Indie Rock and Indie Pop

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

Boys and Frogs Sorry For the Weight Mixtape

Peoria-based indie popsters Boys and Frogs have a flair for the dramatic: witness the bands excellent and creepy videos. But the cover for the trio's new mixtape, Sorry For the Weight (a pun regarding the wait for the band's follow-up to their last LP, Rain Dance Snowed In) takes the cake, ripping ... More >>

Top 10 Songs of 2011: Christina Caldwell

White Denim​Welcome to another installment of Up on the Sun's 2011 Review. Over the next week, we'll be counting down our favorite songs, shows, national and local releases of 2011. This installment comes from Christina Caldwell, who came on board as a major contributor to Up on the Sun this y ... More >>

Ted Leo & the Pharmacists @ The Rhythm Room

Indie Rockers Versus Make an Artful Comeback

On the Ones and Threes

What's Selling: Stinkweeds Records

​You can always count on Kimber Lanning and the good people at Stinkweeds Records to be ultra supportive of local bands. So are the customers who shop there.it's always a nice treat to see homegrown kids chart on a record store's top ten list of what's selling for the week. This time, the latest r ... 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 >>

13 Must-Hear Songs from the First Half of 2010

Dum Dum Girls​Today marks the halfway point of Nothing Not New. That means I've listen to nearly 140 records in their entirety in the first six months of 2010. Just another 140 or so to go before I can retreat to the familiarity of my record collection.To recognize the occasion, the Up on the Sun ... More >>

Foals: Total Life Forever

​Artist: FoalsTitle: Total Life ForeverRelease date: June 22Label: Sub PopThough I disagree with a commenter on one of my posts this week (Shawn from excellent local music blog Electric Mustache) about the merits of electro-punk Sleigh Bells, I agree with him that S.B. are a band that you either l ... More >>

Odds 'n' Sods: Delta Spirit, Stereo Total, The Tallest Man on Earth, The Cringe, The Dig, and more

​Let's clear off the desk, shall we?Stereo Total: Baby Ouh! -- This band on the Kill Rock Stars label is a multi-lingual new-New Wave boy-girl band with songs sung in English, German, and French. It's quirky with a capital "Q" and not nearly as charming as it thinks it is. Still, most songs are un ... More >>

Crystal Castles, Against Me!, and Blitzen Trapper; June 8 Was a Record-Release Bonanza

Your Guide to Navigating Blogger-Created Genre Names

​ "What the fuck is chillwave?????" Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast tweeted back in April, when MTVU blogger Lindsay Hood described her band as "chillwave," after dismissing genres like "lo-fi," "glo-fi" and "Gorillavsbearcore" in her blurb advancing the video for the band's single "When I'm Wi ... More >>

What's Spinning: Radio Phoenix

Dakota Jeane is just one of the local artists that made Radio Phoenix's weekly top ten list.​It's always lovely to see local radio stations supporting local bands. Radio Phoenix always makes an effort, but this week in particular they're spinning our local kids more than a little. Though MGMT's re ... More >>

MGMT, Manchester Orchestra, Roky Erickson and Other Top Sellers at Local Record Stores

Who would've thunk that this guy would outsell Coheed and Cambria at the Tempe Zia?​Here's a look at what's selling this week at local record stores.MGMT's Congratulations holds steady with several number one spots, Record Store Day exclusives manage to still be selling well, especially at Revolve ... More >>

Jimmy Eat World Show Off How to Fly on Dogs, and Other Local Music News

If you're craving a little vintage Jimmy Eat World, you're in luck. The Arizona rock band has a vintage video on YouTube from a performance way back in the day, at the 1997 Mind Over Matter Fest in Detroit. And if you happened to miss the band when it performed on the hip kids' show Yo Gabba Gabba!, ... More >>

MGMT: Cool Music, Bland Fashion Sense?

MGMT: Interesting music, plain clothes?​For better or worse, music and fashion have been tied together for a long time. GQ published a short photo spread featuring several indie-cool bands all decked out in designer suits. While I always love a sharp-dressed man, it's hard to feel good about indie ... More >>

Nothing Not New: Podcast #4

Peter M. Storch​Oh, do we have a show for you this time around. We're all very excited here at New Times studios because we've grasped the podcast technology to the point that our shows almost sound passable.But you're not listening to this stuff to hear music editor Martin Cizmar (he even says th ... More >>

What's Selling: Record Store Day Roundup

​This week, looking at What's Selling is a little different. That's because Saturday was the long-anticipated Record Store Day, and hopefully you didn't miss out.Not only did all of our favorite local record stores have live in-store performances, but they sold a ton of exclusive material only ... More >>

Coachella, Epic Super Hero Battle, Scottsdale Culinary Festival, and reWAX at Pussycat Lounge Over the Weekend

​Coachella Day 1: Vampire Weekend, La Roux, Imogen Heap, and The Specials Despite major difficulty actually getting in to Coachella this year, the 2010 festival launched on Friday, April 16 full of great performances and over-sized art installations. Check out shots from Ra Ra Riot, Imogen Hea ... More >>

Coachella: My Experience in 1,600 Words, Broken Up Into 140 Character Chunks

These babies were hard to get if you waited too long.​Coachella is my favorite time of the year, like my birthday and Christmas combined. While I've been there before, this was my first experience documenting it on my phone, tweeting about camping, crowds and, umm, music.What follows is an annotat ... More >>

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

Vampire Weekend at Marquee Theatre

​Vampire Weekend's 19-song set at Marquee Theatre Tuesday was totally devoid of riffs or deviations from their studio versions -- the crowd couldn't have cared less.In fact, the crowd knew every vocal and instrumental cue so well that, had the band gone off-script at any point, they may not have k ... More >>

Muse, Silversun Pickups, Elvis Costello, Owl City, Arizona BBQ Festival, and Zombie Ball Over the Weekend

​Muse and Silversun Pickups at US Airways Center You guys saw that, right? You watched the veils drop on the three towers revealing all three members of British arena rockers Muse as they ripped into "Uprising"? You saw them perched over 20 feet high on their respective stages, the lights shin ... More >>

Owl City

Album Stream: MGMT - Congratulations

Yup. That's the album art.​A funny thing happened Friday night: MGMT's sophomore album Congratulations leaked on the internet. With the album not due out until April 13, the band figured they might as well use this to their advantage and stream it on their official website. The band had this ... More >>

Sasquatch Announces 2010 Lineup

The 2010 lineup for the Sasquatch! Music Festival has been announced, and it is, my friends, rather impressive (finally)​​It's been a long time coming, but the Sasquatch! Music Festival -- held annually at Washington's Gorge Amphitheater over Memorial Day weekend -- has come of age. Too long the ... More >>

Bonnaroo 2010 Lineup Announced: Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon, Weezer, Stevie Wonder and More

​Tennessee's Bonnaroo music festival has announced a full line-up for this June. No real surprises here: Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, Weezer, and the Flaming Lips are the top of the pile.The Dead Weather, Phoenix, John Fogerty, Jimmy Cliff, Tenacious D, Zac Brown Band, ... More >>

Breathe Carolina

What's Selling: Zia Records Tempe

​Vampire Weekend tops out the list of best selling records at Zia in Tempe this weekend. While Phoenix sold out their upcoming show at Marquee, they're not doing too bad in album sales either. Here are the trendy records bought trendy college kids are buying at Zia. 1. Vampire Weekend - Contra 2. ... More >>

What's Selling: Revolver Records

​Revolver Records does a phenomenal job of keeping us connected. Not just with good music, not just with new albums, or with incredibly cool, undiscovered artists; they give us everything. Even vinyl. For those of us who prefer the old fashioned turntable, we can get both the new and the us ... More >>

Cursive to Play the Marquee in March (with Alkaline Trio, Of Course)

These fine young gentleman will accompany Alkaline Trio to their March date at the Marquee. Their name? Cursive​Omaha indie rockers Cursive are winding their way through Tempe this spring, almost a year to the day since they last played The Valley. They will be playing with The Dear & Departed ... More >>

Year in Music: Our List of the 10 Best Albums of 2009 Sadly Features No Local Music

Lymbyc System

The Scourge of Aesthetic Atrophy, and the Top 50 Albums of the Aughts

Concert Review: Passion Pit at The Clubhouse

Ben Gibbard: Without his short-lived Postal Service project contemporary rock radio might have nothing at all to play​Damn you, Ben Gibbard, you're fucking up indie rock. Not by virtue of anything you've done yourself, mind you. Death Cab for Cutie is fantastic, The Postal Service's lone album is ... More >>

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/psyc ... More >>

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 ... More >>

Built To Spill

There Is No Enemy
(Warner Bros.)

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

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 i ... More >>

Jenny Lewis Heads Into the Limelight

Discovery

LP
(XL Records)

Deer Tick

Deer Tick

Heroine Junkies

Earley to Rise

Blitzen Trapper catches buzz through the fuzz

Star Tech

Noisy boys assault the eardrums

DeVotchKa

The band hits the surface streets of Tempe