Ra Ra Riot

The Office Finale and Five More Signs Your Indie Music Is Getting Old

Season 2 of the American version of The Office is my favorite TV show ever, and because I am a glutton for punishment, I've been using tonight's series finale mostly as an excuse to understand how old I and my tastes (and the DVDs I watched all those Jim and Pam moments on over and over) are getting ... More >>

Ra Ra Riot on Lineup Changes, The Singularity, and Blade Runner

By Chris Parker Syracuse's Ra Ra Riot -- set to play Du Hot Club De Bizarre Thursday night -- began playing college parties, and before long they'd found a strange, intoxicating sweet spot between spiky Pixies-inflected post-punk and chamber pop that earned them comparisons to fellow emerging New Y ... More >>

Du Hot Club de Bizarre - Crescent Ballroom - 5/8/2013

Du Hot Club de BizarreCrescent BallroomMay 8, 2013 Turquoise Jeep looks and sounds like a novelty act at first, but that doesn't quite explain their appeal. What they're really doing with their bizarre slow jams and paeans to stretchy pants and choreographed dance moves is hitting the basic tropes ... More >>

Five Must-See Phoenix Shows This Week

One of the bands you can see this week around Phoenix has a famous song called "A Praise Chorus." Another of the bands you can see this week titled the first song of their first album "Penis." See which one of those bands is Jimmy Eat World after the jump!

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 >>

Top Ten Best You Asked For It Songs

You Asked For It​In creating last week's list of the ten worst You Asked For It songs, I found myself thinking, "Well, I better make a list of the ten best songs, too." It's been infinitely more fun to listen to some local music that I actually enjoyed rather than slog through some crappy, shoddil ... More >>

15 Good Songs You Might've Missed in 2010

Peter Storch​I listened to more than 3,000 songs in 2010, so I was asked to come up with a list of the best of the year. But you've probably heard "Swim" by Surfer Blood and "Boyfriend" by Best Coast and "Helicopter" by Deerhunter and "Hustle and Cuss" by the Dead Weather, so I came up with a ... More >>

Neil Young: Le Noise

​Artist: Neil Young Title: Le Noise Release date: September 28 Label: Reprise Neil Young is a first-rate iconoclast and one of the few successful rock artists who has remained truly uncompromising throughout his long and storied career. Of course, uncompromising can result in inconsistency, ... More >>

Girl Talk: All Day

​Artist: Girl Talk Title: All Day Release date: November 15 Label: Illegal Art Whether sample-happy mash-up act Girl Talk is "good" or "not good" and whether you "like" or "dislike" Girl Talk are completely irrelevant to any discussion regarding Girl Talk. The only things I care about when it ... More >>

Tierra del Fuego: Queen of the Rendezvous

​Artist: Tierra del Fuego Title: Queen of the Rendezvous Release date: December 11 Label: Scapular Winging Through pure happenstance, I witnessed this local band, Tierra del Fuego, on Saturday night play as they played to a small but appreciative crowd at Trunk Space. It just happened to be t ... More >>

The Whisperlights: Wake Up Dead EP

The Whisperlights - Wake Up Dead EP​Artist: The WhisperlightsAlbum: Wake Up Dead EPBasics: Phoenix's The Whisperlights are amongst the stable of indie rock bands currently making the rounds in Phoenix/Tempe -- Black Carl, What Laura Says, Dry River Yacht Club, and Gospel Claws. Many an opening slo ... More >>

Odds 'n' Sods: Helmet, Michael Franti & Spearhead, The Charlatans, Small Black, and more

​It's amazing how much music is released in a year. I've listened to nearly 270 records in their entirety this year, yet I still have a huge stack of unlistened CDs on my desk, several unlistened digital downloads in my iTunes, and a lengthy list of high-profile stuff I never got a chance to h ... More >>

Mini Mansions: Mini Mansions

​Artist: Mini Mansions Title: Mini Mansions Release date: November 2 Label: Ipecac One of the biggest musical curveballs of the year has to be the debut record by the Southern California trio Mini Mansions. I say it's a curveball because I wouldn't have guessed such a Beatles-esque display o ... More >>

Sun City Girls: Funeral Mariachi

​Artist: Sun City Girls Title: Funeral Mariachi Release date: October 26 Label: Abduction Sun City Girls' last-ever record -- they've made dozens since forming in Phoenix way back in the early days of West Coast punk -- comes off as a more somber affair. And some of it is downright -- odd to ... More >>

Daft Punk: Tron Legacy (Original Soundtrack)

​Artist: Daft Punk Title: Tron Legacy (Original Soundtrack) Release date: December 7 Label: Walt Disney Records I'm a little surprised by the buzz surrounding the release of a soundtrack to a Disney movie. I understand that the kids love the helmeted French house duo Daft Punk and that said ... 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 >>

Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

​Artist: Kanye West Title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Release date: November 22 Label: Roc-A-Fella Fitting, perhaps, that Kanye West's new record, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, is one of the final 15 or so new records that I'll be listening to before this Nothing Not New project t ... More >>

Sharon Van Etten: Epic

​Artist: Sharon Van Etten Title: Epic Release date: September 21 Label: Ba Da Bing! If you're relatively unknown as a musical artist, as is Sharon Van Etten, and you name your record Epic, you'd better be damn sure your record doesn't suck. The good news for Van Etten is that her seven-song r ... More >>

OFF!: First Four EPs

​Artist: OFF! Title: First Four EPs Release date: November 23 Label: Vice Records In 2010, few things seem more ridiculous than a punk supergroup anchored by two guys who made their most indelible marks on American punk rock nearly 30 years ago. But, damn, OFF! pulled off an unlikely feat, ma ... More >>

Robyn: Body Talk

​Artist: Robyn Title: Body Talk Release date: November 22 Label: Interscope The critics sure do love the Swedish dance-pop star Robyn, who's been releasing Body Talk in chunks throughout 2010 and now has finally dropped the entire album as one 15-song compendium. But there seems to be a commo ... More >>

Avoid This on Black Friday: New Michael Jackson Video Game

​Hopefully you've prepared yourself for this year's lamest Christmas gift. According to Paste, Ubisoft just dropped a Michael Jackson video game available for Nintendo DS and PSP.As if there weren't enough terrible video games that revolve around dancing already. Yet this one might take the cake. ... More >>

The Fresh & Onlys: Play It Strange

Fresh & Onlys, Play It Strange​Artist: The Fresh & OnlysTitle: Play It StrangeRelease date: October 12Label: In the RedAnd just like that, I find myself a little bored by the sound plied and, possibly, perfected by San Francisco's The Fresh & Onlys. It's the sound that has passed for g ... More >>

Matt & Kim: Sidewalks

​Artist: Matt & KimTitle: SidewalksRelease date: November 2Label: FaderI suppose I should mention up front that I didn't like Tears for Fears in 1985 and I still don't 25 years later, even in a nostalgic sense. So it stands to reason that I have little use for Matt & Kim in 2010.It's not t ... More >>

Gospel Claws: C-L-A-W-S

​Artist: Gospel Claws Title: C-L-A-W-S Release date: October 26 Label: Common Wall Media Gospel Claws are a local band (Tempe, I've been told) that is currently enjoying a little bit of national exposure, residing in a reasonably high position on some relatively obscure indie-rock-tallying ch ... More >>

Elvis Costello: National Ransom

​Artist: Elvis Costello Title: National Ransom Release date: November 2 Label: Hear Music I really wish it weren't the case, but I'd have to file the new record by Elvis Costello under "For Completists Only" (of which I'm sure there many when it comes to Elvis Costello fans). If you heard hi ... More >>

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 >>

Ra Ra Riot at Clubhouse Music Venue Last Night

​Ra Ra RiotClubhouse Music VenueFriday, October 22, 2010On Friday night, I was sure the Ra Ra Riot show would sell out, but I was so very wrong. Maybe it was because Sufjan Stevens was playing his own sold-out show, or maybe it was because people had never heard of Ra Ra Riot, but whatever the rea ... 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 >>

Ra Ra Riot @ Clubhouse

Sufjan Stevens, Gorillaz, Built To Spill, and More in This Week's Issue

Marzuki StevensSufjan's building what could become an experimental indie pop empire with his new album.​Now Sufjan Stevens has gone in another direction with his new album The Age of Adz, Christian rock fans are realizing they set bar a little too high for Sufjan Stevens. He's done with the concep ... 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 >>

Sufjan Stevens: The Age of Adz

​Artist: Sufjan Stevens Title: The Age of Adz Release date: October 21 Label: Asthmatic Kitty The new record by indie-music deity Sufjan Stevens is an hour-and-12-minute endurance test, one who's raison d'etre is revealed in the closing seconds of the record's final song, "Impossible Soul." A ... More >>

The Corin Tucker Band: 1,000 Years

​Artist: The Corin Tucker BandTitle: 1,000 YearsRelease date: October 5Label: Kill Rock Stars Who else loves Sleater-Kinney and was disappointed to hear they'd gone on indefinite hiatus after the release of one of their best records, The Woods, in 2006? In my opinion, we're one of the finer bands ... More >>

Phantogram @ Rips

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 >>

What's Selling: Stinkweeds

​Music fans at Stinkweeds went after a lot of alt-rock this week.Blonde Redhead was the CenPho store's most popular album. Ra Ra Riot's summer release The Orchard made the top 10 as well, along with The Walkmen's new album Lisbon.1. Blonde Redhead, Penny SparkleSee the entire list after the jump.. ... More >>

Incoming: Social Distortion, Hot Hot Heat, Ra Ra Riot, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Nickelback

A picture of Canadian rock band Nickelback​I remember it like it was yesterday: it was the summer of 2002 and I was in super-humid Milwaukee for Major League Baseball's All-Star Game. We were in the parking lot of Miller Park, enjoying the pre-game festivities, eating and drinking all of the ... More >>

July 12 In Blogs: Tea Party Wackos, Pool Parties, Social Distortion, Taco Bell, and James Ray

​​​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:

Coachella from Behind a Lens

Jonathan McNamaraCoachella 2010​A seething, primal mass of humanity jockeys for position in front of the main stage as the Indio sun beats down on Coachella 2010. They have moved beyond the point of patience and civility. Their shattered minds have but one thought as they claw toward the front of ... 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 >>

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 >>

Discovery

LP
(XL Records)

Rachael Ray at SXSW

To add to the list of hip parties we have told you about happening at SxSW next month in Austin is the most random one yet. Rachel Ray will be hosting the party "Rose's Mojito & Rachael Ray's Feedback: The B-Side." The party with have Acts such as The Hold Steady, Ra Ra Riot, The New York Dolls ... More >>

Economy Kills Florida Music Festival . . . On an Unrelated Note, Has Anyone Seen a Lineup for Tempe Music Fest?

Langerado, an annual music festival in Miami, has announced it's canceling its 2009 event because of sluggish ticket sales. The festival, which has been going since 2003, had problems beyond the economy, having moved from a rural Indian reservation where a legendary Phish show happened to downtown ... More >>

SXSW Starts Anouncing Bands

The first batch of bands for SXSW, the large music industry trade show, conference and festival every year in Austin Texas, have been announced. Unlike my Coachella post earlier this week, the list comes straight form SXSW.com so we know it is right (but subject to change). This year's line up has a ... More >>

Top Ten Indie Rock Albums of 2008

By Michael Roberts In 2008, independent rock returned to the underground, where it belongs. Given the grand catastrophe that is today's record industry, most major-label executives don't have the time or energy to convince music fans they might like something a little out of the ordinary. They'r ... More >>

Rolling Stone: Still Blowing Bob Dylan

Rolling Stone, that music magazine that felt it necessary to feature the ladies from MTV's The Hills on the cover of its May issue, just released its list of top 50 albums of 2008. Wouldn't you know it; they put Bob Dylan at number two. Why not number one, Rolling Stone? Maybe because they realize ... More >>

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