There are two sides to electronic composer Scott Hansen. First, there’s his vintage-inspired, sun-bleached graphic design work as ISO50. Then, there’s his ambient chillwave project Tycho, named after the 16th-century Danish alchemist famed for his accurate work in astronomy. Like Tycho Brahe, Hansen is incredibly precise in his otherworldly and…
Mystery is a hard thing to come by in the Internet age, when musicians’ Twitter updates are examined by blogs the way TMZ keeps its lenses pointed at Lohan (just a matter of time). So, electronic indie act Purity Ring’s emergence in 2011 was refreshingly sneaky: Other than buzzing tracks…
See also: NASA’s Curiosity Rover: Here’s the Hi-Res, 360 Degree View of Mars See also: Our 10 Favorite Martian Songs in Honor of Curiosity My faith in humanity reached a new high when headlines concerning the Curiosity Rover flooded Facebook and Twitter. Were people really interested in science again, the…
See also: River Jones, What Are You Listening To? See also: River Jones Music Featured in NPR’s Wavelength MagazineChances are, you’ve heard the name River Jones thrown around, either surrounding the many artists his label represents (such as Courtney Marie Andrews, Sareena Dominguez or You Me and Apollo) or over…
You might know Mark David Chapman as the subject of that Mindless Self-Indulgence song or as J.D. Salinger’s biggest fan. Oh, and he killed John Lennon. Yeah, about that… As Reuters reports, Chapman is up for parole again this week, marking the seventh time he’ll appear before New York state’s…
Dear Paul Ryan, Congrats on getting the nod for Romney’s VP. Must be a big month for you. While you and I probably won’t ever agree politically, I realize we have a few things in common. You and I are both male carbon-based lifeforms that breath oxygen and the melanin…
See also: decker: Love, God, and Sex in SedonaCall it a rough weekend: While on tour in California, Sedona-based folk band decker.’s van flipped over on Friday night, injuring one of the band members. On the road from Santa Cruz to their Los Angeles show, a tire blew out, causing…
Even faced with seven years in prison for a political stunt pulled in the Russian Orthodox Church, feminist punks Pussy Riot shouldn’t feel alone. The riot grrls’ plea for the Virgin Mary to expel Vladimir Putin from the Kremlin has gained global support from musicians as varied as Madonna, Paul…
René Descartes famously said, “I think, therefore I am.” But he was afraid to classify himself a “rational animal” because “then I should have to inquire what an animal is, what rationality is, and in this one question would lead me down the slope to other harder ones.” Heady queries…
See also: Green Day’s New Song “Epic as Fuck?” Not Even Close. See also: Throwback Thursday: Green Day’s Dookie Last week at a live show in Los Angeles, Green Day revealed another three power punk tracks from their upcoming album, ¡UNO!: “Nuclear Family,” “Wild One,” and most importantly, “Kill The…
See also: Beck, Modern Guilt (Review) See also: Beck, The Information (Review) Beck is the Tom Sawyer of modern music: he never grows up, and we love him even when he’s annoying or faking his own death. And now, like Sawyer’s famous white fence episode, Beck is getting someone else…
See also: The Men and Lower Dens @ Sail Inn See also: Lower Dens’s Jana Hunter On Nootropics, Gender Dynamics In Music, And Listening To Christian Radio On Tour You don’t have to work in a stuffy cubicle to know that team-building exercises are kinda bullshit. I’ve never come away…
If you’ve ever felt like all music on the radio is the same, you’re not alone. Your grandmother felt the same way once. It’s an old complaint that has always bugged me, because sure, the latest Rhianna single is a pile of dogshit, but I hate blanketing all music with…
oOoOO Crescent Ballroom Saturday, July 28 2012 See also: oOoOO Makes Terrifically Scary Pop Self-described as Blondie with autism, oOoOO assembles a world run by his own rules. Whatever structures remain are quickly abandoned, reassembled, and screwed back together so quickly you can hardly keep up…
Tonsil Yeti Rockbar, Inc. Thursday, July 26, 2012 See also: Tonsil Yeti is In it To Win It, Dude A year ago, I got some scratchy, unlabeled demos in the mail from a band called Tonsil Yeti. I was confused, both by the band name and the untitled tracks, but…
The last time I spoke to Tonsil Yeti, they were just releasing their debut album, A Bomb and A Bull, which quickly made the band a recognizable fixture in Flagstaff’s local music scene. This time around, I caught the Northern Arizona quintet hungover somewhere in California (they didn’t quite know…
The Olympics are about a lot more than gold medals, figure skaters, bong-smoking swimmers, and crushing human rights (I’m looking at you, Beijing). More than anything, it’s about ceremony. And, like a lifeless family sitcom, that means theme songs. Over the years, the Olympics have provided us with some of…
Simon Joyner The Trunk Space Monday, July 16, 2012 See also: Songwriter Simon Joyner Chases Ghosts on His Latest Album Here’s why (like myself, a few weeks ago) you probably haven’t heard of Simon Joyner: He’s really not fond of fame. Despite collaborating with The Mountain Goats, impacting Beck in…
See also: Throwback Thursday: Green Day’s Dookie The evolution of Green Day has to be one of the strangest transformations in music history. Over the last 25 years the band has moved from angsty, power-pop tinged punk to politically-charged rock operas to Broadway musicals. So a return to their roots,…
White Horse Yucca Tap Room Wednesday, June 27, 2012 I feel I should mention this is the first show I’ve ever worn earplugs to. Why? Because as three of my friends can demonstrate, the dangers of tinnitus are very real, you guys! Also, because nothing would help me from being…
See also: What Are the Ten Most “Spotified” Songs in Phoenix Last week, NPR blogger Emily White got a whole bunch of discussion started about how musical artists are and aren’t getting paid. (We chimed in, too, discussing music-streaming service Spotify.) If White’s thought — that my peers and I…
In this week’s issue of Phoenix New Times, we profiled ten new(ish) bands we expect to dominate Phoenix iPods and boomboxes this long, hot summer. We’ll be focusing more deeply on those artists over the next couple days here on Up on the Sun. See the entire list: 10 Phoenix…
