On more or less the same day that Metallica broke down and allowed people to pay for their music online -- thereby belatedly joining everyone else on the planet here in the 21st century -- the Rolling Stones, who are second only to pornographers in exploiting new technology to squeeze the last penny out of their fans pockets, figured out a scheme to sell really crappy audio of their live performances to anyone with a cell phone.

(The title of this post is the answer to the question, "For God's sake, does anyone need another Tupac book?")

OTD's seeds got these Disney books where the pages are actually envelopes and you can pull out, like, Cinderella's to-do list and the actual invitation to the ball? So, um, this book is like that .

It’s the end of an era for what we once lovingly termed Boston DIY: Night Rally are no more. After this Saturday, Cambridge’s proggy-Rickenbackerry-rock trio will call it quits so drummer Luke Kirkland (a/k/a lank-rap dude Boo Radley) can return to their native land of Santa Fe to finish up college. Night Rally’s farewell show at Great Scott is also the long-awaited CD release for their first full-length, Preston Family Crest, a 16-track blood-pissing collection produced by Headgear Recording’s Chris Moore (TV on the Radio/Yeah Yeah Yeahs) that’s, well, the best damn thing they’ve ever done.

Mash-ups aren't so much my thing -- I’d much rather listen to a stupidly ironic cover than a bastardized version of two different songs -- but it seems fate has intervened to make me a believer. Someone very clever, who obviously has impeccable taste, went ahead and mixed Thom Yorke's ghostly "Atoms For Peace" with "Because of You," Kelly Clarkson's blood-pumping break-up hymnal.

We’re not sure exactly when the folks at Pitchfork started valuing “actual decent songs” over “instant-cred reference points” (can someone point us in the direction of a well-written Wolf Parade tune?), but that’s their main criticism of Movie Monster, the Capitol debut from Austin upstarts Sound Team, which received a lowly 3.

I’m gonna take a lover

Gonna take her back to Somerville

Don’t care if she’s pretty

As we leave Suck City

That last line is a reference to the experimental autobiography, Another Bullshit Night In Suck City, which, if you haven’t already, you should read, like, right now.

Photos above by Chris Dempsey.

Metal dudes + roller babes + free beer = blue ribbon good times, brah. This month's Excuse -- the Phx's monthly cross-genre party platform -- brought the steel at the Linwood last Thursday courtesy of guest DJ/curator Iann Robinson and a pack of rabid coyotes, a/k/a the Humanoids, Blacktail, Bury the Needle, and We're All Gonna Die.

Flicks by Cami.

DOWNLOAD: CSS, "Music Is My Hot Hot Sex" [mp3]

Lemon-Red already gave you the merchboy view on Monday night's Diplo/CSS/Bonde De Role throwdown. Suffice to say, show was awesome, hotter than shit and sweatier than your ass crack. Our personal favorite parts of the night almost all involved BDR's bad-ass frontlady Marina: watching her pull a Brazilian-flavored Courtney-Love-minus-the-drugs onstage; trying to help hold her up as she crowd-surfed; finding her washing her blonde locks in the nasty Great Scott ladies' room sink right after their set.