One-upping all other comers with the "hey, guess what we're releasing RIGHT NOW" game is the Jack White / Brendan Benson-led Detroit combo The Raconteurs. The group announced today's release of their new album Consolers Of The Lonely exactly one week ago, and the album is available both digitally and is physically -- both CDs and vinyl versions -- in stores. We have no idea how a) they kept the whole thing quiet this long and b) how they wrangled the physical distribution so quickly. This is just another example of a band attempting yet another new approach to counter the failing business model plaguing the music industry at large. more ›

Whew! Happy, sore, tired, but mainly thrilled Lollapalooza spends her time in our home town. We'd like to give props to each and every one of the fans who stood their ground to be down front for whoever was their favorite band from The Flaming Lips to Wilco or The Raconteurs and the Chili Peppers. You guys are the ones who made Lollapalooza the best! Here are just a few more thoughts on the bands that performed. more ›

We survived the first day of Lollapalooza! We got to see some amazing acts like The Raconteurs, duh! Saw some legends - Sleater Kinney, of course. And we saw some promising bands - The Subways! Learned about egg discrimination from Ryan Adams. But, the main thing that we learned is there is a lot of walking to do at Lollapalooza. Wear some comfortable shoes when heading out the rest of the weekend and if crowds aren't your thing - check out some of our photos on Flickr from Day 1 of Lollapalooza. more ›

LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow. Ah, Houstonist. They're biking to work, that is, if they can figure out how to get there. That's right, Mapquest says "Houston had the... more ›

Back in August, Chicagoist ran a contest to give away tickets to an upcoming Brendan Benson show at Metro. Unfortunately, the show was postponed as was the contest. But time has been good to Benson and to Chicagoist readers as we've got even more prizes to give away. more ›