Pretty Little Empire gives one of the best gut-punches in the city. And "All I Know" is one of its most powerful songs. Captured in it are the band's rough-hewn guitar melody, driving rhythm and, most importantly, devastating lyrical turns. Observe:

"And if that's what you want/to always be alone/then we'll probably get along/'cuz I know I know/what it's like to feel alone."

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​Missouri native White Rabbits has an enviable track record: Two fantastic albums of twitchy paranoia, the latter a fully realized rock record that stands up to indefinite repeat. The band will release its third effort, Milk Famous, in March. Lead single "Heavy Metal" now has a music video, directed by Andrew Droz Palermo. It follows a suburban trio of willfully unspecified relationship through tiny loops and reverse film stutters to match the similar effect on the song's piano. But you don't need to get the nuts and bolts to feel the match -- watch below.

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Jarred Gastreich

​This, right now, is your opportune moment to hop on the Pretty Little Empire bandwagon. Not that you'll be alone, but the next several months are shaping up to be big ones for the emerging band -- a professionally done music video is slated for next month and a third album is working its way through the recording process as we speak.

The Show Me Shows series, which has offered thoughtful ruminations on St. Louis bands through photos, videos and text, continues here, with PLE performing in Forest Park's World's Fair Pavilion. You can read Steven Colbert's thoughts on what makes the band so effortlessly good and watch the clip for "Give it Time" on the KDHX (88.1 FM) blog. And below, you can see the quartet talk a bit about the dynamic of the band before it starts into "The One."

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​Just in case you weren't watching the BBC on Saturday in the middle of the afternoon, here's hometown heroes Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three on Jools Holland's annual Hootenanny. You can see clips of the quartet playing "Drinkin' Whiskey Tonight" and the always fantastic "La La Blues," below.

The band will be playing at Blues City Deli on January 26th. The show's free and starts at 6 p.m. and we strongly, strongly recommend getting there early if you want to see anything. In March the boys embark on another European tour.

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Grab your glocks when you see this frog riding this turtle like he's an itty bitty car.

​Here's the great and terrible thing about YouTube: If you have an intensely specific desire to see something, like, say, animals riding very slow turtles with an overdubbed hip hop soundtrack, YouTube's seedy underbelly has probably already turned it into a genre of videos with its own playlist.

Here's the terrible thing about YouTube: Now I have to figure out whether I'm a racist. Again! And I just finished watching that Alonzo "Hamburger" Jones supercut!

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Jarred Gastreich

Last to Show First To Go

​The Show Me Show series returns this month for its fifth set of St. Louis musician videos. The subject this time is Last To Show First To Go, which is releasing its EP tomorrow night with a show at the Sheldon Concert Hall (3648 Washington Boulevard, 314-533-9900).

In the clip for "Far Be It," which we are debuting below, the band talks about the inspiration for the song and performs it live in the Laclede Power Co. plant. For more information, visit KDHX (88.1)'s blog, where you can find an account of the shoot and a profile of the band by Annie-Rose Fondaw.

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Photo by Jarred Gastreich for Show Me Shows

Stephen Baier of Dots Not Feathers

​Only four installments in, Jarred Gastreich's Show Me Shows video series is quickly becoming a must-see for St. Louis music fans. You can check KDHX for archives that include live performances from Ian Fisher, Denver's Fiction is Fun and Phantom Limb. And we are happy today to point you in the direction of number four: Dots Not Feathers, the five-piece folk band coming into its own in a big way. Recipients of the Best New Band award in this year's RFT Music Awards, DNF just finished recording a new EP called Mountain. Below, watch the Show Me Show performance of the title track, shot in the band's house in the Hill neighborhood. Gastreich is the videographer and R&R Music Labs handles sound. Your next chance to catch Dots Not Feathers live is at the Halo Bar on November 16th.

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​Well everyone, it's a rainy, poopy Thursday and we need all the awesome available to make it through the next few hours before the RFT's Best Of party tonight at the City Museum. (We'll see you there, right? Bloody well right.) The party theme is the Rapture, and (awkward segue alert!) here's a rapturous video from earlier in the week: Dresden Doll Amanda Palmer doing yet another cover of "Science Fiction Double Feature" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. With a little help from a barely-there beaded sheath, Palmer performs the classic tune with Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields, Moby (?!) and husband/legit sci-fi scribe Neil Gaiman.

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​St. Louis rapper Jonezy has released his second music video this fall from his recently released Co$tombs. This time, he's giving visuals to "ExitUS," and taking his view outward, literally and figuratively. His first video, for "Wake Up," uses his own life to talk about the way society is structured, and featured him going through a typical day. This time, he's starting with wider issues and the video was shot in Mexico.

Once again, he produced the clip himself, through his 2nd Story Productions. "ExitUS" was produced by Pancho Rucker and samples Bob Marley. Watch below.

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​We are excited about Phantom Limb, as you may have heard. Tonight the band, featuring Theodore's Justin Kinkel-Schuster and Andrew Bryant, plays its only St. Louis show of 2011 at the Billiken Club, opening for the Felice Brothers.

None of the band's music has been released yet -- its self-titled debut will be out in early 2012 on Misra Records. However, Jarred Gastreich recently recorded a pair of videos for his Show Me Show series with Kinkel-Schuster performing even more stripped down versions of Phantom Limb songs. R&R Music Labs did the audio work for the clips. The location, an underpass in south city, was chosen by Kinkel-Schuster. The sounds and feel of the spot: the bugs, frogs, train tracks, graffiti and straggling plants, make a fitting context for the songs. You can watch the first video, for "$100," on the KDHX blog. And the second, for "Dog Eaten," you can see right here.

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