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The world needs more Dave Matthews.

While it’s true that over the years the wildly successful songwriter has endured his fair share of critical derisions (largely over his “fratty” fan base), his skill and abilities as a musician have always been obvious. Even more than that, Dave Matthews has a supreme knack for connecting with millions of fans all over the world. When listening to his music and message, it’s clear why.

For those looking for a sensitive spirit, nimble guitar playing and a unique voice, look no further than Matthews. We have the exclusive videos to prove it.

If a friend called one day and said, “Look, I need you to write a song for Michelle Obama,” what would you do? Likely, you’d have to stay up and work for weeks, writing and rewriting drafts to eventually send your music to one of the most famous and regal people on the planet. But Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci didn’t get that advance notice. In that way, the duo, known for the songs they write under the moniker, Garfunkel and Oates, was spared intense anxiety. But when they found out that a silly demo they’d written about a tomato had found the former First Lady, there was a moment of sheer surprise. Friend and show creator, Jeremy Konner, called to say that Mrs. Obama loved the tomato track he’d asked them to write as a favor weeks prior. But there was more good news. Mrs. Obama’s approval portended the new Netflix food-centric kids puppet show, Waffles + Mochi (out now), and Lindhome and Micucci were tasked with writing its child-friendly songs.

When a band is together for thirty years, things can change in ways that are imperceptible in the moment but obvious with a bird’s eye view. Sometimes that’s behavior within a group, sometimes that’s the way bands play songs live. For the Chico-born “California soul” group, The Mother Hips, that’s often meant the way the band interprets the music it’s played for three decades when on stage. This year, the band is celebrating its 30th anniversary by rereleasing its entire 10-album discography on vinyl, one album each month. In April, the band will release the reissue for their classic LP, Later Days. And today (March 24), they are sharing an exclusive acoustic video for the titular single below. But by looking back on all this music, the band’s co-founders, Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono, say that while some things have changed, some things still thankfully remain the same.

Italian electronic music duo Giolì & Assia want to take you on a trip. Traversing distances, internal and external, is both the reward and what propels the two artists to produce new songs. But they want their fans to join in on that ride, too.

Seeing the duo perform live is to witness a sonic workout—the two create and play music that’s physically taxing in a live setting. This is one of the reasons why their destination #DiesisLive series is so popular with their fans online.

Aesthetically, Giolì & Assia’s music is textured, topographical. Their new EP, Moon Faces, which the duo released earlier this month, speaks to this signature endeavor. The moon, of course, is speckled with craters and cliffs. It’s also distant, dark and shifting in space. Therefore, to engage in the songs of Giolì & Assia is to hike their landscapes and, in a way, never to step in the same place twice. The payoff of these travels, is the lift and drop of the lyrics, the swell and sail of the melodies.

A few years ago, Lynn Gunn, front woman and principal songwriter for the Lowell, Massachusetts-borne electronic band, PVRIS, took a trip to the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. There, Gunn set up a small studio in the kitchen of a rental home. She began to work, experimenting and manipulating sounds, trying to capture something special from the sonic ether around her. Soon, a few compositions bubbled up and she got the beginnings of the tracks down. More recently, Gunn decided to dust off one of the songs from that retreat and give it a new look. She listened to it again and decided to send that track’s “topline”(or, isolated vocals) to her friend, the DJ and producer, Rezz (aka Isabelle Rezazadeh), to see what she could do with it. Gunn says she gave Rezz “total freedom” to work on the music and when Gunn got back the finished product and heard what Rezz did on the song “Sacrificial,” out today, she says she was floored.