Describing the Shondes' new album My Dear One, violinist Elijah Oberman noted in a recent interview that "it's basically a break-up record. ... We're both happy and terrified to be participating in that tradition. On the one hand, it's a very universal topic, and something that most people can relate to. And on the other hand, you really have to work to make it your own."

Mission accomplished. Because the New York-based band -- which will perform at Iowa City's Blue Moose Tap House on Friday, May 21 -- so masterfully blends its atypical identities into rock music, this break-up record sounds like no other.

Images by photographer Chris Jones from Friday's Paramore concert at the i wireless Center. Click on any photo for a larger version.

Describing his latest CD release, musician Pat Willis says its origins began with his song "Rami," a composition written, as so many are, about a girl.

"When I first saw her, there was a palpable presence," says the former Burnt McMelba Toast frontman. "You know, she had an energy about her, and you could just feel the electricity. And so when she finally came over to me, and slavered all over me, I just melted."

It's probably important to note that Willis isn't being hyperbolic about the slavering.

Against Me! has been selling out for the better part of a decade, so complaints about the polish of the band's forthcoming record are already tired to songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Tom Gabel.

Because Gabel is a punk icon and an anarchist, it was little surprise that there were negative reactions when the band jumped to a major label. But as it prepares to release White Crosses in June -- the group will play a Daytrotter.com show at RIBCO on May 4 -- Gabel talked about the challenge of being an ever-changing person in a world of rigid expectations.