Amassing rare and forgotten music is a peculiar sort of hobby — one that slowly transforms into an addiction. Here are five lesser-known musicians that I believe everybody should give a listen to, dating as far back as the 1920s and focusing on jazz, folk, and blues.

“As a performer, I try to find that balance between losing myself in the music and being completely self-aware. It’s during these moments where I can experience a deeper quality of sound.” - Jon Porras

As a true multimedia art installation, Jerusalem In My Heart are a sight to behold in a live setting, and also represent a modern update on traditional Arabic music and songwriting, with additional multicultural counterpoints.

As Record Store Day celebrates its 6th anniversary, with vinyl sales posting decade high numbers in 2012, there’s no reason to think the yearly event won’t continue to expand in 2013, making the dash for collectors and fans alike an even more chaotic experience if you’re looking to score the most rare or exciting vinyl. Here are some of the releases we’re most excited about. Now if only we had the bank accounts to match our wish lists.

“Women’s imaginary is inexhaustible, like music, painting, writing: their stream of phantasms is incredible.” (sic) – Hélène Cixous

for 2013, we’re bringing SXSW coverage into our personal lives. Rather than writing up simple show reviews, we hope to present to you an uncensored portrait of our exceptional 3-way mind-meld, as we navigate through the chaos that is SXSW in our own manic, sarcastic, and profound ways. Mostly, we talk about food, document idiosyncrasies, review music… and bring it all home with more talk about food.

“What we end up giving to the world is really meager compared to the incredible amount of stuff that we’ve seen and heard as a result of [our experiments].” – M.C. Schmidt of Matmos

“Partnering hip-hop artists with charitable causes is nothing that I made up… but they’re infrequently covered by the media, perhaps, unless they’re related to a tragedy.” – Dessa

“The basic concept has been sort of developing for years, due to our interest in mythology, especially ancient mystery religions that involve sacrificing or dismembering a god/hero and taking him into the underworld in order to give him a secret awareness of the processes of death and resurrection.” – Emily Pothast

Inside this feature are 98 album covers spanning a wide array of sonic and visual styles, each selected for its own unique contribution to the world. They are not ranked; instead, they are broken down into sections based on conceptual underpinnings or artistic mediums, and then are displayed on spectrums.

Reach for the stars true believers, or to quote Seattle’s THEESatisfaction: “Let the musicians, be your physicians.”

With diverse dance nights and boundary-pushing local shows galore, Portland nightclub Holocene really does its part to build up the music community in Portland. To close out the year 2012, Gina Altamura and Van Pham have rounded up a list of their favorite local acts that you should pay attention to in 2013.

As a staff, we all have our own unique musical tastes. Sometimes those tastes overlap stylistically and sometimes they veer off into strange directions galore.

“I see a lot of similarities between fascinating engineering and fascinating art. Both have to do with craftsmanship; both have to do with finding a simple solution for a complex problem. And it has to do with elegance and needs inspiration.” - Robert Henke

Charlie Salas Humara has been a fixture in the Portland music scene for over a decade now, but these days, you simply can’t avoid him, his solo project Grapefruit, or his bands Sun Angle and Regular Music.

Party band Midnight Magic hide out in a stairwell and discuss everything from The Facts of Life and The Golden Girls to the virtues of friendship.