School is almost out for summer but for the Mathmadix crew, class will still be in session when their long-awaited album, In a Class of our Own, finally drops on April 20. “We’ve been trying to drop this album for a couple years now and it’s been difficult because of…
See also: A Look at the Creamy Radio Stage at McDowell Mountain Music Festival See also: Galactic’s Robert Mercurio on Carnivale Electricos McDowell Mountain Music Festival Outside of The Compound Grill Friday, April 13, 2012 Dark ominous clouds, chilly 70-degree weather, and one of the most superstitious days of the…
As a music writer who is not musically inclined, it’s always fascinating to me to catch up with bands and musicians when they’re not on the stage. For this week’s issue of New Times, I hung out with Former Friends of Young Americans for a profile of the local shoegazers…
Dusk has barely begun her descent on downtown Phoenix when anti-genre conformists Former Friends of Young Americans gather for band practice at frontman Toby Fatzinger’s home in the historic Garfield neighborhood. The area is known not only for being one of the city’s oldest and largest historic districts but for…
Latino hip-hop brothers Mob Fam were fresh off of signing with local legend MC Magic’s music label, Nastyboy Records the last time we caught up with the Phoenix-natives. Javi C., T.S., and S.C., had also just finished wrapping filming for their first music video on the label for the single,…
Yeah, there’s that spectacle in the desert going on this weekend. And next weekend. And yeah, maybe there’s a lot of us that didn’t have enough skrilla to nab a couple of passes. Big deal. You still have a chance to catch the next big festival later this year, although…
Grupo Fantasma and Fayuca Crescent Ballroom Sunday, April 8 There can’t be too many places in the world where you can spend the first half of your day observing a certain notorious motorcycle club’s barbecue shindig with a bunch of tattooed, leather-clad pistoleros and the second half at some swingin’…
Not only did Fayuca return from their SxSW tour in one piece – they brought back High Times magazine’s 2012 Doobie Award for Best New/Underground Artist. This year marked the publication’s 10th anniversary of celebrating marijuana and music. The winners were announced during the official High Times party that went…
Arguably one of the best things to come out of last night’s American Idol episode was the emergence of a video on Yahoo! that Jennifer Lopez beau Casper Smart appeared in back in 2009. The loose-limbed dancer starred as a dancing bee in the Haagen-Dazs produced video in an effort…
You don’t need us to tell you that Ashton Kutcher is kind of a knucklehead, but country star Miranda Lambert apparently needs a reminder after the television goofballs on-stage attempt at country crooning. Kutcher presented Lambert with the Female Vocalist of the Year award at the Academy of Country Music…
In movies, the cutting-room floor is usually a cold, dark place where unused footage ends up, never seeing the light of day unless it find its way into a director’s cut somewhere down the road. The same is true when it comes to the music studio, but thanks to the…
It’s been several years since Chaka Khan has had a relevant, mainstream voice, but that hasn’t stopped her from speaking out in light of the February shooting involving Florida teenager Trayvon Martin and neighborhood watch commando George Zimmerman. Last week, the “Queen of Funk” best remembered for her 1984 cover…
Celebrities tend to have a knack for influencing everything from dressing styles, speech patterns and attitudes to spending habits. I mean, just imagine where the plastic augmentation industry would be if it weren’t for them. Musicians in particular have always captivated us with their general sense of cool. Just last…
While $3 isn’t enough to buy you a gallon of gas these days, it is enough to buy you the sixth installment of Zia Record’s local music compilation, You Heard Us Back When. The double-disc album is scheduled for release on next month’s Record Store Day, April 21, and features…
It wasn’t so long ago that the ill-fated Yellow Canary Dance Hall closed its doors, but come April 28 the warehouse will be bumping live music once again. Avondale rapper Faces will be on hand to lend his lyrical mastery, along with percussionist/beat dropper Yawning Boy, at the site being…
Valley pop-punk rockers Dogbreth have big things planned for 2012. Aside from helping Trunk Space celebrate their 8th birthday next month, the band has two 7″ records in the works, a split cassette and a two-month US/Canada tour coming up. The new recordings mark a departure from the band’s first…
As expected, kids are going ga-ga over The Hunger Games. The $155 million opening weekend was good enough to rank third in revenue behind only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, and The Dark Knight. The movie, based on the novel by Suzanne Collins, has already spawned everything…
It’s hard for me to find things that I don’t like about Phoenix rockers Snow Songs. Starting with singer Yolanda Bejarano’s lovely vox to the band’s bright arrangements and pop consciousness, there’s so much to fall in love with here. One of my favorite things about them is that they…
Our local music acts make one helluva trip come SxSW time. Aside from the drive to Austin itself, many of the musicians take the opportunity to spread their sounds along the southwest with various gigs along the way. Then of course there’s the actual music festival. Although March 18 marks…
I’m throwing myself under the bus here, but I’m going to do this anyway. These are my Chuck Taylor All Star tennis shoes. As of yesterday, my retired Chucks. They used to be black and white, but now they’ve got this brown hue — and holes to boot. I don’t…
It’s Spring Break 2012 time, suckahs! A time for all that overrated hanging out on a boat stuff, drinking until you’re blackout drunk and hooking up with pasty-wearing hard-bodied strangers. Even though MTV dropped their “music television” moniker, they are still synonymous with the college-aged holiday, bringing in celebrity hosts…
Marianne Dissard and Nive Nielsen will be performing a free set at Stinkweeds tomorrow before heading over to the Crescent where they’ll be opening for Y La Bamba later in the evening. The all-ages warm-up show at the Phoenix record store starts with local folk singer Dylan Pratt and wraps…
