I befriended frontman Scott Wynn of The Panderers on MySpace a year and a half ago, not much expecting to be friends outside of that space. The bang, the clak, the lo-fi chemical makeup of his music flowed in my ears and captured my mind. I wanted these guys live on stage in front of me!

I reached out that spring to learn more, asking if there were any plans for a tour.

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Music Tonight: Ohio musical pioneers Rocket From the Tombs perform at the Southgate House with local greats Buffalo Killers and SS-20. Formed in 1974 in Northern Ohio, the pre-Punk legends might not get the credit of some of Punk's other earliest engineers, from New York and the U.K, but their importance in shaping the music (and the New Wave/Alterntaive/Indie music that followed) cannot be overstated. Like many great artists (Van Gogh, Poe, Kafka, etc.), RFTT weren't appreciated in their time, something not surprising considering they existed for only about a year and never released a lick of music. The band's split spawned two other wildly important bands — Dead Boys, featuring Stiv Bators and TFTT's Cheetah Chrome, and Pere Ubu with RFTT's David Thomas and Peter Laughner (who passed away in 1977). Both "new" (and distinctively different) bands took some Rocket tunes with them — Dead Boys claimed songs like "Ain't It Fun" and "Sonic Reducer," while Pere Ubu took with them "Final Solution" and "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" — all "Punk" classics. In the ’00s, RFTT compiled live and archival recordings so the band would finally have something in the record stores and, in the process, reconnected and, in 2009, the band convened to record its official "debut album" nearly 35 years after originally forming. Read Steven Rosen's interview with frontman (and Art Rock icon) David Thomas for this week's CityBeat here. Showtime tonight is 9 p.m. and admission is $15. Click below to listen to Rocket From the Tombs' rendition of "Sonic Reducer."

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Set your VCRs or Tivos (or whatever it is you crazy kids are using these days to record TV shows) for 11:35 p.m. tonight, as the Cincinnati-birthed Heartless Bastards make their network television debut on Late Show with David Letterman.

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Cincinnati Electronic Rock four-piece Eat Sugar released its fantastic debut full-length Levántense! this past summer as a digital-only offering. But early next year, the well-received album — which scored a Cincinnati Entertainment Award nomination for 2010’s “Album of the Year” — will be reintroduced to the masses thanks to Eat Sugar’s label home, the wildly eclectic and widely respected Mush Records. The release is set for a Feb. 22 launch by Mush.

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A good party needs good music and the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards ceremony has annually featured some of the best music being made in Greater Cincinnati. This year's show at the Madison Theater on Nov. 20 will be no exception. Performers for this year's CEAs will include Wussy, Pomegranates and New Artist of the Year nominees Two Headed Dog (pictured), with more to be added (we'll keep you posted). Click below for more details on the show. And if you haven't voted for your favorite local musical acts yet, what are you waiting for? Deadline for votes is this Friday at noon. Click here to cast your ballot. And go here to get your tickets to the show.

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Cincinnati music’s most iconic figure, Bootsy Collins, is gearing up to release a new album this spring, the funkmaster’s first new material in five years. The guest list on Tha Funk Capital of the World is stacked with superstars from various fields, not just music. Along with Hip Hop legends Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and Chuck D (who all perform with Bootsy on one track, “Hip Hop @ Funk U”), eclectic banjo master Bela Fleck and fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bobby Womack, the 16-track collection also features such non-musical figures as Al Sharpton, Tom Joyner, Dr. Cornel West and actor Samuel Jackson. Funk Capital has an April 26 release date.

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If you haven't heard One of Us, the latest album from Cincinnati Indie quartet Pomegranates, then you missed one of the best albums to come out all of last year. If you'd like to remedy the situation, you can get a small sample now from Afternoon Records, which just announced it is offering a free download of the One of Us track, "Prouncer."

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Veteran singer/songwriter Maurice Mattei and his band The Tempers celebrate the release of their new CD, Mauled, this Saturday at The Redmoor in Mount Lookout. The show will feature an opening set by local Surf Rock band, Don’t Fear the Reverb, plus appearances by David Wolfenberger, Mike Helm, Brandon Dawson, Sharon Udoh and more.

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Attention ‘80s headbangers—and those misguided younger souls among our readership who are fascinated with ‘80s nostalgia: Thruster, Cincinnati’s “premier” metalhead ensemble from those glory days of perms on men and t-shirts with no sleeves, is getting the fancy reissue treatment for their 1987 record M.I.A.

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