The Twitch plays meat and potatoes rock ’n’ roll. Beefy riffs, 4/4 rhythms and even the occasional rock screech are the modus operandi on their self-titled EP, and they slug it out with two guitars, bass, drums and vocals—old-school style. Aaron Katz, best known as a songwriter and drummer for Percy Hill, produced the four-song set. Given that the band doesn’t try to follow some of the more ironic, tight Atari T-shirt wearing musical trends so popular of late, one has to give Katz kudos for likely encouraging them to do what they do best—straight ahead rock. Black Crowes, AC/DC, a hair of Sabbath and a taste of Zeppelin all surface on the disc, especially on songs like “Diggin’ a Hole” and “Not For You,” which features both guitarists grinding out the same muscular guitar lines.

Monkey Biz is the second hip-hop group from New Hampshire, along with Granite State, to release a convincing hip-hop CD this year. DC The Midi Alien, Ape$hit and DJ Illogix combine forces on their new CD “Animal Odyssey,” which features all the macho posturing, head popping beats and dizzying turntable cuts you’d expect from such a record. String laden 1970s funk and pop get sampled often on this collection as the MCs rhyme. The aforementioned Granite State makes cameos on a few tracks (as do some of the group’s other peers), including on “Another Day,” which documents the struggle to make it in music while waxing on the group’s commitment to the goal. Some of the borderline misogynistic lyrical content is the kind that would make Tipper Gore pass out, and it’s not for everybody. But the musical skills are there.

Tree By Leaf navigates the delicate subjects of God, faith and politics on their latest disc, “There Is a Vine.” The wordy “Over and Under” is a rambling, stream of consciousness number by a man who wonders “...what is delusion?/ What is devotion?” Garret Soucy pens all but one of the 11 songs on the folk rock disc. Stylistically (and politically) “Vine” isn’t too far from the Wilco/Billy Bragg “Mermaid Avenue” collaborations. “I’m not a patriot. I don’t pledge the flag or worship it,” Garrett sings on “His Banner Over Us Is Love,” “And there’s only room for one King in this body and it’s not democracy. Don’t bow down.”

Siiri Soucy’s gorgeous voice is the kind that demands attention. She shines on “Chicago at Night,” “Fraud,” and “Little Lost and Lonely”—songs whose scarce accompaniment give plenty of space for her to do her thing. The latter features third member Cliff Young’s fine piano. The music is beautiful, mostly acoustic (with drums), and it drips with that special sound of a band playing together in a room.