EARTHQUAKE PARTY's minimalistic punk spirit surfaces once again in the band's new official video for "Pretty Little Hand". The track -- which is currently up for "Song of the Year" in our annual Best Music Poll -- is from their 5-minute-long 3-track tape Vs Pizza, self-released earlier this year.

In the March 30th issue of the Phoenix, I profiled Brooklyn's Friends -- discussing the band's ability to write songs about sociopolitical topics in subtle ways. "It's easy to fall for Friends without ever picking up on their politics," I wrote. "The group's glam-pop '80s-New-York-inspired jams themselves are catchy as hell."

DUSTIN WONG, formerly of the noisy Baltimore art rock band Ponytail, is releasing his sophomore solo LP on February 21, Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads. His solo jams are laid-back and intricate; Wong uses an array of pedals to loop, layer, and distort experimental tones and textures, making huge hypnotizing soundscapes.

Merry christmas from Mary Lou Lord: she just uploaded the full 45-minute video file -- complete with classic Billy Ruane intro -- of a legendary Cambridge gig by ELLIOTT SMITH. (It was #14 on our list of the 40 Greatest Boston Concerts of All Time.) This one comes from January 8, 1998 -- about a month after the theatrical release of Boston's national anthem, Good Will Hunting, introduced the world to "Miss Misery," but still two months before he played it at the Oscars.

We don't have to remind you how much we love to party with DOM. We invited them to play our SXSW party, they jumped on stage at our Best Music Poll Awards party, and then they destroyed Lansdowne Street in the middle of our Clambake. And we're kind of blown away by their upcoming Family of Love EP, which unveils five new songs you probably haven't seen 'em play live yet.

For twenty minutes on Thursday night, my friend Akhil and I rounded the perimeter of the Scoot Inn looking for a way in. It was 1:30 a.m., the venue was at capacity and Talib Kwali was performing inside. We had just seen Beach Fossils fans almost tear down an outdoor stage tent at Shangri-La, we were drunk and we really wanted to see some hip-hop.

Boston's new indie-pop darlings NAKED ON ROLLER SKATES celebrated the release of the band's debut EP on Saturday, February 12 at Great Scott. Thanks to merch cohort, Erica Truncale, there was even a pair of old school roller skates in attendance. Naked On Roller Skates is Leesa Coyne (vocals, guitar), Kelly Davidson (bass), Travis Richter (lead guitar) and Randall Creasi (drums).

Well, they may or may not get rich with this reunion, but last night, the recently-reunited Dismemberment Plan played their television debut on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and, well, anyone who was concerned about how they'd sound at next week's (officiall sold out) Paradise show can probably stop worrying.

In his dispatch from the potentially doomed All Asia earlier this week, Barry Thompson writes:

During their appropriately thunderous performance, guitarist/singer dude Matt Reppucci commanded onlookers to yoink a CD out of a nearby suitcase.

Here's the Old E doing two crowd-pleasin' tunes, "Dead Vulture Hurricane" and "Between Wind and Water" at that Allston apartment mentioned in the story we ran this week.

READ: "Down in the folk trenches with the Old Edison"

^{"Between Wind and Water"}

We're fairly certain none of them actually live there (except maybe Liam?).

Since we here at the Phoenix only take our social cues from Jay-Z, we would like to make it known that we on to the next one. So long to 2010 and the mounds of year end lists showering praise on Kanye West (as if he needed his ego stroked any further). In fact, we're so over 2010 that we've already turned to our crystal ball and our go-to illegal file sharing sites, and are prepared to go out on an asinine limb to declare Album of the Year for 2011.

Things I did not expect to hear at the Superchunk show: a heartfelt tribute to Buffalo Tom. Sure enough, though, Mac McCaughan was up there talking about how back in the 90s, Superchunk had aspired to a "Buffalo Tom-like intensity." With all due respect to the (underrated) BuffTom, I'd say they surpassed that particular yardstick long ago.

Pavement announced their reunion about a year ago and revealed this Boston date about six months ago. In the time between those announcements, it seemed like people went from being super-jazzed about the prospect of Pavement playing live shows again to seeming a little lukewarm on the whole thing.

I had forgotten about this.

About a year ago, I caught the Walkmen at the Middle East and sneaked some video of them playing a then-untitled new song (possibly for the first time ever - Hamilton Leithauser wasn't clear). I didn't really think about it too much afterwards.

Cut to this week. The Walkmen have now released Lisbon to much acclaim (including from us).

We haven't heard from our undercover operative at ATP NY yet, although from the Globe's blog post, we see that he accomplished our pre-arranged mission to sabotage Sound Effects' efforts to see Mudhoney and the Scientists -- WHOOPSIE. You already saw the Stooges, but click here to read our old pal Brodeur passing up the opportunity to say "Fuck Buttons" in a family newspaper.