Peter CaseThe Rhythm RoomSunday, June 26As much as he’s a songwriter, Peter Case is a storyteller. All throughout his solo acoustic set at The Rhythm Room last night, Case peppered the space between songs with stories from his rock ‘n’ roll past: Scoring free records from Elektra when his band…
When news broke that Psyko Steve was booking a gig at Modified Arts, I got excited. Not because I’m a huge fan of the artist he’s booking, Ari Herstand — the guy makes pretty straight forward pop-rock, possesses a fairly angelic voice, and sounds an awful lot like something you’d…
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 are Valley commuters listening to in the morning on Light Rail? •What does local artist…
THURSDAY 23 27th Avenue Bar: DJ Manage, & DJ Android (Top 40, dance) Afterlife: Thumpin Thurzdays (various) AZ/88: Josh One (rare groove, urban funk) Bar Smith: Splash Thursday (reggae, dancehall, Top 40, house) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (jazz, blues, country, R&B, rarities, vintage) Blue Martini: Rewind Thursday with DJ…
It’s tempting to think of Peter Case as a rock ‘n’ roller who went soft, abandoning the power pop/mod sounds of his ’70s and ’80s bands The Nerves (who wrote the Blondie hit “Hanging on the Telephone”) and The Plimsouls (known for new wave classic “A Million Miles Away”) for…
Joel Davis, better known by his professional name, DJ Epidemic, is moving to New York. There’s just one problem. “New York DJs are terrible,” Davis says. “They don’t mix, and they all get drunk and are on drugs. It’s a very terrible scene for DJs.” Yet Davis is bound for…
Ottmar Liebert makes smooth music, the kind of airy fare you might hear in a dentist’s office. But though his tunes border on new age, his work ethic is resolutely hardcore: The German-born guitarist has been issuing “nouveau flamenco” guitar records since 1989, cranking out 25 albums’ worth of live…
Peter Case is a man with serious cred when it comes to power-pop. His ’70s band The Nerves recorded the original version of “Hanging On the Telephone,” which Blondie scored a hit with, and his ’80s group, The Plimsouls, married Northern Soul grooves with strident, chiming melodies. In 1986, Case…
In case you’ve missed practically every noteworthy blog hyping it, or didn’t watch The Colbert Report last night, here’s some news: Bon Iver, the band, released Bon Iver, the album, today. It’s the band’s second outing, and technically the first that was recorded as a band and not just songwriter…
Joel Davis, better known by his DJ handle, DJ Epidemic, is moving to New York to join up with Silver Medallion, whom he officially mans the wheels of steel for. Epidemic isn’t planning on leaving Phoenix without a party first; he’ll be guest DJing at Sticky Fingers at Bar Smith,…
Mavis Staples and Dr. JohnCelebrity TheatreThursday, June 16″Joyful noise.” That’s how Mavis Staples described what her and her band create onstage. It’s an apt characterization, one that is appropriately loaded with gospel history, and one that connotes how the 71-year-old singer approaches performing. It can be summed up by another…
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 happened back in 1971, when Alice Cooper says Elvis asked him to put a gun…
Bill CallahanThe Rhythm RoomWednesday, June 15His reputation as a “sad guy with a guitar” notwithstanding, one defining element of Bill Callahan’s music struck me the most while listening to him at The Rhythm Room last night: his sense of humor.Don’t misread me; Callahan never even cracked a smile. But he…
THURSDAY 16 27th Avenue Bar: DJ Manage, & DJ Android (Top 40, dance) Afterlife: Thumpin Thurzdays (various) AZ/88: Josh One (rare groove, urban funk) Bar Smith: Splash Thursday (reggae, dancehall, Top 40, house) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (jazz, blues, country, R&B, rarities, vintage) Blue Martini: Rewind Thursday with DJ…
On paper, a concert featuring Mavis Staples and Dr. John, also known as Mac Rebennack, seems like a natural pairing. The two have become elder statespeople of the soul genre. Staples solidified her rep last year, winning a Grammy award for Best Americana Album for You Are Not Alone, her…
Hate, sex, and drugs. Those are the qualities that unite the musical selections of DJ Squalor, with tunes coming from a wide spectrum of misanthropic genres industrial, EBM, electro, dance, experimental, and noise. “If it’s dirty, wrong, fast, and has the right pulse, I drop that shit.” Squalor provides the…
Taj Weekes doesn’t possess a typical “reggae” voice, but that’s okay, because he doesn’t make “typical” reggae. Weekes’ voice is reedy, almost androgynous, and on A Waterlogged Soul Kitchen, his latest release, he puts his unique timbre on display over classic reggae sounds augmented by nods to calypso, folk, blues,…
The members of Swell…Adios, made up of the core-duo of guitarist/vocalist Lauren Farrah and drummer/producer Shane Kennedy, are quick to discuss the music they love.It should come as no surprise that Farrah and Kennedy are such avid music nuts. Listening to the demos the pair has been steadily posting on…
You have to give it up to the folks organizing the 2011 Winter Soulstice event presented by Walking Stick. Rather than just guess who the people want to see, they are allowing Facebook fans of their page to actually vote on who is going to get booked at this year’s…
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you? I hope not, but just in case someone is, there’s good news on the horizon. Just after 7 a.m. this morning, X 103.9 announced The Foo Fighters are coming to town, on October 16 at US Airways…
Fight Club Sadisco* is justifiably legendary around town. How often do you get to watch real live fights to the grinding sounds of electronica, industrial, and generally angry jams? This year, the down-and-dirty party goes down on June 18, at The Firehouse Gallery. Last year, our own Benjamin Leatherman climbed…
Sometimes a remix doesn’t need to drastically depart from an original song. The Strobes — a Phoenix-based DJ collective featuring William Reed, Ryan Breen, Thomy Hoefer (AKA Prince $$) — doesn’t go off the map with their take on T. Rex’s classic rock anthem “Bang a Gong (Get It On),”…
