In 1992, Ministry released their heaviest CD (in sound, not weight ... we're sure the CD weighed just as much as their other CD's) to date. Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs sold almost a million copies and gave the band bona fide college radio hits in "Jesus Built My Hotrod," "N.W.O.," and this video, "Just One Fix." It's the only music video that we know of that......

When you think of New Jersey, wistful romance may not immediately come to mind. But it's there - after all, the Garden State is the birthplace of Frankie Valli and Frank Sinatra. It's what inspires singer/songwriter and Jersey native Nicole Atkins' music, which carries a certain flair for both nostalgia and matters of the heart. Atkins has become quite the critic's darling, and with good reason. Her dramatic smoky croon and searing lovelorn lyrics are......

Not-so-fresh off the heels of last year's Wild Mountain Nation, Portland's Blitzen Trapper swings by the Bayou City tonight at Walter's on Washington. Even though they're painfully under the Houston musical consciousness' radar, it'll do you some good to check their set out. Released on Sub Pop Records last year, Wild Mountain Nation proved to be one of the strongest releases of 2007, although somewhat overlooked considering the heavyweights that ended up dominating the ridiculous......

Snoop Dogg is performing at Warehouse Live tomorrow night, and we thought we would celebrate by posting the music video of his new song, "Sensual Seduction." Snoop has always been a funny dude, hamming it up in MTV's now defunct Televizzle, the 2004 flick Starsky and Hutch, and the new E! reality series, Father Hood. "Sensual Seduction" manages to be both a tongue-in-cheek romp and a highly stylized pop song that is steadily climbing the......

Do you remember what fun is? More to the point, have you ever voluntarily subjected yourself to the bizarre and inexplicably enjoyed it? If you haven't, that probably only because you haven't heard the music of Leslie and the Ly's performed live yet. No worries, though; such a problem can be easily remedied and sooner than you think. Whether it be in gem sweaters or spandex pants, Leslie Hall knows how to rock the party.......

A number of female artists chance it for a comeback on the charts this week. Prolific soul singer/songwriter Erykah Badu returns with her first album in five years, New Amerykah. -Watch a very cool music video for album single, "Honey," on Youtube -Read an interview with Badu at MSNBC -Badu will be featured in a new Tom Ford Fragrance ad campaign -Read an album review at EW.com -Buy New Amerykah Ethereal electronic star Goldfrapp is......

Do You Like Rock Music? If so, British Sea Power has made the perfect record for you. The band's third full length album is aptly titled and rocking and rolling enough to satisfy your musical genre tastes. -Read an album review at Spin.com -Watch the music video for the song, “No Lucifer,” at Youtube -Download the song “Waving Flags” at World's Fair -Stream entire album at AOL -British Sea Power is set to perform at......

We know it's only February, but we would like to prematurely speculate and say that Lightspeed Champion has released one of the most accomplished debuts of the year. Who knew that Dev Hynes [pictured], guitarist of the now defunct thrash punk outfit Test Icicles, was a brooding singer/songwriter bursting at the seams with sentimental feeling? Dev, recording under the moniker Lightspeed Champion, releases his stunning new solo album, Falling off the Lavender Bridge, today. -Watch......

Last year, when 80's rock band Twisted Sister decided to do a Christmas album, no one was expecting the music critics to applaud. And, they didn't. However, Dee Snyder and gang did pull it off well with their rendition of the traditional classic "O Come All Ye Faithful," by performing it in the same style as their hit "We're Not Gonna Take It." Sure, it''s regurgitation, but it's funny. It may not be the......

This looks to be the last big release week of the year, and 2007 is going out with a bang. We'll see you in '08! The Cool is Lupe Fiasco's follow-up album to last year's fantastic Food and Liquor. The record is filled with clever and forward-thinking tracks like “Dumb it Down” that manage succeed on both an underground and commercial level, and features noteworthy contributions from Snoop Dogg, UNKLE, newcomer Matthew Santos, and Food......

We know that American Idol Mania is almost a religious experience in certain parts of this country, but we will not, cannot recommend that you buy Blake Lewis’ new album. We just… can’t. Sorry. What have you wrought, Doug E. Fresh?! Listening to Alive 2007 will give you a sense of what the Daft Punk concert experience is all about. Well, you won’t have beer spillage on your shoes, or dudes smoking trees all up......

It’s a slow week. So slow in fact, that the big release of the day just might be the Spice Girls' Greatest Hits CD. We'll be rooting for Scary Spice on Dancing with the Stars tonight, but we've decided to highlight some other musical imports for now. Might we suggest the perfect holiday gift for the music nerd in your life? The Brit Box: U.K. Indie, Shoegaze, and Brit Pop Gems of the Last Millennium......

Here are a few things that have been said about local rockers Southern Backtones. "The only way this could get any beautifully darker is if it grew black wings and flew away." - Ft. Worth Weekly "Alt-rock guitars, darkly poetic lyrics and a vocal style reminiscent of the mid-90s Britpop movement...the musicianship and songwriting on this effort are top notch. Highly recommended." - Exclaim! Canada's Music Authority "Smacks of mass appeal!" - Houston Press "If......

Ghostland Observatory’s Thomas Turner and Aaron Behrens just might be the hardest working men in the electronic/funk-glam/rock music biz. In less than two years, the Austin, TX duo have released two records and have toured from coast to coast, all while running their own music label, Trashy Moped. The band’s latest CD, Paparazzi Lightning, is a high-voltage rocking dance record that the Dallas Observer says would “do Daft Punk, Giorgio Moroder and Freddie Mercury......

Kanye West has been making several headlines this week; First was regarding his comments about MTV after the VMAs on Sunday where he said, "They exploited [Britney], they played me and I really don't mess with MTV." Many have voiced their belief that his witching words come from not winning any of the five MTV Awards he was nominated for this year. The ever mild tempered West has gone on to say that he......

With 11th hour upon the citywide smoking ban taking effect (on a long weekend no less), all sorts of commentary from both sides are coming to light (no pun intended). Houstonist thought it would be only fair to have videos for and against the smoking ban...we also threw in a music video at the end for those who don't care about the issue. The music video is one of our favorites, Franz Ferdinand performing Jacqueline......

From the tallest skyscraper in the City of Brotherly Love to Canadian tourism copywriting brilliance, here's what you should know from our -ist cities: This week, Phillyist took a gleeful listen to the White Stripes' exciting new release, watched in awe as their new tallest skyscraper was finally completed, found a cheaper way to get to Gothamist, invented a tasty new dessert, and brought back their Craigslist Round-Up feature with a bang. Bostonist watches......

US Air Guitar Championships @ Scout Bar Yep, folks. You read it right. Tonight, Scout Bar will hold the local round of the US Air Guitar Championships. The local winner gets a trip to the US Finals, and the US winner gets a trip to the World Championships in Finland, where the contest has been a part of the Oulu Music Video Festival in Oulu, Finland since 1996. The first organized air guitar competition in......

MTV's reporting that Beyonce, who last week was getting sued over covering Des'ree's song, is pulling the album containing the song, "B'Day", along with an accompanying music video DVD. The ban will be in effect at least until May 4th, when a preliminary hearing will take place. As you might recall from last week, the Houston singer covered the song even after talks to do so broke down, and Des'ree, the song's original performer, is......

Oops! Houston siren Beyonce's getting sued. Seems she wanted to cover mid-90s popstar Des'ree's song. (You'd recognize Des'ree from her song "You Gotta Be", which Houstonist runs into at the gym every single time we go. Also? Five words: Sunny. Ninety-Nine. Point. One. Or is that four words? We never understood about the hyphenated thingies....) Ahem. Anyway.... Des'ree's song "I'm Kissing You", which was featured in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet back in 1996 somehow......

This shot from flickr user and Houstonist photo contributor eschipul. Cheesy 80's lyrics from Flock of Seagulls. And I ran, I ran so far away. I just ran, I ran all night and day. I couldnt get away. And for those who want more...bonus, the music video to go along with the lyrics! If you have a passion for Houston and photography, consider joining almost 200 of Houston's best photographers in the Houstonist Flickr......

Super Bowl Shuffle - video powered by Metacafe Houstonist is not picking sides on this weekend’s Super Bowl (well, at least not publicly), but we do feel the need to show the Chicago Bears Shufflin’ Crew’s “Super Bowl Shuffle” from the 1985-86 season for several reasons: 1) The Bears are in the Super Bowl this year, 2) The video is so campy, it’s funny 3) We have to support our fellow –ist site in the......

With five Golden Globe nominations and talk of possible Oscar nominations in the wings, the film adaptation of Dreamgirls is getting a lot of exposure. The soundtrack is currently on top of the charts, the movie is in the top five at the box office, and former American Idol star Jennifer Hudson is receiving lots of praise for her performance as Effie White in the movie. While Hudson’s singing in the movie is good,......

The Contemporary Arts Museum's Teen Council will host a music video night on the lawn in front of the museum at 6:30 tonight. To make an evening of it, Houstonist suggests visiting the Cullen Sculpture Garden and maybe dinner at nearby Cafe Express? Or maybe not. The showing will consist of music videos chosen especially by members of the Teen Council. The videos will be projected on a screen set up on the lawn in......

Houstonist contributor Monica suggested this video, which we didn't even know existed. Made in the middle of their short career, Wham! decided to go for scenery on "Last Christmas" that we haven't seen since two Christmas Eve's ago -- snow. The video just taked you to the ski lodge where George Michael and his (ahem) girlfriend go to meet their friends. All throughout the video, George is obsessing over his lost love, who now......

Greg from GregsOpinion.com submitted this classic 80’s Christmas tune. Recorded at the MTV studios in late 1981, when the cable station was just a few months old, Billy Squier joined the whole MTV crew (which probably included all 15 employees and their families, at that time) to record the song. It’s a fun pop holiday song, and the video reminds us of the time when the M in MTV actually stood for music. Watching......

Texas has a Christmas song that they can call their own. Originally from Houston, Robert Earl Keen has had a great following over the last decade or so, but even those who don't know him in the Lone Star state still know this song. "Merry Christmas From the Family" is the ultimate white-trash Christmas song. For some, the song hits too close to home. The video was put together a few years ago when......

We know, it’s not Friday, but Houstonist is in the holiday spirit, and we received several good holiday-video requests, so we decided to extend Friday Afternoon Videos for the whole week this week. (Plus, it’ll help everyday seem like Friday!) We want to thank Houstonist Flickr Photo Group member Jeff Balke for telling us about this video last month. Going lounge seems to be the thing to do if you’re an aging rock star.......

After watching a news report about famine in Ethiopia, Boomtown Rats lead singer Bob Geldof (now “Sir Bob Geldof,” thanks to this aid effort) called up his friend Midge Ure (from Ultravox) and decided to gather up British musicians to record a benefit song. The supergroup Band Aid was formed, and their song “Do They Know it’s Christmas” resulted in millions of dollars in relief for famine in Africa. Due to its success, Geldof......

If you missed the airing of A Charlie Brown Christmas last week, don't worry, ABC is re-airing it on Dec. 17th at 6 p.m. In the meantime, enjoy and old parody created a few years ago when Outkast was riding high with "Hey Ya!." Sure, it's novelty may wear off quick, but its funny to see the Peanuts gang shake-it-like-a-Polaroid-picture with Andre 3000's classic (is it too early to call the song a classic?).......