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......

Happy Primaries, Houston! Good music will always get our vote, and this week is no exception. Austin, TX funk-rock duo Ghostland Observatory releases Robotique Majestique today, a fantastic musical joyride that is as electrifying as their previous efforts. -The Dallas Morning News discusses the recent electro-funk resurgence -Check out the song, "Heavy Heart," at Stereogum -Read an album review in Austin 360 -Buy Robotique Majestique Pavement lead singer/indie All Star Stephen Malkmus enlisted former Sleater......

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......

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......

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......

Our first iMix of the year (yes, we know we missed last month, we were suffering a hangover after New Years) is a nice blend of now and then. We start off with Noah Lennox, also known as Panda Bear, with his 12 1/2 minute epic "Bros," which comes from Pitchfork's 2007 Album of the Year Person Pitch. Other recent releases include singer/songwriters Nicole Atkins, Josh Ritter, and Brett Dennen, along with one of Rolling......

Artists from both coasts duke it out on the charts this week. We’ve been fans of the Helio Sequence's ambient sound for some time now, and today the band releases their fourth album, Keep Your Eyes Ahead. -Download some songs at CNET -Aversion interviewed Helio singer Brandon Summers -Read an album review at Billboard.com -Buy Keep Your Eyes Ahead So if you visit the Mars Volta’s website, you can read a very elaborate story about......

A little bit of old school, a little bit of new school on the charts this week. According to Magnetic Fields' mastermind Stephin Merritt, the group's latest album, Distortion, was inspired by The Jesus and Mary Chain. We think the Scottish post-punk thing is a good look for Merritt and Co. -Read an interview with Stephin Merritt at Pop Matters -Stream the entire album on AOL -Magnetic Fields are featured in the latest All Songs......

Happy New Year’s/In Rainbows Day! As you may well know, Radiohead’s In Rainbows was one of our favorite records of 2007. The album is out in stores today after being available for digital “pay what you want” download online last fall. If you've grown a bit tired of your mp3 download’s low 162kbps bit-rate quality, purchasing a copy of the CD might be a good idea. And if you haven’t purchased In Rainbows in......

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......

With all the excitement surrounding the new Wu-Tang Clan record, what are some other bands you'd like to see return to the spotlight? We still say a prayer for a Fugees' comeback album, even though we know it's a lost cause. 8 Diagrams is the long-awaited new album from Wu-Tang, featuring the much-talked about Beatles' sample and guitar work by John Frusciante. Group members Ghostface and Raekwon have been vocal about their dissatisfaction with the......

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 like Divas Las Vegas 2007 this week, but in a good way! Celine Dion, Alicia Keys, and the Queen of Soul all have new albums debuting on the charts. It took us a little longer than usual to warm up to Alicia Keys’ new single, “No One” from her latest album, As I Am. But now that we’ve heard it endlessly on the radio and on TV, and it’s formed its own repeat loop......

This week, we learn that Jay-Z is officially out of retirement indefinitely, that heima means home in Icelandic, and that Chris Brown is like a real grown-up! So the new film American Gangster served as inspiration for Jay-Z’s latest album and made big bucks at the box office last weekend. Could this mean huge numbers for Jay-Z’s CD of the same name? -Read an album review in the New York Times -Watch Jay-Z on VH1's......

Mash-up DJ Girl Talk rolls into town to play a show at the Engine Room on Thursday night. Armed with his laptop and ready arsenal of body-thumping mixes, Girl Talk’s Gregg Gillis will make you move. If you don’t know, now you know; less than two years ago, Gillis worked as a biomedical engineer by day-turned-mad scientist of beats and samples at night and on the weekends, mixing potent mash-ups and performing in front of......

Britney and Backstreet are back alright, but we’ve got our eye on a few other notable releases this week. However, if you’re still looking for some last minute Halloween costume ideas… We’re really excited about the lovely Nicole Atkins’ latest album, Neptune City. The fact that Atkins’ dramatic low-register voice vaguely reminds us of early Stevie Nicks is merely an added bonus. -Watch the video for the album’s title track on Youtube -Stream the......

On Sundays, Houstonist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in Houston. The opinions expressed below are entirely those of the author. Happy December 31st! Since our resolutions pretty much stay the same from one year to the next (lose weight, get a better job, spend more time with the kids, get the drinking under control, stand up to that troll under the bridge), we need another way to note the passage of time. People in......

>>World: After about a month of repairs, London icon Big Ben keeps on ticking. >>Nation: In an Ohio village, you might just wake up with an outhouse on your lawn, and guess what? You have to pay to have it hauled off. >>Texas: Cindy Sheehan not only wants to protest at President Bush's Crawford ranch, she wants free parking too. >>Offbeat:A North Carolina ice cream shop is asking customers to sign a liability waiver......