Since beloved Washington State punk band Sleater-Kinney dissolved two years ago into an "indefinite hiatus," drummer Janet Weiss has carved out a new niche for herself in Stephen Malkmus's small family of musicians, the Jicks. Weiss played an active role in the creation of Malkmus's fourth full-length "solo" album, Real Emotional Trash, which came out in March. In its wake she's been tearing up the road in the U.S. and Europe with Malkmus and......

Norah Does it in the Living Room! Perhaps in an effort to capitalize on some pending April Fools Day confusion, (or, less cynically, to honor the cozy club,) Norah Jones made a surprise appearance at the Living Room on Monday night. The Ludlow street lounge, which has been celebrating its 10-year anniversary with night after night of packed lineups with a sprinkling of some big names, is where the Queen of Mom Music got her......

Real Emotional Trash, the fourth post-Pavement solo album by Stephen Malkmus, is arguably his best, and at the very least rivals the acclaimed Pig Lib for inventiveness. A well-crafted balance of catchy pop, multi-part prog rock compositions, heady guitar shredding and his signature lyrical whimsy, the album is sure to stymie Pavement fans on a nostalgia trip and the skinny jean set appalled by any song that dares last longer than five minutes. Joined by......

The holiday-time movie releases are starting to pile up with their usual feverish frequency. Some have Christmas themes, like the widely reviled Vince Vaughn vehicle Fred Claus that’s already roadkill on the lost highway of cinema history; others, like Ridley Scott’s American Gangster, are timed to make an impression as close to Academy Award-voting season as possible. Here are some of the biggest gorillas set to dominate New York’s screens in the next six......

Girl Talk get it right Last Friday, crowds packed into Studio B to see the NYC return of laptop mashup extraordinaire Girl Talk deliver his most satisfying local set to date. 90 minutes of ADD jamz that kept the capacity crowd moving the entire time. This might sound odd, the best parts of a Girl Talk set are the mixes that don't work perfectly. They're few and far between, but sometimes two songs just don't......

THEATER: The esteemed Classical Theatre of Harlem is reviving Peter Weiss’s masterpiece Marat/Sade. The dizzying action takes place in an asylum in France, where the infamous Marquis de Sade is sequestered in 1808. To pass the time, he directs a play about the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat during the revolution. His asylum casting pool yields up some magnificent performances, though the production is almost squelched by the hospital administrator, a tool of Napoleon’s post-revolutionary regime.......

Those folks at JellyNYC (also responsible for the free Sunday shows at McCarren Park Pool this summer) booked a great lineup for the 2007 Plug Awards. The awards will take place on February 10th at Irving Plaza, and so far the lineup looks like this: Deerhoof, Tokyo Police Club, Silversun Pickups, El-P, Stephen Malkmus (with Janet Weiss from Sleater-Kinney on drums). Yeah, you read that right: Stephen Malkmus with Janet Weiss on drums. And to......

We're at the home stretch! Sunday was a bit of a quieter day for us, but by no means did the music disappoint. The plan was to make it a short day and get back to civilization that night, but due to some travel miscalculations we ended up sticking around till they kicked us out. Very glad we did. The day started with Nashville teenage kids done good Be Your Own Pet at the That......

Thank god the holidays are finally over and bands are getting back into the swing of things. Now we can sell off all our unwanted gifts on eBay (how much do you think we can get for a hypercolor "hip" bible?) and spend the cash on evil rock and roll, which is back with a vengeance in our fine, fine city. Why are secret shows never really a secret? The Mooney Suzuki play in semi-secrecy......

This weekend seems to be all about the music. Outside, in parks, on rooftops. It'll be everywhere, and here is where we would be if we were you... The Music of Nick Drake will be played at the Central Park Summerstage featuring New York musicians Josh Max and Julie James, (plus some special guests) and an orchestra led by arranger Robert Kirby, who collaborated with Drake on many of his songs. [via FreeNYC] Saturday, July......

Hip-Hop dominates this week with at least three recommended shows. Some of the best acts in indie hip-hop play Irving Plaza tonight (Monday). It’s one of the only stops on the Stone Throw Records Tour featuring Madlib, M.E.D, Peanut Butter Wolf, and J-Rocc. On Tuesday Madlib and M.E.D. will also perform for free at Fat Beats. [Listen to some music Madlib put out on Blue Note.] Last year Madlib joined MF DOOM to release......

No offense, Fleshbot, but it's obvious that there are only two real babes covering Hurricane Ivan. Jim Cantore can crawl back into the scary gym teacher corner from whence he came: I'm talking about CNN's Bill Hemmer and TWC's Mike Bettes. If you ever fantasized about what Bill Hemmer would look like if he shed the doofy man-glasses and starchy suit and bought you a Mind Eraser at the Florabama, your wish has been granted.......

Lately, the opening chords of Stephen Malkmus' song "Jennifer and the Ess-Dog" is the only thing that is a sure-fire way of making me smile...well, that, plus Will Ferrell. Or pandas. Of course, it's because the first word he sings is "Jennifer" in this knowing tone. There's something to be said for hearing your name in a song. Of course, I object to "Jenny," but as I just play the opening over and over again,......