music

The weekly THUMP dance party at Circus is about to be infused with some of its brightest star power. Brillz is aligned with both Diplo’s Mad Decent label and Skrillex’s OWSLA. EDM credentials don’t come much stronger than that. ETC(!) ETC(!), who has teamed with Brillz on many gyration-inspiring minimalist trap-house tracks, has ties with Mad Decent too.

Music From Another Dimension! does not inspire confidence as the title of a new Aerosmith album. As harbingers go, an opening song title like “LUV XXX” is even worse. The prospect of fresh material from this band in 2012 is kind of gross even without such ruinous details, but alas, Steven Tyler and the boys are back.

For Mark Eitzel, the erstwhile American Music Club singer who stands as one of indie rock’s cult favorite sad-sacks, touring through Columbus on Thanksgiving weekend is convenient.

Among the bands breathing new life into bluegrass without compromising its essentials, Duluth combo Trampled By Turtles blends traditional sounds with world-weary balladry that rustles around in the same emotional space as Mark Kozelek’s depressive swoons. For those who prefer bluegrass with a skip in its step, these guys do know how to hoedown too, even if it’s in a more melancholic mode than we’ve come to expect from finger-pluckin’ music.

I was out of town when Yo Gotti played Martha’s Soul Food Bistro earlier this year, but it must have been a hit because the Memphis rapper is coming back for a second round of trunk-rupturing Southern stunting, this time at The Bluestone.

There’s a good chance you’re going to feel frazzled by the end of Black Friday, either from the actual shopping experience or from the ads that continue to relentlessly pummel the citizens of this country from all sides. (Please go away, Target lady!)

In the early days of my Columbus music immersion, Church of the Red Museum was a budding sensation. It was 2006. I had just graduated from OU and moved back to Columbus to work at Alive. Carabar was a year old, and all the most exciting bands were playing there. That included Church, whose blend of Tom Waits’ churlish howl and the Murder City Devils’ gothic garage punk was thrashing my senses regularly.

With lumbering former rock giants Aerosmith and Cheap Trick both bringing shells of their former selves to town this week, we’re counting down 10 artists who kept releasing music well past the peak of their artistic relevancy.

Too legit, sexy lady.

The Atlanta rapper will make his second Columbus appearance this year.

See the visuals for the Columbus singer's woozy electronic pop.

New Bomb Turks, Moviola, Belreve and many more lined up to celebrate the seminal Columbus label.

Seventh annual Crew Stadium fest set for May 17-19.

Also: New music from The Faint, The-Dream, Wiz Khalifa + The Weeknd and more.

Five quick thoughts about Wednesday's incredible concert.

The Cleveland-born, Columbus-based producers team up again.

The Columbus breakout stars tangle with dancing skeletons.

Anybody can talk about building his own lane rather than trying to ride in somebody else’s; actually doing it requires more time and hard work than most artists are willing to endure. Ill Poetic has been making the effort and logging the hours, and it shows, even if the payoff is only artistic so far.

There’s a wonderfully exhausting exuberance about Cincinnati’s Pomegranates. The band’s take on indie rock bridges the gap between spunky and spacey, matching breathlessly inventive music with high-pitched vocals that come off like Silversun Pickups’ hip little cousin. This year’s Heaven finds them burrowing deeper into darkness without losing their charms.

Thanksgiving tends to bring home the prodigal sons and daughters, which for Columbus audiences means a chance to see some of the state’s great Americana practitioners in one place this Thanksgiving Eve. The now well-traveled Lydia Loveless returns to headline The Bluestone before working on her next batch of whip-smart bloodlettings this winter. Native son Tim Easton rolls back in to show off his ever-reliable roots rock chops. Massillon blues-rock favorite Patrick Sweany will be in the house too, as will Mooncussers, the alt-country power led by Loveless’ guitarist, Todd May. It’s a different kind of meat and potatoes to gorge on this year.

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut when it comes to traditional music, but The Infamous Stringdusters are a credit to their genre. The Nashville-based bluegrass greats kick up a storm, firmly planted in genre tradition but unafraid to innovate the sound in stirring, rock-driven directions. It’s thinking-man’s hoedown music, smart but never short of rambunctious.

“What would The Washington Beach Bums do?” is a reasonable question posed at the outset of the Columbus rock band’s debut album. The inevitable answer doubles as the album title: Party!

I had never heard of Runners when I saw the band’s EP release party on Kobo’s concert calendar, but some strategic Googling revealed that former Super Desserts gal Fran Litterski was involved, and any band with a tie to that late, great, expansive institution is worth at least a passing glance. So I headed to Kobo last Friday to witness this synth-driven pop project in action.

Jared Mahone attempted to write, record and upload a new song each week throughout 2010, and while the Columbus singer-songwriter didn’t reach his goal, he did come out of The Mixtape Project with more than he bargained for.

Dave Mustaine might not have been kidding when he sang “My mind is untreatable!” last year on Megadeth’s aptly titled 13th album, Thirteen. Although it appears Mustaine went off the deep end this year (he claimed President Obama staged the shootings in a Colorado movie theater and a Wisconsin Sikh temple), insanity probably bodes well for a Megadeth performance.

There was ample reason to be stoked when Connections emerged this year. I can’t repeat this enough: 84 Nash, Times New Viking, El Jesus de Magico, Swarming Branch. You won’t find a stronger pedigree among scrap-pop’s unwashed masses.