Featured in Beyoncé's unforgettable performance piece Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé!, the musical talents of DRUMline Live! bring their riveting rhythms, bold beats, and ear-grabbing energy to the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center on January 26, this show-stopping family attraction created by the musical team behind the hit movies Drumline and Drumline: A New Beat.

With SputnikMusic.com praising their most recent album When We Were in Love as “larger than life in its indie-pop/rock sound,” adding that “shimmering synth, strong vocals, and endless energy are all constants throughout,” Mike Mains & the Branches headline a January 26 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the indie musicians described by Sunlight magazine as “a powerhouse of a band both in sound and lyrics.”

We invited the on-air DJs at KFMH to share their top-five favorite new albums from 2021 and are pleased to share these lists (along with their on-air schedules) as a sampling of what one can expect by tuning back into “The Plus.”

Ryan Werner, Beverly Beverly Beverly. This 21-minute micro-masterpiece is loaded with more hooks, riffs and guitar harmonies than most albums twice its length. 13 rock songs shrunk down in a microwave for mass consumption, bubblegum hooks written by a literary-minded metal-head clever enough to drop lines about “circumstantial feasts.” There's more emotion here than meets the ear; repeated listening is mandatory.