Monday night found a horde of the long-haired, black-shirted, beer-bellied metal faithful packing the Emo’s courtyard to fire-hazard capacity for the Austin edition of he winkingly named Exhumed To Consume tour. ...

1990s Cookies (Rough Trade/World's Fair) The 1990s "play music like a blond gets out of a car." This, we assume based on listening, means something like, "Our sound is snotty, a little fucked up on we-don't-remember-what, and always f-u-n." While John McKeown (Yummy Fur) won't make any news showing his knickers to paparazzi during a limo exit, he will succeed in promoting the display of everyone else's underthings on the dance floor, as Cookies......

Blitzen Trapper Wild Mountain Nation (Lidkercow Ltd.) Folksy but freakish Portlanders Blitzen Trapper have yet to be scooped up by Zach Braff, but that's probably only because they're still on the fringes of too weird. Yet, between soothing and familiar odes to old Grateful Dead tunes and powerful plays towards anti-genre adorableness, the odd sextet manage to capture the listener's attention while totally defying their own. Eccentric, playful and genuine songs fuse 70's goofball......

After a six-month wait since the UK release, Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr.'s solo debut Yours To Keep finally arrived in US record stores this week. We reviewed the disc back in October, saying: "On his quick, punchy solo disc, Hammond does a slightly poppy variation on The Strokes' first album. This is meant as a compliment, because while most side projects are self-indulgent and weird, this one is concise, fun, and really catchy."......

"What the Stones were; what the Dandy Warhols should have been."* Strong words, even in today's desensitized rock-critisphere, but Lions In The Street have already opened for Kings Of Leon, been shopped-and-dropped by major labels, and recorded their debut EP in a dingy basement with an 8-track and broken mics because they could hardly afford beer. What are you gonna tell them, be less rock and roll please? This is the kind of band......

The woman who encouraged us to shove dimes into jukeboxes long after they had switched to quarters, triggering a nationwide coin shortage in the early 80s, is coming to Austin. Joan Jett, the hottest 46 year old since Tina Turner in 1985 (or Madonna in 2004, for that matter), is still lovin' rock and roll, touring like a madwoman and turning her nose up at the prospect of ever investing in a pair of......

Today's big news is the FunFunFun festival, but there are also several new shows in this edition of the concert update. Kasabian, Ben Folds, Mates Of State, and others have all announced Austin shows, and there are tons more on tap for late fall. Have a look: October: 10/21 Pet Shop Boys (The Backyard) 10/21 Ladytron (Stubb's) 10/22 Rolling Stones (Zilker Park) 10/22 Method Man (Emo's) 10/23 Jenny Lewis + Watson Twins (Stubb's) 10/24......

Median household yearly income in Austin: $48,267 [link] Equivalent purchasing power, adjusted for cost of living here: $53,275 [link] Money Magazine's average: $43,961 [link] National average yearly salary of an "Associate Store Team Leader" at Austin-based Whole Foods: $73,061 [link] Amount Texas collected in sales tax revenue in June of 2006: $1.49 billion [link] Percentage increase from last year: 15.6 [link] Cost of new Lakeline Station project -- including up to 3,000 homes and......

There's something for everyone this week in the Austinist concert update. Hip-hop and DJ culture from Cut Chemist and Jurassic 5, 80's college rock from The English Beat and The Church, and, well, 90's college rock from Rollins Band and Eels. There's also a healthy dose of sleaze with the Peaches and Eagles of Death Metal Bill, and some classic punk from X. On with the shows: Newly announced: 7/08 Cut Chemist @ Waterloo......

With new shows on sale from Sonic Youth, INXS, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Rancid, it seems to be college radio nostalgia week for the concert update. There are also a nice batch of new indie shows, including Tapes 'n' Tapes for Pitchfork fans, Dios Malos for the mellow types, The Futureheads for the edgy punky stuff, and even Tilly and the Wall for you tap dancers. On with the shows: May: 5/10 -......

Last week, we posted a major concert update for May and June. If you missed it, just click the Expand-O-Tron for the recap. You're welcome. This week has already brought a flurry of updates including two new shows at The Backyard. Here they are (Austinist looks out): 5/28 - Eagles Of Death Metal @ The Parish Room 6/03 - Film School + Margot & The Nuclear So-And-Sos @ Emo's 6/10 - Radio 4 +......

On sale this weekend: [3/29] Death Cab For Cutie and Franz Ferdinand - Tomorrow at 11am (The Backyard) (tickets) [4/18] Neko Case - Tomorrow at 11am (La Zona Rosa) (tickets) [4/18] Lily Tomlin (The Paramount Theatre) (tickets) Tickets to see The Strokes and Eagles of Death Metal are totally sold out Did we miss something? Let us know! Upcoming shows include: [2/14] Voxtrot (Emo's) (tickets) [2/15] The Hold Steady and Swearing At Motorists (Emo's)......

Tickets to see The Strokes and Eagles of Death Metal go on sale tomorrow morning at 10am (link), while pre-sale tickets for Dinosaur Jr's late March show are available now (link) Upcoming shows include: [2/09] Of Montreal (Emo's) (tickets) [2/14] Voxtrot (Emo's) (tickets) [2/15] The Hold Steady and Swearing At Motorists (Emo's) (tickets) [2/16] Dalek and Meat Beat Manifesto (The Parish Room) (tickets) [2/16-17] Cowboy Junkies (One World Theatre) [2/18] Nada Surf and Rogue......