Zooey Deschanel

She & Him - Comerica Theatre - 6/18/2013

She & Him (View the full slideshow.)Comerica TheatreJune 18, 2013 Hear about She & Him at blog or magazine distance and your impression of them is dominated by the simple presence of Zooey Deschanel's name. Get a little closer, within range of one of their albums, and your impression of them is dom ... More >>

Top Five Must-See Phoenix Shows This Week

She and him and them and them and him and her and them are playing in Phoenix this week, and all of them are a part of our five must-see Phoenix shows this week. You're bound to like one of those pronouns, if only you give it a chance.

After Auteur: How M. Night Shyamalan Became Just Another Director

Quick -- name the new M. Night Shyamalan summer blockbuster.

In Defense of New Girl (Hear Us Out . . .)

The Rolling Stones Aren't Playing Coachella, but Some Great Bands (Probably) Are

Yesterday, NME revealed the unfortunate news that the rumor that The Rolling Stoneswere headlining Coachella was just that-- a rumor. "We're not gonna do Coachella 'cos it's too early," Mick Jagger told the magazine. "We're not gonna be ready to go by April, but we're not gonna stop." Looks like ... More >>

Captain Squeegee with ASU's Concert Jazz Band, Crescent Ballroom, 11/8/12

Captain Squeegee with the ASU Concert Jazz Band @ Crescent Ballroom | 11/8/12Musicians and concertgoers were nearly indistinguishable at the Crescent Ballroom last night when sci-fi geek rockers Captain Squeegee and Arizona State University's Concert Jazz Band crowded the stage. With so many people ... More >>

Are You a Cute Blonde Lady? Now is a Good Time to be in a Music Video

Last week, a couple of so-called indie bands released music videos that featured quirky blonde actresses. Michelle Williams traveled to Niagara Falls Wild Nothing's "Paradise" and The Girl Next Door Elisha Cuthbert imagines herself in a movie in The Gaslight Anthem's video for "Here Comes My Man." B ... More >>

Why? Gets Wonderfully Uncomfortable

Five Interesting String Instruments Found Around Town

Sure, strings create intriguing sounds, but sometimes simply the sight of them are enough to induce awe. After coming across an out-of-place full-sized zither that looked like it belonged at the Musical Instrument Museum instead of the thrift store it landed in, we couldn't help but wonder what ot ... More >>

Five Must-See Shows This Weekend (Cinco de Mayo Edition)

Curious what's going on around town this weekend? Need some suggestions as to how to rock, dance, or krump in the Valley of the Sun? Don't fret: These are our Five Shows to See This Weekend. Saturday May 5: Cinco de Mayo Phoenix Festival in Downtown Phoenix More than 150,000 people are expected to ... More >>

M. Ward's Solo Work Reveals the "Him" in She & Him

M. Ward Discusses "A Wasteland Companion," and His Arizona Ties to The Meat Puppets and Howe Gelb

See also: fIREHOSE's Ed Crawford: "It Was Our Job. We F**kin' Showed Up Every Day." M. Ward has slowly and sturdily built himself up as a songwriter and producer over the past decade, with a string of hushed folk, country, blues, and pop inflected records that don't cry out for attention, but quiet ... More >>

Keep These 10 Songs as Far Away From Your Valentine's Day Playlist as Possible

The Oatmeal​With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, it seems like everyone is scrambling to find a hook up way to impress a crush or a significant other. A dozen roses and a box of chocolates may seem like a cheesy and overdone gift, but it's a safer bet than some other ideas. We're music ... More >>

Incoming: Death Cab For Cutie, Good Old War, Portugal. The Man, Eddie Vedder and More

​When he's not making up stories about what he listens to while he's busy being a hardcore runner, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie makes plans for the future. Recently, he has carried out plans to go through with his divorce and go on an international tour. The latter is great news for Phoenix ... More >>

What Your New Year's Eve Songs Say About You

See also: Five Songs to Ring in the New Year Ring in the New Year With These Local Shows: Meat Puppets, Gin Blossoms, Love Me Nots, Sugar Thieves, Futurekind Phoenix New Times New Year's Eve Guide Well, it's that time. Another year has come to a close. 2011 was weird, right? Kind of exciting, w ... More >>

Ke$ha Does Bob Dylan; Plus Three Other Pop Artists You've Probably Misjudged

​Ke$ha is sort of awful, but not for the reasons you think. Yeah, her music is terrible. It's fun music you don't really need to think about. But it's alleged that the songstress is smarter than people give her credit for. It's rumored that she scored a 1500 on her SATs and has a 140 IQ. She even ... More >>

Five Movies Outshined By Their Soundtracks

​It's impossible to not hate almost everything about Twilight. The books changed what "vampire" means to an entire generation. Now, it's less about being an undead monster than it is about misunderstood hunks with sparkly pale skin. Then, the movies went on to solidify the idea that as long a ... More >>

Tumblr of the Week: You Don't Want to Be Todd Martens

http://toddmartens.tumblr.com/​I'll admit that once in a while, a few of us at Up On The Sun might write about things that people who aren't journalists might not appreciate as much because they aren't journalists. Maybe we occasionally write things that will please other journalists. ... More >>

Summer Guide: Movies

Lollapalooza 2010: All Your Festivals Belong to GaGa

​ There are people who just don't like music festivals. It won't matter who's on the bill or whether the show is in the middle of the desert or the center of a city; they're just not interested in seeing bite-size sets crushed by an often bikini topped mob. Don't get me wrong, I understand. I hadn ... More >>

Patti Smith, Willie Nelson, Tupac and More Inducted into Library of Congress Registry

Punk rock icon Patti Smith is among the newest batch of inductees to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.​You may not necessarily associate popular music with the Library of Congress, but a few recent inductees have just made the catalog a little bit cooler. NME reports that the L ... More >>

Death Cab for Cutie Has New Album on the Horizon

Death Cab for Cutie.​According to Spin and MTV, Death Cab's ultra-busy frontman Ben Gibbard has announced that the band is working on a new record that should be out in the spring of next year. The album will be produced by guitarist Chris Walla, who also produced last year's record by The Thermal ... More >>

Zooey Deschanel and Three Other Jazz Singers Who Just Can't Sing

Musical Instrument Museum Opens, The Sand Rubies' Bad Luck, and Bad Jazz Singers in This Week's Issue

Just one of the pieces on display at the Music Instrument Museum in Phoenix.​This week's music feature gives you the skinny on Phoenix's new Musical Instrument Museum, which opens this weekend. You know you're curious about how instruments from all 195 countries were obtained. And why they're in P ... More >>

Beach House and Other Indie Bands Are Escaping to the Beach in 2010

Hope for Sun

Beach House and Other Indie Bands Are Escaping to the Beach in 2010

Nothing Not New: Podcast #2

​Hey, we're back with another podcast for your listening pleasure. This time around, music editor Martin Cizmar joined me as we talked into the internal microphone of my office's Mac G5 to create podcast magic.The best thing about tag-teaming the recording of a podcast is finding out things about ... More >>

She & Him - Volume Two

She & Him - Volume Two​You may not know it by looking out at the gray, rainy Phoenix skies this week, but spring is upon us. The weather currently doesn't want to cooperate, but She & Him will more than happily oblige your springtime needs. The duo's sophomore effort, Volume Two, is a perf ... 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 >>

Zooey Deschanel: This Actress/Singer Really Can Act and Sing

Hemoptysis, Zooey Deschanel, and Greeley Estates in This Week's Issue

Hemoptysis.​This week's music feature is about Masaki Murashita, the 24-year old lead singer and guitarist of local neo-thrashers Hemoptysis, a band that is rocking SXSW as we speak.Also in this week's issue you'll find pieces on Zooey Deschanel's musical career, and the local post-hardcore band G ... More >>

Album Stream: She & Him - Volume Two

Taea ThaleStream She & Him's latest album Volume Two over at NPR Music​Actors and musicians often make strange bedfellows, yet they can't seem to stay away from each other. It must be the whole being artistically inclined thing. Take Zooey Deschanel, one half of She & Him and star of numer ... More >>

Queen, Aerosmith, and Barenaked Ladies — Our Picks for Bands in Need of a New Singer

(500) Days of Summer: Love Hurts, but In a Good Way

Jenny Lewis Heads Into the Limelight

Summer Guide: Coppolla, Mann, Allen, and Tarantino Bring the Summer Flicks

M. Ward

M. Ward, Vetiver, Owen, and Sigur Ros are Just Some of What's Selling at Revolver Records

Mathew Ward and Zooey Deschanel (a.k.a. She & Him). We fully admit to our jealousy of Mathew Ward. Not only does the Portland guitarist have an obscene amount of talent (which he's demonstrated much over the past decade on seven separate full-length albums), Ward's collaborated musically with ... More >>

Aww...Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel Got Engaged

Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel both enjoy wearing a silly hat, a basic freedom most Americans sadly don't take advantage of.Well it finally happened. Indie rock icon and dorky eyeglasses connoisseur Ben Gibbard - better known to those few grandmothers and Buddhist monks (who actually don't know who ... More >>

Top Ten Americana Albums of 2008

By Noah W. Bailey Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen ... More >>

Yes Man Repackages Jim Carrey's Greatest Hits, Which Maybe Weren't So Great to Start With

American Pie’s Thomas Ian Nicholas joins the rock club

Summer Guide: The season of big-budget movies uses its brain

She & Him

Volume One
(Merge Records)

One Love

P-town's party posse hits Homme Lounge for the latest ear orgy from StraightNoChaser

This Time It's Serious

Tights Fit

Elf has all the trimmings of a holiday standard

Free Will

Another SNL vet may be the next Bill Murray. Seriously.

Backstage Past

Cameron Crowe's autobiographical Almost Famous is a classic rock gas

Analyze Diss

Mumford's mystical psychobabble delivers shrinking returns