OFWGKTA

Arizona's Murs Bridges Hip-Hop's Divide

Murs Says Don't Write Music If You "Don't Have Shit to Say"

In this week's issue, we profile Arizona-based rapper Murs. Some great stuff got left on the cutting-room floor, so in this installment of Outtakes, we'll crack open the tape recorder and let a whole bunch of good material that didn't make the print edition see the light of day. One of rap's great ... 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.

The Weeknd @ Celebrity Theatre

Kanye West Brags About (and Hangs Out With) Kim Kardashian In New Video

See also: Kanye West's "Mercy" Explained By Phoenix Producer Lifted If you've had "Mercy" on repeat for the past couple of months, you'll be pleased to know that Kanye West and Rick Ross appear in the double-video/double-single, "I Wish You Would"/"Cold." Hype Williams combined both of these songs ... 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 >>

Kanye West's "Mercy" Explained By Phoenix Producer Lifted

See also: Phoenix Producer Lifted Aims for Timeless Pop, Like His Boss Kanye West See also: The New F-O's Explain "Town" See also: The New F-O's to be Featured on FX Sitcom Wilfred and MTV's Jersey Shore Despite a release date of Tuesday, September 4, and recently unveiled cover art, it's hard to s ... More >>

Lifted Aims for Timeless Pop, Like His Boss Kanye West

Frank Ocean and Michael Kiwanuka Craft Two Different "Traditional" Soul Records

His major label debut, channel ORANGE, was only released digitally a week ago and physically yesterday, but I'm going to wager a guess: You're sick of hearing about Frank Ocean. The singer/songwriter has been the subject of hundreds of insightful think-pieces, a talking point in the (necessary) di ... 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.

Open Mike Eagle @ Stray Cat

Five Must-See Shows This Weekend

Curious 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. Saturday, April 28: Ross Rocks! @ Hollywood Alley Hollywood Alley owner Ross Wincek has been an important f ... More >>

Curren$y Leads a Brigade of Stoned But Tough Rappers

Open Mike Eagle on Indie Rap's Breakthrough Year

So there's punk-rap, nerd-rap, avant-rap, and...oh, only about a gazillion other hyphenated hip-hop subgenres. Open Mike Eagle describes his style as "art rap." At least for now. "I'm unable to replace it," he laughs, speaking with me via phone from his home in Los Angeles. "And it's not even that ... More >>

Our 10 Favorite Metro Phoenix Music Venues

It's a hard pill to swallow, but music venues in the Valley tend to come and go. Fact. Look no further than the closing of The Compound Grill within the past week or last month's nixing of Clubhouse Music Venue for proof. Some live music joints and concert halls have figured out the magic for ... More >>

The Best of Coachella: Sunday, April 15

See also: *The Best Of Coachella: Saturday, April 14 *Top Ten Awkward Coachella Dance Move GIFs Wow, that was fast! In a whirlwind of top-notch performances from legends and buzz bands alike, pool parties, and rain, Coachella's first weekend is over. Here are our scribes' favorite moments from Sund ... More >>

Odd Future Fans Tag Queen Creek Homes and Property With Graffiti Inspired By the Band

Numerous residents of Queen Creek and around the San Tan Valley have spent the past few days cleaning up a rash of grafitti and vandalism that was inflicted upon their homes and property by a pack of unknown hooligans. Here's the kicker: The vandalism was likely inspired by weirdo rap act Odd Futu ... More >>

How Much Should a Music Blog Cost? The Curious Case of Blog Collective Ad Hoc

Ad Hoc, a DIY/experimental music blog collective created by editors of Pitchfork's defunct sister site Altered Zones, recently succeeded in raising over $37,000 for the project through a Kickstarter drive and will be going live in the coming weeks. Editors Ric Leichtung and Emilie Friedlander, afte ... More >>

Childish Gambino Breaks the Hip-Hop Mold

The Knux @ 910 Live

Club Candids: Odd Future After Party at Rocky Point Cantina

​The members of Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (or just Odd Future, if you prefer) staged an invasion of Tempe this past weekend, and every minute of it was pure fun. First, they took over Cowtown Skateboards and fooled around with fans at their pop-up "Sweatshop," signing autographs, moving ... More >>

Alert: SXSW Coverage Ahead

"What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area." -- Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive You don't have to spend much time at South By Southwest to know that all of the above building ... More >>

Cowtown Skateboards in Tempe to Open Odd Future Pop-Up "Sweatshop"

See also: Odd Future Release New Video, to Play Marquee Theatre Friday (Probably NSFW) See also: Odd Future's Most NSFW Videos Looks like L.A. hip-hoppers Odd Future will be bringing more than their mental sense of humor and imaginary therapy sessions with Dr. TC to Tempe this weekend: Popular skat ... More >>

Odd Future Release New Video, to Play Marquee Theatre Friday (Probably NSFW)

See also: Odd Future's Most NSFW Videos See also: Odd Future Live at the Marquee Last year the hype machine was in full effect for the Los Angeles hip-hop collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, or just Odd Future for short. It seemed as if just about everywhere you went on the Internet -- ... More >>

They Might Be Giants at The Marquee Theatre, 1/29/12

Maria VassettThey Might Be Giants​They Might Be Giants Marquee Theatre Sunday, January 29, 2012 How many F-bombs can you drop in a PG-13 movie? Is it one? Two? However many, last night's They Might Be Giants show certainly earned its 14-and-over "rating," with the "Johns," Flansburgh and Li ... More >>

Incoming (Again): Odd Future, Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, Brian Jonestown Massacre

Brian Jonestown Massacre ​Hey, I know we already did an Incoming Concerts post this week, but I'm getting drowned in show announcements here at UOTS HQ. So let's dive in: The rap collective Odd Future head back to Marquee Theatre on Friday, March 9. Will the crew sell the joint out again? Wi ... More >>

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 >>

Jason P. Woodbury on How Bands Tapped Into Crowd-Funding in 2011

Year in Review, Kickstarter, Top 15 Local Releases in This Week's Issue

​In this week's issue of New Times, I join our friends in café, art, and stage in a look back on 2011, observing trends and noting the good, the bad, and the ugly of the year in the review. I focused on the crowd-funding site Kickstarter. We featured a couple Kickstarter projects this year, (my ... More >>

Pusha T @ Clubhouse Music Venue

Top 15 Albums of 2011: Jason P. Woodbury

Ty Segall​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. Enjoy! Is it just me, or was 2011 weird? Like, really weird? Lou Reed and Metallica made an album together. It w ... More >>

Miss DJ MJ on Mouse Powell, Ladylike, and Sluggo ft. HavocNdeeD

Clockwise from top left: Miss DJ MJ, Mouse Powell, Ladylike, Sluggo​"I know hits when I hear them," Miss DJ MJ says, hanging out in the New Times office. I believe her. She's been on the air for ten years, working as music director at Power 98.3. She recently left the station, but not before ... More >>

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 >>

Odd Future at Marquee Theatre, 11/8/11

​Odd Future hates me. Okay, so not me specifically (at least I don't think), but what I do: write about music. The group's relationship with the media has been complicated. They wound of up on the cover of Billboard, them promptly trashed the magazine at a SxSW showcase gig. Nearly every mus ... More >>

Odd Future's Hype May Be Dying Down, But They Aren't Going Away Anytime Soon

Odd Future, Rock the r3volution, tUnE-yArDs, and More in This Week's Issue

​ This week's issue is a weird one. In our feature, Danny Torgersen and Trevor Denton of Captain Squeegee and Sun Ghost discuss the Rock the R3volution tour, a musical celebration of Ron Paul. Yeah -- as strange as that is. In our Shrapnel section, Chris Piel examines the potentially long-lasting ... More >>

Kickin' It: Artists Who Have Kicked Fans Out of Shows or Gotten Themselves Kicked Out

"Get the fuck out of my show right now!" Tell it like it is, Dave Grohl.​Every so often, you find yourself at the same concert as that one guy who's an attention-hungry douchebag that starts a fight in the crowd. At some shows you sort of expect it, but it seems to happen all the time.Some serious ... More >>

Domo Genesis (OFWGKTA) Drops New Mixtape

​Today at 4:20 p.m. (get it?), Odd Future member Domo Genesis, who we profiled earlier this year, when right as he was leaving ASU, dropped a brand new mixtape, Under the Influence. Over 14 tracks, Domo positions himself as the sleepy-eyed mellow member of the Wolf Gang. While his buddy Tyler, the ... More >>

Tumblr of the Week: You Don't Want to Be Todd Martens

http://toddmartens.tumblr.com/​I'll admit that once in a while, a few of us at Up On The Sun might write about things that people who aren't journalists might not appreciate as much because they aren't journalists. Maybe we occasionally write things that will please other journalists. ... More >>

Stinkweeds vs. John Maus: Weird-Pop Musician Hates Record Stores, Record Store Hates Him

​Yesterday, Pitchfork did an interview with experimental musician John Maus as part of their Guest List series. Most of the interview was typical stuff from the column, with Maus riffing on his love of South Park, Odd Future, Panda Bear, and Ariel Pink. Things took a weird turn, however, whe ... More >>

From Print: Blogs Teased in Our August 4 Issue

​ This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. * What's the scoop on Stateside Present's new venue, Crescent Ballroom? * What can Phoenicians expect when Odd ... More >>

Odd Future To Play The Marquee Theatre in Tempe November 8

The Los Angeles rap collective is widely known for its unique, high-energy, punk-rock-style performance. Ski masks, stage diving and unpredictable antics are par for the course.

July 29 In Blogs: I CACTUS PHX, Cafe Boa, Odd Future, and Ame Deal

​In the 24-hour news cycle, it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times' blogs.Today's entries:

Eight Bands That Should Make a Children's Record

​They Might Be Giants' new album, Join Us, comes out today. If you've only been following TMBG for the past four or five years, you might be under the impression that this Brooklyn-based band is a children's music group. That would be understandable, considering Join Us is the first TMBG album si ... More >>

Tumblr of the Week: Swag or No Swag?

swagornoswag.tumblr.comHaving enough money to wear this while doing this: swag or no swag?Whether people think they're talented, brilliant, obscene, or all of the above, there's no disputing the fact that Odd Future has got the whole "fuck everything, let's offend people with our shock rap" thing pr ... More >>

Rapper Wiz Khalifa's at the Forefront of Rap's Internet Democracy

Bjork Details Upcoming iPad Album

​​Bjork has finally started dishing out the details of her upcoming iPad-inspired album, Biophilia, according to Paste.The Icelandic singer made her initial announcement about the album back in March but didn't say much about it at the time. Now she has revealed that the album was partially ... More >>

Tegan and Sara Call Out Tyler, the Creator for Homophobic Slurs; Tyler Bites Back

Canadian alt-pop twin sister duo ​Tegan and Sara have spoken out against Tyler the Creator of Odd Future in regards to his strong homophobia, according to NME.Odd Future's (OFWGKTA) Tyler the Creator commonly uses homophobic slurs, such as "faggot," and rape fantasies in his group's songs, as well ... More >>

Drake Returns to His Roots, Performs at a Bar Mitzvah

​Young Money rapper and former Degrassi: The Next Generation actor Drake got in touch with his Jewish roots and performed at a bar mitzvah in New York City this past weekend, according to MySpace Music News.The intimate performance was for bar mitzvah boy Andrew Zucker, son of former NBC/Univ ... More >>

Earl Sweatshirt Speaks With The New Yorker

Thebe Kgositsile, known to many as Earl Sweatshirt​Regardless of what Tegan and Sara might think of Tyler, The Creator's music, L.A.-based hip hop collective Odd Future -- known to many as Odd Future Wolf Gang or OFWGKTA -- is big business these days. Their leader, the aforementioned Tyler, just r ... More >>