Bang-on and balls-out, North Londoner Lady Sovereign’s overcome the odds to become one of the biggest talents in music today–tapped by Jay-Z for Def Jam & handpicked by Gwen Stefani as a tour opener, the girl’s got flow and style in spades. Check out her sound here if you haven’t already.

Wanna see the show? Tell me your fave Lady Sov rhyme in the comments. We’ll pick a few lucky winners to go see the show!

Info on the show is here.

Everyone’s favorite proto-punk semi-glam totally rad band the New York Dolls are back in LA for a triumphant show at the Fonda this Thursday. I had the privelege of seeing them a few months ago at Club Nokia and the show blew me away: rollicking, funny, explosive and occasionally elegiac, the Dolls are not a novelty retread. Chops & cred ooze off them. This is a don’t-miss show.

Wanna go? Tell me your favorite New York Dolls story or song. We’ll choose a few winners & send you on your merry way.

Show info is here.

Ever since their 2002 album “Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone,” I’ve had a music crush on The Walkmen. The delicacy of that album, the wistful tinkling layers of piano swirling through the vocals, blew me away. It’s good to see them back, and they’ll be playing on the 20th at the El Rey with The Morning Benders and total hound. Wanna go? Tell me your favorite album YOU ever listened to…on a Walkman.

Think about it. The Walkman is now obsolete technology, like an 8-track or a Victrola.

Info on the show is here.

Two weekends from now, electro-rockers Shiny Toy Guns appear at the nifty new Club Nokia. They’ve come a long way since their early demos garnered attention in 2005 while the band was stewing in LA’s underground and generating buzz via myspace.

From Mick O via Creative Commons

While their hit single “Le Disko” (last.fm) was a sexy, nuanced call to arms (and to the dancefloor) from the heart of an underage robot, their new(ish) single “Ricochet” (last.fm) has all the roaring velocity of a straight-up rock stadium classic on overdrive. There’s a palpable change.

Amidst bandmember switcharoos and the almost-inevitable loss-of-cabin-pressure the occurs when a small, green band gets signed & shot into the stratosphere, they’ve kept writing & hung tight. The result is a new album, “Season of Poison,” that is technically stronger than–if lacking the home-run kismet–of “We Are Pilots,” their first album.

We have more than tickets to give away–one grand prize winner will get a pair of tickets, access to the exclusive VIP lounge (21+) with meet & greet, a copy of their latest CD “Season of Poison” and an autographed Shiny Toy Guns-Goldenvoice poster. Saweeeet. Check behind the jump for how to win.

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Thanks to Goldenvoice, we here at LA Metblogs have nabbed not only concert tickets to Blue October’s show this Saturday, but every Metblogs winner gets in to a pre-show meet-and-greet with the band. Now, don’t embarrass us and geek out TOO much, ok? Keep it together.

Wanna go & schmooze with eyeliner-sporting rockstars? What sane person wouldn’t?! If you want to go, leave a comment below telling me, in a 5/7/5 syllable haiku, why you NEED to see this show & meet the band.

We’ll randomly pick a few winners. To win, you do not have to write a good haiku, but you must be able to be at LA Live this Saturday at 7pm; and you must be able to check your email regularly enough so that if I send you a “you win!” email, I don’t have to wait three days to hear back from you. Good? Good.

I loved the Tindersticks’ “Can Our Love…” in 2001. I sorta lost track of them after that. It’s therefor really gratifying that they’re coming to LA to perform tomorrow night at the Fonda–it’s been way too long since I’ve seen ‘em. They play with critically acclaimed moody-Americana troubs (and locals) Spain.

To win tickets tell me your favorite Tindersticks OR Spain song, and why you love it so. We’ll randomly pick a few winners. Show info is here.

What’s up, pussycat? I’ll tell you. TOM JONES. Tom Jones will be belting out tunes from his new album, “24 Hours,” as well as subjecting himself to much panty-tossing during “It’s Not Unusual,” this very Friday. Info is here.

We’ve got a couple pairs of tickets to give away, but you’re gonna have to work.

You can:

Tell me about your favorite Tom Jones-related experience and why it rocked your world.

or

Using seesmic (which is in our comments), record a video response in our comments of you singing a Tom Jones song. The first two people to do that automatically get the tickets. Yep! Now….GO!

Locals-made-good the Moving Units play this Friday at the El Rey with Rumspringa, All Leather and HAWEsome local DJ Them Jeans. Should be a fantastic show. And we’ve got tickets to give you! IF you enter a comment, that is.

Drop in a comment below telling me who YOUR favorite local DJ is. If they have a website or myspace page please do include a link. Tell me why they’re awesome, where you first heard them, and where they usually spin.

And if you’d like, you could twitter this post so people can see your listings of all these local DJs. How ya like them apples?

Info on the show is here.

Any fan of rap or hip-hop–even just plain ole’ music fans who dig innovation and experimentation–will love Kool Keith in all his incarnations, whether it be as a member of seminal rap duo the Ultramagentic MCs, the trippy Dr. Octagon or the homicidal Dr. Dooom. Kool Keith’s lyrical innovations really make him akin to a Beat poet in his willingness to chop up language like a chef at Benihana, flipping around bits of language, slicing & dicing words apart to draw in all sorts of flavor.

Wanna go to the show? Tell me your favorite line from a Kool Keith track in the comments. We’ll randomly pick a few winners to get a pair of tix to the show.

Info on the show is here.

Monterrey, Mexico’s biggest synth-rock beat-driven danceaholics (that would be Kinky) come to the Fonda tomorrow night with Mexican Dubwiser and Chico Sonido for one hell of a show. I saw these guys for the first time two or three years ago at a Detour Festival downtown and they stole the whole show out from under Bloc Party, The Teddybears & even Perry Farrell. This is a don’t-miss show. Wear your dancing shoes.

Wanna go? Leave a comment telling me why you love the band sooooo much. We’ll randomly pick a few winners to get a pair of tickets.

Info on the show is here chez Goldenvoice.

Whoever wins these tickets is LU-KEE. ‘Cuz everyone and their hipster formerly-grunge mama is gonna want tix to see the former frontman of Stone Temple Pilots & Velvet Revolver. (show info here)

I am not going to make this easy for you. (muahahaha)

Some of the tracks on Weiland’s latest solo album were recorded by a guy who’s a big musical hero of mine.

Tell me the name of a song that guy wrote.

Don’t feel bad. This is the hardest question I’ve ever asked, ‘cuz you’d have to either know something about me or make a good educated guess, plus be a music geek. But like I said, I wanted to make this a toughie.

This is a crazy show. As if NOFX weren’t unhinged enough, to commemorate 25 years of NOFX, they’re doing a special show, which will include the FOUR eras of NOFX, with the former members showing up to play a few songs from the time they were members.

The 3 piece era 1983-1885: Fat Mike, Smelly, Melvin

Casillas era 1985-1988: Dave Casillas, Fat Mike, Smelly, Melvin

Kidwiler era 1988-1991: Steve Kidwiler, Fat Mike, Smelly, Melvin

El Hefe 1991- present: etc etc etc.

Wanna win tickets? Tell me your absolute favorite NOFX lyrics ever. We’ll randomly pick a few winners to get plus-ones to the show. Info here.

Wacky rock-humorists Eagles Of Death Metal will be bringing the noise, and the funk, this Wednesday along with charming locals the Living Things. Wanna go? It should be a really fun show. We’ve got a few tickets to give away–just add a comment telling me your favorite EODM song and why you love it so. We’ll get back to a couple winners & send you with a pal.

Here’s all the info on the show, in case you’d like to buy tickets and don’t have the GUTS to try to win tickets from us. Pansies.

Hawaiian dacenhall-punk-poppers Pepper bring their dance-inducing bubble-hop-rasta to  Club Nokia in downtown LA. Along with hybrids Shwayze, who graft turntablism, hip-hop & singer-songwriter styles together, this should be a great show, supported by The Supervillians and Passafire. People who always say “I like all kinds of music. Except country,” will prolly really enjoy this one.

Want in? Tell me what you think the most bizarre musical style-blend could be: klezmer with New Wave? Cumbia with Tuvan throat singing? Opera and hyphy? We’ll pick a couple winners to go rock out at the show.

Work at a record store? Or are you merely a music snob? Here’s your concert. Tapes ‘n Tapes play with Wild Light & Wavves this Saturday at the El Rey. Of course, we know you’re all planning on being at the Classic Eats dinner that night, enjoying your drinks at Traxx and your extremely strong mustard at Philippe’s, but of course this would be a lovely little show to take in post-dinner.

Wanna go? Tell me in the comments what 10 songs you’d put on a mixtape & what the theme would be. We’ll pick a couple lucky bastards to go. Here’s all the info on the show.