^{The Crystal Method}

Third Eye Blind | May 11 at the House of Blues, Boston | $27.50-$35 | On sale Thursday, April 2, at 10 am | //www.livenation.com

Isis | June 05 at the Paradise Rock Club, Boston | $16 | On sale Thursday, April 2, at noon | //www.livenation.com

Yeah, we swiped Pitchfork's photo.

We're still trying to figure out how to react to this: apparently, Lexington High School will be performing a musical based on Neutral Milk Hotel's revered album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. That on its own is one of those news stories that makes one think "this is simultaneously both awesome and weird."

We fully support a moritorium on claiming Boston pride for bands that formed at colleges here and then moved away before their graduation Starbucks lattes had time to cool. But damned if we're gonna be the ones to make that move unilaterally. Which means that for the time being we're repping CHESTER FRENCH, if only because the core duo's degrees from Harvard allow us to bask in the glow of CF's close personal friendships with Kanye West, Paris Hilton, Diddy, and a bunch of other people who would otherwise never associate themselves with kids who hang out at the Coop. Also, the Chester French dudes are mad twitterers. In about 100 hours, the French kids drop a Clinton Sparks-helmed mixtape, Jacques Jams Vol 1: Endurance, which may or may not be a tribute to the local tranny bar. We can only hope. If not, it's still the only "Boston" "album" this decade to feature guest appearances by Diddy, Pharrell (who's already signed the Chesters to his Star Trak label), Bun B, Cassie, and the Clipse. Sign up to get first crack at it over here.

More importantly, last night Chester French played their first Boston gig in almost forever -- opening for Lady GaGa at the House of Blues (photos of her up here) -- and we've got photos, as well as a review from our own Daniel Brockman, after the jump.

There were no Fiji mermaids or dog-faced boys to be found at the “Cabinet of Wonders” show at the Brattle Theatre last Thursday, but the odd variety-show format ensured that its shelves were well-stocked with exotic curios.

First, the night’s host — Hastings-born, Dylan-inspired singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding — tore into a few earwormy numbers off his new album, Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead (Rebel Group).

Photo by Michael Krigsman; more photos here.

ASTER AWEKE mixes traditional Ethiopian vocal techniques and melodies with R&B, jazz, and straight-up pop hooks. The songs themselves are often only one step removed from your standard soulful stuff, but her emotive voice takes it to the sublime.

Broadway (Billie) Joe: Green Day's American Idiot being adapted for the stage.

Delayed Rebirth: Lil' Wayne's "rock" album pushed back to June.

33 1/3 releases its shortlist: Internet pissed off yet again.

Radioheadlining: Yorke + Co. topping both Reading and Leeds.

Also, All Points West lineups: Headliners include Beasties, Tool, and Coldplay.

After 16 years at its Hyde Square location, the Bella Luna Restaurant/Milky Way Lounge finally packed it in Sunday and hit the streets with an anything-goes parade from its street-level restaurant and basement bowling-alley nightclub to its soon-to-be home at the renovated Brewery complex on Amory Street.

Chris Cornell, you may have heard, has made a dance record with Timbaland. How is it? Well, you probably don't want to know. Trent Reznor's withering tweet may wind up being the final word on the topic, really: "You know that feeling you get when somebody embarrasses themselves so badly YOU feel uncomfortable? Heard Chris Cornell's record? Jesus."

Holy wow, I drank a lot of Lone Star this week. I got to that point where I needed three or four drinks to get back to normal. On Saturday afternoon I entered this very strange headspace, where fun was awkwardly co-mingling with absolute physical and psychological exhaustion.

My inner monologue: “Bands! Yay! More alcohol! Yay! I want to blow my brains out?! Yay?!”

But, yeah, my idea to do a perspective piece/video blog thingy went out the window pretty much immediately, as did my ability to do anything that could pass for meaningful written reporting. I also spent way too much money, my cell phone got fucked ‘cause of something I don’t remember, I probably have (more) brain damage, and I just spent 40 hours in a rent-a-van with seven other people.

So, of course, I really want to go next year. Wouldn’t bother trying to get a band or press pass next time around, either. All the shows I went to were no badge/no cover.  Anyway, in case anyone’s interested, here’s a recap of my clusterfuck in Austin. 

^{Nine Inch Nails}

Prodigy | May 20 at the House of Blues, Boston | $29.50-$39.50 | On sale Thursday, March 26, at 10 am | //www.ticketmaster.com

Kate Voegele + Angel Taylor | May 12 at the Paradise, Boston | $15 | On sale Thursday, March 26, at noon | //www.livenation.com

Southern Culture On The Skids + Los Straitjackets | May 20 at the Paradise, Boston | $20 | On sale Thursday, March 26, at noon | //www.

Midway through her set at Club Passim last Friday, right before covering Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee,” Antje Duvekot remarked on something she’d read about the Great Depression. “Lighthearted entertainment became important to people,” said the Somerville-based singer-songwriter. “They needed it to get them through it.” A beat of silence, and then laughter rose from the crammed, brick-walled, basement folk club.

The unstated punch line of Duvekot’s self-depreciating joke had been made evident by the first half of her show, the second of four sold-out gigs promoting her just-released second studio album, The Near Demise of the High Wire Dancer (Black Wolf Records). Duvekot, who’s become one of Boston’s folk darlings over the past five years or so, writes songs soaked in forlorn wisdom, with lyrics like “the moonlight has made it plain that nobody needs me to call them home,” sung in her trademark weather-worn throatiness. They’re the opposite of lighthearted entertainment, but without the generic, maudlin cheese that plagues less skilled folkies.

The Economic Crisis 2009 crowd seemed cool with a gloomier tone, perhaps because the formerly dry Club Passim now serves wine and beer. Or perhaps because they knew what to expect.

As she sang, with her golden-brown waves tucked behind her ears, the wispy Duvekot alternately half-smiled and scrunched up her face and squinted her eyes shut. She played half of Near Demise — accompanied by guitarist/mandolin player Sean Staples (the Resophonics, Session Americana) and pianist Kate Klim, another Boston-based folk balladeer — as well as old standards like “Jerusalem” and some standout covers that included Chuck Berry’s “Brown-Eyed Handsome Man.”

The set touched on historical tragedies — from the Great Depression to Vietnam — but in introducing “Dandelion,” from her 2005 partly live album Boys, Flowers, Miles, Duvekot focused on the personal: “This is a song about a boy who did not have a crush on me. Screw him! But I did write three songs about him.”

In the interest of getting meaty chunks of gossip on the web as soon as possible - and not in the interest of doing a thorough, well-informed journalistic inquiry into the matter - we bring to you the news that Bill’s Bar on Lansdowne Street has reportedly closed down. FOREVER.

But we didn’t do a complete hack job.

For the sake of striking up a much-needed conversation, let’s imagine that a team of big dick swinging promoters was exploring the possibility of hosting a major South by Southwest-esque music festival in Boston. For the sake of second references, let’s speculatively call it North by Northeast (NXNE) – even though that’s corny and should never be repeated outside the context of this article (and because, as my homeboy Trees notes below, because it already exists in Toronto). While we’re thinking happy thoughts, let’s also imagine that it would be a massive week-long donkey punch designed to consume Boston the way that only sports and liberalism do now (and that no current music fest comes even close to).

Faraone, Brodeur, and Thompson are just now plowing through SXSW's final night -- but we're just getting started with the weekend wrap up. We've got new videos going up hourly, Faraone is still Twittering his face off (and we don't expect him to shut up anytime soon), and there are some epic blog updates coming tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we bring you some of what's been going up on the site over the last 24 hours. First up, THE MAE SHI get it done under a parachute. Make sure you join us AFTER THE JUMP for Japanese punks PEELANDER-Z risking life, limb, and traffic accidents by setting up their instruments (and crazy-ass alien costumes) in the middle of a busy Austin street; Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek performing as REFLECTION ETERNAL; the first performance by Fugees producer JOHN FORTE since his release from prison; and a bone-rattling assault by the DEATH SET. That's just the beginning -- there's already more video up live at thephoenix.com/sxsw.