Danger Mouse

Portugal. The Man's New Album: Evil Friends, Track by Track

Put on almost any Rolling Stones record and it is instantly recognizable as the Rolling Stones. There is no mistaking the gritty sound and straight-up rock 'n' roll riffs. Now, put on a Portugal. The Man album. It, too, is instantly recognizable by the complex layers and textures in each song, the m ... More >>

Top Five Must-See Shows in Phoenix This Week

It's Monday, and I'm sorry about that. There was nothing I can do. But I bring good news: This week's Top Five Must-See Shows in Phoenix is further proof that they play live music during the week, and even on school nights.

A$AP Rocky Does More Than Ca$h In On Hip-Hop and EDM Trends on LONGLIVEA$AP

After signing a three- million dollar record deal with Sony Music in 2011, A$AP Rocky, the 24-year-old Harlem-based emcee had a hell of a 2012. Already considered to be on front line of the new wave of hip-hop artists, A$AP lived a life that many aspiring musicians only dream about. He delivered out ... More >>

Top 5 Contemporary Blues Rock Bands That Don't Totally Suck

Our sister blog, West Coast Sound, has caught a lot of shit lately for their disdain for neo-blues rockers The Black Keys. Just remember we're only critics, and opinions are just opinions. Nicholas Pell even offered up some alternative blues bands for you to dig. The problem is, as commenter AlexNic ... More >>

Yang Tough

As The Black Keys Take on Pizza Hut, We Wonder What Selling Out Even Means Anymore

See also: What Are the Ten Most "Spotified" Songs in Phoenix Last week, NPR blogger Emily White got a whole bunch of discussion started about how musical artists are and aren't getting paid. (We chimed in too, discussing music streaming service Spotify.) If White's thought, that my peers and I will ... More >>

Top 10 Albums of 2011: Melissa Fossum

St. Vincent​Welcome to another installment of Up on the Sun's 2011 Review. We've been counting down our favorite songs, shows, national and local releases of 2011. Today's list comes from contributor Melissa Fossum. Maybe I'm too indecisive for my own good, but year-end lists are always a cha ... More >>

What's Selling: Hoodlums Top 10 Selling Albums of the Week

http://www.hoodlumsmusic.com​Washed Out's Within and Without topped last week's list at Stinkweeds. This week we look at what's selling at Tempe neighborhood music store Hoodlums. The independently-owned music and movie haven has been rooted in Tempe since 1998, when they first opened their ... More >>

The Ten Best Posthumous Albums

​Today, Universal Music Enterprises will re-release a handful of albums by the late Tupac Shakur, including the posthumous album R U still Down? (Remember Me). Originally released in 1997 (a year after Shakur's murder), R U Still Down? was one of the rapper's best-selling albums, going quadruple ... More >>

What's Selling? Top Ten Lists from Valley Record Stores

Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues ​Want to know what new release discs and platters are moving across the Valley at local record stores? We've got you covered with another installment of What's Selling. Looks like Fleet Foxes are doing pretty well this week, with their heady folk album Helples ... More >>

Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi's Rome

​Danger Mouse has done a lot of things over the course of his career, but Rome, his new album released yesterday with composer Daniele Luppi, may be one of his best projects. As a producer, Danger Mouse (born Brian Burton), has received accolades for his work with artists like the Gorillaz and B ... More >>

The Black Keys @ Mesa Amphitheatre

Death Cab For Cutie to Stream New Music Video as They Shoot It

​The music video for Death Cab For Cutie's latest song "You Are A Tourist" is about to be made, but it won't be a typical music video shoot, according to Pitchfork.Death Cab has chosen to make a live stream available to allow their fans to watch the music video creation process as the video i ... More >>

Broken Bells, "The High Road"

​ Song: Broken Bells, "The High Road" Context: This song from the duo of Danger Mouse and Shins singer James Mercer goes with this week's cover story about local low-power station KWSS 106.7 FM. Broken Bells - The High Road by pcagx

5 Things We Could Expect to See From Meg White Now

The White Stripes​ If you're anything like me, your first thought when you heard that the White Stripes were breaking up was this: "Sucks to be Meg White right now!"After all, it's not like Jack White has got anything to worry about. He's still got The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs, collaborations ... More >>

What's the Point of Year-End Top 10 Lists Anyway?

​Compiling year-end lists is an art form. Lucky for everyone, our own Michael Lopez understands that art very well. So does Consequence of Sound. The Associated Press, on the other hand... not so much, which is why the Houston Press, among others, famously and understandably shit all over AP's 200 ... More >>

Cee-Lo Green: The Lady Killer

​Unless the rock you've been living under for the past two months is insanely cozy, you've probably heard the hit single from former Goodie Mob-ster Cee-Lo Green. That's "Fuck You."The vindictive little ditty made a big splash when it hit the Internet in the middle of August, celebrating all ... More >>

Jack White and Norah Jones Join Danger Mouse for New Project

​Jack White and Norah Jones will be featured on Danger Mouse's long-running project with Daniele Luppi, according to Consequence of Sound.While Norah Jones has only been rumored to be on the album in some capacity, Jack White has been in the loop for a while. After having showed off his work to Ja ... More >>

The 88: The 88

​Artist: The 88Title: The 88 Release date: September 28 Label: Rocket ScienceWhat do you do if you're a band like The 88? You're top-flight songwriters and musicians, you get your songs placed in all kinds of big-name TV shows and high-profile TV commercials, you tour the country opening ... More >>

Warpaint: The Fool

​Artist: Warpaint Title: The Fool Release date: October 25 Label: Rough Trade The musical path taken by L.A. foursome Warpaint is well trodden -- but this kind of ultra-moody, sort of experimental, Joy Division-indebted music is usually plied by men. But Warpaint is a quartet of women, and in ... More >>

Screaming Females: Castle Talk

​Artist: Screaming Females Title: Castle Talk Release date: September 14 Label: Don Giovanni Back in the day, I'd hate to miss a good show (I'm still not happy that my parents wouldn't let me drive to Kalamazoo one Monday night to see Scratch Acid and Big Black play, ditto the time I couldn't ... More >>

Beyonce Not Preggers After All

​Yesterday Us Weekly reported that Beyonce and Jay-Z have a baby on the way. However, Beyonce's mother Tina Knowles shot down those rumors, according to Billboard. TMZ has a clip of the pre-recorded Ellen show, which will air today, in which Tina denied any gorgeous kids are on the way. Tina joked ... More >>

Kings of Leon: Come Around Sundown

​Artist: Kings of LeonTitle: Come Around SundownRelease date: October 19Label: RCAI think it's funny that people are getting all bent out of shape over the supposed "selling out" of Kings of Leon, saying their new record sucks worse than that sucky one that sold a bajillion copies a few years ago. ... More >>

Grinderman: Grinderman 2

​Artist: GrindermanTitle: Grinderman 2Release date: September 14Label: Anti-Most of the indie rock I've heard this year (well over 200 records and counting, with 11 weeks to go in this series) is really pretty toothless. Even the harder-rocking stuff, with its big drums or wall-of-sound guitars or ... More >>

What's Spinning: Radio Phoenix

This is Flying Blanket, Vol. II​When running a radio station without the confines of corporate ownership and the need for mainstream FM commercial viability, the charts have the freedom to run wild. Radio Phoenix then, is always a mix of indie chic, local cool, and a hint of the unexpected. This w ... More >>

Nothing Not New: Podcast #8

​Music editor Martin Cizmar and I are back with another podcast, in which we discuss the overratedness of The Gaslight Anthem, the bleak Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse collaboration, my failed attempt at concert promoting, the return of Crowded House, and a bunch of other stuff that you didn't even rea ... More >>

Odds 'n' Sods: Cowboy Junkies, Winnie Cooper, Grieves, Shelby Lynne, and more

​Holy crap, only five-plus months left of Nothing Not New. I gotta get to a lot more new(-ish) releases. Let's roll . . .Cowboy Junkies -- Remnin Park: Who knew these dour Canadians were even still around? Remnin Park is a concept album inspired the Timmins' family month-long sojourn to China. Out ... More >>

Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse, "Dark Night of the Soul"

Song: Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse, "Dark Night of the Soul" (featuring David Lynch) Context: It may have only gotten a B from Jay Bennett, but Danger Mouse's long-awaited collaboration with the late Mark Linkous gets an A in my book. It's a well-crafted and multifaceted album filled with ... More >>

Authority Zero: Stories of Survival

​Artist: Authority ZeroTitle: Stories of SurvivalRelease date: June 22Label: Suburban NoizeI have a friend who's a native Phoenician and longtime fixture in the Valley punk scene, both as fan and musician. He loves West Coast punk, thinks Southern California spawned the best of the best punk, espe ... More >>

July 13 In Blogs: Rio Rico Shooting, Old Spice Man, Led Zepplin, Amarone Ristorante Italiano, and Medical Marijuana

​​​In the 24-hour news cycle, it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times' blogs. Today's entries:

Vampire Weekend Set to Release Follow Up to Contra Before the Year's End

Vampire Weekend.​So it seems that even though Vampire Weekend's critically acclaimed, (by nearly all music critics except our very own Jay Bennett,) Contra came out just this January, the plan is that they'll have another recording out before the year's end, according to TwentyFourBit.Their frontm ... More >>

Album Stream: Gorillaz -- Plastic Beach

The latest Gorillaz album isn't released until next Tuesday, but you can stream it in its entirety at NPR​If you've been dying to listen to Plastic Beach, the latest offering from Gorillaz, since hearing the single "Stylo," then please wait no longer. NPR's Exclusive First Listen has made the enti ... More >>

2010's Most Anticipated Albums

2010 brings with it the hope of a new, much better decade chock full of impressive albums​Some of you may or may not have noticed that the 2000s, or aughts for the cool kids, was a pretty crappy decade. That sentiment is becoming more and more prevalent as we inch toward a brand new decade, and B ... More >>

Inside Castle Grayskul

Radiohead Taking A Break, British Rapper Threatens Prince, New Chromeo Mp3

Electric Mustache: mp3: Chromeo "I Can't Tell You Why" (Eagle Cover) Idolator: ProTools: Proving What Anyone With Ears In 1989 Already Knew NME: Dizzee Rascal: 'I threatened to punch Prince Harry' NME: The Shins working with Danger Mouse on new album Pitchfork: No Age's Randy Randall Dislocates Shou ... More >>

Is This Jay-Z and Radiohead Mash-Up Really Necessary?

Brand new to the internet this week is the latest effort from DJ Minty Fresh Beats, otherwise known as 22-year old New Yorker Max Tannone. Tannone has harnessed the eternal power of Jay-Z's The Black Album for his own evil-doing, choosing Radiohead as his partner in crime in creating this week's mas ... More >>

Beck

Modern Guilt
(Interscope Records)

Future Shock: Beck, Ani DiFranco, EdgeFest 2008, and more

The Black Keys

The Good, the Bad & the Queen

The Good, the Bad & the Queen
(Virgin)

Five Long Years

Great Smoky songwriter

New Times' top DVD picks for the week of September 28

Jelts and Idolize

Tomorrow's Last Try
(Earsweat Records)

Gnarls Barkley

St. Elsewhere
(Downtown/Atlantic)

Dangerdoom

The Mouse and the Mask
(Epitaph)

Trend-Spotting

In a scandal-ridden election year, the top 10 music stories were all about winning the popular vote

Monster Mash-Up

DJs Z-Trip and P deliver the final performance of Uneasy Listening Vol. One, one of the first album-length mash-ups

Danger Mouse, and Jemini