Iron & Wine

The Shins, McDowell Mountain Music Festival, 3/22/13

The Shins @ McDowell Mountain Music Festival at Margret T. Hance Park|3/22/13It's been 10 years since McDowell Mountain Music fest got started, and nine since Natalie Portman, as the prototypical "manic pixie dream girl" stated that The Shins would "change your life." In that time, McDowell Mountain ... More >>

Saint Maybe: Psychedelic Patti Smith and Bob Dylan Compatriots Hit the Highway

When writing about Things As They Are, the debut LP by Tucson psychedelic outfit Saint Maybe, for my 10 Best Things I Heard in 2012 column, I noted the album's sprawling, wide-open desert quality: "[It] sounds like the space between Phoenix and the Old Pueblo. It feels like a late night drive, the r ... More >>

Top Phoenix Music Stories of the Week

The news waits for no one -- at least that's what we read somewhere -- so it's perfectly understandable that you, the reader, might have missed out on a musical tidbit, breaking news about your favorite venue, or one of our rants. So enjoy this digest-style sampling of some of our biggest stories f ... More >>

Top Five Must-See Shows This Weekend

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

Viva Crescent: Venue Celebrates an Enduring Scene

Rosie Thomas Teams Up With David Bazan (Pedro the Lion) and Sam Beam (Iron and Wine) For Cheery New Album

Rosie Thomas is an upbeat, cheery gal who walks "with a skip in her step," though one would be hard-pressed to believe it given the often sullen and dark mood found on her albums. Some of that gloom could have come from living in the rainy Northwest, or perhaps was caused by a thyroid disorder tha ... More >>

Top Five Local Music News Stories of 2011

The Ghost of Eastside Records​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. This installment takes a look at 2011's some of the most memorable music stories from 2011. Enjoy! Well kids, anoth ... More >>

Crescent Ballroom, Roxy Lounge, Rogue West, and Other Openings and Closings in 2011

​Where was your favorite place to catch a concert this past year? We're willing to bet all the cash we got in our Christmas stockings it was at the much-ballyhooed Crescent Ballroom. Or maybe at the Tempe Tavern or Scottsdale's Roxy Lounge. All three of these pimp live music palaces made a major s ... More >>

Decker: Love, God, and Sex in Sedona

decker.​The music of Brandon Decker, who records as decker. has proven to be a pleasant surprise. Primarily based in Sedona, an area known more for snoozy New Age, smooth jazz, and coffeehouse folk, Decker's third record, Broken Belts, Broken Bones doesn't sound unlike something you might hear ove ... More >>

Dream Theater and Iron & Wine Over the Weekend

​Dream Theater at Ikeda at Mesa Arts Center Loyal fans talk about Dream Theater's live show in hushed, reverential tones. I'd never experienced the band live before last night, but years of hearing fans rave about the prog-rock theatrics of the long-running group set my expectations high. Mes ... More >>

Iron & Wine at Crescent Ballroom, 12/2/11

Jason P. Woodbury​Iron & Wine Crescent Ballroom 12/2/11 How much saxophone is too much saxophone? You might want to ask the young lady who passed out during the extended dub-into-free jazz-psychedelic blues skronk of "Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)," the fifth song played by Iron & Wine ... More >>

Iron and Wine @ Crescent Ballroom

Eddy Detroit, Dream Theater, Mickey Hart, and More in This Week's Issue

Eddy Detroit in full biker-punk mode, 1978​Don't call it a come back: mythic Phoenix art-punk Eddy Detroit never went away, releasing a string of albums all throughout the '80s, '90s, and '00s, but thanks to Ammit Records, the vinyl imprint of downtown music shop Revolver Records, he's back in vin ... More >>

National Record Store Day's "Back To Black" Friday: 10 Releases Worth Leaving The House For

Black Friday. One of those days when people like me hole up for one more day of food-coma bliss, fearing the heightened level of commercialism that turns consumers into zombified shopping maniacs, out for blood over $30 plasma televisions. But the upside to Black Friday is when the words Record S ... More >>

Sound Off: Peachcake's Stefan Pruett on Moe'Z Art, Hemoptysis, and Decker

Clockwise from top left: Moe'Z Art, Decker, Hemoptysis, Peachcake​Welcome to the latest installment of our weekly feature, Sound Off, in which Jason P. Woodbury is joined by a different guest each week to listen to and discuss three tracks from local Phoenix artists. If you would like your son ... More >>

Incoming: Iron & Wine, Everlast, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Ximena Sariñana, Wilco

​As we announced last week, bearded angel Sam Beam of Iron & Wine will officially be gracing Phoenix with his presence at the beginning of December.Presumably he'll be performing songs from his latest album, Kiss Each Other Clean, as well as classics from past albums including The Shepherd's D ... More >>

Iron & Wine's Sam Beam Scheduled to Bring His Extra Large Beard to The Mid-Size Crescent Ballroom

​We pretty much crowned Sam Beam, the songwriter who leads Iron & Wine, "King of Octobeard" last week (okay, he came in behind Zakk Wylde, but still). I know a lot of people who thought that Iron & Wine's last record, Kiss Each Other Clean, was too much of a departure from the wispy, fol ... More >>

Ten Musicians To Help Inspire You This Octobeard

October is a great time of year for a few different reasons. You've got the Arizona State Fair, Oktoberfest, the weather starts to get nice outside, and most importantly, it's now Octobeard. For those not familiar with Octobeard it's defined by urbandictionary.com as: A celebration of facial hair ... More >>

Five Movies Outshined By Their Soundtracks

​It's impossible to not hate almost everything about Twilight. The books changed what "vampire" means to an entire generation. Now, it's less about being an undead monster than it is about misunderstood hunks with sparkly pale skin. Then, the movies went on to solidify the idea that as long a ... More >>

Seven Suggested Songs For the Morning Commute

Kholood EidThe morning commute can be a zen experience with the right playlist.​The morning commute can be a drag. A lack of sleep, caffeine or motivation can take its toll on a person. Luckily, there's music to at least help make the trip to work/school more bearable. Up on the Sun threw togethe ... More >>

William Fitzsimmons

William Fitzsimmons @ Martini Ranch

Limp Bizkit is Baaaaack: Fred Durst Says the Band is Working on Two New Albums

Fred Durst now has a gray beard but he still wants to rock.​Bad news for people with working ears: Limp Bizkit, the rap-rock outfit that stained an entire generation by instigating a meathead riot at Woodstook 1999, is reassembling.Or so says singer/rapper/douchenozzle Fred Durst, who NME reports ... More >>

Cee-Lo Gives a Big 'F*ck You' to the Music Industry

​It turns out that Cee-Lo Green's song "F*ck You" isn't about a girl at all, but rather about the music industry, according to NME."I was in a place where subconsciously, my 'f*ck you' was aimed at the industry itself," Cee-Lo told NME. "You have to be kind, you have to court it, and be considerat ... More >>

Maxim Ludwig & The Santa Fe Seven @ Martini Ranch

Maxim Ludwig and the Santa Fe Seven

Sea Wolf @ The Rhythm Room

William Fitzsimmons

Rocky Votolato

Top 10 Albums of 2009: Mike R. Meyer

Up on the Sun is counting down the days until the unveiling of music editor Martin Cizmar's personal Best of 2009 list with some other lists from Phoenix New Times' stable of excellent freelancers. Today we bring you a list from Mike R. Meyer, a New Times contributor, wannabe musician, video game en ... More >>

Bon Iver

The Castanets

Castanets

Amazon Trots out Their "100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums of All Time"

Amazon takes their shot at indie rock's 100 greatest albumsThe fine folks over at amazon.com decided that the time was ripe to assemble a list of the best indie rock albums of all time. Indie rock is a genre either really easy to define or kind of confusing to define, but that sentiment did not hol ... More >>

Top Ten Americana Albums of 2008

By Noah W. Bailey Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen ... More >>

Little Pieces at Modified Arts

Six Organs of Admittance

Great North Invasion

Canadian band legally crosses the border to perform at Modified

John Vanderslice, and The Bowerbirds

Tasty bites

Great Lake Swimmers

The mountain says what

Rock Squatter

Got futon?

Skybox

Arco Iris
(Big Red Balloon)

Iron & Wine/Calexico

Fusion menu

Rad Alert

Old is new at Trunk Space

Top 10 selling CDs at Stinkweeds Record Exchange (1250 East Apache Boulevard in Tempe)

Chart-toppers for February 20 through 26

Top 10 selling CDs at Stinkweeds Records (12 West Camelback Road)

Chart-toppers for December 27 through January 2

Marrying the Mainstream

White men learned to dance, and the emoting was as thick as the eyeliner on the year's best pop-rock records

Top 10 selling CDs at Stinkweeds Record Exchange (1250 East Apache Boulevard in Tempe) for November 27 through December 5

Iron & Wine, with Holopaw

The bands from Florida look to bring some southern charm to the Valley

Iron and Wine

Samuel Beam rocks the Cradle