero makes its second appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded live on the campus of Ohio University in Athens. Road-tested for more than a decade now, Lucero's distinctive sound mixes soulful horns with pedal steel, keyboards and brash guitars.

Legendary songwriter and producer John Cale is back with Shifty Adventures in Nookie World, his 15th solo album and first since 2005. Cale shape-shifts often throughout the record, channeling a discotheque in the Danger Mouse-produced "I Wanna Talk 2 U," picking an acoustic guitar throughout "Living With You" and venturing into folklore in "Sandman (Flying Dutchman)." Post-punk, hip-hop and everything in between comes into play at one point or another.

Love This Giant developed like many a New York City-bred friendship. Both parties are kind of hazy about how it began, but after a couple of semi-chance encounters, David Byrne and Annie Clark, who records and performs as St. Vincent, embarked upon a creative dialogue that has flourished over the last three years.