Keith Moon.

Got turned onto this band this past Saturday at Schoolkids Records in Raleigh when one of the clerks put their debut album Dub Egg on following Drivin' n' Cryin's in-store performance. The clip below is from an online web series called the Violitionist Sessions. If you like what you hear you can sample more clips at The Young's Tumblr site.

The last one I saw was The Amateurs performing during Live Reggae Sundays at Southland Ballroom in Raleigh on Sunday night. Prior to that I saw Tonk, Shark Quest, The Whom (Motocaster fronted by Paul Siler of Birds of Avalon) performing Live At Leeds-era songs from the Who and Benji Hughes at Tonk Meat at King's in Raleigh on Saturday night. The "Meat" part refers to the free tamales that were served out on the street in front of King's prior to the show. Saturday afternoon I caught Drivin' n' Cryin' performing at Schoolkids Records in Raleigh in support of their new Songs From the Laundromat EP. They were in the area to do a show with The Connells at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro later that evening. They did pretty much all of the songs from the new EP as well as one cut from the next one (they're releasing a new EP every three months over the course of the next year). They also brought up one of the members of local band Skullbuckle to back him on "Way Back When", a Skullbuckle song. Someone filmed the entire in-store. Hopefully it will surface online at some point. I've managed to catch a number of in-stores at Schoolkids over the years and this was one of the best.

Best Coast, MGMT, the Kills Unite for Fleetwood Mac Tribute (Rolling Stone)

I enjoyed The Help myself. As for movie critics, if it's a movie I really want to see I'm going to go see it no matter what the consensus among critics is. I'm glad I do because a lot of times I find out that I didn't agree with their opinion of a particular movie. Same goes for music critics. That said, as expensive as movies are these days it's always a good idea to find out what people are thinking before taking the plunge. That includes finding out what your friends think as well as what the critics are saying. Oftentimes I value my friends' opinions more as they know my tastes in cinema pretty well. Again, the same goes for music.

Apparently so, I saw it mentioned in a thread about the new album over at the Steve Hoffman forum. What you have there is a collector's item. Not sure how many went out like that but still, it makes it a rarity.

The Sacred Sites of R.E.M.'s Athens, Georgia (The Onion's AV Club)

Q&A: Crazy Horse's Frank 'Poncho' Sampedro on 37 Years With Neil Young (Rolling Stone)

No.

Plant went "back to the 60's"? Perhaps you don't realize it but several of the songs from the Band of Joy record come from current artists such as Low ("Silver Rider", "Monkey"), Los Lobos ("Angel Dance") and Richard Thompson ("House of Cards").

This thread is for current music recommendations, not albums you don't care for.

Doesn't quite live up to the legacy but it's still good clean fun in the summer blockbuster escapism sense.

When R.E.M. first disbanded the web was flooded with articles about them. One such article surmised that Monster, not Up, may well have been the most challenging record for their listeners. It used to be famous for being the album that showed up most frequently in used bins. I definitely understood that as many of the fans that came onboard with Out of Time and Automatic For the People had to be thrown off by such a loud and in your face album as Monster. At that point I had been a fan for quite some time so it didn't seem at all out of character to me as they would often break into stuff like "Toys In the Attic", "Academy Fight Song" (Mission of Burma) and "See No Evil" (Television) in concert that showed there was much more to them than their more folk-rock, introspective side. Plus, fanclub members had received a newsletter not long after the release of Out of Time that said their next album was going to be recorded live, straight to two-track. Once they got into the studio the sessions took on more of somber tone which resulted in Automatic For the People instead. Years after Monster had been released Stipe said that record had taken on a much more commercial sheen than originally planned and that New Adventures In Hi-Fi was much more along the lines of the album they originally intended to make. Of the records they made with Bill Berry after signing with Warner Brothers, New Adventures In Hi-Fi remains my favorite.

Q&A: Neil Peart On Rush's New LP and Being a 'Bleeding Heart Libertarian' (Rolling Stone)

Thanks. Like I've said many times, I moved to the Triangle area of NC specifically for the music. This area of the state has a long history of producing original music and not just rock n' roll. The clubs, press and radio stations here are all very supportive of a wide variety of music. It is so deep that I often time have a hard time keeping track of it all. There is also a lot of variety outside of this area when it comes to music. If one doesn't have any desire to embark on the journey of discovery of new music then it's obvious they're not going to find anything. I've just always been curious about those that suddenly lose that desire somewhere along the way. Since I was just a little kid I have always been into music and my interest hasn't waned any as I've grown older.