North Carolina Museum of Art, Cat’s Cradle: American Aquarium

For nearly two decades, American Aquarium has pushed toward that rare form of rock ’n’ roll that’s revelatory in every sense. “For us the sweet spot is when you’ve got a rock band that makes you scream along to every word, and it’s not until you’re coming down at 3 am that you realize those words are saying something real about your life,” says frontman BJ Barham. “That’s what made us fall in love with music in the first place, and that’s the goal in everything we do.”