Howe Gelb

We Found a 36-Year-Old KDKB Local Compilation -- Here's What We Thought Of It

Doing some crate digging at Tracks in Wax, I uncovered a rather strange relic: an album showcasing local music. The cover was a faded license plate with the words Arizona Sounds Vol. 1, sponsored by KDKB 93.3 FM. It was printed in 1977. As a Phoenix native, I've always had an interest in this spraw ... More >>

Top Five Must-See Shows This Weekend

Curious about what's going on around town this weekend? Need some suggestions as to how to rock, dance, or krump in the Valley of the Sun? Don't fret: These are our Five Shows to See This Weekend.

Reubens Accomplice Returns With Sons of Men (Download)

See also: Reubens Accomplice --It's Not a Dill Spear, Either See also: Reubens Cubed: Reubens Accomplice Makes a Bi-Coastal Album While Still Keeping a Desert Address You know you're in trouble when bloggers start resorting to cryptozoological terms to describe your long-awaited third record. It' ... More >>

Giant Sand, Rhythm Room, 7/26/12

Giant Sand Rhythm Room Thursday, July 26 See also: Howe Gelb on Giant Giant Sand, and How an Acid Trip and Roman Polanski Birthed Tucson's Music Scene By Mike Cryer "And here I am, the center of all beauty!" -- Frank O'Hara This is how emotion and melancholy gets played out as tone: emotion s ... More >>

Top Five Must-See Shows This Week

Yeah, yeah, yeah...we get it Mondays suck (we've read Garfield). But it means the start of a new week, which means a bunch of killer shows in and around Phoenix. And here are a few of the coolest, our top five must-see shows this week.

Howe Gelb on Giant Giant Sand, and How an Acid Trip and Roman Polanski Birthed Tucson's Music Scene

See also: Howe Gelb Discusses Rainer Ptacek Howe Gelb doesn't like to fight fate. The Tucson-based singer/songwriter says that destiny played a big role in the birth of Tucson, the new record from Gelb's Giant Giant Sand collective. The extra "giant" was added to signify the group's swelling ranks ... More >>

M. Ward, Crescent Ballroom, 4/17/12

See also: M. Ward Discusses A Wasteland Companion, and His Arizona Ties to The Meat Puppets and Howe Gelb M. Ward Crescent Ballroom Tuesday, April 17, 2012 Following fIREHOSE's blistering set of punk jazz, I was almost worried that the hushed immediacy of Portland-based singer/songwriter/produce ... More >>

M. Ward's Solo Work Reveals the "Him" in She & Him

M. Ward Discusses "A Wasteland Companion," and His Arizona Ties to The Meat Puppets and Howe Gelb

See also: fIREHOSE's Ed Crawford: "It Was Our Job. We F**kin' Showed Up Every Day." M. Ward has slowly and sturdily built himself up as a songwriter and producer over the past decade, with a string of hushed folk, country, blues, and pop inflected records that don't cry out for attention, but quiet ... More >>

Download: Giant Giant Sand's "Forever and a Day"

Back in March, we spoke with Howe Gelb, of Giant (Giant) Sand about his new album, Tucson, in the first episode of our weekly podcast (We call it Up on the Sun: The Podcast. Ain't we clever?). Well yesterday Fire Records debuted sprawling, echoing track from the "country rock opera," called "Forever ... More >>

Up on the Sun: The Podcast, with Howe Gelb, Black Milk, and More

Welcome to the first episode of Up on the Sun's new weekly podcast, Up on the Sun: The Podcast. In this week's episode, we speak with Detroit MC and producer Black Milk about his collaborations with Danny Brown, and the "Detroit sound." We also speak with Howe Gelb of Giant Sand, about his new rec ... More >>

Howe Gelb @ Crescent Ballroom

Gabriel Sullivan and Taraf de Tucson Go Global

Happy Birthday Arizona: 100 Songs that Define Arizona, Pt. 4

Editor's Note: An abridged version of this article appears in this week's issue, featuring 100 Songs that Defined Arizona. In celebration of Arizona's centennial, we've rounded up sound clips for (almost) everything featured in our list. Thanks to everyone who submitted song suggestions, all of our ... More >>

Howe Gelb on Rainer's "One Man Crusade" (1994), "The Inner Flame" (1997), and "The Farm" (2002)

Editor's Note: A version of this article appears in this week's issue, featuring 100 Songs that Defined Arizona. In celebration of Arizona's centennial, we spoke songwriter Howe Gelb, who has led the constantly mutating Giant Sand in Tucson and all around the world since 1985. Gelb is known for his ... More >>

More on the Music of Tucson's Rainer

100 Arizona Songs, Moe'Z Art, One Be Lo, Raphael Saadiq, and More in This Week's Issue

We knew the daunting (impossible, really) task of picking 100 songs that define the sound of Arizona was going to be tough, but lucky for us, we had a lot of help, from you, our readers. We opened up a Gmail account and took submissions from you, reading through liner notes and consulting unoffici ... More >>

The Serene Dominic Show with Make My Baby

​Some vidcasts you just have to make a leap of faith that everything will work out all right. Like when singer songwriter Lonna Kelly tells you she's just formed a girl group called Make My Baby, you book them on the show and ask questions later which is what we did. Lonna writes great songs on ... More >>

Giant Sand - Ride The Rail

​Song: Giant Sand, "Ride The Rail"Context: Howe Gelb's legendary Tucson band Giant Sand -- where Joey Burns started before forming Calexico -- has scheduled a date at Tucson's gorgeous Rialto Theatre. It's next Saturday, actually, which would make for a nice little roadtrip. This track, "Ride The ... More >>

Calexico Classy at Heritage Square Concert

Luke HolwerdaCalexico's Joey Burns sings at the band's show Saturday at Heritage Square. See more shots in our Calexico slide show.There's one word that describes the Calexico concert at Heritage Square last night: Classy. From the tastefully-appointed stage, to the home-made tamales and high-end be ... More >>

Arizona's SxSW Contingent

Arizona Invades Texas for SxSW

So, we don't normally blog about shows outside the area, but our contributor Psyko Steve Chilton is putting a real dandy at SxSW in Austin next month. The "I Heart AZ" showcase features Dear and the Headlights, Miniature Tigers, What Laura Says, The Stiletto Formal, Kinch, Back Ted N-Ted and Reuben' ... More >>

Sweet 17

Valley rockers Colorstore provide more than a dozen reasons why they won't be closing up shop anytime soon

17 Reasons Why Valley Rockers Colorstore Won't Be Closing Up Shop Anytime Soon

Living With Post-War

M. Ward's recipe for political change: Let's ignore the president

Top 10 selling CDs at Stinkweeds, 1250 East Apache Boulevard in Tempe

Chart-busters for the week

Various Artists

I Am the Resurrection: A Tribute to John Fahey
(Vanguard)

Legend City

Tucson's Club Congress throws a mammoth 20th-anniversary party

Bordertown Riot

Culture Clash opens Actors Theatre's 20th season

Sigmatropic

Sixteen Haiku & Other Stories (Thirsty Ear)

Band of Blacky Ranchette

Still Lookin' Good to Me (Thrill Jockey)

In Darkness, In Light

M. Ward attends his hero's funeral and walks away with designs for an evocative new album

Howe Gelb

The Listener (Thrill Jockey)

French Twist

The Amor Belhom Duo are Parisians by birth, and Tucsonans by choice

Calexico

Even My Sure Things Fall Through (Quarterstick), Aerocalexico (Our Soil, Our Strength)

Rainer

Live at the Performance Center (Glitterhouse Records, German import)

Border Crossing

Through its nods to tradition and embrace of innovation, Calexico emerges as a desert bloom

Calexico

Hot Rail
(Quarterstick)

Eternal Flame

The music of Arizona guitar legend Rainer Ptacek lives on with a trilogy of new releases

From Mohawks To Mullets

Images from 25 years of Phoenix music

Locals

Desert Noir

Calexico's Joey Burns and John Convertino take a dark and wondrous turn with The Black Light

Home Truth

Local musicians increasingly find their bliss in the parallel universe of home recording

Billy's Blues

Singer/songwriter Billy Sedlmayr has spent half his life battling the law and his own dope demons

Head Jams

Gary Parra and Noisy Neighbor try to catch a ride on the prog-rock revival train

Inner Flame

New tribute album illuminates the art of Rainer Ptacek

Giant Sand Gives Fans the Boot

When is a bootleg not a bootleg? When it's "official." Howe Gelb explains why.

Busy Bees

Pic Hits for the week

SHIFTING SANDHOWE GELB AND GIANT SAND WILL PLAY SOMETHING AT AN AIDS BENEFIT