Another week, another Mercury music section to ignore as you check out Slayer's tour rider. Only one Zamboni, but two things of hand sanitizer? Well done, sirs; a tip of the human skull full of Red Hots to you.

As you can clearly see in the picture above, Plaid steadfastly refuses to wear anything but their namesake pattern, and... what? Oh. So maybe they don't wear any plaid. Or shop at Plaid Pantry. What they do do is make modern electronic music with far-reaching influences (read: Balinese gamelan!).
LISTEN:

Plaid - "Missing"

Timothy Showalter looks like a headbanger, and the songs he writes bear clear fantasy influences. How, then, is his Strand of Oaks project not an over-the-top metal-palooza? He writes straight from the heart, which sometimes results in painfully honest, hushed folk songs—and sometimes results in a song in which Terminator robots destroy his childhood best friend.
LISTEN:

Strand of Oaks - "Daniel's Blues"

Rachael Yamagata's major-label stuff soundtracked your rainiest, mopiest, heartbreakiest TV moments. Now she's striking out on her own.
LISTEN:

Rachael Yamagata - "Starlight"

Is Kyuss Lives! a cash-grab attempt to get in on the pervading trend of band reunions? Well, we're not saying it is, but we're not saying it isn't. For a moment, let's not think about unnecessary exclamation points, and fondly look back at the days that used to be.
LISTEN:

Kyuss - "Molten Universe"

And plenty more shows in our Up & Comings.