​We would hate for you to miss out on all the awesome that happens every weekend in our fair city, so we've decided to run down five of the best shows in one easy-to-swallow post, with video and audio. Tell us -- and the rest of the world -- what we missed in the comments.

This week, Larimer Lounge is hosting a pair of solid local lineups headed by The Jim Jims tomorrow and Portamento tonight. Over at the Ogden, it's band-of-the-moment Vampire Weekend followed by Ray Davies of The Kinks, both of which should be fun. Not bad for a weekend when the whole music world seems to be in Austin.

​In honor of the snow we're getting today, we thought we'd offer a video suited for the season we expect snow (yeah, we know it snows in March all the time in Colorado, it still feels wrong when we were wearing shorts just three days ago). That, and there was no way we could wait until next Christmas to share this gem with you, so just put on DVD with the fireplace video, pour yourself a mug of eggnog (or just the booze, we won't tell) and prepare for Chunky Pam.

Chunky Pam is a plus-sized female rapper from Jersey who is very comfortable with her size. She celebrates it, in fact, and good for her. And in this video, she celebrates the holidays by indulging in all the treats of the season, and quite a few all-season treats (Twinkies aren't seasonal, are they?) too. While she does this, she busts some nice rhymes about her size, her sexiness and the dirty things she's going to do to Santa. She's bringing sexy back, in bulk. It's actually a pretty decent track, and the video is HI-larious. See for yourself below.

​Festival season is fast approaching, and the Fort Collins Music Experiment kicks things off locally three weeks from today.

FoCoMX debuted last year by featuring most of Northern Colorado's considerable musical talent. This year, they're 50% bigger, which means over 150 bands, which is just ridiculous. The full lineup won't be announced until Monday, but we're guessing that if they get anywhere close to that number, they'll be drawing a considerable number of Denver and Boulder bands as well.

Fort Collins has a very impressive music scene that has only gotten better since last year. In case that type is too small, some of the bands already confirmed are Arliss Nancy, Fierce Bad Rabbit, Candy Claws, Wire Faces and Danielle Ate The Sandwich. So yeah. Pretty awesome.

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Fuck what you've heard. We've got the the best day parties at SXSW today. Period. Hands down. We've seen New Music Tipsheet's free list. Granted, we're a little biased, but still, personal investments aside, have you seen the line-up? XX! Superchunk! The Pains of Being Pure At Heart! Surfer Blood! It's unfuckwithable. No need to ply you with free booze. Kicks off at noon at La Zona Rosa. And if you happen to be a Denverite, the Mile Hi-Fidelity party at Habana Calle 6 (709 E. 6th Street) is the place to be. Hell, even if you're not from the MHC, this party features the Queen's City's very best. Grab a few tracks after the jump to see what you're in for this afternoon.

​Just because you're famous doesn't mean you're invincible.

Fresh Breath Committee released one of Colorado's best rap albums last year in CPR. MCs Flawless, Purpose, Fo Chief and Kontrast stand out for their urgency and dexterity, and they consume Boi-1da's "Forever" beat. It's spare and gothic, and the Committee's boilerplate style squarely connects. Download the exclusive track after the jump.

​Yesterday Universal announced that it's cutting the its base CD prices from the average $12-$16 to an astonishingly low $6-$10. It's good news for those of you still buying CDs regularly, but what exactly does it mean for the rest of us and why are they even bothering at this point?

We can't come up with a viable reason of why the price cut would happen now, so deep into the game when it seems like record labels are nearing complete extinction. It could be a last ditch effort on the part of Universal, but for all we know, it's a calculated move they'd been planning to make for several years.

The Features. Photos by A.H. Goldstein

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A teaming crowd had packed the floor of the The Gothic Theatre by the time Manchester Orchestra took the stage. No one seemed more surprised by this than the band's frontman. "I did not expect this many," Andy Hull said.

The sheer size of the crowd didn't detract from a night of solid Southern indie rock with a Scottish outfit thrown in for good measure. The sizable audience remained rapt as each band offered strong sets marked by high doses of energy and moments of musical virtuosity.

​Every Friday we spotlight the hottest cats (and kittens) behind the decks in the MHC, grilling them to gain some insight on what it takes, exactly, to get the party rocking, to find out about their most treasured crate digging experiences and what they really think when we stumble up to them half cocked and ask them to play that new song by such and such -- you know, the one that goes...

This week: crowdrock, who can be found at Beta's Basslab and monthly at Vinyl. In the spare time he finds between sets and school, he writes original music. Below, he tells us what happens to prostitots looking for Britney remixes who come staggering into his booth, doesn't meet Thomas Bangalter and offers some straight wisdom to fame hounds: "If you're really dead set on "making it", get an MBA yo."

You've seen this before. At least a thousand times. And better. Probably much better. With far more blood. Still every time you witness a reckless, unpredictable frontman like Damian Abraham, it's exhilarating. Doesn't matter who you are. Every. Single. Fucking. Time. Guaranteed. Even when you know it's coming.

"I can drink all day here, and it's socially acceptable," utters Tim Pourbaix, as he takes a sip of his brew in between songs during his brief set at the Bocumast Records day party.