Resident rapper Jaron Ikner, better known as Black One, may call Phoenix his home, but his heart still lives in his hometown. Tucson. Fresh off of his first full-length album, Black Sun Rising, Ikner looked to T-Town for a lot of the material that comprise the 14-track record. Only two…
The road to Austin’s SxSW music and arts festival is a long and arduous one. A total of 1,006 miles to be exact. (Well, according to Google Maps anyhow.) One of the many Valley acts making the trek in March include local Latin reggae rockers, Fayuca. Last week the trio…
If David Bowie and Ian Curtis were to have an illegitimate love-child, he might sound a little like Shawn Foree, the Yuma native better known as Digital Leather. He earned a degree in 19th-century American literature, but the lure of synthesizers, four-track home tape recorders, and tripping balls led him…
Want to know what new release discs and platters are moving across the Valley at local record stores? We’ve got you covered with another installment of What’s Selling. Adele came up big at the Grammy’s Sunday, but she’s nowhere to be seen on Hoodlums list of weekly top-sellers. It’s quite…
Last night’s Grammy Awards was a mixed bag, but it was hard not to well up a bit hearing Paul McCartney sing “Golden Slumbers.” It wasn’t his first performance of the night — he started off with a performance of “My Valentine,” from his strangely titled new record, Kisses on…
New Times Soundcheck Saturday, February 11, 2012 Club Red Two stages: check. Fourteen bands: check. Sound: check. The New Times Soundcheck Festival concluded last night at Club Red with 14 kickass local acts. Day two emulated Friday’s kickoff with a varied musical palate that included an injection of Valley hip-hop…
It’s been a minute since we’ve mentioned Cypress Hill and Arizona in the same sentence. The last time we were on talking terms was back on April 22, 2010, the day before SB1070 passed. The puff, puff, pass rappers performed at the Martini Ranch in Scottsdale that night, but no…
Over the past year Jeff Rose and Dustin Chaffin have endured their fair share of problems in establishing Jivemind, a cooperative music lab geared towards facilitating local musicians with a central resource center and musical hub. Rose and Chaffin initially tried to set up shop in downtown Phoenix, but the…
Want to know what new release discs and platters are moving across the Valley at local record stores? We’ve got you covered with another installment of What’s Selling. Stinkweed’s shoppers are kicking it folk-style, listening intently to First Aid Kit’s new release, The Lion’s Roar. The Americana-infused sophomore album by…
It’s safe to say that Kelly Clarkson nailed her performance of the national anthem at Super Bowl XLVI last night. Largely a low-scoring, defensive affair between the New York Giants and New England Patriots, the game’s fireworks came towards the end of regulation. Clarkson’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner”…
So, I may not be the flag-waving American I should be, but hot damn, there’s just something about hearing the national anthem that gives me chills. Most of the attention in the build up for this weekend’s showdown has been placed on dueling quarterbacks Tom Brady and Eli Manning, million…
The Lost Leaf in Downtown Phoenix is notoriously loud. Both on the crowd side and on the music side. Last summer, I saw Former Friends of Young Americans singer Toby Fatzinger and Marco Holt of The Tremulants perform solo sets there and they were literally drowned out by the bar-hopping…
With the passing of Soul Train’s Don Cornelius it seems only right that we should celebrate his life, with a little local funk. On Friday, February 3, Martini Ranch is a place to find some when Catfish Mustache take the stage. The East Valley band will be bringing their fusion…
For the past two years, the artist-owned and -operated record label collective known as Black Cactus Records effectively has helped push Phoenix-based music to the masses. Comprising local bands the Necronauts, Tremulants, Former Friends of Young Americans, High Horse, and Midnight Vitals, the cooperative has helped facilitate a better creative…
Have you opened your chakras and found your power animals yet? Well, you should. Maybe then we wouldn’t have to write about all of these assholes that ruin our music-going experiences. If you’re having a hard time quieting your mind long enough to find that inner peace, you can always…
Want to know what new release discs and platters are moving across the Valley at local record stores? We’ve got you covered with another installment of What’s Selling. North Phoenix music shoppers are satisfying their diverse palette by picking up a range of music genres last week at Zia Records…
By now Fingergate has the web blowing up with commentary abound about the gull and audacity of Governor Jan Brewer for sticking her finger in the face of President Barack Obama. As James King brought up yesterday, we can’t help but wonder if Jan’s actions were those of an impassioned…
Glendale metal band Cold Blooded Theory was fresh off of a show at the Nile Theater Saturday night when they announced that they would be joining Devil Driver and fellow Arizonans Job for a Cowboy at the second annual Metal Alliance Tour. This year’s lineup includes The Faceless, Dying Fetus,…
Before digital music players were ubiquitous pieces of art capable of housing thousands of songs, pictures, and videos, they were bulky, expensive, and limited pieces of plastic. Then 2001 happened. That year, Apple introduced the first iPod and the digital jukebox iTunes, and everything changed. Since then, MP3 players have…
The members of electronic pop outfit Factories put themselves in a tight situation last year when they locked themselves in a shipping container in the middle of the summer. With a wall full of amps, flashing strobe lights, and of course a ton of balloons, the Tempe trio had themselves…
It’s been a minute since I’ve seen The Green Lady Killers in action. The hometown garage rockers relocated to Los Angeles some time ago, but before that I used to enjoy dipping into random dive bars to catch a live show by the grrrly trio. Needless to say I was…
Jerome may be America’s highest and largest ghost town, but that doesn’t mean you can’t dip into one of the many storefronts to thumb through some vinyl. Renfield Record Exchange specializes in rare vinyl records and out-of-print CDs, but you can also replace your El Camino album if it somehow…
