The Big Sleep has a great band name and a great new album to boot. Instrumental prog-rockers The Big Sleep release their new record, Sleep Forever, today. If you're looking for a calming musical sedative to fall asleep to, you won't find that here. The choice jam sessions on this album mostly make us want to turn up the volume. Really loud. -Download the album's first single, "Pinkies," at French Kiss Records -The Village Voice......

Okay! So! Earlier this week, People.com reported that a "well placed" source said a New Kids on the Block reunion was gonna happen. But then elsewhere on the internets, an even BETTER placed source said that's not true!!! So what does this all mean?!? And why are people comparing the New Kids to the Beatles?!?!? And should grown men really be called Kids when they are pushing forty?!?!?!?!?!?! We don't know! But! This has given......

No trips to the record store this week; our best pick for new music is only available on iTunes. This is Me Then features early gems from Common’s career, including tracks from his groundbreaking record, Resurrection, and four old school music videos. -We thought Common was great in American Gangster -Next up, he's filming a movie with Angelina Jolie -Buy This is Me Then: The Best of Common Listen to cool music and help out......

Houstonist loves music. That’s why make our iMixes, keep you up-to-date on what shows are in town, share our favorite music videos with you, and even interview both local and national musicians. We know, however, that there are some fanatical music lovers out there that think we can do more (and we’re not disagreeing). That’s where our challenge comes in. We’re currently looking for more music contributors. What’s required, you say? First off, you......

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......

A couple of weeks ago, Houstonist was downtown and noticed a film crew setting up lights, cameras — and, presumably, action — at the corner of Louisiana and Rusk. We wondered in passing what was going on, but we figured it was just Time Warner shooting another of its asinine commercials with a guy in a space suit or a businessman who says "Click! Boom!" for half an hour. In reality, though, what we......

In the old days, many music videos had story lines. Most of them were predictable and went with the lyrics of the song. Some, like Radiohead's "Just" from 1995 kept you scratching your head. It kept you watching until the very end to see the climax of the plot. However, this one let's you draw your own conclusion. We like that. Why do you think the man was lying down on the sidewalk? A......

It’s rare to find music videos as complex and interesting to watch as Massive Attack’s 1995 clip “Protection.” The small screen that YouTube provides really doesn’t do it justice. Created by veteran film/video director Michel Gondry, the video was shot in one-take. You’ll want to watch it over and over to try to figure out how they did it (here’s a great explanation to read after you watch the video). The story takes place......

Last year, New York City's TV on the Radio reached a new pinnacle in their five-year career with their album Return to Cookie Mountain. It has been hailed by critics and showed up as one of our favorite albums of 2006. Since they're in town tonight (and so is Yo La Tengo -- how about that for a dilemma?), we thought we'd feature a video off the CD, "Wolf Like Me." We often wondered......

With yesterday’s sudden death of Houston native Anna Nicole Smith, we thought it would be appropriate to feature one of the music videos that she appeared in. As far as we know, there were only a handful of music videos that she starred in, but we think this one from 1993 shows her at her best. The video is by the always ultra-cool, ex-Roxy Music vocalist Bryan Ferry. The song is a cover of......

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......

This is a good week to get the most out of your concert dollars, as several concerts featuring multiple acts roll into town. Wednesday You can call The Hotel Café tour a collection of singer/songwriters that you may not have heard of yet, but you should. Led by Cary Brothers, whose claim to fame so far is a song on the excellent Garden State soundtrack. Other up-and-comers include Chicago native Rachael Yamagata, Joshua Radin,......

Polish that peg leg and dust off your eye patch - September 19, 2006 is International "Talk Like a Pirate" Day - or TLAPD. Avast mateys ye can almost get away with bringing yer parrot to work - at the least ye can talk silly and tell that pesky co-worker to "Walk the plank ye scurvy dog". Rising from humble beginnings (a friendly raquetball game on June 5, 1995) the first officially recognized TLAPD......

Since Snakes on a Plane was a blog phenomenon, we thought we would feature one of the movie's music videos, "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" by Cobra Starship. The band is a one-time collaboration of several indie rockers -- The Academy Is..., Gym Class Heroes, and The Sounds. Just like the movie, the video is cheesy as hell. The band members sneak snakes through security by using a scantly-dressed woman as a decoy,......

Sure, it's one of the oldest tricks in music videos, but Chris Martin pulls it off so well. The video for Coldplay's 2002 song "The Scientist" features Martin walking, jumping, and singing backwards. So, basically, the video starts at the end and ends at the beginning. At first, you may not be too impressed, but the finale is worth the wait. Do you have a music video suggestion? E-mail us.......

So, once upon a time, there was a boy from the Wrong Side of the Tracks who had to do community service at the art school he vandalized because he's Misunderstood. He meets a Priviliged Ballerina who needs a dance partner and....why am I recapping the plot? Step Up is totally predictable and, oddly, completely engaging. Wisely, the director (first-timer Anne Fletcher) does a lot of what she does best: sexy, frenetic dance sequences that......

Growing up, we remember staying up late watching Friday Night Videos on NBC. It was a condensed, network TV version of what was hot on MTV at the time. We miss those days. So we thought we would bring it back — Houstonist style. Every Friday, we'll feature a music video worth watching. Some will be from Houston, some won't. Some will be new, some will be old. Some will be great music videos that......

Brought to you by the producers of another summertime hit (albeit one of a few years ago), VH1's World Series of Pop Culture is a gameshow based on Entertainment Weekly's Pop Culture Quiz, and it's brought to you by the zany folks behind Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Sixteen three-person teams compete in tournament-style gameplay, answering questions in categories covering everything from The Brady Bunch to Buncha Crunch. The show is the first to......

Houstonist is pretty white, guys. Let's just get that out there. But we like to feel we have a finger on the ever-interesting pulse of the hip-hop milieu. (And how many people have put the words "hip-hop" and "milieu" together successfully? Come on, we get points.) In any case, our voluminous street cred allows us to bring you this, the latest news from HipHop nation: Jay-Z is boycotting Cristal! That's right, Jay-Z is the rapper......