Reggae-blues-hip-hop trio The Hounds have a reason to celebrate: The locals have a new EP, “The Deuce.” They’re holding a CD release party at Plush Nov. 21, so we sat down with some coffee and singer Yogi to chat about the group’s five years of making music.

And, for more Tucson bands with new music on the horizon, check out our roundup of CD release parties.

Photo by Bryan Johnson

Remember Hanson, those cute tweens with the “MMMbop” song? If so, you may be aware that the trio has been at it all this time and, after a fight with their record label, have been independent for years. They’re also all grown up (babies! all of them have babies!) and are headed to the Rialto Nov. 10. Read a Q&A with singer Taylor Hanson, who talks about comparisons to the Jonas brothers, playing with supergroup Tinted Windows and why he’s not sick of performing “MMMbop.”

Slayer! Carrie Underwood! Morrisey! I’m just so excited by all the new music, only multiple !!! will do. OK, maybe it’s all the coffee I’ve had this morning. But, either way, there’s some good stuff to check out in Metromix’s weekly New Music feature.

Calexico performs at the Rialto Nov. 8.

And, if you want it live, check out the weekly Tucson Concerts article. These are our picks for the best shows in town, on through Sunday. Things are pretty rock-heavy this week—not that there’s anything wrong with that—but our local, more atmospheric boys of Calexico close out the week with a special performance at the Rialto, which will be all decked out Day of the Dead-style to coincide with the All Souls Procession.

It’s a good week for live music in the Old Pueblo, with everything from rap (Ghostface Killah, tonight!) to a rock package tour (Alternative Press). See all of our picks in our weekly Tucson Concerts feature, which culls the best from the bigger venues to the smaller clubs.

Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Then, for all of you Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band and/or Giants Stadium fans out there, we have a photo gallery of shots from the Boss’ last-ever shows at the New Jersey stadium, which is slated to be torn down early next year. I’m guessing folks got a bit misty-eyed when Bruce sang “Glory Days.”

The Postmarks (Leesa Leilani/Special to Metromix)

Two festivals had music lovers making a tough decision on Oct. 3: the largely local Fall Club Crawl downtown, or Fall Ball, headlining Rise Against?

Luckily, Metromix is an octopus. Or something. Our tentacles, they stretched to both events, with our photographers out and about, clicking away.

Photo by Austin Young

Not only is one of our most outspoken comedians headed to the Rialto Oct. 9—with a guitar in tow—but standup comedian Margaret Cho is slated to grand marshal Tucson’s pride parade earlier that day. Metromix asked her questions about the album she’s working on, her new(ish) TV show and what exactly she’ll do as marshal.

From "One Man in the Band"

Oct. 8-12 sees the 5th annual Tucson Film & Music Festival, and it looks to be the best yet.

I’m not generally one for commitment with such things, but I’m thinking of plunking down $40 for the all-access festival pass. There are just that many good films slated, including “I Need That Record!” about the death of the independent record store; “Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice,” about rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson; “One Man in the Band,” which follows a number of, yep, one-man bands; and “Rock Prophecies,” a doc profiling rock photographer Robert M. Knight.

There are concerts, too—again, Wanda Jackson, who plays Plush—and a program of music videos, including ones for Tucson bands Giant Sand and Holy Rolling Empire (both by UA grads).

Even if you don’t feel like digging up $40 for the festival, individual screenings are just $5 (except for the opener, about the rise of James Blunt, which is $3). Concerts vary, but, heck, even Jackson’s only $15.

It’s fall festival time, folks!

Fall is here. I know this not because Sept. 21 has come and gone; such a date means nothing in the desert.

But, when we finally have a weekend where decisions have to be made about entertainment, autumn has arrived.

The Tucson Culinary Festival offers up four days of eating, drinking and being merry. We here at Metromix are particularly enthusiastic about the World Margarita Championship, so we interviewed some of the bartenders participating in the shake-off about what makes a margarita a contender.

Tucson's The Tryst bring the soul.

And then there’s Fall Club Crawl. We’ve put together a photographic walk-through of the lineups on the main stages, to help you with your planning. The twice-yearly event culls 70-some bands this time around, so you get quite a musical sampler platter to the Old Pueblo, plus some treats from out-of-town, too.

You may not need your jacket, but check with your wallet and see what the weekend has in store for you. And this is just a warm-up…More later on next weekend’s Tucson Music and Film Festival, which is bigger and better than ever. (With a festival, bigger is always better, yes?)

Christopher Polk/Getty Images

With awards shows, you hope for Big Moments. From insane outfits (paging Lady Gaga) to over-the-top outbursts (looking at you, Kayne), the 2009 VMA Awards on MTV, which aired Sept. 13, had ‘em.

And we have more VMA content than you probably can look at from your work computer without your boss noticing: a photo gallery of red carpet fashions and interviews, video of Kayne West storming the stage while Taylor Swift accepts her Moon Man and more.

But let’s not allow these international stars to outshine our own luminaries right here in Tucson. Friday night saw the 6th annual Robot Exchange at Hotel Congress, and it was one fun party. We’ve got your Robot Exchange party pics, because our local robots are lovely.

Lest we here at Metromix get accused of living in the past, let’s look to the coming weekend and the return of Tucson’s prodigal rodent musicmaker, Nobunny. Read what the now Oakland-based lover of ’60s garage pop has to say in advance of his Sept. 20 show at Club Congress. He may not have dissing Taylor Swift in him like Kanye does, but he does dirty up rock-pop conventions in such likeable ways. Silly, crazy rabbit!

One of the best things about Tucson is the creative community and, within that community, the more outsider artists. They do art just to do art, and you’ll find nary a kokopelli, unless it’s ironic. Though at this point…not sure if the kokopelli can be read straight, can it?

Ah, we digress. The reason for this post is to get on our soapbox about the Robot Exchange, which happens Sept. 11 at Club Congress. Metromix interviewed the two women behind the art exhibit/dance party/concert/costume-off, and Janessa Bates and Kristina Whitsell have that great, Old Puebloan mix of super casual and super driven. This is their sixth annual Exchange, and, with two stages (one with some robot burlesque), a dance competition and people wandering around in robot costumes, it’s like Christmas (Halloween?) came early this year.