Dre of OutKast, amid a chorus of East Coast boos during the 1995 Source Awards, defiantly declared, “The South got something to say.” Diplo bit, and he’s been weaving what his native South has to say into his mixes for years as one-half of Philadelphia’s Hollertronix and as a solo…
Phoenix may be overrun with strip malls, but we didn’t invent them. In fact, Los Angeles is considered the real home of the mini-mall, a place designed for urban automobility, for grabbing a quick snack and doing some speedy shopping. L.A. architect John Kaliski, author of Everyday Urbanism, will discuss…
Former New Times staffer Douglas Towne presents his altar/ode to defunct technology in conjunction with the gallery’s larger “Dia de los Muertos” exhibit. Towne’s construct features a still-working J.C. Penney 8-track player booming out stuff like the Fabulous Poodles, Jefferson Starship, and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Fri., Nov…
Retro’s been a fad for so long now that it, too, seems almost retro. But cool will always be cool, and Marco Polo Saldana, who sings and plays standup bass for local “psychobilly” band the Curse of the Pink Hearse, knows cool. He carries cool with him in an old…
A Starship Enterprise Tue., Nov. 4, 6 p.m., 2008…
If heavy metal cello group Apocalyptica is any indication, whatever’s in the water in Finland makes for a pretty heavy tonic. The band takes classical music instruments and sets them to epic renditions of metal songs, or melds them into their own booming, bottom-heavy compositions. While the group (consisting of…
Mickey Avalon’s been through some shit, man. His mom had him selling weed for her when he was just a teenager. She fired him a little while later, though, when she discovered he was shooting up smack at the age of 16. And things got only stickier and trickier from…
We were watching The Daily Show the other night when the comedy/news program’s corespondents screamed into the camera “Just End It!” And frankly, we’re inclined to agree. Witnessing this year’s race for the White House unfold is kind of like watching your favorite team in the seventh game of the…
After his son died, the Scottsdale-based author became a true believer in the controversial world of psychics and mediums. He wrote about his conversion in the new book Soul Shift: Finding Where the Dead Go, which documents his encounters with professional mediums Allison Dubois and Laurie Campbell. He discusses and…
Wikipedia has no information about the top speed of your average goldfish. But based on what we’ve seen every week at Giligin’s, they’ve darn gast little swimmers. Tuesdays, 10 p.m., 2008…
Nestling somewhere between metalcore and screamo/post-hardcore, From Dark sounds a lot like a bunch of other bands you’ve probably heard: The Used, Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold, Underoath, Thrice, and Senses Fail, to name a few. The formula? Spiraling, melodic guitars; dissonant lyrics; steady drum rhythms; and vocals that alternate between singing…
The comedian who has made cameo appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! performs. Sat., Nov. 8, 8 p.m., 2008…
After two solo live albums, it’s easy to forget Jackson Browne’s versatility as a musician, which might be boiled down to one key characteristic: He’s a great listener. On his first new album in six years, Time the Conqueror, and on its tour, Browne features background vocalists Chavonne Morris and…
“Actually, I know very little about astrology,” says Harvey Sid Fisher by phone from L.A. “But I thought, no one’s written a song for all the signs. I could become a billionaire.” With this incentive, Fisher set to work on a cycle of songs based on each sign of the…
When it comes to avant-garde rock bands, there are usually two distinct routes: noisy cathartic (Sonic Youth, Dead C) and dissonant/drone-y ominous (Spiritualized, This Heat). Then there are the bands that go the other extreme, exuding a smug “Gosh, aren’t we just so zany and quirky?” attitude. Few bands seem…
Writing a song that paints a picture of a fire in a Taco Bell is no easy task, yet Detroit’s Electric Six laugh at such a notion. The band’s infamous 2003 single “Danger! (High Voltage)” easily sums up what kind of effect the genre-bending band is going for. Dick Valentine,…
If you miss following the Grateful Dead or Phish from gig to gig, munching a few funky brownies and spinning in circles as the bands play, fire up the VW bus this weekend and head up to the Spirit Room in Jerome, AZ, where Tempe’s Mojo Farmers host their bi-annual…
If you miss following the Grateful Dead or Phish from gig to gig, munching a few funky brownies and spinning in circles as the bands play, fire up the VW bus this weekend and head up to the Spirit Room in Jerome, AZ, where Tempe’s Mojo Farmers host their bi-annual…
She’s been part of The Spirit Squad, Runaway Diamonds’ life-affirming wall of vocals, for nearly a year now. But when people ask Rhianna Riggs what the Phoenix band sounds like, she has no idea what to tell them. You’re just like ‘Well, Gabriel plays the beat machine and piano and…
There’s nothing especially new about douchebag rock; the Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, and countless others have shoehorned the subgenre into the larger pop canon. But in the present decade, plenty of indie boys have gotten in touch with their inner assholes: the Walkmen, Say Anything, the Strokes, and, most notably,…
No Use for a Name has been around for 20 years now, which is staggering when you consider that just about as many people know the punk band’s name today as in 1987, though that may have something to do with the fact that it has no use for one…
Fourteen years into a largely unheralded career, Elf Power are still at it, even if they never made the big time – in fact, they never got close. Led by frontman Andrew Rieger, this indie-rock band has been the odd man out in some buzz-worthy scenes. Despite their association with…
