The Brian Jonestown Massacre

Who Decides What Rock is "Classic Rock?"

Not everyone has the luxury of having an auxiliary jack in their car stereo. With the amount of leaks, holes, and weird noises coming from my engine, I'm lucky my beat up truck still runs period. I can't be asking for a decent stereo. So my commuting music consists entirely of FM radio, which is sti ... More >>

We're Pretty Sure Muse Is the New Styx

1999 was a weird year. That June, George W. Bush announced his candidacy for President, people were partying like it was the year in question, and a prevalent fear of the Y2K bug spread like Ebola fever. Muse also released their debut album, Showbiz, instantly drawing comparisons to their British co ... More >>

Top 5 Contemporary Blues Rock Bands That Don't Totally Suck

Our sister blog, West Coast Sound, has caught a lot of shit lately for their disdain for neo-blues rockers The Black Keys. Just remember we're only critics, and opinions are just opinions. Nicholas Pell even offered up some alternative blues bands for you to dig. The problem is, as commenter AlexNic ... More >>

Pop Isn't Dead: Here's Seven New Songs That Prove It

If you've ever felt like all music on the radio is the same, you're not alone. Your grandmother felt the same way once. It's an old complaint that has always bugged me, because sure, the latest Rhianna single is a pile of dogshit, but I hate blanketing all music with this strain of despair. There ... More >>

The Dandy Warhols, Roxy Lounge, 5/20/12

The Dandy Warhols The Roxy Lounge Sunday, May 20, 2012 You'd be hard-pressed to find a band as crowd-pleasing as The Dandy Warhols. Last night, the Portland-based quartet covered all their bases, unwinding into shoegaze drifts of fuzz that sent out waves of psychedelic charms, balanced out by catch ... More >>

Brian Jonestown Massacre at Crescent Ballroom, 5/1/12

Brian Jonestown Massacre Crescent Ballroom Tuesday, May 1, 2012 See also: Tripping with the Brian Jonestown Massacre I have a serious question for diehard Brian Jonestown Massacre fans: Is frontman Anton Newcombe a perfectionist or just an asshole? I'm no BJM scholar -- I haven't seen DIG!, the do ... More >>

Entrance Band, Amen Dunes, and Wooden Indian at Chasers, 5/1/12

Entrance Band, Amen Dunes, and Wooden Indian Chasers Bar and Night Club Tuesday, May 1, 2012 See also: Amen Dunes on Living a Million Musical Lives I'm sitting at a table with Paz Lenchantin a few hours before her heavy psych-blues outfit, Entrance Band, decimates the stage at Chasers in Scottsda ... More >>

Tripping with the Brian Jonestown Massacre

Dengue Fever at Crescent Ballroom, 1/26/11

Dengue Fever Crescent Ballroom Thursday, January 26 The setting was the Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix, but given the atmosphere and exotic sounds emanating from the stage, it may as well have been Cambodia circa mid-1970s. Eyes closed, it hardly mattered, Dengue Fever was in its element, and that el ... 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 >>

A "Black" Bands Primer: In Celebration of Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears​ Okay, seriously. Here us out. This is not a list of bands containing black people (some do, some don't), it's a list of bands with "black" in their band names. I came up with the idea shortly after The Black Lips performed at The Rhythm Room, and waited for a ... 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

Nothing Not New: Podcast #9

​Welcome to our latest podcast, in which Martin Cizmar and I play some new music and about it, too. On today's program, we discuss the merits of such bands as Wavves, Arcade Fire, The Budos Band, Jimmy Eat World, and local superstars Snake! Snake! Snakes!Here's the playlist:Jaill -- "The Stroller" ... 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 >>

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 >>

Growing: Pumps!

​Artist: GrowingTitle: Pumps!Release date: April 6Label: ViceNo less an authority than Pitchfork.com, the Bible of indie rock, declared the Brooklyn experimental group Growing to be "cruising music for Brian Eno fans." Better watch what you say, Pitchfork, or you're gonna have a lot of pissed-off ... More >>

She & Him: Volume 2

​Artist: She & HimTitle: Volume 2Release date: March 23Label: MergeMy editor has claimed this project a triumph for no other reason than I've chosen the new over the old -- sort of. See, I told Martin Cizmar a while back that I wanted to review tonight's Ray Davies concert. I love the Kinks. T ... More >>

Concert Calendar for This Weekend: M. Ward, Franz Ferdinand, Grayskul, Junior Boys, and More

Astronautalis is scheduled to perform on Sunday at the Trunk Space.

Just Announced: Mostly Bears, New Found Glory, Asylum Street Spankers

The lack of crossover between the Phoenix and Tucson scenes has always struck me as a little odd, not only because we're out here in the desert together, without another decent-size city within a five hour's drive of us, but because the music coming out of the scenes isn't all that different, really ... More >>

Brian Jonestown Massacre

Fine, not Dandy

O.C. Can You Say

When indie goes prime-time, what's left?

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Hard Americana

DiG! (DVD)

(Umvd/Visual Entertainment)

Fahrenheit 2004

Remembering the movies that heated up cinemas this year

Show Business

TV-3's NewShow is overhauled, and local music gets the boot

The Warlocks

The Warlocks (Bomp)

Accidental Genius

Bomp! Records celebrates 25 years of personal and creative craziness

Out of Their Heads

Anton Newcombe, leader of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, is terrifically obsessive -- and potentially dangerous

Calendar for the week