Most people know Johnette Napolitano as the singer and bassist of Concrete Blonde, but throughout her career, she’s had a hand in several side projects, including The Heads (with Talking Head Tina Weymouth), a duo called Vowel Movement, and the bands Pretty & Twisted and Catfish Scar. Amazingly, she’s been…

I’m a bad lesbian. I rarely go to gay pride events, I’ve only seen one episode of The L Word, you couldn’t get me anywhere near Lilith Fair. And I hardly ever hit the Valley’s gay and lesbian clubs anymore. There are a few reasons for this: There’s too much…

All right, you metal maniacs! Here’s a hard-hitting album that’ll give you a sore throat just from listening to it. 3 Inches of Blood takes all the melodic sensibilities of ’80s metal monsters like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and serves them with a heavy dose of modern thrash madness…

When Desiree Duponte, one half of Phoenix death metal duo Hellen, passed away on Friday, April 13, it was a tragic case of destiny unfulfilled. Desiree, along with her sister Mindy, had been creating some of the most innovative, eclectic metal to ever come out of the Valley, and the…

“I’ve never had so much fun standing in line in my life!” My friend Bones is thrilled that we are, indeed, standing in line at Scottsdale’s Martini Ranch on a recent Tuesday night, because when we get to the end of this line, we’ll be meeting the members of Tesla,…

Seductive jazz singer Wensday made her first Phoenix appearance at Alice Cooper’s 2006 “Christmas Pudding” concert, where she performed a soulful version of Cooper’s power ballad “Only Women Bleed.” That track is included on Torch Rock, with ad-libbed lines like “Just kick that jackass out of town.” The other 12…

As the guitarist of the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, Jason Trachtenburg swaps singing duties with his teenage daughter (and drummer), Rachel, while his wife, Tina, operates a slide projector, casting old images of other families’ birthday parties and vacations to time with the music. Trachtenburg is equally quirky and innovative…

Of Rhode Island MC Paul “Sage” Francis’ fourth solo album, Filter magazine wrote, “You can call it emo or you can call it hip-hop.” (Cue the sound of squealing brakes.) Huh? Francis may have been a member of Midwest emo-rap group Atmosphere, but there is nothing emo about this album…

There’s a hippie hiding in here somewhere. Behind the dreamy, intentionally off-key harmonies, under the shuffling, soft snare drums, inside the closet with the plucky guitar that’s trying to fade out of all the songs, there’s something very sloppy-’60s-stumbling-into-silly-’70s going on. It’s pop, but it’s confused, as if somebody dosed…

What’s worse than Worser? Lots of stuff, because Worser is way better than just okay. This six-song EP shows some serious prog-rock tendencies — polyrhythmic timing changes, irregular tuning, unconventional chord progressions, and meandering melodies — but the fat guitar riffs and roiling bass lines give the band a burly…

Total chaos. Upon initial inspection, that’s what the songs of local duo Get Down! To Brass Tacks are built upon — synthesizers careen through the compositions like a blind man driving a Mack truck through a carnival of cowbells and fatass basslines, while singer/bassist Aarik Miller shrieks and wails through…

After hearing the debut disc by local lesbian punk/dance trio The Pübes, the only thing left to say is “Oh, hell, fuck yeah!” Led by local folkstress Cameo Hill (who becomes Ivana Pluchya in this band), The Pübes combine the bouncy bad-girl vibe of artists like Suzi Quatro and Bikini…

Once upon a time, singers and songwriters told stories. Back before Bob Dylan plugged in, “folk” music was just that — music about folks, some stemming from oral traditions, others steeped in a performer’s personal stories. That was before the “confessional” folk of people like Ani DiFranco took hold and…

Skinny Puppy’s known for its dark industrial sound and psycho-techno compositions that don’t follow a linear progression. The doomy machines are still present on Mythmaker, but the songs here are SP’s most danceable yet, from the infernal pulse and processed vocals of the leadoff track, “Magnifishit,” to the KMFDM-feel and…

“Well, even if he just sits down and licks his balls, it’ll still be fun.” It’s Cinco de Mayo, and my buddy B-Boy is trying to talk me into going to the annual Chihuahua races in Chandler. My companion wants to enter Blanquito, his sister’s cream-colored Chihuahua, in the races…

Some bands wear their influences on their sleeves. Phoenix trio Emperors of Japan are no exception, but the quirky group has altered its attire. The Emperors wear many clothes. For example, “Reptile,” the opening track to the band’s first album, opens like an old Cure song, with spacy, dreamy keyboards…

Surfing the retro-rock revival wave isn’t a bad thing if you’ve got balance, and Brooklyn-based Panthers have it. The power rock quartet’s found the perfect median between melodic stoner rock, fast-paced punk, and ’70s metal here. Tracks like “Uncertainly” have the high energy of punk, alongside fuzzy, fast-paced garage riffs,…

“Heeey maaan, you got a cigarette for me?” The question comes from a tall, skinny, glassy-eyed kid in a Megadeth T-shirt, and it’s directed at my friend Chazz, who could easily be his father. Chazz asks the kid if he’s gonna buy him a beer. “Yeeah, maaan, I’ll buy ya…

This Japanese rock band is huge in its home country, and it’s starting to make waves here in the States, despite being way too cool for us. Dir En Grey is seriously the hippest hard metal band to hit the Western world in a long time. Originally part of Japan’s…

My buddy B-Boy looks like he could kick some serious ass. At 6-foot-4 and 350 pounds, he strikes an imposing figure in his baggy Dickies pants and stained T-shirts. His shaved head and scraggly beard add to the intimidation factor, so it’s a good thing he’s not a bully. In…

The new CD by local industrial metal band The Iris sounds like a sonic blueprint for a band that’s finding its sound, and getting hotter by the minute. But the blueprint isn’t new — Marilyn Manson, Deftones, and a dozen other bands drew it. What’s great about The Vanity Fair…