Metric bandleader Emily Haines is a triple threat. Make people swoon with delicate compositions as part of Broken Social Scene? Done! Break hearts with a stripped-down confessional solo project? Child’s play. Friday night at the Palladium, it was all about rocking out. And what do you know, she does that too!

Set three months after the ravage of Hurricane Katrina, HBO’s new series Treme doesn’t hang all of its drama on that crisis. David Simon (The Wire, Generation Kill, The Corner) and Eric Overmyer’s (Homicide, The Wire) know that the New Orleans disaster is already clear in their viewers’ minds. Instead of dismantling the heartache of the crisis, they pen a love letter to the city and its determined citizens. Thankfully, the series is rarely schmaltzy or heavy-handed in its agenda.

I tested Rhythm Heaven for the DSi on the brand-spanking-new DSi XL (that’s the version with the 93% larger screens). Probably a good thing, too: to my way of thinking, the larger screens certainly helped minimize eyestrain. Not sure if they helped with preventing repetitive stress syndrome, as the game only uses a few motions (tap, flick).

Over half a decade has lapsed since Lali Puna graced us with their last releases, including 2004’s breakthrough LPFaking the Books and the 2005 rarities collection I Thought I Was Over That, and laptop pop hasn’t been the same.

High Places gained prominence in the Brooklyn DIY loft show scene thanks in large part to their incendiary live performances, and a charismatic frontwoman in Mary Pearson.

The checkered past of Monster Movie could naturally lead one to figure that their latest album, Everyone Is a Ghost, was a weekend-project lark. For their first release in five years, it happens that the duo has produced a pop collection that’s engaging enough to tick off those who sweat with greater regularity over their craft.

The Book of Grickle is a collection of comic stories from Graham Annable, who has a background in animation for TV, video games, and film (including working as a storyboard artist on Coraline).

It’s supremely odd to hear movie stars singing their own soundtrack material, especially since the characters they’re playing are actual musicians. The main attraction to the soundtrack from the Kristen Stewart/Dakota Fanning portrayal of ‘70s all-girl rock band, The Runaways, is not the period punk music included (fine tracks by David Bowie, MC5, The Stooges, and Sex Pistols). It’s the fact that Fanning and Stewart actually sing four of The Runaways tunes on the soundtrack.

With her 1974 self-titled album, Essra Mohawk was recording with her third label in five years (Asylum) and hoping to see a change in fortunes and a bit of recognition.