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 spooky songs are featured on the Holy Page Records Halloween compilation? What is Andrea Beesley-Brown…
The best kinds of music — power pop, Americana, garage rock, R ‘n’ B — are often defined more by what the bands playing that kind of music don’t do than by what they do. Garage rock, for example, requires very little in the way of a formula: steady backbeat,…
In 1981, Phoenix punk band J.F.A. (a.k.a. Jodie Foster’s Army) released the Blatant Localism EP on Placebo Records. Remarkably brief — the entire record clocks in at six minutes, 34 seconds — the record defined the burgeoning skate punk scene. Though not Phoenix’s first punk band, JFA introduced, with Blatant…
On Monday, October 10, British songwriter and psychedelic legend Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch) visited the Musical Instrument Museum, strolling around the exhibits and conducting interviews with writers about the history of music and education. Speaking with Donovan was really something. They guy doesn’t seem to stop to even think;…
Today we published a list of ten great albums you may have missed in 2011, but one record Up on the Sun contributor M.T. Richards left off his list is one at the top of mine, The War on Drugs’ Slave Ambient. The album suggests the Nebraska Springsteen could have…
On the official Rock the Revolution site, presidential candidate Ron Paul says: “I always knew that if you were going to have a revolution, you needed two things. Young people, and music.” Well — looks like he has the music part locked down with Rock the Revolution Concert, scheduled to…
Given his penchant for tequila, you’ve no doubt woke up feeling like a zombie after a Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers show (lord knows we’ve felt it). But on Friday, October 28, Clyne and friends will literally be getting zombified — dressing up as the undead for Harold’s Haunted Honky…
Look, don’t tell Netflix or Qwikster or whatever it’s called today, but I am their perfect customer. When Netflix raised prices, I didn’t cancel my plan. When CEO Reed Hastings announced that the service would be splitting into two services, Netflix for streaming video, and the absurdly named Qwikster, for…
A few years ago, shortly after I turned 21, I purchased a sixer of Fat Tire. At the time I was living with a constantly rotating cast rogues in a two story house attached to an old doctors office. The couch was nearly always occupied by any number of guests,…
All holidays have their plusses (even the ones with dubious — though not syphilitic, as it turns out — origins, like today, Columbus Day) but for my money, there’s no holiday quite as much fun as Halloween. Each year I try to scare up a special mix of spooky tunes…
Adrian Belew has an extensive résumé. The art-rocker has played with the avant-garde vanguard, clocking in time with King Crimson, Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie, The Talking Heads, Frank Zappa, Brian Eno, as well as playing straight up power pop with his band The Bears. Lately Belew has been touring…
This weekend is looking pretty packed. In addition to the New Times Best of Phoenix A’Fare, there’s a ton happening around the Valley, including shows from Tim Minchin, the Red Light Disco party, Avenged Sevenfold, New Found Glory, Star Slinger, Wayne Static, and more. Oh, and that giant music festival…
It’s been a really great week for Black Star fans — and I’m one of them. Black Star, the 1998 collaboration between Mos Def and Talib Kweli is one of my favorite hip-hop albums. The duo performed “Fix Up,” produced by the nearly always awesome Madlib, on The Colbert Report,…
Don’t call it a solo album — that’s what Joel Marquard of Gospel Claws says about The Through and Through Gospel Review, a new record of 12 traditional style gospel songs he recorded mostly alone, save for a few contributions from members of Where Dead Voices Gather, Dear and the…
Get ready for our very own Coachella this weekend. Well — not really. As Christina Caldwell’s feature explains, Apache Lake Music Festival isn’t quite the same thing as that fest, but it does feature over 30 of Arizona’s best bands in a remote setting. We’ve also got shorter features on…
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 records upcoming records are we most excited to hear? What will the debut record from…
Lindsey Buckingham was always the most punk of the soft-rockers. Never mind his following up Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours with the weird-as-hell Tusk, recording vocals in the bathroom and trying to get Talking Heads with a marching band on the title track; even his Fleetwood hits are models of stripped-down intensity…
We’re sure that somewhere, there’s a Lord of the Rings fan — they like to be referred to as “Ringers,” mind you — who is totally comfortable with the opposite sex, doesn’t live in his mom’s basement, and doesn’t spend his days dreaming of Mordor and reciting poems about Tom…
He may be armed with a laptop and sample pad, but don’t confuse what Chico Mann — the stage name of Marcos J. Garcia — does on stage for DJing. “I get mistaken for a DJ, and it’s like, ‘Wow, no, this is not DJ,'” Mann says. As a member…
Disturbing Tha Peace/Def Jam recording artist Willy Northpole has been busy lately — dropping new tracks via his Twitter and Tumblr sites. Recent tracks include “George Kush” and “I’m Gucci,” and last week he released “Two Fresh Too Cool,” hinting at a seriously poppy direction. The track is a departure…
Are you the kind of Korn fan that’s bummed out that the band’s new single, “Get Up” features Skrillex (of “macho-izing dubstep” and “Girls That Look Like Skrillex” fame) and abandons the band’s nü-metal sound in favor of…well…a kind of dubsteppy nü-metal sound? Fear not — Brian “Head” Welch, the…
Unknown Mortal Orchestra, What Laura Says, and St. Ranger Crescent Ballroom Tuesday, October 4, 2011 It’s official: Crescent Ballroom is open, and people are excited about it. Last night was…well, really, kind of perfect. The rain mostly cleared, leaving a strange…what’s the word? Non-heat? Less hot? Oh yeah– coolness –in…
