Richard Swift

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 >>

Cold War Kids Turn Up the Experimentation With New Record

Nathan Willett of Cold War Kids says that when it came time to make the band's new record, the forthcoming Dear Miss Lonely Hearts (due April 2), they decided to play less to what the band "should be," and more to what it "could be." "I feel like we started to do that with the last album [2011's Min ... More >>

Pickwick Abandons Folk for Gritty R&B

The debut album from Seattle's Pickwick is a shot of gritty, soulful rock 'n' roll, with sharp guitar stabs, light organ fills and a groovin' rhythm section, all hung out on the line of Galen Disston's passionate vocals. But it wasn't always so for the band. Pickwick's first incarnation was as a ... 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 Mynabirds @ Crescent Ballroom

Matt Hopper and The Roman Candles @ Yucca Tap Room

So What Do Those 15 Favorite Songs Say About Us Anyway?

Lindsay Cates on the 1s and 2s ​Okay, so the 15 Favorite Songs thing. It happened. I freaked out a little (a lot) picking my selections, but it was a fun, in a self-aggrandizing way. I wrote yesterday that it was nearly impossible to do what the event asked: come up with 15 songs that you love a ... More >>

Eastbound & Down: 13 Killer Songs Featured in Season Two

"If at first you don't succeed then maybe you just suck."​ I hated Eastbound & Down when I first started watching it. The show's protagonist, Kenny Powers, portrayed by Danny McBride, was just so utterly unlikable. I couldn't get behind him, even as an anti-hero. He was just too racist, sexist ... More >>

Gardens & Villa, Factories and Hello the Mind Control Last Night at The Trunk Space

Gardens & Villa ​ Gardens & Villa, Factories and Hello the Mind ControlThe Trunk SpaceWednesday, April 27Sometimes it doesn't take a packed room full of sweaty bodies to have a dance party.Sometimes it just takes the right band and the right fans. Santa Barbara band Gardens & Villa bro ... More >>

Gardens & Villa Interview

​You just don't hear enough flutes in pop music, amirite? Couple that breathy sound with flanged and plucked bass, vintage synths, a sexy beat and an incredibly high falsetto and you've got "Orange Blossom" by Santa Barbara band Gardens & Villa. The tune tips its hat to The Talking Heads and m ... More >>

Top 25 Lists of 13 New Times Contributors

Damien Jurado at The Rhythm Room on 6/28/10

​"Feeling the west coast pull. One week left of tour," Damien Jurado wearily tweeted on the 27th, and pulling into the Rhythm Room's parking lot, I witnessed the singer/songwriter sprawled out on the hot pavement behind his van -- a clear sign that the road was taking its toll.But despite a few c ... More >>

Damien Jurado

Top Ten of 2009: Jason P. Woodbury

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 Jason P. Woodbury, a New Times contributor, a staff writer at Tiny Mix ... More >>

Just Announced: David Archuleta, Authority Zero, Modest Mouse, Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen as a young, and somewhat relevant singer-songwriter.Most of this week's big announcements were already up here earlier this week when they broke -- Modest Mouse, Bruce Springsteen -- but we do have a few surprises on the next page. Like David Archuleta, the American Idol cont ... More >>