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If hydraulic fracturing is the stick that can break through stone, why would the word "fracking" ever hurt the industry that practices it?

On Tuesday, The Associated Press released an update to its newspaper industry-standard Stylebook, this time including an entry for hydraulic fracturing:

"A technique used by the energy industry to extract oil and gas from rock by injecting high-pressure mixtures of water, sand or gravel and chemicals. The short form is fracking, a term considered pejorative by the industry."

In other words, go ahead and call it fracking because that's what it's called, but the industry won't like it when you do.

AP energy writer Jonathan Fahey introduced the world to this linguistic concern in January, in a story that began with "A different kind of F-word ..." Yeah, one that ends in a "k," no less. So what?

"It's a co-opted word and a co-opted spelling used to make it look as offensive as people can try to make it look," an official with Chesapeake Energy, the nation's second-largest natural gas producer, told Fahey.

The co-opting culprits are environmentalists who think fracking is bad for the environment and who use the terminology in graphic wordplay to make their point. I'd rather not give examples. I'll also refrain from using "fracking" adjectivally. By now, the comedic shock value is about as new and original as "take my wife, please."

Overlooked in this invented conundrum is that the co-opting had to be done from something or someone. And that something and someone is the industry itself.

The first time I can remember hearing the word, and having the process explained to me, was a couple of years ago on a well pad deep in the South Texas brush. The consultant in charge of the drilling project was doing the talking, and in his way of telling, it was fracking, aka hydraulic fracturing, not the other way around like the AP Stylebook explains it. He said "frack" a lot you know how those guys working the rigs talk. He never blushed, nor did he apologize for using what his industry now considers a pejorative.

His explanation, by the way, was easy for this science- and math-challenged journalism major to follow. Neither the industry nor the engineering profession could have found a better ambassador. Forcing him to change his choice of words would be a tactical blunder.

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TOM WHITEHURST JR.: Overly hyped and hydraulically fractured

You should be listening to Alabama Shakes and Cloud Nothings if you're not already.

SXSW 2012 had a lot of well-known artists I caught who ruled: Bruce Springsteen -- who was joined by members of Arcade Fire, Jimmy Cliff and Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello -- Jack White, Santigold and Fiona Apple. And there were surprise pop-ins from Rick Ross and Eminem, too. But one of my favorite things about the music festival is stuffing my face with Tex-Mex and BBQ the chance to discover and check out up-and-coming bands to keep on the radar. Some have already been making waves, and some are just about to, but all are Buzzworthy bands you need to know.

Here are, in no particular order, 15 bands from SXSW you need to know:

Alabama Shakes: Holy ish, these guys and gal are fantastic! The group drew long lines and crowds during their multi-show appearances. Brittany Howard's powerhouse, gritty voice conjured Janis Joplin, and the band's Southern soulful, bluesy stomp was as intoxicating as an Alabama Slammer (with all the fun, and zero hangover). Listen: "Hold On," Watch: "You Ain't Alone"

Howler: Talented? Check. Cute? Check. Hilarious? Check! The Midwestern (Minnesota) quartet are an indie rock band for retro-leaning melodies and a young zeal. There was plenty of silly boy banter onstage about tour antics, which added to their already-adorbs charm. Watch: "Back of Your Neck"

Of Monsters And Men: I first saw the Icelandic band at Iceland Airwaves music fest in October, and in five months they've grown their fanbase exponentially, playing to a full house at the larger Stubb's venue. Their song "Little Talks" is getting radio airplay love and due to their appealing orchestral-tipped, rousing folk style (fans of Arcade Fire will approve) and lovely male-female vocal interplay, they garnered a deal with Universal Records. Watch: "Little Talks"

Check out more SXSW bands you need to know after the jump.

The Balconies: Toronto, Canada trio The Balconies mines hook-laden pop-rock and singer Jacquie Neville's arena-worthy, Hayley Williams-esque vocals and bigger-than-the-stage presence (which included scissor kicks, half-splits and all-out rocking about) were as ballsy as she is hot. Listen: "Kill Count"

2:54: Yes, this U.K. band played at the exact time slot as their namesake at Fader Fort, but they're far from gimmicky. The quartet includes two sisters, Collette and Hannah Thurlow, whose axes provide the shoegazy undertone that pleasingly juxtaposed against Collette's hazy vocals. Listen: "Scarlet"

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Alabama Shakes, Cloud Nothings, Kimbra + More: 15 SXSW Bands You Need To Know

LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwire -03/20/12)- Wynn Las Vegas daylife and nightlife venues will feature more than 30 electronic dance artist residencies at Encore Beach Club, Surrender, Tryst and XS nightclubs throughout 2012. Top artists from around the world, including Afrojack, Calvin Harris, David Guetta, deadmau5, Diplo, Sebastian Ingrosso, Skrillex, Steve Angello, Tisto and many more will join the award-winning venues this year. The complete line-up of exclusive partnerships includes:

"Residencies with this many artists, offering this caliber of talent, will create a remarkable experience for fans of the electronic dance music genre," said Jesse Waits, co-owner and managing partner of XS and Tryst nightclubs. "Our venues will feature an incomparable lineup in 2012. With the addition of special surprises throughout the year, there will be no better destination for music enthusiasts than Wynn Las Vegas."

"With an unprecedented line-up of superstar electronic music talent filling our calendar, we can't be more excited about 2012 at Encore Beach Club and Surrender Nightclub," said Sean Christie, co-owner and managing partner of Encore Beach Club and Surrender. "Encore Beach Club has been widely honored as the finest dayclub in the country, and this year we're elevating the experience with a series of must-see events including Tisto, deadmau5 and Steve Angello. We're not missing a beat at Surrender, where performances from EDM luminaries and red-hot cutting-edge artists will confirm Wynn Las Vegas as the epicenter of dance music culture in America."

Encore Beach Club is open Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Surrender is open Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Tryst is open Thursday through Saturday from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. XS is open Friday through Monday from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Table reservations are highly recommended (Encore Beach Club and Surrender: 702-770-7300; Tryst: 702-770-3375; XS: 702-770-0097). For more information, visit http://www.wynnlasvegas.com/NightClubs.

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Globally Respected and Critically Acclaimed Electronic Dance Artists Create Unparalleled Roster of Residencies at ...

Do you hear that? The deep rumble thats been approaching over the horizon for a few years now that screeching, skittering WOMP WOMP WOMP that sounds like Optimus Prime having sex with a dial-up modem?

It has arrived.

Turn out to Short North nightclub Circus on Wednesdays and find several hundred young people twirling glow sticks and gyrating to aggressive strains of dubstep and electro, the genres at the forefront of electronic dance musics surge into the mainstream. Its an impressive sight, especially on a school night, but its nothing compared to the scene when thousands of them flock to see rock-star DJs like Skrillex and Bassnectar headline LC Pavilion, bodies moving with a ferocity that verges on mosh pit status.

After years on the fringes, electronic dance music is having its big mainstream moment, and Columbus is in on the fun.

Thump is just one of many massively popular dubstep and electro nights in town; Thump promoter Nick Reeds monthly LeBoom party routinely brings more than 500 people to Skullys, while Scott Niemets multi-genre Sweatin has been reliably attracting hundreds to various venues for half a decade.

Columbus-based promoter Prime Social Group books major global names like Tiesto and Steve Aoki at local spots like The Mansion and The Bluestone; the company also promotes events across the Midwest and even in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where theyve recruited a superstar DJ lineup for a 42-night spring break experience called Electro Beach.

We even have a rising superstar DJ act of our own, the laser-eyed duo roeVy, now popular enough to repeatedly pack the Newport and steadily making a name across the Midwest.

The causes of this nationwide phenomenon are myriad: taste-making producers like Diplo and Girl Talk brought dance music to fans of rap and indie rock; diverse festivals like Bonnaroo, Coachella and Electric Forest act as Petri dishes for new music discovery; DJs from Skrillex down to roeVy have seized the opportunity and fashioned themselves as rock stars with elaborate stage shows worthy of KISS or Alice Cooper.

This has been a long process, said Reed, who deejays under the name Carma. We put on a free show with Rusko and 12th Planet that only had 300 people two years ago. We recently had him back, and he sold out Bluestone.

With the influx of local dance nights has come an influx of local electronic musicians. Not all of them dabble in dubstep (the decade-old brainy English genre that morphed into bro-friendly party music with violent bass drops) and electro (a splicing of drum machines and funk that dates back to the 80s). The local ecosystem supports everything from gloomy midnight-techno duo Funerals to vibrant Moombahton act Cassius Slay to Digiraatii, who infuses dubstep and electro with the energy of hardcore punk. Niemet, who has made it his business to use Sweatin as a vehicle to bring together disparate social groups and styles, has a lot to work with.

Continued here:
Spin city: DJs rule Columbus nightlife

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Music For 'Disenfranchised Working-Class Youth': The British reggae band Steel Pulse formed in Birmingham in 1975. Mykaell Riley is third from the left.

You could hear it on mainstream radio in 1978, courtesy of The Police, and if you're in Britain, you can hear it on the airwaves today, in the music of Birmingham-born MC Lady Leshurr: reggae's influence on British music.

"As long as there's been reggae, there's been reggae in the U.K., and that influence has played a massive role," says producer and DJ Ras Kwame, who has worked on BBC Radio for more than a decade.

Lately called "bass culture," the wide range of music influenced by reggae in the U.K. is as prominent as the rock that was inspired by R&B and blues half a century ago, says Mykaell Riley, the lead singer of the reggae band Steel Pulse, which formed in Birmingham in 1975.

"We look at the impact of it; we look at how it's changed production; we look at the story of the remix culture, rave culture and the relationship to sound systems; we look at current youth and what they use as a key reference when making popular music in the U.K., and we'll see that the resonance of the black community in the U.K. has a major contribution that has never been fully recognized," Riley says.

The contribution began in the 1950s, when Jamaican immigration to the U.K. spiked. By the early '60s, British sound systems flourished and British ska music by artists like Millie Small topped the Billboard charts.

Where in America, West Indian immigrants could be absorbed into existing African-American communities, in Britain, where there was no real black community to speak of, Caribbean people found themselves isolated. Riley says that reggae became a potent way of dealing with that alienation.

"Disenfranchised working-class youth identified through this music," Riley says, "which was rebellious, it was anti-state, anti-government, it was very politically charged and very militant, so the black youth were very motivated and socially aware at the time. And all of this came through reggae. It was not present in the schools, on television, in the books, in radio."

In the 1970s, reggae exploded in the U.K. Bob Marley lived in London. Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones recorded reggae songs, and a soulful British genre known as Lover's Rock was born. But when U.K. reggae bands like Steel Pulse and Aswad hit the scene, they struggled to be accepted by black audiences who deemed them less authentic than Jamaican-born acts. Instead, these new bands found an unlikely fan base: punks.

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Reggae In The U.K.: A Steady Force