It took local singer-songwriter Dylan Pratt two years to pen his new album, Beg For Fire, but on the cusp of his record release show, he can look back at that time fondly. Tonight, Pratt will celebrate with a showcase at Crescent Ballroom along with Jon Rauhouse, Some Magical Animal,…
While Mother Nature continues to wreak havoc on our thermostats, most people are bundling up and keeping indoors during the chilly season. Everyone except California-based reggae rockers Rebelution that is. The Santa Barbara-natives are ditching the warm embrace of their sandy sunny digs to embark on another wintertime road trip…
Kanye West may be today’s “lyrical mastermind genius,” but he was still learning his way around a book report when legendary lyricist Rakim and DJ Eric B began writing hip-hop history. The East Coast rap duo dropped their debut single, “Eric B. Is President,” way back in 1986 and set…
NES in the West Tour with Mega Ran and The Writer’s Guild @ Trunk Space | 2/6/13Local rapper Mega Ran a.k.a Random completed the Phoenix stop of his latest tour at the Trunk Space and made it a point to drive home the old saying: “You’re only as strong as…
Tim Fogarty and Kristian Dunn are two musicians who hate constricting genre labels. These two California-based music makers are known collectively as El Ten Eleven and they make super-duper music that’s not quite math rock, not exactly experimental, and not 100 percent pop. Dunn is a wiz at playing his…
There are plenty of cats around town that can make a case for being at the top of the game when it comes to repping the rap scene in Arizona. But few can contest that they work harder than 8-bit beat guru Random a.k.a Mega Ran. This month alone he’s…
It’s been almost a year since local rock group The Tremulants played their last show following the death of frontman Marco Holt who succumbed to non-Hodgkin lymphoma. His passing left the music community grieving and family and friends reeling. Tremulants bassist Isaac Hensleigh stepped away from music in the subsequent…
In our cyclical pop culture, fads give way to other fads — which often recycle looks and vibes of the past — every couple of years. Rockabilly has bubbled up to the pop culture mainstream over and over again since the 1950s, but for Phoenix-based rockabilly aces Voodoo Swing, the…
Musicians traditionally get all of the glory, but what about the venues that house them? Arizona hip-hop artists are regularly lauded for their lyrical lexicon and dazzling deliveries, but they couldn’t be heard if popping music houses didn’t provide the dark digs, microphones, stages, and booming sound systems. See also:…
High-energy hip-hoppers Weird Is the New Cool and Latin-reggae-punk rockers Fayuca wasted no time in hitting the road to begin their 2013 campaign. Mere days after the new year dawned, the two local acts launched their Spark the Flame Tour on Thursday, January 3, and paid a little visit to…
It’s been a mighty big year for hip-hop music in Arizona, most notably with the explosion of the locally-produced platinum hit “Mercy” by Kanye West. Producer and New F-Os member Lifted helped direct ears towards our corner of the map for his work on the massively popular track, but he…
If the ’90s era of rap effectively ended with the violent deaths of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., the new era began the emergence of Sonny Cheeba and Geechi Suede of Camp Lo. The Brooklyn duo quietly introduced their ’70s soul, funk-, and jazz-inspired rap sound on 1996’s Great…
As 2012 draws to a close, we’ll be looking forward to the 2013 and spotlighting 13 Phoenix bands that will be making a mark on the Southwest throughout the new year. Today Anthony Sandoval pops in and checks out the rambunctious rock ‘n’ roll of Francophiles French Girls. The Phoenix…
This is it, folks. The grand finale. The end of the world — or is it? It still remains to be seen exactly what is going to happen when the calendar page turns to December 21, but if what some interpreters of Mesoamerican archaeology say is true, the end of…
As 2012 draws to a close, we’ll be looking forward to the 2013 and spotlighting 13 Phoenix bands that will be making a mark on the Southwest throughout the new year. This entry comes from Anthony Sandoval, and he’s scoping out the bummer pop glory of Sundressed. Indie folk band…
The United States was was knee deep in the Vietnam conflict when John Lennon and Yoko Ono penned the words to the 1971 single, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).” But while it’s been more than 30 years since the infamous twosome led the cries for an end to violence and…
What does emotional heavy metal sound like? Well, believe it or not, it’s kind of folky, but mainly acoustic. It’s mostly sad, but strangely fanciful and supremely intense. At least that’s how Marivel Luna and Jesse Simms, the duo comprising local outfit, Revizor, describe it. The pair have been quietly…
Local Latin, reggae, and punk peddlers Fayuca have seen their fair share of success as a productive year comes to an end. Now the trio is ready to step up their game with a brand new album that’s almost within earshot. We document the band’s 11-year run in this week’s…
Phoenix rock ‘n’ rollers The Technicolors are into big things: Big guitars. Big drums. Big vocals. Big hair. Big sound. It’s only appropriate then that they would record their debut album, Listener, at Studio at the Farm. The recording house, tucked away on three acres of farmland in nearby Gilbert,…
Phoenix-by-way-of-Tucson rapper Jaron Ikner is really over the whole, “me first mentality” in hip-hop culture. Long gone are the days of quality congregations of rappers like that of 90’s supercrew Wu-Tang Clan, but it’s something the Black One wants to change. Starting first with his latest record, The Rise, which…
Rapper T.I. must have seen something he liked when he stopped by Phoenix this past weekend. His Atlanta-based record label Grand Hustle is showing Arizona some love with a new mixtape, The Phoenix Edition Mixtape. The 17-track release showcases some of the Valley’s up and coming hip-hop acts including Yung…
R&B artist and Arizona transplant Keize Montoya is sticking to his musical moniker for his latest track, “On My Way.” The single, which dropped last week along with a new music video, takes a step away from the club bangers Montoya has been dishing out as of late for a…
