Cursive

Tim Kasher rivals his Saddle Creek Records homeboy Conor Oberst for the title of the hardest-working man in indie rock. When he's not busy writing concept albums about drunken nights in lonely bars with the Good Life, he leads Cursive, a quartet that combines the bare-bones honesty of emo with the brutal riffs of hard rock. Most Cursive albums operate on a story line or theme: 2000's Domestica catalogued the bitterness of a young couple's divorce, 2003's The Ugly Organ followed a thread of sexual self-loathing and 2006's Happy Hollow explores a small town's hypocrisy and close-mindedness. Don't worry — you don't need a copy of Cliff's Notes to appreciate Kasher's storytelling, just an ear for solid, challenging rock & roll.