Along with chilly weather and frantic Christmas shopping, the beginning of December rings in the season when hordes and hordes of year-end top 10 album lists start materializing.These lists are a fun exercise. Having done a few myself, I like them. Yet you may not realize they but often contain…
That’s why Keith Sweat is this week’s featured artist. His videos for “Twisted” and “Nobody” were MTV staples about fourteen years ago, and they are both beyond fantastic. Sweat is probably best known for his 1987 hit “I Want Her,” and rightfully so — the song is a beacon of…
This dearth of new music is why I chose to give a two-week old album — All Day by Girl Talk — a shot this week. Gregg Gillis, the man behind the madness, unleashed his fourth album on an unsuspecting world two Mondays ago, giving reviewers no time to proffer…
Album: Fever DreamsBasics: Ryan Osterman — the man behind both Sownbones and Owl & Penny — is one of the more talented players on the River Jones Music roster.Osterman’s folk-tinged indie rock smacks of one of his admitted favorite artists, Ryan Adams.There’s also a hint of Bright Eyes-era Conor Oberst…
So, for all the anticipation, how is the soundtrack itself? It’s plenty good, I say. But it really all depends on your attitude going into listening the album. Do you want another throbbing, four-on-the-floor Daft Punk album á la 1996’s Homework? Or do you want a more subdued, orchestral film…
Well, if you’re not that meticulous of a music fanatic and can’t figure out every single sample for yourself, the interactive website Mashup Breakdown has you covered…
So how do you follow the worst album of your often celebrated career? Smack everyone in the fucking mouth with your bona fide best album. As much as it pains me to admit it — Kanye’s latest album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, is a solid effort that far exceeds…
Stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before: Flogging Molly is playing a St. Patrick’s Day concert at Tempe Beach Park.In what has become a tradition neither delayed nor waylaid, the Los Angeles Celtic punkers have scheduled yet another show to celebrate a day when drinking one…
: Static MarchTitle: All At Once, a six-song EP.Basics: Formerly known as Five High, this mellow Phoenix trio plays alternative/indie rock inspired by — according to to the band — Incubus, Muse, Death Cab for Cutie and Kings of Leon.Red flag!While the Kings may be personas non gratas with this…
Rhythm Room, PhoenixNovember 17 2010It was at some point during Portland indie punk trio The Thermals’ set last night where I caught myself remembering that I wasn’t the biggest fan of the band’s 2004 album Fuckin A.Granted, I was a total spazz back then and my music tastes weren’t quite…
Let’s just get this out of the way now — I am originally from Portland, Oregon. I have nothing but love for my beloved Beervana, and anyone that knows me knows that I like to talk your ear off about all things Portland. Hutch Harris, founding member and lead singer of…
In case you haven’t heard or come from a foreign land, Thanksgiving is next week. That means the holidays are upon us, and show announcements are becoming more and more scarce.This week’s group is lead by the Smashing Pumpkins playing a casino. That is literally the most compelling show in…
For a band that was the first to be truly labeled as “post-rock,” Stereolab has kept things going solid since their inception in 1990. Not Music may have its momentary lapses, but fans of the band will feel right at home amongst the baroque-esque aural landscapes and, most importantly, Sadier’s luscious vocals.What…
Seemingly out of nowhere, Gregg Gillis has made his fourth Girl Talk album, All Day, freely available via illegal-art.net.Do you like Jay-Z rapping over General Public’s “Tenderness?” How about Dorrough’s “Ice Cream Paint Job” over some Brothers Johnson? Girl Talk gotchu, son! Gillis is masterful in outdoing himself album after album, and…
Artist: Casket LifeTitle: Building a Better DisasterBasics: The band’s MySpace page reveals a fun little tidbit about the process of recording Building: “One year ago we recorded a record. It’s a pretty good record called “building a better disaster”. So we’ve been all stoked and chillin and getting pretty drunk and…
Folk-tinged psych-rockers Akron/Family have a new album due out in February, and they’ve stopped at nothing to get the word out in perhaps the most offbeat way. The album is conveniently titled S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT, natch.The trio has a history of being on…
The Thermals are an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. But who isn’t an indie band from Portland these days? The novelty-tinged charm that used to go with repping the Rose City has diminished over the years. The Thermals, however, never quite bought into the clichés attached to so many…
Sweeping generalizations aside, both Aoki and Gillis are famed DJs with similar mashup stylings, as the kids say. Both fellas like to take multiple songs and cram them all into one, a style Gillis has perfected under his Girl Talk moniker. Aoki’s 2008 album Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles had…
[jump] Their song “How to Ride the Bus” is the first NOTES song to be made available. Bassist Dave “Mitch Freedom” Maroney is absolutely bullshitting poor Kristin Anderson, by the way. Valley Metro describes NOTES as, “a series of short animated music videos that demonstrate all the ins and outs of…
And yet, here I wait, eagerly awaiting the next hit single from Cee-Lo’s former Goodie Mob cohort Big Gipp. What the critics are saying:…
Delorean Rhythm Room 11/8/2010Hey — do you like dancing? Who the hell doesn’t? Do you also like to party like it’s Monday? Well then Delorean’s show at the Rhythm Room was where the action was last night. Spanish indie/electronic foursome Delorean kept the beat strong last night with their European-influenced stage…
I was grumblings of the Suns’ porous, lackadaisical defense during a recent game when a different debate started between my girlfriend and I.Which Green Day album is “Brain Stew” is on again? The answer, of course, is 1995’s Insomniac. But a better question is why such an odd query came up during…
