Stephen Drew went 4-4 and hit two home runs Wednesday night in San Diego. And that’s where the good news ends for the Arizona Diamondbacks, who lost 9-3 to the Padres, extending the Pads’ NL West lead to 6.5 games and giving them the best record in the National League…
Artist: Dead ConfederateTitle: SugarRelease: August 24Label: Razor & TieRecently, I wrote about a really good band with a terrible name. Today, I’ve got a band with a pretty cool name and really so-so music. Dead Confederate evokes a sound that is quite a bit different from what actually emits from…
Welcome to our latest podcast, in which Martin Cizmar and I play some new music and about it, too. On today’s program, we discuss the merits of such bands as Wavves, Arcade Fire, The Budos Band, Jimmy Eat World, and local superstars Snake! Snake! Snakes!Here’s the playlist:Jaill — “The Stroller”Arcade…
Artist: Magic KidsTitle: MemphisRelease date: August 24Label: True PantherPaying tribute to Pet Sounds seems to be passé among the new crop of indie bands. Now, it seems a lot of these kids are all about a post-Pet Sounds era, one in which the Baroque elements of Brian Wilson’s masterpiece take…
On Interpol’s self-titled fourth album, the onetime kings of the New York indie-rock scene are still the well-groomed gloom merchants that exploded in popularity in 2002, but they seem to have lost their edge. That’s not really supposed to happen after you leave the big leagues (Capitol) and return to…
Artist: Isobel Campbell & Mark LaneganTitle: HawkRelease date: August 24Label: VanguardIsobel Campbell, who left Belle & Sebastian nearly a decade, is from Scotland but has made, perhaps, my favorite Americana record of the year. On Hawk, she has teamed with former Screaming Trees/Queens of the Stone Age singer Mark Lanegan…
Artist: Street Sweepers Social ClubTitle: The Ghetto Blaster EPRelease date: August 10Label: Street Sweepers Social ClubWhile the singer for Rage Against the Machine clings to relevancy by lending what little celebrity weight he still has to the civil rights cause in Arizona, the guitarist is still bashing out those Rage-y…
Artist: LissieTitle: Catching a TigerRelease date: August 17Label: Fat PossumI’m declaring a moratorium on the word “douchebag.” It’s now the most overused word of the year, and it’s time to give it a rest. Thank you for your consideration.What’s better than the word douchebag is the California-via-Illinois singer Lissie, who…
The Arizona Diamondbacks finished their road trip with a win sandwiched between two losses to the Washington Nationals. Catcher Miguel Montero keyed Saturday’s 9-2 victory with two home runs and three RBI to back starting pitcher Ian Kennedy’s fine performance. Kennedy (pictured above) pitched seven innings, giving up only two…
Lots of CDs piling up. Let’s have a listen at a few, shall we?Norman — Hay, Hay, Make a Wish and Turn Away: These boys play Neil Young-meets-Uncle Tupelo country-folk-rock through a cloudy, green filter befitting their Oregon provenance. Mostly, it works, especially when they veer away from the freak-folk…
Artist: Jimmy Eat WorldTitle: InventedRelease date: September 28Label: DGC RecordsCan any good come from my criticizing the work of hometown heroes/local legends/scene benefactors/all-around nice guys Jimmy Eat World? Answer: No. They’re more important than me, richer than me, more musically talented than me, and have millions more fans than me. When…
Artist: Snake! Snake! Snakes!Title: Snake! Snake! Snakes! EPRelease date: August 10Label: Common Wall Media/Modern ArtA friend e-mailed me a few days ago, hinting that I should write about more local bands in Nothing Not New. Though I’ve written about Authority Zero and Eyes Set to Kill (and I will be…
Artist: The Budos BandTitle: The Budos Band IIIRelease date: August 10Label: DaptoneIf you’re one of those folks who’s gotta hear singers — who needs words in their pop music — you’re forgiven if you don’t have much use for The Budos Band. The rest of you? Tune in to this…
Artist: Arcade FireTitle: The SuburbsRelease date: August 3Label: MergeHere’s something I did not know until after multiple listens to Arcade Fire’s new record: The suburbs are not what they seem. Here I’d lived 40-plus years (including my first 18 years in the suburbs) thinking that suburbia provided an idyllic backdrop for…
Music editor Martin Cizmar and I are back with another podcast, in which we discuss the overratedness of The Gaslight Anthem, the bleak Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse collaboration, my failed attempt at concert promoting, the return of Crowded House, and a bunch of other stuff that you didn’t even realize you needed…
Artist: WavvesTitle: King of the BeachRelease date: August 3Label: Fat PossumRemember Wavves? They (well, it was more or less one guy, Nathan Williams, and whoever would back him) were huge in Indieland last summer, the ultimate buzz band of 2009. Then they played some high-profile festivals, totally sucked at those…
Holy crap, only five-plus months left of Nothing Not New. I gotta get to a lot more new(-ish) releases. Let’s roll . . .Cowboy Junkies — Remnin Park: Who knew these dour Canadians were even still around? Remnin Park is a concept album inspired the Timmins’ family month-long sojourn to…
Phillies ace Roy Halladay made it look easy Wednesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks as the Phils won 7-1. Halladay threw a six-hit complete game, striking out nine D-Backs, yet throwing only 109 pitches. The only blemish on his evening was giving up an RBI double to Miguel Montero in…
As if they were the anti-Wavves, Brooklyn’s Beach Fossils wring from their kick-back, lo-fi stoner beach pop impossibly clean, intertwining guitar lines that loop and loop and loop and . . . Well, they loop to the point that, as you listen, you feel as though you were lounging on…
The influential New York indie-rock band Versus, which made two highly regarded records in the 1990s (Secret Swingers and Two Cents Plus Tax), was last seen in 2000 and assumed lost forever. Now, the Merge label — having quite a year with consistently solid records by Spoon, Teenage Fanclub, Shout…
Artist: The Goodnight LovingTitle: Supper ClubRelease date: July 20Label: DirtnapSo, this Milwaukee band was supposed to play in Tempe on Saturday night. I’d seen on the Goner Records message board earlier this summer that they were touring the West and needed a Phoenix gig, so I set them up at…
Artist: MenomenaTitle: MinesRelease date: July 27Label: BarsukMenomena is a band from Portland, Oregon, that is often described as experimental rock. They’re not. Actually, they’re more conventional than that label might lead you to believe — and that’s a good thing. In fact, at times on their new record, Mines, they…
