The Ramones

Emby Alexander Wishes You A Blue Christmas (And Doesn't Want To Fight Tonight)

There are only five shopping days left of Christmas...are you sick of hearing dogs "sing" "Jingle Bells" yet? At least the Sprint commercial with animals singing "Deck the Halls" is pretty cute. Fortunately, Emby Alexander breaks out of the obnoxious Christmas cover routine by putting its own spin ... More >>

Why? Gets Wonderfully Uncomfortable

Metal Mondays: Metal's First Music Videos Ooze Green Jellÿ

There's never been a huge a market for heavy metal music videos. Praise is far and few between, and they don't garner awards like pop music videos, clips like Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," which won seven MTV Video Music Awards in 2010, and even grabbed a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video. But t ... More >>

Tom "Soda" Gardocki on Spike Jonze, 12-String Banjo, Jackass, and Weezer

​Tom "Soda" Gardocki spent years playing guitar in SoCal rockers Wax (go rewatch the credits of Mallrats; the band plays right after its pals Weezer) but more recently he's devoted himself to more rustic purposes. Either performing with his Large Band, his "Million Piece Band," or solo with ... More >>

It's Now Officially Okay to Listen to Christmas Music

​Thought malls and retail have already been doing it for a couple weeks, we're going to go ahead and make an official statement: It's not totally okay to listen to Christmas music. And while plenty of Xmas jams are mind numbing, annoying earworms, there's always some good to be had. Enjoy ... More >>

6 Musicians With Surprising Political Affiliations

​Music is one of those creative things that only hippies do, or at least that's the stereotype. But seriously, what kind of self-respecting conservative would devote themselves to being a (guf-ah!) professional musician? And what already-famous musicians would commit the career suicide of adm ... More >>

Peter Case at The Rhythm Room, 6-26-11

Maria Vassett​Peter CaseThe Rhythm RoomSunday, June 26As much as he's a songwriter, Peter Case is a storyteller. All throughout his solo acoustic set at The Rhythm Room last night, Case peppered the space between songs with stories from his rock 'n' roll past: Scoring free records from Elektra whe ... More >>

New The Horrors: "Still Life"

British rockers The Horrors​Much was made about British post-punkers The Horrors' 2007 debut Strange House. The album featured such songs as "Gloves" and "Sheena is a Parasite," both drenched in influences from such influential punk bands as Joy Division and the Ramones. 2009 saw the band's sophom ... More >>

Wrestle War

The Roots, Miniature Tigers, Johnny Rawls, Djentrification, and Other Weekend Events

The Roots are scheduled to perform at American Junkie in Scottsdale on Saturday during the Red Bull Soundclash.​Who'd win in a fight between local legends Miniature Tigers and the hip-hop icons of The Roots? Although its feels like we're making a Sophie's Choice between our two favorite children ... More >>

Ten Most Overplayed Sports Arena Songs (with Music)

​I was grumblings of the Suns' porous, lackadaisical defense during a recent game when a different debate started between my girlfriend and I.Which Green Day album is "Brain Stew" is on again? The answer, of course, is 1995's Insomniac. But a better question is why such an odd query came ... More >>

Macy Gray, Third Eye Blind, Joe Sib, 2 Tone Lizard Kings, and Other Weekend Events

Macy Gray is scheduled to perform at CityScape on Friday.Macy Gray and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon hanging out at the same party?Such will be the case this weekend as the R&B star is scheduled to stage a free concert tomorrow night during this weekend's grand opening celebration of CityScape in do ... More >>

The Soft Pack: The Soft Pack

The Soft Pack - The Soft Pack San Diego's The Soft Pack drops their debut today. The band, which scored so cheap publicity by naming their band "The Muslims" then changing the name due to "ignorant and racist comments" at least got a deal out of the fiasco. Here's what the music press is saying ... More >>

Nothing Not New: We All Suffer from "Aesthetic Atrophy," But at Least I'm Getting Help

"If music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it . . ." -- Wm. Shakespeare ​ I recently received some bad news regarding a diagnosis. It's never easy to hear someone (especially an expert in his field) tell you that you have a serious problem, and it certainly wasn't easy this t ... More >>

Less Than Jake

Less Than Jake

10 Things Under $10 This Weekend: Lingerie Shows, Big Pimpin, Punk Karaoke, and More

The Crush is scheduled to perform tonight at MADCAP Theatres in Tempe. Dreamy Lingerie and Swimwear Launch Party at the Mondrian (Friday) There are a few good reasons why you might consider attending this sexy soiree: The Mondrian's Midnight Room provides quite a swanky background in which to w ... More >>

You Asked For It: Dude Offline

Dude OfflineMonkey BabyRamper RecordsGRADE: BWe've been doing You Asked For It for just over a year now and it's about time we had our first repeat customer. Dude Offline got his first record, Nerd Love, reviewed by Niki D'Andrea last year, and now he's waited long enough for his seven song mini-alb ... More >>

The Vivian Girls

Heroine Junkies

Pitchfork Stays Sub-Par and Pretentious with New "Greatest Songs" Guide

The horde of amateur music critics at Pitchfork Media has just crapped out a tome titled The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present (Fireside). The book purports to present "edifying essays" about the greatest 500 songs of the past thirty years and "all-new reviews" ... More >>

Digital Leather

Sorcerer
(Goner Records)

Gift of Gag

Joke band returns. No joke.

Theonix Arts Showcase Vol. III

Avett Brothers

Shred Cred

You wanted the best? You got the best: Guitar Hero III

Back and Black

But not here

Children of Bodom

Finnish that drink

Pretty Vacant!

Should be pretty crowded

MxPx

Anatomically correct

For Those About to Rock

Guitar Hero cranks rhythm-gaming up to 11

Agnostic Front

Hardcore veterans must be doing something right

The Apples in Stereo

Velocity of Sound(Elephant 6/SpinArt)

GoGoGo Airheart

Exitheuxa (GSL)

Astro Creep

Rob Zombie rebounds from a Universal nightmare with another Sinister offering

Celebrity Skin Peel

A one-stop guide to the latest round of pop-star foolishness and bad behavior

Torch Singers

Betty Blowtorch - Are You Man Enough? (Foodchain)

Lonesome Brothers / Ribeye Brothers

Swamptown Girl (Captivating Music), If I Had a Horse...(All Indie)

Hit Them Again

Aussie rockers Radio Birdman beat the boots -- and strike a chord with the punk 'n' roll youth today -- with a new authorized collection from Sub Pop

Coyote Lovely

White Trash Debutantes rock the Emerald

Amazing Crowns

Royal (Time Bomb)

Shout It Out

Three-chord heroes take the hokey out of karaoke

The Muffs

Hamburger
(Sympathy for the Record Industry)

Hot Five

Phonoroyale carries the torch song into the modern world

It's Only Agro to Me

Something Old, Something New

In 1996, punk was murdered by its parents and resurrected by its children

Survey Says...

New Times critics look back on the "oohs" and the "ughs" of pop music '95 (results tabulated from individual critics' lists and comments)

JOCK RAP

AN EXIT INTERVIEW WITH JONATHAN L.

SCOURING THE DESERT FOR MISS KITTY

DO LOOK BACK

THE YEAR IN MUSIC: IT JUST DIDN'T GET MUCH BETTER (OR WORSE) THAN THIS