Your Mill City Live guide

WHAT: Mill City Live

WHEN: Thursdays in July, 6 to 8 p.m.

WHERE: Mill City Museum, 704 Second St. S.

TICKETS: $5

The Mill City Museum’s billboard boasts that it’s the “most explosive museum in the world,” and while that might be slightly misleading, it is heralded as an impressive work of recycled architecture from the days when Minneapolis was the “flour milling capital of the world.” Along with entertaining children with hands-on exhibits, the museum plunges into the local music scene by putting on yet another year of Mill City Live, a series of Thursday night concerts throughout the month of July.

This year’s promising lineup of emerging local musicians spans all sorts of genres, so 20-something PBR-enthusiasts might find themselves bobbing their heads among cardholding Walker visitors.

Aside from concerts, D’Amico & Sons will provide food and drinks, and the museum invites guests to check out the view of Minneapolis from its observation deck.

Here’s a guide to what a $5 admission fee can bring:

July 9: Jeremy Messersmith

MySpace

Messersmith finds inspiration in the Twin Cities, and his songs reflect his love of the metro. “Franklin Avenue” and “Light Rail” are two tunes with homegrown subjects familiar to local listeners. City Pages called him the best singer-songwriter under 30 back in 2007 , and The Star Tribune compared him to Elliott Smith — though Messersmith’s reedy tenor is better suited to sunny days than self-inflicted stab wounds.

Sounds like: Beatles-lite mixed with Simon & Garfunkel

July 16: Gospel Gossip

MySpace

Northfield natives Gospel Gossip just released a lovely slice of shoegazey, feedback-heavy alt-pop with “Dreamland” and will embark on a tour in support of their album after playing Mill City Live. The band, anchored by frontwoman Sarah Nienaber’s angel-with-a-snarl vocal stylings, has garnered plenty of attention as of late — and they deserve it. The songs are tightly wound, danceable and still manage to float despite their synth-laden backdrop.

Sounds like: Mazzy Star , Yeah Yeah Yeahs , Sonic Youth

July 23: Caroline Smith & the Good Night Sleeps

MySpace

A&E has given Ms. Smith and the Sleeps a fair deal of coverage in the past two years and for good reason: Caroline is an amazing songwriter, they’ve done a Daytrotter session, released a fantastic album and now Caroline and the boys are capping off some whirlwind Midwestern stops with Mill City Live. Think it’ll beat their jaunt to Fargo? Go and see, since they’re one of METRO magazine’s “Bands to Watch in 2009.”

Sounds like: adorable indie-pop, Camera Obscura + Jenny Lewis

July 30: Charanga Tropical

MySpace

And now for something completely different: Describing themselves as “salsa meets strings,” this nine-person collective of instrumentalists caps off the month of music by bringing the tropics to the Twin Cities. Two Cubans count themselves members of the group, and nonnative flutist/saxophonist Douglas Little spent five months studying his craft in Havana. He learned “charanga,” the seamless meshing of strings and samba, during his stay there.