'Like a bunch of people sitting in a tin shack writing music'

That is Pennies for a Dime's Dustin Fennessey attempting to describe his group's peculiar (though, rest assured, very pleasing) sound. My attempt: "'Acoustic-based alternative rock' is probably the safest way to explain it, like latter-day Red Hot Chili Peppers without the funk influence." Or, as the multitalented singer/bassist (he also fronts Portraits for Judith) put it a second time ... well, that made it into the headline: "AC/DC Minus the Suck." This promising group also features Number One Common’s guitarist extraordinaire, Mikey Trifilette, and powerhouse drummer Faye Baron -- both of whom I spoke with for the feature.

Also this week, I interviewed Ben Clark, bassist for the innovative Twin Cities hip-hop group Mel Gibson and the Pants (read the Q-and-A, "Fearless Sonic Explorers," here). The group, which regularly collaborates with such hip-hop luminaries as Eyedea and various Doomtree members -- P.O.S., Sims, Dessa, Mictlan and Turbo Nemesis ... to name just a few -- will be playing a show up at UMD Wednesday with local favorites Kritical Kontact. My favorite quote from the interview? Why, I'm glad you asked: "I actually do not remember how to play the songs exactly as they appear on the album, so during a show I do enough improvising to turn whatever songs are in our set list into the kind of song that I would like to be playing at that moment."

Thus concludes THIS WEEK'S SHAMELESS BUDGETEER PLUG!