There’s this kid I thought was the last honest cowboy in the ol’ Davis ranch. He’s my little buddy. I consider myself his drunken fairy godmother. I do my best to ensure that he never brings home girls who look like a hybrid of Amy Winehouse and Jabba the Hutt, like his beer-goggled buddies apparently do every weekend. Quality over quantity, people! There’s not much use in getting on someone’s nuts if it’s destined to end with a speeding ticket on your rushed quest for a disinfecting shower at the hospital. In the interest of protecting the innocent, we’ll affectionately dub this fella Bambi.

I was in my smoking jacket admiring all of my safari trophies when I got a phone call from my mother Sunday night. My mom plays mandolin in a bluegrass band back in Southern California, and before she has a gig, she gets somewhat nervous about it:

On Monday, the Department of Justice officially approved the merger of Ticketmaster, the world’s largest ticketing company, and Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter.

West Palm Beach quintet, Surfer Blood, released their debut LP Astro Coast earlier this week. Their first single, “Swim (To Reach the End),” (somewhat of an intersection of Animal Collective and Weezer’s Blue Album) was released through Pitchfork Media late last year and has since experienced an eruption of viral buzz.

The stark black and white cover art of Grouper’s split EP with Roy Montgomery perfectly embodies the track listings in its entirety; it is billowing and beautiful in every way. The EP is a hauntingly hypnotic pleasure to the ears if you are a fan of late-night ambience and avant-garde experimentalism. In Grouper’s “Vessel,” Liz Harris uses a gently distorted organ to combine with her own aerial vocals – forming an ethereal and static equation. Montgomery’s portion of the EP exists in the form of a live recording from their show in his hometown, Christchurch, New Zealand. The track is a revolving, raga-like cycle of folk guitars and lo-fi lovin’. This five5-track EP is a brilliant collaboration: Roy Montgomery offers the warm-sounding yin to Grouper’s icy-cold yang. Listen to it and pretend you’re floating on mountaintops – or just allow yourself to dissolve in the foggy drone.

Fifteen-year-old Canadian Justin Bieber is arguably well on his way to being the biggest teen pop sensation since the Jonas Brothers, and the title isn’t totally undeserved. Every song in My World, a compilation of Bieber’s eight singles, is pleasant enough to listen to. Bieber has a good voice and the age-appropriate material he’s been given has a nice pop vibe.

Following up their 2008 release of Devotion, Baltimore dream-pop duo Beach House released their third album, Teen Dream, on Tuesday. Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally evolve from the spidery, sparse tones of their first two albums to procure brighter and more upbeat sounds while maintaining the delicately flowing musicalities of Beach House and Devotion.

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The American Bach Soloists will perform Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 at the Mondavi Center on Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. Student tickets start at $18 and rush tickets for $5 beginning 30 minutes before the performance.