The Problem With… Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok”

Welcome to the first in a blog post series called “The Problem With…” where we’ll immerse ourselves in pop music, tackle a noteworthy piece of the racket, and tell you why it sucks. So. Ke$ha’s kind of a catchy musician. And she wants me to tag along to some party?…

DC9 Live at El Sibil, Ep. 7: galleryCat

…and for those of you still stuck on the YouTubes, here’s your link.Looks like we finally took care of those technical difficulties–and good thing, too, as we’ve been itching to post the above video, featuring longtime DC9 favorite galleryCat playing our weekly video series for a couple days now. And,…

Today In Music News: New Found Glory Is A Slam Dunk, Ministry Of Sound Is In Trouble, Gordon Lightfoot’s Not Headed To Sundown And Elton John Thinks Jesus Was Gay

Your daily dose of national music news for Friday, February 19, 2010…New Found Glory has been added to the Slam Dunk Festival line-up. Conspicuously missing… Dikembe Mutumbo.Legendary London nightclub Ministry of Sound may have to close it’s doors. So, if you’re “best friend” doesn’t know your not actually dead, is…

Bonus MP3: Museum Creatues — “Song ABC”

Last night, The Cavern’s free Wednesday night affair, Detour, hosted the live debut of local experimental electro outfit Museum Creatures. And it was a pretty entertaining display offered up by the latest project from Dallas’ once-upon-a-time piano-pop musician Tommy Hernandez, most recently of sleaze dance outfit Boytap: Hernandez went to…

Gig Alert: Sober’s ‘Final Top Notch’ Tonight At The Cavern

Just a couple weeks after the residency’s one-year anniversary party, Sober is pulling up the anchor on his upstairs Thursday night DJ set at the cavern. Tonight’s “Bon Voyage Sober” party marks the final night of DJ Sober’s “Top Notch,” at least as a weekly event, as Sober will leave…

Last Night: Jack’s Mannequin at House of Blues

Jack’s MannequinHouse of BluesFebruary 17, 2010 Better than: spending a day sweaty and dehydrated, getting trampled and crowd-surfed on at Warped Tour. It’s incredibly cliché to say, but you’d never know Andrew McMahon survived Leukemia if you got the chance to see one of his shows. From the opening chords…

Last Night: Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson at Bass Hall

Merle Haggard, Kris KristoffersonBass Hall, Fort WorthFebruary 17, 2010Better Than: Watching classic country performances on YouTube and thinking to yourself “damn, I wish I’d seen so-and-so before he died.” Dressed head to toe in black, 73-year-old legend Kris Kristofferson looked as cool as ever opening Wednesday night’s inspired pairing with…

Laura Veirs, Cataldo, Old Believers

I first happened upon the phenomenal Portland-via-Seattle-via-Colorado songwriter Laura Veirs maybe four years ago, after she’d already released a couple of albums. But 2005’s dreamy, quirky, occasionally orchestral-poppy, sometimes biting Year of Meteors grabbed me and didn’t let go of my ears (or my CD player) for ages. Her voice…

The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Nico Vega

If rock ‘n’ roll started in America and the British perfected it, then where does that leave the Swedes? If The Soundtrack of Our Lives’ new album, Communion, is any indication of the current state of Swedish music, then the Swedes are like the amp that turns things up to…

Gov’t Mule

Guitarist and vocalist Warren Haynes is a busy man, juggling roles in the Allman Brothers, the Dead and Gov’t Mule, which he leads and founded with late Allman bassist Allen Woody. Like the other bands Haynes is involved with, Gov’t Mule is based on a classic-rock sound: hard, blues-drenched rock…

Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 Finds The Rapper Accepting His Age. Finally.

OK, so he speaks in yoga metaphors and describes wealth that regular humans can’t hope to comprehend. Auh! His late career adjustments to the forever-young rap game consist mostly of the genre’s most repulsive ad-lib—auh!—and indifferent patronage toward hip-hop’s untested and uneven powers. Auh! He mispronounces as many as two…

Bridges and Blinking Lights Gets Its Sound in Focus

It’s probably not a surprise to hear that Bridges and Blinking Lights frontman Jake Wilganowski is a restless man. His band’s two records—2007 debut Standing on the Same Stick and the forthcoming sophomore album Heroes, Guns and Snakes—both make the most of their run times, packing an album’s worth of…

We Were Promised Jetpacks Makes The Most of Its Debut

One of the finest surprises of last year was the release of We Were Promised Jetpacks’ debut album, These Four Walls. With a disc that exhibits lifting melodies and popping beats, this Glasgow four-piece became a band you had to urge your friends to hear. It wasn’t just some simple,…