Arts, Entertainment, and Media

Seven Nights of DJs and Dancing and EDM

Shadowplay's Policy of Truth @ Rips

Yonder Mountain String Band: Bluegrass for People That Don't Like Bluegrass

"I don't feel at all that we have made it in the bluegrass world. We exist on the fringe at best," Yonder Mountain String Band bassist Ben Kaufmann lamented back in 2003. "The bluegrass music we are writing is different than the other bluegrass music that is out there. I think it is going to take pe ... More >>

SxSW: Should You Stay or Should You Go?

Did you read Monday's Onion story "SxSW as Cool and as Real as It Gets, Reports Marketing Associate?" Once again, the satirical site takes aim and takes down its target. South by Southwest mania is upon us, and chances are your social-media channels are already being inundated with dispatches from ... More >>

Heavy Metal is Taking Over Your Churches and Schools

Chances are if you're a weekly reader Metal Mondays here at Up on the Sun, you don't think of metalheads as thickheaded, grotesque, and crude Neanderthals. You know metal fans can be smart, erudite, and witty. Still, among the pop masses, there's a prevailing attitude that metal listeners are capita ... More >>

Green Day Never Sold Out; You Just Got Old and Complacent

Editor's Note: It's not every day that a band capable of filling arenas headlines a gig at the (comparatively) intimate Marquee Theatre. But that's exactly what's going down tonight, when the Bieber-bashing, ¡Uno-¡Dos!-¡Tre! -releasing Green Day heads to Tempe for a sold-out show. Critical consen ... More >>

Matt & Kim, Marquee Theatre, 3/9/13

Matt & Kim @ Marquee Theatre|3/9/13I woke up Saturday eager to see Matt and Kim. My boyfriend suggested passing some time by catching a move. Hell, why not? So, off to Oz the Great and Powerful -- fucking worst movie I have ever put money toward. Oh, wait, my boyfriend paid. Whoops! Regardless, I wa ... More >>

Top Five Must-See Shows in Phoenix This Weekend

We're just a little bit biased about the best way to spend your weekend here in Phoenix. New Times' Carnaval Electrico with Cold War Kids, Mergence, Hanni El Khatib, and more, is clearly awesome, but get this: There's other cool things going on around town. No joke. Rampage Fest at the Sail Inn is k ... More >>

Seven Nights of DJs, Dancing, and EDM

Christian Jacobs of Yo Gabba Gabba! Doesn't Talk Down to Kids

Cold War Kids Headline New Times' Carnaval Electrico at Crescent Ballroom

Whirr, Trunk Space, 3/6/13

Whirr @ Trunk Space | 3/6/13I don't want to be a shallow critic, but there's no denying the Whirr's firm place in the shoegaze section of the record store. They are knee-deep in the genre tropes: the excessive delay and reverb, the lead guitar doing some twinkly thing while the rhythm section hammer ... More >>

Foam If You Want To

Yo Gabba Gabba! Is Proof That Kids Like Awesome Music

Can you imagine how you would have turned out if The Flaming Lips -- the same Christmas on Mars/crazy/insane Flaming Lips you're thinking of -- had appeared on Sesame Street? It's a question we'll soon be able to answer. The Lips have appeared on Yo Gabba Gabba!, arguably the hippest children's sh ... More >>

Logan "Element" Howard on Whether or Not He's Retiring from the Turntables

http://www.voiceplaces.com/yucca-tap-room-phoenix-2567505-l/

Seven Nights of DJs and Dancing

Alkaline Trio's Good Mourning: 10 Years Later, It's a Gothy Pop Punk Classic

It's not uncommon for fans to have a soft spot for the first album they hear from a beloved artist. It might not be the band's defining work, but it was your entry point, your gateway. I'll always carry a torch for Alkaline Trio's fourth album, Good Mourning, and in this case, it's a significant alb ... More >>

Paramore's "Now" Shows Off New Direction for Band

Paramore doesn't need the Farro brothers to go on. So long, founding brothers Josh and Zac. Frontwoman Hayley Williams is soldiering on, bad haircuts and all. It looks like the band's big move into maturity might just abandon the sparkly pop that made the band famous. Who cares it was the pop-fuele ... More >>

Why Music Fans Should Be Watching RuPaul's Drag Race

Call it the chief paradox of modern pop culture: Most reality television shows blow, but we keep watching, because in a weird way they're as compelling as they are mindlessly entertaining: The exploits of Honey Boo Boo's family may be exploitative, but dammit if they don't love each other. The Karda ... More >>

No One Trusts the Tastes of Teenage Girls But Should: Why Justin Bieber Is the Next Beatles

By Brittany Spanos At what point did teen girls suddenly just become wrong? "Serious" music fans seem to have universally accepted a critique of quality that befalls any artist who willingly sells to the rabid teen girl market and stigmatized the fans who dare to sometimes be male or at least above ... More >>

Best Arizona-Related Segment From the Colbert Report?

Last week, we sifted through the archives of the Colbert Report, and found some of the best Arizona-based clips in the show's history.As was the case with the Colbert Report's comedy-news counterpart, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, there were plenty of segements to choose from.See also:-Arizona's ... More >>

Arizona's Top 10 Appearances on the Colbert Report

The joke's on Arizona so much that we had to separate the state's best appearances on Comedy Central "news" shows into two lists.Last week, we brought you some of the best Arizona-themed segments from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Now, we've gone through the Colbert Report's archives, to bring yo ... More >>

In Defense of New Girl (Hear Us Out . . .)

Dammit, Jim, Doctor Bones Is a Rock Band, Not a Pop Group

Limón Fresh

The Best and Worst Beatles Conspiracies (NSFW)

Conspiracy theories are my comfort food. After all, all a conspiracy is "the action of plotting or conspiring," and not just about tin-foil hats and Reptillians. When Reagan's cronies illegally sold weapons to Iran in the Iran-Contra Scandal, that was a conspiracy. When the CIA sold crack to kids in ... More >>

How Can My Band Shake the "Christian Rock" Tag?

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you ... More >>

Best Arizona-Related Segment From the Daily Show with Jon Stewart?

Last week, we put together our picks for the top 10 Arizona appearances on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.We had plenty of material to choose from for the top-10 list, including multiple segments about SB 1070, the crazy bills from the Legislature -- the "meth lab of democracy" -- and even that tim ... More >>

Arizona's Top 10 Appearances on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart

In case you haven't noticed, the state of Arizona gets a hell of a lot of play on Comedy Central's "news" programs.Really, there's plenty of material for the writers to work with, and it seems like it's hard to go a month without seeing Arizona being the butt of either Jon Stewart's or Stephen Colbe ... More >>

Every Time I Die @ Nile Theater

When John McClane Lost His Family, the Movies Lost Much of John McClane

Warped Tour's 2013 Line Up Has Been Posted-- And It's Just "Okay"

The Warped Tour lineup was released yesterday afternoon, and while we were (foolishly) hoping that Kevin Lyman would have a change of heart and model the long-running festival after something like Punk Rock Bowling or The Fest, the lineup, unsurprisingly, still caters to Hot Topic tweens. There ar ... More >>

Earth Play

17 Don't-Miss Events During Arizona Beer Week, Feb. 16-23

With more than 100 tastings, tappings and opportunities to tipple taking place throughout Arizona Beer Week, one must schedule his time wisely for maximum drinking. These are the events you'll find us at -- and the beers we'll be drinking there. See also: - Chow Bella Rides with Mother Road Brew ... More >>

Unearthing Metal's Classical Roots

I wasn't raised on Anthrax or Zeppelin, or anything between in regards to the heavy metal alphabet. No, the soundtrack of my youth was classical music. I competed in classical piano competitions for the better part of a decade, and Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Wolfgang Amadeus ... More >>

Grammy Awards 2013: Katy Clowns Bon Iver, Miguel Shows How It's Done, and Taylor Swift Dissed Her Ex

The Grammys are a huge night for music fans. While we tend to shake our head and wonder how some of these artists won (ie. "Album of the Year"), it's entertaining to watch the live performances and keep fingers crossed for our favorite artists. fun. won big last night, sweeping up the "Song of the Y ... More >>

DJ Steve Aoki Runs EDM's Premier Label and Tours the World

Sorrower Embraces Punk DIY Culture and Grindcore Feel

Fall Out Boy Returns to "Save Rock and Roll," But Is It Too Late?

For the excitable Generation Y character in all of us twenty-somethings: Fall Out Boy has returned. With their 2005 mega-album From Under The Cork Tree, the Chicago-based four-piece put a poetically self-aware spin on the theme of pop-punk. They laced the album with ironic and lengthy song titles, t ... More >>

Don't Want to Go to Coachella? Good Thing All These Coachella Bands Are Coming to Phoenix (Pt. 2)

Phoenix is scheduled to perform Monday, April 8, at Marquee Theatre./td>Last week we ran a list of Coachella bands headed to Phoenix around the festival's dates. Well, since then the list has grown, including big name acts like Phoenix, The Postal Service, and Tegan and Sara. So allow us to fill you ... More >>

Murs, The Insects, Fashawn, and Prof, Club Red, 2/5/13

Murs, The Insects, Fashawn, Prof @ Club Red|2/5/13It looks like it's that time of the year again, as Murs gathers a select group of rappers to embark on a nationwise tour leading up to his annual "Paid Dues" festival in March. The endeavor this year, aptly titled "The Road to Paid Dues," normally sh ... More >>

Dave Grohl On His Film Tribute to the Studio That Gave the World Nevermind

By Whitney Friedlander The lobby of Dave Grohl's Northridge-based 606 Studios has a Joan Jett book on the coffee table and a row of classic arcade games like Donkey Kong Jr. against one wall. On top of a photo booth sits an iconic "Moonman" MTV Video Music Award, festooned with a roll of toilet pap ... More >>

Z-Trip, Axis/Radius, 2/2/13

Z-Trip @ Axis/Radius|2/2/13Whatchu know 'bout Z-Trip? In all seriousness, if you asked this question to any of your local peers, I'm willing to bet that nine out of ten will know the ubiquitous DJ name, eight out of ten will know him personally, or claim to know him personally, from that one time a ... More >>

Arizona's Murs Bridges Hip-Hop's Divide

Murs Says Don't Write Music If You "Don't Have Shit to Say"

In this week's issue, we profile Arizona-based rapper Murs. Some great stuff got left on the cutting-room floor, so in this installment of Outtakes, we'll crack open the tape recorder and let a whole bunch of good material that didn't make the print edition see the light of day. One of rap's great ... More >>

Modern Marvels

Brad Paisley Tells Country Audiences There's Nothing Wrong With White Folks Becoming the Minority

Editor's note: Every couple weeks, Alan Scherstuhl, the film editor at our sister publication The Village Voice, will be taking a hard listen to the music in which millions of Americans soak. We're happy to share his findings. By Alan Scherstuhl Brad Paisley, Southern Comfort Zone Current Billboa ... More >>

My Bloody Valentine Might Release Its New Album Any Day Now

22 years after the shoegaze masterpiece Loveless was released, My Bloody Valentine main man Kevin Shields has announced that the band could finally release its third album any day now. According to the band's Facebook page, the album was mastered on December 21, meaning the long-awaited release migh ... More >>

Top Metal Festivals of 2013

When the lineup for Rock on the Range was announced last week, a flurry of emails between myself and three other of my fellow chick metal journalists/enthusiasts ensued regarding flights, hotels, and tickets. We had all attended the weekend festival together in 2012, and relished the thought of a he ... More >>

Stop Hating on the 2013 Coachella Lineup

Each year, like many of you, I impatiently wait for the Coachella lineup to be announced. Sometimes it's disappointing (if Daft Punk says they're not touring, chances are they're not playing the festival), but there's always going be a few redeeming artists. At best the lineup will be amazing, and i ... More >>