Here's a selection of the best of last week's music blogging from around the Village Voice chain:
If you don't believe that DJing can be a legitimate artform, this live review -- covering DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist together on eight turntables, mashing up the theme to Gilligan's Island with "Stairway to Heaven," recreating hip-hop classics live from their original sources and expanding the audience's musical vocabulary -- might be just the thing to change your mind.
Just because Valentine's Day is now a dusty memory for this year (thank god) doesn't mean you can escape some poignant musings about the connection between music and love -- and also the band Lucero.
The somber songs of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone recreate the sound of life itself -- as it drowns.
Country music is all about the break up songs, so this list of ten great country break up songs should point you to some of the greatest tunes ever recorded to power your melancholy.
Relentless pep, disembodied hands, sensory overload and a slightly hungover looking Billy Ray Cyrus are among the travails encountered at a viewing of Hannah Montana 3D.
Cult legend Richard Thompson's latest tour covers a thousand years of popular music history, making it the coolest music-appreciation class ever.
Some interesting insight into the process of making records, courtesy of Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and producer Chris Walla.
This Black Lips live review gives the band a nasty black eye for their sloppy, self-indulgent garage-isms and idiotic behavior.
Okay, admitting it means showcasing my still-black Goth roots, but this review of Siouxsie Sioux's live set in LA made me add her new album to my must-buy list. After all these years, she's still vital, and if the pics can be believed, still fucking hot to boot.
It's been said that all rock critics are failed rock musicians themselves, but in a bizarre turn of events, it appears that some music acts are simply integrating music criticism into the music. Awesome, I've always wanted to be obsolete. -- Cory Casciato