R.E.M.

DJ Ill-Legal? on Which Songs He'd Spin While the World Ends

The walls, floors, and fixtures of Bar Smith are definitely gonna be quaking and shaking at some point later tonight. But despite what all those apocalypse nuts might lead you to believe, its not because seismic forces are tearing up the Valley is some end of the world scenario. Nope, its merely bec ... More >>

First Baseball, Now Basketball: Five Say It Ain't So Songs

​As if things couldn't get any worse for Valley sports fans. First the Diamondbacks run out of pixie dust, ending their season in gut wrenching fashion, and now NBA commish David Stern has canceled the first two weeks of the regular basketball season. Something about money, or whatever, is ke ... More >>

From Print: Blogs Teased in Our September 29 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 does NPR's music blog have to say about Sister Cities? What does Halocene's Addie Nicole think about winni ... More >>

The Five Real Reasons R.E.M. Broke Up

​Yesterday, R.E.M. announced the band's breakup on their official website, and they did it in just about the classiest way possible. After 31 years, the Georgia rockers bowed out amicably, without "lawyers squaring off" or "disharmony," they said. But we have a feeling there's more to th ... More >>

September 22 In Blogs: Taxidermy, R.E.M., Hula's Modern Tiki, and Rebecca Zahau

​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:

The Baseball Project Last Night at Martini Ranch

​ The Baseball ProjectMartini RanchFriday, March 25There's really no better tune to sum up The Baseball Project's set than their opening one, "All Future and No Past." In its 3-odd minutes, the tune encapsulates everything that makes the band so great, the opening day optimism that makes eager fan ... More >>

The Baseball Project, "All Future And No Past"

​Song: The Baseball Project, "All Future And No Past"Context: The Baseball Project, an indie rock band featuring members of R.E.M. and Golden Smog which writes songs about baseball, will be at Martini Ranch tonight. It's a super-cool project, having featured contributions from guys like Death Cab ... More >>

Meat Puppets at SXSW, Great White, Baseball Project, Lady Gaga and More in This Week's Print Edition

​This week's main music feature is a column I wrote in Austin, Texas after a week of South By Southwest craziness. It was a rough week for Arizona -- the most attention anything related to our state got was a panel hosted by boycotters -- but Meat Puppets frontman Curt Kirkwood managed to put ever ... More >>

Christopher O'Riley on Ultimatums from Nuns, NPR, and the New Radiohead Album

​ Christopher O'Riley is a classical musician who creates piano arrangements of modern rock songs. He has released tributes to Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, and two Radiohead albums. His latest album, Out of my Hands, features the versions of songs by Nirvana, Portishead, Tears for Fears, The Sm ... More >>

Matt & Kim's Place Among Other Too-Happy Rockers

Patti Smith, Willie Nelson, Tupac and More Inducted into Library of Congress Registry

Punk rock icon Patti Smith is among the newest batch of inductees to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.​You may not necessarily associate popular music with the Library of Congress, but a few recent inductees have just made the catalog a little bit cooler. NME reports that the L ... More >>

Slash's Solo Album Stream: Hear It Before Its May Release

Slash has a new record out...with the help of loads of famous friends.​When you used to be in a band with a guy that made arguably the most anticipated album of the last two decades, which turned out to be Axl Rose's epic failure Chinese Democracy, it's kinda hard to top the hype yourself. But ala ... More >>

10 Things Under $10 This Weekend: Free Freakfests, Steamcroween, and REM

Ryan JosephBurlesque singer Melody Sweets will perform at the Venue of Scottsdale tonight as a part of Most Interesting Show in the World.​While next week gonna be packed wall-to-wall with Halloween events aplenty -- from vampire parties to dire deathraces -- this weekend ain't too shabby when it ... More >>

When Tragedy and Politics Turn into Popular Music

M. Ward

Bellydance Superstars: "Art of Bellydance"

Pazz and Jop 2008 is Out

Pazz and Jop, the annual Village Voice poll of music critics, is out. Conducted since 1971, the poll is the original metacritic, aggregating music writer's annual best of lists in to one mega list. Unsurprisingly, TV on the Radio won the number one spot, as it did in all the major music magazines, w ... More >>

Synth and Sensibility

Fair to Midland

The Name Game

Hello, Cleveland!

A pseudo-Michael Stipe shares what's on his MP3 player

Cardiac Party

R Cacti Yard, PA
(Self-released)

Interpol

Our Love to Admire
(Capitol Records)

R.E.M.

And I Feel Fine . . . The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987
(Capitol/I.R.S.)

The Kid's All Right

Piano woman

Hooked on Hookers

Secret Life of Painters

"Hold Your Flashlight" b/w "Magnets & Energy" 7-inch
(self-released)

Meant for the Stage

Sing along with Colin

Idlewild

Warnings/Promises
(EMI)

The Minus 5

At the Organ
(Yep Roc)

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

Vote for Change Tour

Activism, schmactivism: where's the real rock?

Ken Stringfellow

Soft Commands (Yep Roc)

The Coral

Magic & Medicine (Sony/Deltasonic)

Southern Knights

Reissue of two classic early '80s albums spotlights the seminal power-pop magic of the dB's

R.E.M.

Reveal (Warner Bros.)

Apocalypse Now

The end is near -- does anyone care for a 'caack-taail'?

Voice Verses

A Cappella under the stars

Instrumental Asylum

Swingin' Sting? Bluegrass Bruce? Rhapsodic R.E.M.? You'll do a double take now that CMH Records has given your '80s favorites a second look.

Recordings

Copy Cats

In the tired realm of tribute albums, imitation is the sincerest form of flatulence

Power Trio

Peter Buck goes West with Eitzel, Middle Eastern with Tuatara, and everywhere else with Minus 5

Flashes

Dr. Cynic's Revenge

Beat Angel Brian Smith's 10 Greatest Atrocities in '96

The Big Sleep

Cosmo Poppers

Luscious Jackson's sound crawled from the same urban bog that beg at the Beasties

UNLISTED NUMBERSA DIRECTORY OF HIDDEN TRACKS FROM LP TO CD

DO LOOK BACK

THE YEAR IN MUSIC: IT JUST DIDN'T GET MUCH BETTER (OR WORSE) THAN THIS

RECORDINGS

MORE TAPES IN THE MAIL