The Melvins

Top Five Must-See Shows This Week in Phoenix

The weekend is over, and it's back to the grind. You sit there despondent at your desk, visions of a wild weekend replaying your head, scenes from A Good Day to Die Hard -- which you caught a sick matinee showing of -- bouncing around your cranium. How can you get back to that blissful state? Go see ... More >>

Every Time I Die @ Nile Theater

Melvins Lite, Crescent Ballroom, 10/22/12

Melvins Lite @ Crescent BallroomMelvins Lite, the latest incarnation of the 30-year-old sludge/punk/metal band The Melvins, took the stage at The Crescent Ballroom last night, chalking up stop number 48 on their record-breaking 51-day tour of the country. They're hitting every state...and Washington ... More >>

Arc In Round, Yucca Tap Room 10/22/12

Arc In Round @ Yucca Tap Room|10/22/12 I'm a bloody sucker for shoegaze. Even if it sounds relatively crappy to a "veteran" shoegaze groups like Slowdive or My Bloody Valentine, I have trouble saying no. Luckily, getting turned on to Arc in Round turned out to be far above average. See also: Arc I ... 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.

Melvins Lite @ Crescent Ballroom

Record Heat: Sludge by Brad Dwyer

Every Monday morning Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday. In this week's Record Heat, Brad Dwyer investigates a case of mistaken musical ... More >>

Valley Sludge Rockers TwinGiant "Ain't Trying to Get Paid, Ain't Trying to Get Laid"

The men of TwinGiant aren't asking for a lot. They want some beers, and they wanna turn the amps up (way up), and tell a cosmic yarn about "the space hobo," a character they created when imagining a theme that would conceptually link the band's songs. Huddled around a table at the Palo Verde Loung ... More >>

Dayvid LeMmon, What Are You Listening To?

Jesse RieserDayvid LeMmon​Dayvid LeMmonThe photographer, who also shoots photos for our sister blog, Chow Bella, is the recipient of the Arizona Commission on the Arts' 2010 Artist Project Grant, is currently one of the City of Phoenix's selection for this year's ongoing 7th Avenue Streetscape pub ... More >>

Torche @ Martini Ranch

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 >>

Phoenix's Gomi Are Bringing Grunge Back from the Dead

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 >>

What's Selling: Zia Records Tempe

​Though school may be out for the summer, Tempe kids shopping at Zia Records manage to stay turned on to all that is new.They're still all over the Deftones latest record, and Sleigh Bells sneaks in at the number four slot even though not everyone on our staff is as enthused about this release. Ha ... More >>

Melvins

Melvins

Beach Boys Party!, Punk Rock Parody, and More in This Week's Issue

Brian Wilson.​This week's music feature in on the awkwardly-spoken Beach Boy Brian Wilson. While he may not give great interviews, he certainly cranks out epic records that define generations. While you might know about the legendary Pet Sounds, you might not know about the should-be-legendary Bea ... More >>

Bonnaroo 2010 Lineup Announced: Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon, Weezer, Stevie Wonder and More

​Tennessee's Bonnaroo music festival has announced a full line-up for this June. No real surprises here: Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, Weezer, and the Flaming Lips are the top of the pile.The Dead Weather, Phoenix, John Fogerty, Jimmy Cliff, Tenacious D, Zac Brown Band, ... More >>

The Valley's Top 10 Local Guitarists

Phoenix teems with guitar players, and some of them are actually pretty good. A handful of them are exceptional.

Tonight's Melvins show moved to Martini Ranch in Scottsdale

Sludge metal pioneers, The Melvins, are still doing things their own way on Nude with Boots

Totimoshi

Future Shock: Burt Bacharach, Melvins, Todd Rundgren, and more

Amplified Amore at RockNRollDating.com

Future Shock: Tori Amos, Peelander-Z, Melvins, and more

Sweetbleeders / Replicator / Get Down! to Brass Tacks / The Minibosses @ The Ruby Room August 18

Clutch

Now and forever

Worser

Worser
(www.worser.net)

The Melvins

Grunge zero

Jello Shots

Paranoid punk prose

High on Fire

Yes, metal can burn

Overlooked in '05

Ten great discs that were, shall we say, underserved by the media but are more than worthy of your money and close attention

Clutch

Heavy but spry

Nirvana

Sliver: The Best of the Box
(Geffen)

Top 10 sellers at Eastside Records, 217 West University Drive in Tempe

Chart-busters for the week

April Shouters

Mike Patton and Fantômas unleash cartoon rage with a new album

The Melvins

Aberdeen rockers did it first

Best Club For Rock

Nita's Hideaway

Melvins

Electroretard (Man's Ruin)

Family Tradition

Hank Williams III hopes that country gold comes in threes

Smells Like Leif Garrett

The Melvins are (still) willing to provoke and confuse

10 Best Sevens of the Nine Six