Lights is a multi-tattooed, sci-fi loving 22-year-old who also happens to be pop music's latest rising star. Her ridiculously...

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What a long, strange, really weird trip it’s been for the Flaming Lips. The beloved band has survived more than 20 years of musical upheaval while becoming the elder statesmen of experimental rock whose “Do You Realize??” was named the Oklahoma state rock song. The Lips sound stranger than ever thanks to a formula of less guitar, more drums, and trippy sounds. The blown-out beats and throbbing bass lines of “Worm Mountain” and “See the Leaves” show the Lips’ psychedelic side. Singer Wayne Coyne lends his trembling voice to “If” with the opening line “People are evil this is true/But they can be gentle if they decide.” It’s that weird innocence that makes the Lips so endearing.

San Francisco punks Dead to Me drop their Clash-inspired sound and change up the buzz saw guitars for stop-start riffs that suggest they’ve been spinning a lot of Gang of Four in their rehearsal space. “Tierra del Fuego” is filled with jittery funk riffs, as is “A Day Without a War,” a plea for peace in which singer-bassist Chicken howls, “We’ll never be safe again.” There are still plenty of nods to Joe Strummer and gang, especially as Dead to Me explore world music influences. They slip through dub on opener “X” and bring Latin influences to “California Sun.” Don’t miss “Cruel World,” Chicken’s Replacements-like musing on the state of the world.

Heidi Minx interviews Dave "Jailhouse" Johnson about his social activism.

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He’s done with drugs. He’s finished with booze forever (hopefully). And after selling a whopping 45 million albums, he’s stopped caring what you think about Linkin Park. Meet the rebuilt and refocused Chester Bennington and his new side project, Dead By Sunrise.

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Auto-Tune and soda commercials killed hip-hop. Now La Coka Nostra, a new cartel featuring five familiar faces, have set out to cook up what hip-hop has been missing.

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When a young band like Paramore explodes out of nowhere (Franklin, TN?) there are always repercussions. On their third album, the group’s pint-sized singer with the giant voice, Hayley Williams, outlines the trail of mistrust and broken relationships. Fame has taught her that you “can’t be too careful anymore” (“Careful”), and later, on “Feeling Sorry,” she looks back at her small-town roots, firing, “I got out … and this could be you.” The music recalls early Fall Out Boy, but breaks come on tracks like “Misguided Ghosts,” an acoustic song that feels like a lost Jewel track. Later, Williams’s voice hits glass-shattering levels on closer “All I Wanted,” a sure Warped Tour hit. This only means one thing: More emo, more problems.

Heidi Minx interviews musician/ promoter/ manager/ Renaissance man, Freddy Cricien.

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