Snow Songs, Cass McCombs, Rick Ross and More in This Week's Issue

Dana Armstrong

Serene Dominic sits down at Harvey's Wineburger with Snow Songs, one of Phoenix's "most evocative and engaging bands" to discuss how bands will get their music out in the future. Ideas floated? "T-shirts, thongs, feather earrings, tampons..." Read more in Snow Songs: Cool Music for the Valley of the Sun.

M.T. Richards brings us a look at the opulent style of rapper Rick Ross in Ross is Boss. Richards examines Ross' discography, noting that despite some of the crudest lyrics on wax, Ross sits at the top of the rap game.

In Mystery Achievement, I look at the music of Cass McCombs, a singer/songwriter who's more content to let his music do the talking than parade his personality in public. The approach has made for a stellar couple albums -- last year's Wit's End and Humor Risk were both examples of how an American songwriter can make album's exciting, fresh, and traditional.

We've also got shorter previews on The Mighty Sphincter, Handsome Furs, Avicii, Pat Travers, and Zedd.