This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. Want to listen to (almost) all of our 100 Songs that Defined Arizona? Why is Megadeth…
Hope those thinking caps aren’t too snug: Phoenix New Times’ Big Brain Awards are back. The annual awards designed to recognize innovative artists in the fields of design, visual art, fashion, performing art, and culinary art, and give each $500 for their creative endeavors…
It never fails: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks release a new album (like they did last spring, issuing Mirror Traffic) and just about everyone says “It’s the most like Pavement he’s sounded since . . . well, Pavement.” As you might imagine, it’s a common statement, and only sort of…
What’s in a name, anyway? Well, when you go by “Joe Grind,” plenty. Since 2003, Grind has released records under the name Toxic Holocaust, taking cues from the most disparate recesses of heavy metal, influenced by thrash, black metal, and d-beat punk. His latest, Conjure and Command, finds Grind and…
They don’t come much more genteel than modern-day Nick Lowe, and they don’t come more with a more hell-raising reputation than Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead. Yet on a recent episode of Marc Maron’s podcast, WTF with Marc Maron (consistently one of the best interview programs out there), Lowe discussed his…
Roderick James Byers — known to two-tone fanatics as Roddy Radiation — has got ska credentials locked down. Not only did he play guitar in the seminal rude boy band The Specials, but he wrote some of the band’s catchiest tunes, like “Concrete Jungle” and “Hey Little Rich Girl.” Radiation…
Here’s kind of a crazy realization: Stephen Malkmus has been performing and recording with The Jicks longer than he played and recorded with Pavement. But following Pavement’s reunion (I saw them at Coachella 2010, and had one of those mythic “Brochella Moments” with a complete stranger during “Cut Your Hair”),…
I’m not sure, but I think that the point Midnight in Paris (the latest in Woody Allen’s remarkable late career streak) was getting at was that getting stuck in the past is no good, especially when you’re idealizing a past you never actually experienced. That said, most of my favorite…
In 2010, our New Times operations manager and Up on the Sun contributor Jay Bennett wrote a column about listening to only new music called Nothing Not New. For a whole year. Some time has passed, but not the lesson that column taught me. There’s nothing wrong with favorites, but…
Glen Campbell at Comerica Theatre Going in, there was a fear that Glen Campbell’s Goodbye Tour concert would devolve into little more than a nostalgia act. That Campbell, struggling with the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease, would duly try his best to work through carefully guarded and pre-arranged songs with…
On Saturday, February 18, the Musical Instrument Museum debuted its “I Am AZ Music” exhibit, featuring over 40 installations that examine the scope and history of music in Arizona in celebration of the State’s centennial. Reggae artist Walt Richardson performed, as well as psychedelic soul band What Laura Says. Deon…
We’re pretty excited about Hooves’ homecoming gig in March, and listening to “Animal Mother,” our exclusive sneak peek at the band’s upcoming Fetch, Little Doggie LP, justifies the commotion. A live staple at the band’s shows for some time, the recorded version offers a certain clarity that isn’t always present…
Editor’s Note: An abridged version of this article appears in this week’s issue, featuring 100 Songs that Defined Arizona. In celebration of Arizona’s centennial, we’ve rounded up sound clips for (almost) everything featured in our list. Thanks to everyone who submitted song suggestions, all of our guest contributors (John Dixon,…
Have you locked your weekend plans down yet? There’s plenty going on — on Source Victoria plays the Yucca on Friday, and Saturday night features three shows that couldn’t be more different: Glam-rockers The Darkness, legendary singer Glen Campbell, and Michelle Blades CD release show. But there’s more than all…
Editor’s Note: An abridged version of this article appears in this week’s issue, featuring 100 Songs that Defined Arizona. In celebration of Arizona’s centennial, we’ve rounded up sound clips for (almost) everything featured in our list, and will be rolling them out over the course of the week. “Everybody knows…
You guys sure like those Young the Giant guys: Their gig tonight at Crescent Ballroom sold out so quickly they added a second date tomorrow. And it’s sold out, too. But we’ve got a pair of tickets to giveaway courtesy of Cincinnati popsters Walk the Moon. The quartet (name nicked…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What inspired Pickster One, Z-Trip, and LL Cool J’s “Super Baller”? What five singers should team…
You expect the typical rock ‘n’ roll drama when a band takes to the studio to tackle its sophomore album: band fights, creative control struggles, and gigantic egos. But it wasn’t any of that stuff that caused the four year gap between Source Victoria’s The Fast Escape and their airtight…
It doesn’t take long for “La Verite,” the opening track on Michelle Blades’ new record, Mariana, to assert itself as new territory for the singer/songwriter. With its swelling strings (courtesy of violinist Tobie Milford), galloping drums, sprightly keyboards (both played by members of Blades’ post-punk outfit North Dakota), the song…
Road trip anyone? The Beach Boys — you know, those old dudes in funny hats who played with Foster the People and the certified cool guy and totally-not-the-worst Adam Levin-fronted Maroon 5 at the Grammy’s — are coming to Arizona, but they are skipping Phoenix in favor of launching their…
Editor’s Note: An abridged version of this article appears in this week’s issue, featuring 100 Songs that Defined Arizona. In celebration of Arizona’s centennial, we’ve rounded up sound clips for (almost) everything featured in our list, and will be rolling them out over the course of the week. “I just…
Editor’s Note: A version of this article appears in this week’s issue, featuring 100 Songs that Defined Arizona. In celebration of Arizona’s centennial, we spoke with Kimber Lanning, whose got musician (Half-String, Letdownright), record store owner (Stinkweeds), and retail activist (Local First Arizona) on her resume. She discussed Sleepwalker’s 1998…
