Joanna Newsom

Du Hot Club de Bizarre Brings Sci-Fi, Stretchy Pants, and More to Crescent Ballroom

Crescent Ballroom wasted no time becoming a downtown Phoenix staple putting on shows almost every day of the year, and serving delicious food and drinks in the lounge. The venue expanded its horizons last year with Los Dias de la Crescent, where local bands performed both inside and outside for two ... More >>

Songwriter Michelle Blades Walks a Tightrope

Michelle Blades @ The Trunk Space

What Laura Says' Mitch Freedom on BobbyBrandNew, Crash Street Kids, and Terra Firma

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 songs to be considered for future Sound Off columns, please email music@new ... More >>

Sebastien Millon, What Are You Listening To?

Sebastien Millon Sebastien Millon You can check out the local artist and fashion designer's work here. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? NPR. I love keeping up on the news, but they also have so many great stories on culture, in ... More >>

Pitchfork's Top 10 Albums of 2010 Explained

Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig​The wonderful people over at Pitchfork just released their 10 best albums of 2010 today. In what should have came as no surprise, Kanye West took the top spot. His latest album had been given a notorious perfect 10 a month ago and, if Rolling Stone and Spin have anyth ... More >>

10 Steps to Becoming the Next Indie Buzz Band

Arcade Fire​So, it's Saturday night and you are playing another show in front of an empty dive bar. You can't figure out why your Linkin Park tribute band hasn't become more successful. You've spent hours working on your bands MySpace page, you've worked hard to get your original stuff played o ... More >>

The Parting Gifts: Strychnine Dandelions

​Artist: The Parting Gifts Title: Strychnine Dandelions Release date: November 9 Label: In the Red Last week, I didn't have many good things to say about the new record from Kanye West. This morning, a white co-worker walked into my office and said, "I read what you said about Kanye West. Whe ... More >>

Joanna Newsom at Orpheum Theatre Last Night

Joanna Newsom​ Joanna Newsom Orepheum Theatre 11/07/2010 If there is one word that best describes Joanna Newsom's latest album, Have One On Me, it's "ambitious." Honestly, is there any other way to describe a triple album? In a lot of ways that ambition makes the record a tough listen. That's ... More >>

Joanna Newsom @ Orpheum Theatre

Best Coast, Bad Religion, Exposé, and More in This Week's Issue

Best Coast's L.A. sound is as colorful as her L.A. home.​Bethany Cosentino, vocalist of the pop band Best Coast, says her band radiates lo-fi California warmth. Best Coast is perfecting the sounds of sunshine, and they're working with producer Bobb Bruno, king of the Los Angeles underground scene. ... More >>

Joanna Newsom

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 >>

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 >>

David's Lyre - Heartbeats

​Song: David's Lyre, "Heartbeats"Context: This artist's name, combined with the opening of this song, made me sincerely worry we had a male Joanna Newsom on our hands. Whatever your feelings on Ms. Newsom (mine? "Over-Rated! clap, clap, clapclapclap") you can probably agree the last thing on earth ... 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 >>

Top 10 Celebrity Cameos in Indie Rock Videos

These days, the lines between indie and mainstream music are difficult to pinpoint. With indie artists featured prominently in mainstream media (I'm looking at you, Twilight soundtrack), it's hard to see what makes indie music, well, indie. When you add celebrities to the mix, it becomes even more d ... More >>

Incoming: Atreyu, Deer Tick, No Age, Tim Kasher, Five For Fighting, Saves the Day

​As much as we like to deny that we were awkward teenagers, the fact remains that we most certainly were. When I think of my own teenage years, I tend to reflect on the music that I really liked. While I started to come around in my late teenage years, the early portion reflected a certain ge ... More >>

Joanna Newsom Plots American Tour, Includes Date at the Orpheum

​It's not often a world-class musician is kicking off their American tour in Arizona, so try to understand that the recent announcement that Joanna Newsom has a fall tour planned and is starting out in Arizona is a big, big deal. Newsom will play Tucson's Rialto Theatre November 6 before comi ... 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 >>

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 >>

The Roots: How I Got Over

​There may not be a track released the rest of the year that has an ounce of the substance and effortless polish of "Dear God 2.0" off of How I got Over -- the long-awaited new album from The Roots.The song employs a genius guest vocal from Jim James of My Morning Jacket and Monsters of Folk fame ... More >>

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Mojo

​Artist: Tom Petty and the HeartbreakersTitle: MojoRelease date: June 15Label: RepriseHow many of you have acts that you'd never call yourself a fan of, would never buy one of their records, or pay money to see in concert, yet recognize that the acts have been around for so long and written songs ... 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 >>

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 >>

Band of Horses: Infinite Arms

​Artist: Band of HorsesTitle: Infinite ArmsRelease date: May 18Label: ColumbiaTake a look at the cover art to the right of these words. If you were browsing through the racks at your local record store, this cover is nearly all that you'd need to know about the new of Band of Horses.From the band ... More >>

Odds 'n' Sods: CocoRosie, Natalie Merchant, Disco Biscuits, The Sadies, Small Black, and more

​It's been a pretty big past two weeks for indie rock: Hold Steady, New Pornographers, Flying Lotus, The National, The Dead Weather. That's a lot of heavy-hitters. Meanwhile, some lower-profile stuff has been piling up on my desk, so it's time to give you a rundown of the other stuff I've been lis ... More >>

Male Bonding: Nothing Hurts

​Artist: Male BondingTitle: Nothing HurtsRelease date: May 11Label: Sub PopRemember all the buzz about Wavves last year? I thought they were just okay. Hopefully, their next record (slated for release this year) will be better. In the meantime, I'll be listening to the new record by Male Bonding, ... More >>

Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma

​Artist: Flying LotusTitle: CosmogrammaRelease date: May 3Label: Warp RecordsA while back, a reader posted a comment on one of my Nothing Not New posts asking why I continued to listen to electronic/laptop music even though I don't care for it all that much.Well, first of all, in the spirit of the ... More >>

The New Pornographers: Together

​Artist: The New PornographersTitle: TogetherRelease date: May 4Label: MatadorFor me, the equation's always been real simple when it comes to the indie-pop group The New Pornographers: songs with Neko Case taking the vocal reins = yes; songs with the wanna-be British dude singing = maybe. Wel ... More >>

Baby Dee: Win Tickets To Her Show Sunday at Trunk Space

​Not many acts more colorful than Baby Dee drop by Phoenix.Dee, sort of a cross between The Dresden Dolls (who she's toured with) and Joanna Newsom (just because of the harp), is a transgendered Clevelander-turned-New-Yorker-turned-Clevelander who really has no interest in talking about her life's ... More >>

Death Cab for Cutie Has New Album on the Horizon

Death Cab for Cutie.​According to Spin and MTV, Death Cab's ultra-busy frontman Ben Gibbard has announced that the band is working on a new record that should be out in the spring of next year. The album will be produced by guitarist Chris Walla, who also produced last year's record by The Thermal ... More >>

Growing: Pumps!

​Artist: GrowingTitle: Pumps!Release date: April 6Label: ViceNo less an authority than Pitchfork.com, the Bible of indie rock, declared the Brooklyn experimental group Growing to be "cruising music for Brian Eno fans." Better watch what you say, Pitchfork, or you're gonna have a lot of pissed-off ... More >>

She & Him: Volume 2

​Artist: She & HimTitle: Volume 2Release date: March 23Label: MergeMy editor has claimed this project a triumph for no other reason than I've chosen the new over the old -- sort of. See, I told Martin Cizmar a while back that I wanted to review tonight's Ray Davies concert. I love the Kinks. T ... More >>

What's Selling: Zia Records Tempe

​Though spring break may be fast approaching, college kids are still buying up the latest and greatest at Zia Records in Tempe. Though indie rock typically makes up most of the top ten album sales at this location, there are a few unexpected records that made the cut this week.While Joanna Newsom ... More >>

Goodbye, Modified Arts: Phoenix Scenesters Share Their Memories of the Downtown Music Venue

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 >>

Dreamboat Anni

Viola-wielding songstress performs at Modified

Deerhoof

Top 10 selling CDs at Hoodlums Music in the ASU Memorial Union building in Tempe

Chart-busters for the week

Joanna Newsom

Ys
(Drag City/Caroline)

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

Chart-toppers for December 27 through January 2