Subject: Indie Rock and Indie Pop

• The Academy Is . . ., Hello Monday, & We the Kings

  October 9, 2008

• Telepathe

  June 11, 2009

• Cardiac Party

  June 11, 2009

• Viva Voce Represent the Rose City in Phoenix

  Viva Voce: So Portland they named their record "Rose City."By all definitions, Viva Voce are a Portland band. They feature at least one member with a beard, and while no one was wearing flannel, it felt like they were one load of laundry away from reaching that point. It is easy to bunch together Portland music as being simple indie rock played by these aforementioned bearded fellows, yet Viva Voce -- bolstered by the brother/sister duo of Kevin and Anita Robinson -- transcend those quick labels

  June 17, 2009

• New Late Night TV Battles a Boon For Music Lovers

  The Late Show, Tonight Show and Late Night all have impressive music acts this next weekFirst, let me just get it out there: I watch a bunch of TV. I love it, and though I know it deadens my intellectual abilities, I'm not quitting. So, take it from a junkie, late night TV -- with the recent addition of Conan O'Brien to the Tonight Show -- has been kicking a ton of ass lately. His taking over for Leno has prompted time slot-sharer David Letterman to up his game all while Late Night incumbent Jim

  June 22, 2009

• New Release Tuesday: The Gossip MP3 "Heavy Cross"

  The Gossip's new album -- produced by Rick Rubin -- absolutely soarsPortland -- by way of Arkansas and Olympia, Washington-- three piece The Gossip have had intriguing existence -- thanks to their outspoken lead singer Beth Ditto. Ditto, who refers to herself as a "fat, feminist lesbian from Arkansas" and constantly pushes the envelope of aesthetic appeal -- particularly in these times of dolled up, super-thin female figureheads (just look at her on the cover of British publication Love). The ba

  June 23, 2009

• Michael Jackson Death Coverage Galore (And A Few Other Things)

  NME:  Authorities release Michael Jackson 911 call Pitchfork: MGMT to Open for Paul McCartney Rolling Stone: U2's "Spider-Man" Musical to Star Evan Rachel Wood, Alan Cumming So Much Silence: Incoming: Sunny Day Real Estate (!), Oct. 9 Spin: Michael Jackson's Legacy: Neither Black Nor White NME: Lisa Marie Presley: 'Michael knew he would die like Elvis'

  June 26, 2009

• Crocodiles

  June 25, 2009

• How Dear and the Headlights Became the Most Important Band in Arizona

  June 25, 2009

• Cryptacize

  June 18, 2009

• Flaming Lips LP Gets MGMT Karen O Contributions, Pixies Tour With "Dolittle," Fall Frenzy Tix On Sale

  Pitchfork: MGMT, Karen O Guest on Flaming Lips LP State Press:  Stardeath and White Dwarfs Electric Mustache: Video: Jay-Z Continues Assault on Auto-Tune Idolator: Michael Jackson Might Have One Last Live Album Wrung From Him NME: Michael Jackson will not be buried at Neverland Ranch Pitchfork: Pixies to Celebrate Doolittle on Tour Rolling Stone: Eddie Van Halen, Janie Liszewski Married in California Waved Rumor: AZ Fall Frenzy - Tickets now on sale

  June 30, 2009

• Adam Freeland

  July 2, 2009

• Deer Tick

  July 2, 2009

• Deer Tick

  July 2, 2009

• Deer Tick Tonight At Modified Arts

  We already told you a lot about Deer Tick in this week's paper, and we'll tell you a little more tomorrow, after tonight's show at Modified Arts but in the meantime we just wanted to give you a little reminder: DEER TICK IS TONIGHT.In case you're too lazy to click the above link:The group cranks out a rough-hewn hodgepodge of high lonesome twang, indie-rock tension, and crunchy, overdriven grunge dynamics, casting Ritchie Valens and Townes Van Zandt as the principal songwriters in Built to Spill

  July 6, 2009

• New Release Tuesday: UUVVWWZ

  Lincoln, Nebraska's UUVVWWZ's debut LP starts off promising yet falls short of truly impressingFirst and foremost: their name is super lame. Let's just get that out of the way. Saddle Creek recording artists UUVVWWZ (pronounced "double you, double vee, double double you, zee," as described by the band) release their first, self-titled LP this Tuesday, and their ambition is admirable. Unfortunately, UUVVWWZ's polish and direction throughout the album seem a bit misplaced. While UUVVWWZ start

  July 7, 2009

• Jenny Lewis Heads Into the Limelight

  July 9, 2009

• Discovery

  July 9, 2009

• New Sufjan Stevens Due, Trent Reznor Chased Off Twitter, Chris Brown Apology Video

  Rolling Stone: Trent Reznor Ends Twitter Legacy By Deleting Account Idolator: Monica Would Like The Boy To Tell Her If He's Hers Or Not NME: Sufjan Stevens announces new soundtrack release NME: Activists oppose turning Michael Jackson's home into tourist spot Pitchfork: Weezer: New Album, Pinkerton Reissue, Sugar Ray Cover, More So Much Silence: Beastie Boys feat. Nas: Too Many Rappers Spin: Video: Chris Brown Apologizes for Rihanna Assault Sound of the City: First One to Explain the Yeah Yeah Y

  July 21, 2009

• New Release Tuesday: Portugal. The Man

  Portugal. The Man create another vivid landscape of indie rock, folk and even blues on their latest album The Satanic SatanistPortland -- by way of Alaska -- indie rockers/genre-mashers Portugal. The Man release their fury of an album The Satanic Satanist today, and the effort is one of polish and whimsy. The band's sound jumps from indie rock to folk to blues with a little taste of soul. However odd it may sound, it's a winning combination that turns The Satanic Satanist from another

  July 21, 2009

• Yo La Tengo to Play Marquee in October

  Hoboken, NJ rockers Yo La Tengo will hit up The Valley this October in support of their new album Popular SongsAs announced via the Matablog, Matador Records' blog, seminal indie rockers Yo La Tengo have announced a spiffy new fall tour, complete with a date at the Marquee Theater October 14. This is in support of their new album, Popular Songs, due out September 8. This is a boon for The Valley's live scene, keeping in form with my prediction that this late summer/early fall will be one for the

  July 22, 2009

• Download New Yo La Tengo Track "Here to Fall" For Free

  Yo La Tengo still has it. Don't believe us? Check out this new track "Here to Fall" from their upcoming album Popular Songs. Download the track and start rocking out here. For more news from Yo La Tengo, check out www.yolatengo.com or twitter.com/therealYLT.

  July 22, 2009

• Titus Andronicus Ready to Rock Modified in September

  Glen Rock, NJ rockers Titus Andronicus are set to bring their indie rock stylings to Phoenix come September​Yes, folks, the hits just keep on coming. Indie rock shoegazers Titus Andronicus have announced a September 26 date at Modified Arts. Andronicus' debut album The Airing of Grievances was lauded by the fine folks at Pitchfork as one of the 2008's best. The New Jersey quartet have been enjoying a fruitful 2009 in support of their debut album, garnering impressive praise all along the way.M

  July 29, 2009

• Built To Spill Fall Tour Has Tucson Date, Three Open Nights After Tucson Date

  ​We can't tell you Built to Spill is coming to Phoenix yet -- but we're very hopeful we will be soon. Doug Martsch's gloriously jammy indie rock outfit has announced their fall dates and is scheduled to play Tucson on October 28. The critically-lauded group has three open dates (October 29 and 30, November 1) listed as "TBA" before their next date back in their native Pacific Northwest. Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Denver get their love at the beginning of the tour, incidenta

  August 10, 2009

• Black Eyed Peas Show Band Muslims, Guitar Hero Gets Cobain Avatar, Puff Daddy Hearts Arctic Monkeys

  NME: Malaysian Muslims banned from Black Eyed Peas showNME: P Diddy tells Twitter followers to buy Arctic Monkeys' 'Humbug'Idolator: "Twilight" Fans To Be Over The Moon For Death Cab For Cutie Really SoonIdolator: Music Biz Hoping That Whitney Houston's New Album Will Restore At Least A Little Honor To Its DoingsNME: Wolfmother preview new tracks at intimate LA gigPitchfork: Wayne Coyne Talks ATPRolling Stone: Kurt Cobain Joins "Guitar Hero 5″: How Nirvana Came to the GameState Press: Two Sun

  August 27, 2009

• Throw Me the Statue Might Never Play Creaturesque Live Again If They Don’t Fix Their Windshield Wiper

  September 10, 2009

• Q&A: Get Up Kids' Matt Pryor Talks Jumping Around, Playing Pop Music and the Emo Handbook

  ​ Any attempt on my part to play "rock critic" on this assignment would be complete bullshit. Few assignments have ever made me want to high five my inner fifteen-year-old more than a chance to interview Matt Pryor of The Get Up Kids, a band that dominated my Walkman in early high school. I'd spend my days cribbing all the songwriting ideas I could glean from the band's classic records, Four Minute Mile, On a Wire and the band's breakthrough sophomore record, Something to Write Home About. Th

  September 14, 2009

• Katharine McPhee's New Hair, Kanye Interupts Obama, Details on New Vampire Weekend

  Electric Mustache: Electric Mustache Is Blog of the Week!Idolator: Katharine McPhee: Over Her Brown Hair, Not Over Classic Adult-Contemporary StylingsIdolator: Kanye West: Back To Reality?NME: The Strokes' Julian Casablancas reveals release date for debut solo albumPitchfork: Vampire Weekend Announce Everything About Second AlbumRolling Stone: Taylor Swift Recounts Kanye West VMAs Incident on "The View"So Much Silence: Silversun Pickups: Substitution (video)Spin: DOWNLOAD: Sufjan Stevens' Ode to

  September 15, 2009

• Bon Iver

  September 24, 2009

• The Get Up Kids Really Were Worth Writing Home About

  September 24, 2009

• Built To Spill

  October 8, 2009

• Vivian Girls at Modified Arts

  Michael Escoto: Courtesy of www.ElectricMustache.com​Vivian Girls frontwoman Cassie no-relation Ramone is a shitgaze bombshell. She's the leader of a band that exemplifies a cultural phenomenon of what is hip, of glorifying paradoxes: greasy Cobain hair, $100 jeans, makeup free but with a wash of pin-up red lips.The Vivs sweet brand of Motown girl group pop shoved through a pure punk filter, a sort of freaked out Bangles sound, blared through Modified Arts last night. Reverb-ed vocals left the

  October 14, 2009

• Are Monsters of Folk Really a Supergroup?

  October 15, 2009

• Katy Perry and Rivers Cuomo Team Up, Simon Sues Starbucks, Creed Tickets for 75 Cents

  Electric Mustache: Photos: Vivian Girls at Modified Arts 10/13/2009Idolator: Would You Go See Creed If You Only Had To Pay 75 Cents For The Privilege?NME: Sex Pistols to sue over 'God Save The Cream' ad campaign?Pitchfork: Rivers Cuomo to Work With Katy PerryPitchfork: Hear Bon Iver's "Last Show for the Foreseeable Future"Rolling Stone: Starbucks "Very Disappointed" By Carly Simon's LawsuitSpin: Legendary L.A. Punk Pioneer DiesHeard Mentality: In Light of Braff: Five Bizarre Internet Hoaxes

  October 14, 2009

• Yo La Tengo at The Marquee

  ​It's been a pretty solid year to be a Yo La Tengo fan.  The Hoboken-based indie-rock institution (25 years and running) didn't just release one new album this year, they released two. Their latest, Popular Songs finds the band exploring their entire stylistic breadth, indulging in the orchestrated pop, Motown homages and plenty of anthems. The other, the slightly more provocatively titled Fuckbook, released earlier this year by their not-so-secret alter-egos Condo Fucks, is a sequel

  October 15, 2009

• Matt and Kim Play Third Thursday Tonight

  ​Yes, The Valley's ever-fluxing, erm "format modifying," station FM 103.9, better known as The Edge is still hosting those free Third Thursday concerts that brought acts like MGMT, The Ataris and Alien Ant Farm to the open-air mall Tempe Marketplace. Now a mainstay in Old Town Scottsdale's Craftsman Court, this month's bash presents Arizonans with headliners Matt and Kim, with support from local acts The Bollox and Telescope. The sugary sweet, dance slop duo have had a big year: not only winni

  October 15, 2009

• Matt and Kim at Craftsman Court

  ​Third Thursday in Scottsdale proved a massive mish-mash of ages, scenes and reasons for attendance. Matt and Kim played a free gig for FM 103.9's free concert series, Sean Kingston was at Venue of Scottsdale, plus, there was that whole art walk thing. The Brooklyn-based duo Matt and Kim took the stage at Craftsman Court around 9 p.m., and spewed rays of sunshine so genuine that it wouldn't be surprising to find them as hosts of a t.v. show aimed at kiddos. Both brought with them beaming smile

  October 16, 2009

• Dirty Projectors Go From Covering Black Flag to Being Sublimely Inventive

  October 22, 2009

• Kurt Vile

  October 22, 2009

• 2010 Early Releases -- Yeasayer, Vampire Weekend -- Shaping Up Quite Well

  These fine young men call themselves Yeasayer and will have their sophomore album ready for February 2010​Is it too early to look ahead to already announced albums with 2010 release dates? No, especially when those releases carry the clout of such bands as Vampire Weekend, Yeasayer and Arcade Fire. Vampire Weekend has already teased listeners with a track from their January 2010 LP Contra, "Horchata," while Yeasayer has announced the tracklist for their February release Odd Blood. Th

  October 26, 2009

• Real Estate Set to Play Pre-Thanksgiving at Modified

  New Jersey lo-fi indie rockers Real Estate will be bringing their charming, stripped down music to CenPho just in time for ThanksgivingNew Jersey has a rich music tradition -- artists such as Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen,Tom Verlaine, Blondie and, of course, Frank Sinatra. People often focus on how shitty certain parts of New Jersey can be, overlooking the talent that the Garden State has produced. Ridgewood foursome Real Estate are New Jersey's freshest exports, with their subdued, decidedl

  October 27, 2009

• Concert Review: Wait, Peaches is a Gay Icon?

  Jonathan McNamara​Stop me when this sounds like a Seinfeld episode: Our leading character, a music critic, decides to indulge an old vice on a Tuesday night, going out to see a foul-mouthed female electronica artist/rapper who amused him back in his college years. Upon arriving, he's surprised by how many people came out to see this show -- he has to park waaay down the street from the venue. And by how fashionable this ultra-eclectic crowd is -- there's everything from beardos to mohawked pun

  October 28, 2009

• Jason DeRulo Breathes New Life Into One Relationship and, Just Maybe, R&B

  October 29, 2009

• Concert Review: Dirty Projectors at Rhythm Room

  BY LINDSEY HOLDER Shawn Anderson courtesy of ElectricMustache.com​Last night at the Rhythm Room, Dirty Projectors held our hands and led us on an auditory cross-country journey. Each song performed was like a different piece of scenery along the trip, with sometimes unpredictable tempo changes and vocals that varied from airy to jarring. The experimental indie band from Brooklyn has been releasing albums since 2003's The Glad Fact, but it was this year that proved to be their breakout. June s

  October 29, 2009

• Electronic Dreams

  November 5, 2009

• Q & A: Bishop Allen's Justin Rice Talks Punk, Being in Depeche Mode (sort of), and Puzzle Obsessions

  ​ Bishop Allen are a prim pop confectionary who churned out their third proper full-length last March titled "Grrr..." The candy-coated tracks are worth the impending toothaches, placing Bishop Allen, named for the street where the founding members lived, in cahoots with fellow saccharine rockers Vampire Weekend, Dirty Projectors and, Phoenix's own, Miniature Tigers. Stateside will present Bishop Allen at Modified Arts on Wednesday, Nov. 11, along with support from Darwin Deez and Futurekind.

  November 9, 2009

• This Just In: Brooklyn Has Own "Sound," Numerous Bands

  Brooklyn has become a mecca of sorts for indie rock in the past decade, with numerous new bands emerging from its brownstone-lined streets​I was listening to Sirius XMU yesterday while driving with the air conditioning on, since it's a balmy November in the Valley. On came a song by new indie/psych rock band Bear in Heaven, "You Do You." I was enthralled by the song, not being bored as shit 30 seconds into as I am with most indie rock these days. I was instantly curious about this Bear in Heav

  November 10, 2009

• What's Spinning: The Blaze 1330 AM

  <​The Blaze is, according to our Best of Phoenix issue, the station of choice for those jonesing to hear what's happening in local music. Here's the chart documenting what ASU's Original Alternative played over the past week.1. Fruit Bats - The Ruminant Band2. Arctic Monkeys - Humbug3. Grand Archives - Keep in Mind Frankenstein4. Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way to Blue5. Vagina Panther - Vagina Panther6. Jet - Shaka Rock7. Lhasa - Lhasa8. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs9. Modest Mouse - No On

  November 10, 2009