Roky Erickson

Black Lips, Andrew Jackson Jihad and Destruction Unit at Marquee Theater

Black Lips, Destruction Unit, Andrew Jackson Jihad @ Marquee Theatre|4/6/13I do this thing with movies where if it's a director I like, I refuse to view trailers, read interviews or any news whatsoever related to the film until I've seen it in theaters. I did this with No Country for Old Men, The Ma ... More >>

Daniel Johnston, Crescent Ballroom, 2/3/13

Daniel Johnston @ Crescent Ballroom|2/3/13An enthusiastic young man in the crowd shouts: "We all love you, Daniel!" Daniel Johnston, the grizzled man onstage, backed by a selection of Phoenix all-star players from Jimmy Eat World, Reubens Accomplice, Dry River Yacht Club, Boxhead Ensemble, Limbeck ... More >>

Meet Mexican Summer's Jess Rotter, Whose Art You've Probably Already Enjoyed

By Michael Alan Goldberg Jess Rotter truly racked up the frequent flyer miles this year. The long-time in-house publicist and marketing wiz for Brooklyn-based indie record label Mexican Summer practically lived in airplanes, repeatedly jetting out west and back to handle her duties repping Best Coa ... More >>

Vintage Violence: TOAD's Rotten Tide Oozes Analog Menace

Metallica Curates Orion Music and More Festival: Who Picked Which Bands?

Metal legends Metallica recently announced the two-day Orion Music and More Festival, where the band will headline each night by playing a different classic album, Ride the Lightning and The Black Album, in their entirety. There's a super-long video on the festival site featuring an interview with t ... More >>

Up on the Sun's Halloween (Video) Mixtape

Screamin' Jay wishes you a happy Halloween.​We know it's a school/work night and all, but it's still Halloween, which means you have a perfect excuse for shucking off the Monday blues and getting creepy. There's plenty going on around the Valley: indie-punk supergroup Wild Flag are scheduled t ... More >>

The Black Lips @ The Rhythm Room

The Black Angels to Play The Rhythm Room This Wednesday

​ Get your illicit substances and Syd Barrett bootlegs in order: Austin psych band The Black Angels are bringing their droney rock 'n' roll sound to the Rhythm Room this Wednesday, May 18. The band's latest album, 2010's Phosphene Dream, comes courtesy of Blue Horizon Records, legendary for its mi ... More >>

The 15 Best Songs About U.S. Presidents

We at Up on the Sun, like Clinton himself, feel your pain. Every year Presidents Day rolls around and you're struggling to plant that cherry tree and buy all the stovepipe hats you can, all so that you can have the best damn Presidents Day party possible. (C'mon, we can't be the only ones.)So to ea ... 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

Nothing Not New: Podcast #5

Peter M. Storch​They said it couldn't be done. Nothing Not New is well into its fifth month. That's something like 100 records that I've listened to so far. That's a lot of songs, and here are 11 more standouts from the past four-plus months.On this podcast, music editor Martin Cizmar and I discus ... 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 >>

MGMT, Manchester Orchestra, Roky Erickson and Other Top Sellers at Local Record Stores

Who would've thunk that this guy would outsell Coheed and Cambria at the Tempe Zia?​Here's a look at what's selling this week at local record stores.MGMT's Congratulations holds steady with several number one spots, Record Store Day exclusives manage to still be selling well, especially at Revolve ... More >>

Geekus Musicus Maximus? Not me!

Roky's Picture Show

Rock Docs Are Go!

As CDs wither, the low-budget rockumentary is born again

More is More

Too much of a good thing is just right at SXSW

The Fleshtones

Beachhead
(Yep Roc)

Roky Erickson

I Have Always Been Here Before: The Roky Erickson Anthology
(Shout Factory)

Golden Dawn, and the MadCaPs

Lords of Altamont

Rockers roll To Hell and the Valley

The Coral

The Coral (Deltasonic UK)Skeleton Key(Columbia)

Paul McCartney

Driving Rain (Capitol)

Unconsciously Brilliant

Restless Records' Flaming Lips anthology recounts the early chapters of one of indie rock's finest

Molten Wax

Recordings

SOUTHWEST STORY

SONGS FOR A PUNK SAGENATIONAL NOISEMAKERS PAY TRIBUTE TO TEMPE'S GREG SAGE