...and indie rock, too

Has it been 10 years already? Although it seems only yesterday that organizers began plotting Boston’s answer to New York City’s CMJ and Austin, Texas’s South by Southwest festivals, the 10th(!)-annual NEMO Conference and Festival gets underway tonight and runs through Saturday. This year’s blowout, which features more than 300 bands taking reigning in over more than 30 Greater Boston clubs in the Greater Boston area, also features a dizzying array of workshops, trade shows, panel discussions, art shows, and much more.

What follows is a Below: a thumbnail sketch sample of a few of the people, places, and things you shouldn’t miss this year. For a complete schedule of performers, events, prices, and other need-to-know details, visit www.nemoboston.com. You’ll be glad you did.

NATIONAL

Yo La Tengo

This Hoboken, N.J., trio of fuzz-toned sonic architects has made so many terrifically blissed-out albums that we’ve practically lost count. The full title of the group’s 12th full-length album, ‘‘I Am Not Afraid of You And I Will Beat Your A .....’’ cannot be printed in this a family newspaper, but don’t hold that grudge. against them. The husband-and-wife team of singer-guitarist Ira Kaplan and drummer Georgia Hubley, and bassist James McNew make up one of the nation’s best bands. in America. Yo La Tengo plays an all-ages show tonight at Avalon, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston. Doors at 7 p.m. Tickets: $19.

Joseph Arthur

Peter Gabriel discovered Joseph Arthur and signed the Akron, Ohio, singer-songwriter to his Real World label in the mid-’90s. Since then, Arthur’s made a string of gorgeously brooding, soulfully driven albums whose tumultuous spirit has, at times, recalled everybody from Elliott Smith and Chuck Prophet to Jeff Buckley and Leonard Cohen. His newest disc is called ‘‘Nuclear Daydream,’’ which sounds about right. Joseph Arthur plays tonight at the Paradise Rock Club, 967 Commonwealth Ave., Boston. 617-562-8800. 18+.

Dr. Octagon (a.k.a. Kool Keith)

Kool Keith’s story goes from beats to Bellevue and back to beats. As part of the New York hip-hop trio the Ultramagnetic MC’scq/smm, Kool Keith toyed with old-school rhymes and capitalized on his rep as — according to his bio — ‘‘a somewhat unstable character,’’ eventually hospitalized for depression. He has teamed with Dan ‘‘the Automator’’ Nakamura under the name Dr. Octagon, disappeared and resurfaced ??all verbs, this sent confusing??Smm . Now, he’s hitting town with a new album, in the can called ‘‘The Return of Dr. Octagon,’’ and there’s no telling what the hip-hop chameleon will do next. Dr. Octagon plays the Middle East Downstairs tomorrow night, Sept. 29, at 8 p.m. 18+ $20, $18 advance.

LOCAL

HUMANWINE

In lesser hands, giving one’s band an all-caps moniker might be considered empty hubris, but Boston’s HUMANWINE makes musical statements just as brazen and bold. The cracked cabaret stylings and elaborately weird performances staged by co-founders Holly Brewer and Mat McNiss have garnered the band three Boston Music Award nominations (outstanding new act, outstanding lead female vocalist, outstanding local punk band) and a slew of gushing publicity. HUMANWINE also took ‘‘best new act’’ honors in the WFNX/Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll this year. HUMANWINE performs tonight at Harpers Ferry, 156 Brighton Ave., Allston. Doors at 8 p.m. $8. 21+

Afro DZ ak

Talk about multitasking. Not only does the Boston MC-DJ-musician Afro DZ ak (a.k.a. Pete Shungu) play trumpet and rap with the versatile outfits Soul Movement (with whom he also plays keyboards, too) and the Eclectic Collective, but he also blasts the brass with Boston jazz trio Black, White, and the Blues, a Boston jazz trio. Born in New Jersey, Afro DZ ak moved to New England to attend Tufts University and quickly discovered a dual passion for music and social activism. He’s been involved in many area social justice and community outreach programs and hosts the hip-hop series ‘‘Hip-Hop Anonymous’’ at Harpers Ferry. Afro DZ ak performs tomorrow at Harpers Ferry, 156 Brighton Ave., Allston. Doors at 8 p.m. 21+ $8.

Frank Smith

Don’t let the name confuse you. Frank Smith is a sprawling seven-piece Boston alt-country outfit that deliberately picked the most pedestrian, forgettable name they could dream up come up with (apologies to all you Frank Smiths out there). The music, however, is What’s neither pedestrian nor forgettable. The group just nabbed a pair of Boston Music Awards nominations for album of the year (independent) and outstanding Americana act of the year. Frank Smith performs tomorrow at T.T. the Bear’s, 10 Brookline Ave., Cambridge. Doors 8:30 p.m., 18+ $9.

And don’t forget ...

‘‘Creating the Power to Break You Free,’’ ‘‘Exploiting New Media: Adapt or Die,’’ ‘‘You’ve Come a Long Way Baby — Or Have You?’’ and ‘‘Creating a Buzz’’ are among nearly two dozen NEMO Music Conference panels, roundtable discussions, and clinics held at the Boston Center for the Arts starting tomorrow.

These are the topic titles of just four of the more than nearly two dozen NEMO Music Conference panels, roundtable discussions, and clinics that will be held throughout the Boston Center for the Arts starting tomorrow. In addition, nearly 60 exhibitors and vendors transform the BCA’s 23,000-square-foot Cyclorama into a hip indoor street fair:. Check out everything from cool local labels like Wonderdrug Records to Liberated Images’ custom-designed T-shirts to the tattoo options offered by Waltham’s Pino Brothers Ink.

Also on the BCA campus, two of the city’s promotions hippest promotions teams, the Honah Lee and Black and White, respectively, are sponsoring sponsor a NEMO art show opening is it just an opening happening on one day or are they hosting an art show that opens today, featuring work by music-minded artists around town.