If you want to see the best and brightest of the Valley’s turntablist scene (without having to hit up a dozen different nightclubs), beat feet down to this ginormous rave and music shindig at the Icehouse, 429 West Jackson Street, on Friday, September 22. In addition to appearances by Philly’s…
Tiny fragments of fractured machines, antique medical tools, pill bottles, bleached animal bones. These are some of the ingredients composing the bizarre boxlike found-object sculptures of Chris Caufield, 38. Looking like something outta the Nine Inch Nails music vid “Closer,” these kooky contraptions (frequently lighted with neon tubes) evoke an…
While he might not be as famous as Morrissey or Johnny Marr, bassist and guitarist Andy Rourke was still a vital part of legendary English rockers The Smiths. Handling his bass like a warbling weapon of twang, Rourke added his distinctive sound to such classic Smiths albums as The Queen…
When the old Sail Inn closed its doors late last year, Tempe scenesters shed plenty of collective tears as one of their favorite hangouts went kaput. Now the drinking den has been reborn as Trax, a “casual but trendy” nightspot with a posh interior, 14-foot video wall, and lineup of…
Long before he became known as the “Sultan of Sickness,” the drum ‘n’ bass devotee known as Dylan began his career spinning records over the pirate radio airwaves in his native London. Since those quasi-legal days, this dope DJ has risen to international fame and fortune, with his mixes covering…
No doubt about it, The HorrorPops are headed for Hades. Not because the fearsome foursome of Holland-born hipster hellcats committed any mass murders (that we know of), but simply because we’re certain they’ve somehow sold their souls to Satan. How else would you explain the devilish fervor in which punky…
Here’s a real-life kind of needle exchange for you: A decade ago, superstar lesbian DJ Irene was shooting up meth and living out of her car in between gigs working the wheels of steel at L.A. dance clubs like Arena. Thankfully, the spiky-haired Sapphic spinstress eventually swapped out the tracks…
Sunday afternoons are meant to be spent maxing and relaxing, instead of stressing out about returning to your hellish job for another week of rat-race-style torture. So it’s a good thing that Counter Culture Cafe, 2330 East McDowell Road, has its weekly event HeadSpace, at which you can kick back…
Pity the poor music journalist charged with the task of describing the enticingly exotic and eccentric music created by DeVotchKa. Over its six years of existence, scribes and screed-slingers (including this one) have used a plethora of hyphen-laced phrases to describe the Denver foursome’s strangely sumptuous sound, including such idioms…
Ever since local DJ William Fucking Reed debuted his “motherfucking rock and roll dance party” Shake! last year, Saturday nights at The Rogue East, 423 North Scottsdale Road in Scottsdale, have never been the same. Every weekend, hipster hotties crowd this East Valley punk mainstay to bust and bop to…
Corey Busboom’s house is a gloriously ginormous mess. Quite frankly, it looks like a thrift store exploded inside the cluttered confines of the 27-year-old’s central Phoenix residence, as almost every inch of floor space is choked with a collection of castoff items, including colorful kids’ toys, vintage home electronics, bygone…
There’s plenty to love about female DJ Jen Lasher. The saucy 24-year-old spinstress siren and fashion plate is not only easy on the eyes, she’s also a classically trained pianist, a gifted singer-songwriter, a fan of the metaphysical realm, and a topnotch turntablist. For the past few years, she’s been…
Ryan Avery staggers through the Trunk Space in downtown Phoenix, sweaty, smelly, and spent. For the past several minutes, the 19-year-old front man for the thrash-punk foursome Fathers Day has transformed his flabby, 5-foot-11, 230-pound frame into a frenetic pinball of cherubic fury, including rolling, crawling, and jumping around the…
The turntable scene here in the PHX seems pretty fucking fickle sometimes, as DJs repeatedly relocate their record-spinning gigs from club to club — or pull the plug on them entirely — faster than they can send out notices on MySpace. In the past year alone, local scenesters have been…
Hey, Joey, baby, it’s me — Johnette. I know I haven’t called in a really long time, but I wanted you to know that in case you never heard that one song, I’m still not angry anymore. In fact, I’ve been feeling pretty content lately (at least that’s what my…
Your folks will be spending the summer on a Serengeti safari. The roommates are gonna dance ’til dawn in the dapper discotheques of Ibiza. And your boss? He’ll be slamming sake amid the hustle and flow of Tokyo. Meanwhile, you’ll be stuck wiling away your summer vacay at home. Sure,…
Mondays are quite the bitch. Not only are there four gruelingly tortuous workdays ahead of you, but there’s nothing but summer reruns on the tube, to boot. Since you’re probably gonna be feeling the blues, you might as well listen to ´em, too — namely, those blasted out by Bill…
¡Odelay! Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner, so you’d better dust off your sombrero and bust out your rusty knowledge of Spanglish, because there are plenty of phat fetes going down in P-town from Thursday, May 4, through Sunday, May 7. Wanna celebrate Latino culture? You’re in the…
Search Google with the phrase “ska sucks” and you’ll encounter various vitriolic ventings about how the musical style blows. It’s not a surprise, really, as ska has long been considered the whipping boy among musical misanthropes, who unilaterally deride its seemingly repetitive nature and upbeat spirit, or how bands like…
¡Odelay! Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner, so you’d better dust off your sombrero and bust out your rusty knowledge of Spanglish, because there are plenty of phat fetes going down in P-town from Wednesday, May 3, through Sunday, May 7. Wanna celebrate Latino culture? You’re in the…
Lesli Englert, 32, is a study in contrasts. Although this tall and wispy blonde painter from South Dakota exudes friendliness and small-town charm, she’s created colorfully perverse and sharply rendered surreal paintings filled with almost carnivalesque fantastic realism, anthropomorphized animals, and tragic characters boasting huge kewpie-doll-like heads and soft features…
It’s safe to say that St. Patrick’s Day is a big-time bash in the Valley. For those of Irish descent, it’s a time for taking pride in your heritage and honoring the patron saint of the Emerald Isle. For everyone else, though, it’s yet another day for getting soused and…
