This week we recommend some home-grown Carolina music, some political post-punk and a new one from a resurrected ‘90s alterna-pop queen which you can download (legally, of course) or stream to your personal media device.

"State of Grace" by Hot Water Music

The members of this Floridian punk band are like a bad relationship, they break up…they get back together…they make a bunch of little EPs and a few LPs. And they’ve repeating this cycle for almost 20 years. But we’ll still invite them over for parties because they’re a punk band that harmonizes their shouts and sing about things that matter. This song’s message confronts the food production in America and the diminishing health associated with genetically screwing with our food supply. Hot Water Music’s music is affective and it still sounds relevant.

"Live and Die" by The Avett Brothers

In the last decade, The Avett Brothers, hailing from Concord, N.C., have come a long way. They’ve spent their decade introducing a stomping brand of bluegrass infused with whatever other genre of music they’re into at any given time. It really is hybrid roots music. This week, they’re releasing their highly anticipated second album with Rick Rubin producing, “The Carpenter.” With this first single, it seems like the brothers continue to dig deep while pushing smart, sincere tunes. The banjo ushers it in and there’s nothing experimental about it, it’s a straightforward ballad that cuts right to the heart of the matter.

"Receive" by Alanis Morissette

Let’s be honest, Morissette has kind of ridden her own coattails after she released, “Jagged Little Pill.” It couldn’t have been to easy trying over and over again to release another album as bad-ass as that one. On “Jagged Little Pill,” she was fierce and irreverent and her voice soared. Then, she went to India…and she’s been whining about it ever since. But now, a clear 17 years away from her infamous Canadian breakout – she seems to be at peace with it. She’ll probably never be as fierce as she once was, but with this track, her voice is not buried or hiding in the mix. It’s on top and powerful and shows she has a sense of humor that only comes with age and understanding.

Derrick Bracey, for Weekly Surge