If you are 21 years old or younger and make music—any kind of music at all—you want to enter Sound Off!. The EMP's annual underage battle of the bands is a great experience for any young musician—you can gain experience, meet a lot of other cool kids, and maybe even win some kick ass prizes, too. And you have less than one week to get your Sound Off! entry submitted!

Sound Off! program coordinator Jesse Reed says they've already gotten a lot of great entries that span all kinds of genres: "Retro folk pop, light metal, pun rock, noise ska, concept rock, u-new-knew-disco-soul-house, and lots of indie, hip hop, alternative and metal."

I really want to know what "u-new-knew-disco-soul-house" is.

Get all the rules and apply online here.

And if you want to know more, here's a video, created last year for SO!'s 10-year-anniversary, which showcases some of the success stories the program has helped launch (hey, that's my face talking at you!):

I just called my friend Dale Muck on the telephone. I guess we're still friends, I haven't talked to him in 8 years. I remember the last time we met, we ran into each other at a Sunoco gas station in Cleveland, Ohio. "The last time I saw you, you said that you had become a mod," he said. I remember that moment, I was at a Unique thrift store, buying used ties and starchy white shirts. He must have taken me seriously when we ran into each other in an aisle, me with an armload of ties and white shirts. "Oh, I'm mod now," I probably said. I was joking, but in the Cleveland, Ohio way. That's a place where everything has to be a joke because you're living in Cleveland, Ohio. It's a little after 6am where Dave is living now, just outside of Cleveland. He answered his phone and I apologized for calling so early and reminded him who I was and he remembered, which pleased me. Instead of catching up, I told him that I only wanted to know if he still liked the Dead Milkmen.

• It's President's Day!

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Hot diggity damn. Whenever the weather turns sour, sunny music doesn't cut it anymore. That's when I pull out my favorite winter records and listen to them non-stop. Here are a couple of my favorites; what are your favorite winter albums?

Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein

Always a good call for a winter album. A subterraneous masterpiece with beats that freeze the blood in your veins. The raps are cynical and grim, cold and dark. 'Nuff said.

Portishead - Dummy

I can't think of a Portishead track that doesn't remind me of freezing weather. Trudging through sleet and snow—it's a feeling that permeates their lazy, plodding drums, lackadaisical scratches and Beth Gibbons' breathy, taught voice. Turn the lights low and let the streetlights glint off the snow for this one.

Honorable mentions: Aesop Rock - Labor Days and Duke Ellington & John Coltrane (Impulse, '63)

Especially these tracks:

Because DUH.

I'll get in on this. Don't tell nobody, but there was definitely a girl who had me being emo when this came out: