Good music emancipates the listener. Boring jobs, troubled relationships, rush hour traffic… such mundane prisons are no match for the liberating power of a fantastic pop song. Think of Stuck On Nothing as one giant stack of “Get Out Of Jail Free” cards. Propelled by cowbell and carbonated guitars, Free Energy’s eponymous theme song—and debut single—finds front man Paul Spranger declaring “We’re gonna start a new life, and see how it goes.” Which is exactly what Paul and his songwriting foil, Scott Wells, did when they left St. Paul, MN for new digs in Philadelphia.

Free Energy marks a leap forward from their previous band, indie combo Hockey Night. “Hockey Night was not as focused, a little more reserved,” says the vocalist. By way of contrast, the driving pulse of Free Energy’s “Bang Pop” could jump start a stalled semi-truck, and “Bad Stuff” juxtaposes vapor trail guitars with nimble riffs that rival Thin Lizzy. Snippets of glam, power pop, bubblegum and arena rock all filter into the mix. Stuck On Nothing is not music for the arms-folded set holding up the back wall.

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“With Free Energy, the first thing we do is make sure the drums sound awesome,” explains Sprangers. “Then we build on top of that, so everything is solid, well thought out, and distilled to its essence.” The vocals are always audible and up front. Free Energy make singing along just as easy as stamping your feet and clapping in time. “There’s a lot of optimism and positivity in the music, lyrics and imagery,” the singer concedes. Do not resist the exuberance. You can’t stop the children of the revolution.

The ten songs of Stuck On Nothing began life as a string of modest, homemade demos, but only as a jumping-off point. “You can just make little four-track things that are pleasing to listen to, but we’re a rock n roll band, and rock n roll music is supposed to be dance music,” insists Wells. So the band—which also includes Geoff Bucknum, Nicholas Shuminsky, and Scott’s brother, Evan Wells—turned to producer James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem.

“James helped us achieve a big sound that we were unsure of how to realize ourselves,” Sprangers acknowledges. Yet that “big sound” Murphy helped them flesh out is deceptively finessed, too. The unhurried tempo of “All I Know” may evoke Marc Bolan at the height of his arena-filling fame, yet the exhalations of breath that pan back and forth in your ear buds inject a hint of intimacy, too.

Throughout writing and rehearsing, and particularly during recording dates at DFA’s Plantain Studio, Free Energy and their producer took cues from myriad sources, including vintage Juicy Fruit chewing gum commercials and the TV themes of Mike Post. Scott makes no bones about his love of the music for “The Rockford Files” and “Magnum P.I.,” “these really brief, driving songs that have a sustained, cinematic feel to them.” His own fretwork reflects that affection, mixing succinct riffs with the persistent promise of more excitement just ahead.

But unlike many of their young peers, they evoke earlier eras without winking. They don’t stand over a trapdoor marked “irony.” Their originals feel immediate and of-the-now. In part, that contemporary edge is a product of their youth, and an aesthetic forged on the indie rock circuit. It also reflects the circuitous path they took through modern music to arrive at the Free Energy sound.

To call Jeremy Messersmith a musician is half-truth: He’s also a storyteller, who has carefully crafted a trilogy of songs that narrate life. His first full-length release The Alcatraz Kid is a moving collection of acoustic-driven lullabies with titles like “Novocain” and “Beautiful Children” that innocently question the purpose of things to come. The integrity of these delicate songs immediately struck a cord with critics and fans alike, and captured the attention of Semisonic’s Dan Wilson, who offered to produce Messersmith’s follow-up album, The Silver City.

The Silver City was a natural progression in sound and reflection: the compositions grew fuller and more dynamic with a classic-pop feel inspired by the Beach Boys and Beatles: While the topics focused on midlife struggles with tracks like “Dead End Job” and “Miracles.” Local and national attention soon followed with NPR and college stations around the country, followed by U.S. tours and sold-out shows in New York, Chicago and Minneapolis.

The Reluctant Graveyard bookends this trilogy of lifelong (ahem, literary) observations with songs like “Lazy Bones” and “Organ Donor,” and sonically continues on the’60 chamber pop path Messersmith set out with his sophomore release. He continues to share stages with notables such as Sondre Lechre and The Watson Twins, and has been featured on MTV and Ugly Betty. And while this collection of songs comes to an end, it’s no doubt that the stories will live on.

On April 10, 2012 Thirty Tigers/RED will release Trampled by Turtles’ highly anticipated album Stars and Satellites. The band’s 2010 release Palomino (Thirty Tigers) garnered critical acclaim from NPR Music who praised both the band’s “impeccable dexterity” and “charm and melody to the songs.” AOL Spinner called the record “hard-charging music…infectiously raucous,” while Paste Magazine admired the band’s “punk ethos” as well as “virtuosity and energy” while naming the band as one of the Top 25 Live Acts of 2011. The band will support the new album with a North American tour this spring.

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Since forming in Duluth, Minnesota in 2003, Trampled by Turtles always felt they were able to attain an energy on stage that can’t be found in the studio. They were so comfortable playing on the road that they treated their previous albums’ recording processes like tours. For Stars and Satellites, however, Trampled by Turtles didn’t want to simply try to recreate a live show. “We wanted to make a record that breathes,” explains Dave Simonett (guitar/vocals), “musically we wanted to step out of our comfort zone.” “This record is all about going inward,” Erik Berry (mandolin, vocals) adds, “building a focused bond as players and friends, and bringing a different mindset to the sounds Trampled by Turtles can make.” With the help of engineer Tom Herbers (Low, Jayhawks) the band moved into “Soleil Pines,” a log home outside of Duluth, to record. “You know how sometimes they say ‘less is more,’” notes Berry, “that’s what Stars and Satellites is about. “

Trampled by Turtles is Dave Simonett, Tim Saxhaug (bass, vocals), Dave Carroll (banjo, vocals), Erik Berry and Ryan Young (fiddle). Within the contained music scene of Duluth, the members of the band did their own time in punk and rock bands, brandishing their electricity proudly before switching to acoustic instruments. While they never set out to be a “bluegrass” band, Trampled by Turtles employs many of the same traditional techniques of the genre, but their differences in influences, attitude and attack make for their unique sound.