Howling Hex, The Vinyl Records
The project of Neil Hagerty, the Howling Hex is an outlet for some of the singer/songwriter/guitarist's most eclectic music -- which is saying something, considering that he fuelled Pussy Galore's anti-rock cacophony in the '80s and blurred the boundaries between avant-noise and classic rock as one-half of Royal Trux in the '90s. The Howling Hex's early releases bore traces of both of those bands in their swampy experiments, but as time went on, Hagerty balanced the project's challenging side with more recognizable -- but still surprising -- nods to pop and rock on releases like 2005's All-Night Fox.