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Lollipops, White Laces, Blanko Basnet 

Iggy Cosky began recording songs at 14 and hasn't slowed down since. "Songs are just pouring out of my head," explains the young Raleigh resident, who says he tries to write a song each day. "At the end of the week, I'll take one and really try to bring it to life." Though he released an EP in January under his own name and quit the two bands in which he toured as a guitarist, Cosky's music career took on new life after an attempt to take his own. "My depression and mania pushed me over the edge," he says. After a four-week stay in April at a mental hospital, Cosky left with about 30 songs and a new name for his solo material.

Emphasizing short, infectious pop ditties, Lollipops—"sugary and sweet," he boasts—fit Cosky's new direction, influenced by far-flung idols from Fela Kuti to Billie Holiday.

Having met DiggUp Tapes' Nathan Price prior to his hospitalization, Cosky sent Price some tracks he'd recorded for Lollipops' Pop Narcotics EP. Cosky played all the instruments on the May release, so Price helped him assemble a live band. Cosky says he is already several tunes into his next release, Your Royal Masochist & The Love Crusades. Tonight, the live unit will pause to join White Laces and Blanko Basnet, the solo project of Hammer No More The Fingers' Joe Hall. —Spencer Griffith