I've always been intrigued by other "best of" lists, but this year I decided to take it to a whole new level. I e-mailed a handful of bands that I've seen this past year in order to unearth what exactly captivated them in '07. As music listeners, it is our duty to take a keen interest in our favorite musician's influences. After all, they rocked our little world, might as well see what rocked their......

Last night garage-punk rockers the Hives got to show off their new stuff for the LA crowd at the Avalon. Armed with new material from their new CD The Black & White Album, the Hives broke down the walls and rocked the hell out of the crowd. Dressed in their typical 50's style getups, the band enters the stage without any opening acts. Resembling more of a Southern Baptist preacher than a rock star,......

The year 2007 has been good to the Hives, what with a TV commercial, a collaboration with Timbaland, and the recent announcement that they'll be opening for Maroon 5 at the Staples Center in November. The Hives, a Swedish garage-rock outfit that spent a majority of musical discovery on small-time labels, had officially struck gold with their last album, Tyrannosaurus Hives. It was at this point that they signed to Interscope, and the punks......

Valentines Day left you feeling dirty? Cleanse yourself with these heartwarming tracks from the cyberspa. I'd like to thank God, my parents, Rick Ruben and The Hype Machine for making this possible. Happy Mondays - The Boys Are Back In Town (Sound of the Suburb) Fuzzy sonics… Mountain Goats - The Boys Are Back In Town (Sound of the Suburb) Just as you’d imagine… Wilco - Cars Can’t Escape (The Music Slut) Clearly, Jeff......

When you write and sing songs as good as Whisper Town 2000, you can make any list you want. Here are Morgan Nagler's Best CDs of 2006 1. The Beatles The White Album 2. The Rolling Stones Exile On Main St. 3. Neva Dinova The Hate Yourself Change 4. Elliot Smith Elliot Smith 5. Notorious BIG Ready To Die 6. The Jackson 5 Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5 7. Tom Petty Wildflowers 8.......

Frank Hoier is a nice dude, and writes great folk music. Although born and raised in Southern California, he's recently moved to the big apple, and has been blowing the doors off of anyone that stands in his way, and has become a sought after fixture in the East Village roots scene. His songs are witty and thoughtful, and his guitar skills are only rivaled by his harmonica riffs. Anyways he apparently checks his email,......

D.J. and producer Danger Mouse, a.k.a. Brian Burton, made musical waves two years ago when he layered music from the Beatles' White Album with vocals from rapper Jay-Z's Black Album — and then sent about 3,000 copies of the resulting Grey Album out as promos. Before long, critics were gushing, and collectively minded Web users had posted the album onto free-download sites. EMI, which owns the rights to the White Album, was less enthusiastic:......