Alex Cohen

On an album released nearly 50 years ago Harry Taussig demonstrated an accomplished, self-taught style of improvisational guitar. This week in Austin, Texas Taussig will perform in public for the first time.

Kira Roessler and Mike Watt first emerged as the bassists of two massively influential punk bands, Black Flag and The Minutemen. But on and off for three decades, they've joined forces as a bass-only duo called Dos.

"If You Let Me" captures the dangerous, exhilarating beginning of an unlikely relationship. The song immediately plunges into a thumping beat, accompanied by the feverish wails of JP Jones, who kicks off this upbeat duet by daring Chrissie Hynde to resist his charms.

For a 24-year-old singer who's just releasing her first full-length album, Jaffe has a knack for reflecting on the past with the benefit of clear hindsight. "Clementine" may wind down to an easygoing conclusion, but Jaffe's immensely promising career is just getting started.

As everyone prepares to surge into a new decade, Cloud Cult is diving back into its past one last time: The Minneapolis band has just reissued its first two albums. "Man on the Moon," from 2003's They Live on the Sun, starts off quietly: Craig Minowa's voice sounds strained and distant, as if he were crooning over a tin can and string from the lunar landscape. But the song gradually builds and explodes into a full-blown rock tapestry.

Listen carefully to "Good Luck," and beneath a seemingly happy tune lies a tinge of something cynical. "Good luck, don't you feel so bad," Lerche croons mellifluously, before adding, "Just don't get your hopes up." Written after what Lerche describes as a particularly rough year, the song mixes upbeat consolation with grim realism.

The Ettes' "Take It With You" packs two great tunes into a single song. The first opens with raw guitar, rousing handclaps and a simple melody that sounds sweet enough to sing in a schoolyard. But just when it seems to have settled into a nice groove, "Take It With You" becomes a brand-new song the second the chorus hits.

An infectious, fast-pased rock anthem, Jay Reatard's "It Ain't Gonna Save Me" takes a little more than two minutes to boost listeners' biorhythms like a triple espresso. But the first single from Reatard's forthcoming Watch Me Fall isn't as cheerful as it sounds.

"The Killer in Me" sounds twangy and tragic — it's one of many songs Amy Speace wrote after breaking up with her husband of 10 years — and her velvety, achy voice recalls an early Lucinda Williams. Sounding grounded but wounded, Speace exudes the vulnerability of someone who's loved and lost.

Some songs are so evocative of summer, they practically smell like suntan lotion. The bouncy, infectious psych-disco tune "Mindwarp" (by New Zealand native Annabel Alpers, a.k.a. Bachelorette) is one of those songs.