The Soil and the Sun has been absent from the Grand Rapids music scene the past couple of months due to a tour which brought the band through North Carolina, Washington D.C., Tenessee and all across the Midwest, not to mention South By Southwest.

In August we introduced you to the Already Dead Tapes and Vinyl label. This month, we get a chance to see some of the label's bands in action. On Sept. 20, Already Dead — which releases albums on cassette tapes — hosts its second annual Family Reunion Music Festival in Kalamazoo.

The impending sound of August Burns Red's blistering guitars, monumental breakdowns and anti-chorus screams will resound throughout the Orbit Room on Sept. 6.

Jonas Stein is a busy guy. Aside from being the frontman for psychedelic garage rock outfit Turbo Fruits, Stein runs Turbo Time Records and is co-founder of the rock-and-roll cruise liner party the Bruise Cruise.

It’s been a year and a half since Seattle, Washington’s Minus the Bear played its March 2011 show at the Intersection. For its return in September 2012, the band brings what it hopes to be its strongest performance yet.

Brian Kniebes could stay at home on Saturday nights and fulfill his musical itch by playing Rock Band on XBox with his wife and three daughters. Instead, he fills his weekends with shows all around the region.

Every summer there are literally dozens of music festivals all over the country. While each have their own vibe, after a while they kind of all start to run together. Eventually there just needs to be a festival that rises above all others and acts as a beacon for all the freaks and weirdos out there.

This August, local and national talent will fuse together to fuel the continuing rise of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) in Grand Rapids' fourth annual EDM summer festival. Beginning as Grand Rapids Electronic Music Night in 2009, this dance party has upped its appeal and attendance with each passing year.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals is a band that’s known for its edgy, female-fronted rock. But according to Potter, everything the band did before edge-wise is shadowed by The Lion, The Beast, The Beat, the band’s latest album.

A music festival is always an other-worldly event. Lineups, weather, activities. All of these really do become moot points. As Jeremy Stein, Madison House Presents promoter and producer of the Electric Forest Festival said, “the experience of being there trumps any headliner.”