On his recent album, Southeastern, singer/songwriter Jason Isbell writes plaintive ballads about dying cancer patients, tender country soul numbers about the process of recovery, and swampy power-pop about Super 8 ass-whuppings. It’s his fourth solo album since leaving Georgian southern rockers Drive-By Truckers in 2007, following a divorce from Truckers…
On his recent album, Southeastern, singer/songwriter Jason Isbell writes plaintive ballads about dying cancer patients, tender country soul numbers about the process of recovery, and swampy power-pop about Super 8 ass-whuppings. It’s his fourth solo album since leaving Georgian southern rockers Drive-By Truckers, a group he departed in 2007, following…
Lonnie Holley’s art begins with troubled times. The 63-year-old’s first artistic project was carving headstones for his sister’s two children, who died in a house fire in Alabama in 1979. Since then, his found-object assemblages, paintings, and collages have endeared him to the fine art world — they have even…
It’s hard to figure out exactly what to make of modern country’s flirtations with genres outside Nashville’s rustic confines. Taylor Swift’s Red incorporated an (ever-so-slight) dubstep wobble into her pop-country frame. The Zac Brown Band is covering Metallica in concert. Former Hootie and the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker gets as…
It’s hard to figure out exactly what to make of modern country’s flirtations with genres outside Nashville’s rustic confines. Taylor Swift’s Red incorporated an (ever-so-slight) dubstep wobble into her pop-country frame. The Zac Brown Band is covering Metallica live. Former Hootie and the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker gets as much…
It’s not often that a band’s social media bio nails it, but Tempe metal band TOAD’s is a rare exception. There’s no hyperbole, no invoking the names of far-out influences to seem “cultured.” It’s straight and honest: “An American rock ‘n’ roll band from the 1970s trapped inside of a…
Much of the conversation about the Baptist Generals’ Jackleg Devotional to the Heart, the 10 years-in-the-waiting follow-up to the Denton, Texas-based band’s Sub Pop debut, No Silver/No Gold, has centered on exactly what singer/songwriter Chris Flemmons was doing during the decade-long stretch of national inactivity. In this week’s issue of…
On Nashville-via-New York string trio the Howlin’ Brothers’ debut record, Howl, the band doesn’t “re-create” a specific moment in Americana music so much as run wild and wooly through great big landscapes of it. Recorded by Brendan Benson (the Raconteurs, The Maine) for his Readymade Records imprint, Ben Plasse (upright…
Mesa-based songwriter Jeff Gonzales knows how to write a love song. Midway through his debut solo EP, the six-song The Lights Just Went Out. . ., he drops an openhearted doozy, the lilting country shuffle “Midday Epilogue.” “Well, I gave up my family for you,” he croons, a light drawl…
It’s a little too early to crown 2013 the “Year Of” anything in particular, but you might be able to make a strong case for 2013 as the “Year of the Musical Manifesto.” Observe Daft Punk’s calculated marketing buildup toward Random Access Memories, with tales of organic music-making on the…
At the beginning of May, the folks comprising the mysterious arts collective Ascetic House — responsible for releases by bands like Destruction Unit, Marshstepper, Body of Light, All Anal, and many more — issued an open letter on the group’s site stating that from that point on, cassettes, zines, and…
It was 1993 when Brandon Capps and a few like-minded friends started coordinating the first Beautiful Noise “shoegaze” festivals around Arizona. But 20 years ago, shoegaze wasn’t a compliment. It was an insult, a pejorative tossed at the kind of guitarist who stared down at his pedals, waiting for the…
In February, after nearly 22 years of delays, My Bloody Valentine released a follow-up to their genre-defining 1991 LP, Loveless. In light of that, it’s tempting to declare 2013 the Year of the Shoegaze Revival. There are signs all over: Coachella’s lineup boasted fresh-faced dream-pop acts like DIIV, Wild Nothing,…
You’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but fuggit, man — you can go ahead and judge Fu Manchu by its album covers. It’s all there: launching dune buggies, UFOs, shredding skateboarders, babes in bikinis, hot rods, vans. It’s not rocket science; it’s simply Southern California rock…
You submitted nominations for awards given to the Valley’s emerging creatives and the results are in. Introducing our Big Brain 2013 Finalists. Leading up to the Big Brain Award awards announcement and celebration on April 27, Chow Bella and Jackalope Ranch will introduce the finalists. Up today: Club Fonograma Carlos…
You submitted nominations for awards given to the Valley’s emerging creatives and the results are in. Introducing our Big Brain 2013 Finalists. Leading up to the Big Brain Award awards announcement and celebration on April 27, Chow Bella and Jackalope Ranch will introduce the finalists. Up today: Dust Circuit Radio…
Nathan Williams always had a good thing going with Wavves, whose string of buzzy, snotty pop-punk records has thrilled certain members of the blogosphere since 2009. The formula is clear: scuzzy guitars, crunchy drums, and an abundance of California slacker cool. But there’s always been a nagging question lingering about…
They don’t make ’em like Merle Haggard anymore, but what the hell would they do with ’em if they did? Everything about Haggard is rough: his Bakersfield voice, a scratchy, gnarled thing even in his youth; his trademark accompaniment, the twangy, stinging barbs of Telecaster snaking out of tweed-covered amplifiers;…
There’s no getting around it: Icelandic band Sigur Rós is utterly ridiculous. First, there’s the language singer Jonsi often sings in: Vonlenska, or Hopelandic, a gibberish dialect consisting of mewls and coos. And then there’s the blasted pretentiousness: The band named an album ( ), for Pete’s sake. Looking like…
In an recent interview with New Times’ music blog, Up on the Sun, eccentric bassist Les Claypool confessed: “Primus was never supposed to be on the radio, never supposed to be on MTV, never supposed to sell platinum records.” One imagines that Isaac Brock, the singer/songwriter behind Modest Mouse, must…
Aaron Carter is the younger brother of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, and he sang some songs in the early 2000s that were fairly big hits: “Crush on You,” “I Want Candy,” “That’s How I Beat Shaq.” Then, you know, he sorta wasn’t super-famous. But there’s a twist to the story…
As I announced a couple of weeks ago, I’m stepping down from the music editor position here at New Times, but it’s with great pleasure that I announce that a more than capable gentleman by the name of Dan Moore will be stepping into the role…
