Well, the holidays are over; you’ve gotten all the gifts you’re going to get until your birthday, or, if you’re lucky, until you get your tax return back this spring. But if the feds do give you some scrilla back, and you’re the sort who buys concert tickets regularly, don’t…
Eric Seven, the nucleus of electronic/industrial band Radio Free America, doesn’t strike you as the Trent Reznor type — not even the Dave Gahan/Depeche Mode type, or any other iconic related-genre artist. Sitting on the porch of his producer Daggrr’s small Tempe house, smoking cigarettes and drinking vodka with diet…
With the recent (but supposedly temporary) closing of the Priceless Inn/Boston’s, home of the weekly Blunt Club hip-hop extravaganza, local heads might be worried about filling their nighttime schedules with enough beats and rhymes to keep them from withdrawal convulsions. For now, fear not — Universatile Music, which has brought…
I fucked up, and I’ll admit it. A few months back I reviewed a compilation called Crunk Classics, with songs by dirty south superstars like Lil Jon and Petey Pablo, and I tore it a new asshole. “TVT’s collection of Southern thug rappers is pretty much — to borrow a…
Hey, kids, I’m back! You might not have noticed my absence, but I made a recent excursion that felt like it must have lasted a year. In a way, it did. Using the principles I gleaned from Roberta Sparrow’s book Philosophy of Time Travel, and an ungodly amount of re-watching…
I’m an unusual case study when it comes to Christmas, or most any holiday, for that matter. I was raised in an odd religion (the name of which I’ll omit, to save me and the religion the shame of the association) that doesn’t celebrate holidays, even birthdays. So my childhood…
Normally, I’m a pretty boring motherfucker when it comes to New Year’s celebrations. Having an extreme aversion to the sort of massive crowds that congregate at Tempe’s Fiesta Bowl Block Party and Scottsdale’s stepsister copycat event, I usually like to park myself in front of CNN and watch the hourly…
Is your wallet feeling a bit light after all that holiday shopping? Run down to the Salt River Saloon (605 South Mill Avenue in Tempe) on Tuesday, December 28, and enjoy an economical night of beats and rhymes at Kill Mill, Blow Up Co-op’s weekly hip-hop night with special guest…
My guts are churning with anticipation and trepidation as I step into the dimmed alcove that is Cheerleaders, the topless gentlemen’s club on University Drive in east Phoenix. As my eyes adjust to the dusky illumination, I can’t help but focus on the bikini- and g-string-clad beauties lounging about the…
This Saturday, December 18, the long-running but recently in absentia Rhythm & Form night at the Emerald Lounge returns for “Rhythm & Form — The Resurrection.” Resident DJs Jacob Delph, Brian Pfirrman, and David Siefert are bringing back their tech house stylings in conjunction with wall displays by local artists…
Hip-hop hooray! It’s that time of year again, when the ‘Nix’s infamous Furious Styles Crew celebrates its anniversary with a flavor-filled blowout. This is the Styles’ 11th year reigning as the Valley’s premier b-boy and b-girl crew (that’s break-dancing for all you crackers out there). It’s also the first anniversary…
Dear Marshall, It’s me, Brendan. I thought since Stan hasn’t been around for a few years now, you might appreciate hearing some feedback from a fan about your new album, Encore. Don’t worry, I’m not really pissed off that you haven’t answered any of my previous correspondence. I just figure…
It feels like it was just weeks ago that I was touring the West Coast with DJ Z-Trip, the Phoenix native who became known as king of the mash-ups before turning his back on the subgenre he helped launch. But really, it was 2001, and I was helping lug Z-Trip’s…
For an aural taste of something a little different, check out the innovative sonic flavors coming off the decks at Slapstick Sundays at Flip Flops in Tempe, hosted by DJ Smite. Smite is a hip-hop aficionado and turntablist, but he’s also got the funk and soul rattling around in his…
Aaaaarrrrggggh! Expect to hear a lot of that when Mr. Dibbs, the granddaddy of hardcore turntablism, hits the stage this Friday, November 19, at the P.I. in Tempe. Dibbs, the bald, heavily tattooed demon behind the tables for Atmosphere’s touring excursions, throws down the vinyl with an almost metal aesthetic,…
It’s back to the Dark Ages for me lately, having recently killed off both my cable TV and Internet access at home. I dropped them and went medieval for two reasons — to save some money, but also to keep my ass from watching CNN or Fox News eight hours…
Ordinarily, fashion shows are a little bourgeois for our taste, but we’ll make an exception for LabelHorde’s second annual Fashion Ball this Friday, November 12, just so we can catch a rare performance by DJ Radar with Raul Yañez of the Chicano Power Revival Orchestra. It’s been a couple years…
It’s 1:30 on a Sunday afternoon and I’m almost 200 miles from home, about 20 miles as the crow flies from the Mexican border in southern Arizona. I’m visiting my buddy Andy Hersey, a genuine Sonoran cowboy who gave up horseshoeing a few years back to pursue a career as…
Get your b-boy boots tied for the arrival of DJ Haul and Mason this Thursday, November 4, at the Blunt Club (at PI, a.k.a. Boston’s, 5014 South Price Road in Tempe). These L.A. DJ dudes are on the upswing, having won URB magazine’s annual mix-tape contest a while back, and…
The air is thick and weird as I follow conservative talk radio personality Bruce St. James down the hallway past KTAR-AM 620’s studio toward his office. When we reach the lair of the white worm, we settle in across his desk from one another, exchanging small talk until I ask…
So Carrie wasn’t quite in the ’80s (1976, to be precise), but we still think that’ll be our costume inspiration for Hot Pink’s second annual Halloween party this Friday night, October 29. After all, the theme is “’80s Prom Gone Bad,” and Carrie’s prom was about as bad as they…
The plastic action figure I’m staring at several hours before the show is about eight inches tall, with a weather-beaten wrinkled face, probably in his mid-40’s, a club in his left hand, right hand outstretched in a ‘hey now,’ sort of gesticulation. He’s a centaur, found at a local thrift…
