To be a musician and hail from New Orleans this year is to have the world’s ear — up to a point. That very same world would probably demand that your group have some kind of universally recognizable blues or R&B packed away in its rowboat and expect that you…
Fans of singer-songwriter Rob Dickinson’s old band The Catherine Wheel should not expect to hear the same spacy, silvery guitars and feedback-filled solos on Dickinson’s new album, Fresh Wine for the Horses. Nor should they expect any visceral ditties like TCW’s “Happy Days” — with its angst-ridden line “Eat my…
The band’s moniker is a reference to the jacket of an old hardback book, and front man Conan Zimmerman is an avid reader of literary legends like Salinger, Hemingway, and Chekhov. It’s no surprise, then, that Dust Jacket’s poetic lyrics stand out like Bob Dylan next to that first, infamous…
Of all the artists that the fan-approved, critically underrated Rhymesayers label has discovered in recent years, Stefon Leron “P.O.S.” Alexander may be the most intriguing. A black punk rocker from Minneapolis, P.O.S. (which stands for “Product of Society,” “Pissed Off Stef,” and many other acronyms) blends together hard rock and…
The 2004 presidential election was accompanied by an almost universal outcry from the music industry for the dethroning of George W. Bush, but no one embodied this sentiment better than Green Day, with its punk-opera masterpiece American Idiot. That wasn’t the only band with something to say, though, as ska-punk…
“Last year’s AZ show was so fucking epic that folks are traveling from far and wide to be there this year!” testifies “eastcoastpete” on Avail’s MySpace page. That includes the hardcore punk icons themselves, who are flying in from their Richmond, Virginia, headquarters on Friday night, playing this special one-off…
Music cognoscenti everywhere will probably agree that 2005 was the year of “New American Weird.” From Sufjan Stevens to Iron & Wine, nu-Americana, folktronica or whatever you call it is fast becoming the new American sound, at least among the mop-top and Puma set. Tempe-based Skybox’s new release, Arco Iris,…
As an underground hip-hop group from Portland, Oregon, Lightheaded wouldn’t be expected to rap about pimping bitches, but this trio’s subject matter is noticeably clean-cut. Wrong Way, its second album and first since 2001’s Pure Thoughts, features songs about trying to be a better husband (“Eye to Eye”), testimonials about…
Ordinarily we wouldn’t encourage anyone to patronize a fraternity-sponsored event, but since all y’all collegiate would-be intellectuals are back clocking hours with the professors, you probably need a chance to cut loose while the semester’s still fresh. The local chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha — the first intercollegiate African-American fraternity,…
Thursday 26 Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness: DJ Brooklyn (hip-hop, Top 40) Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Panic! with DJ Manchester (Britpop, New Wave) & Area 51 with DJ Jeremy (goth, industrial) The Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Camus: Sparkle with DJ Pablo Gomez (deep house, electro, rock) The Crown Room: DJ Gable (rock, house,…
Click here to enlarge “Battle Acts”…
“Um, we better use Charlie,” Rob Kistler tells me when I ask how I should address him when referring to the country-rock band he fronts under the pseudonym Charlie Shooter, which just released its first CD a couple of weekends ago. Kistler finally capitulated to the cascade of advice suggesting…
Try to explain the depraved ethos behind films like Eli Roth’s new grindhouse pic Hostel to anyone other than a fan of the horror genre, and you’ll most likely elicit a series of concerned looks. The same goes for explaining hardcore death metal. Some people just don’t get it. And…
Loyal patrons of Neckbeard’s Soda Bar, the pirate-themed non-alcoholic music venue in Tempe that catered to teenage screamo and hardcore fans, have expressed a collective “Blimey!” since their beloved hole-in-the-wall was deep-sixed on January 10. While dozens of his former customers play the blame game on the message board of…
With a title like The Greatest and a hot pink album cover featuring boxing glove bling, Chan Marshall (otherwise known as Cat Power) seems to be making an effort to separate herself from her established image with this latest release. Marshall, notorious for her insecurities and fumbling onstage persona, began…
A prime example of a drunken idea that turned out to be a good one, Head Wound City is a noise-rock supergroup of sorts, featuring two members each from hypercore outfits The Locust and Blood Brothers, plus guitarist Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Recorded in a week, this…
Don’t let the band’s name, the band members’ eyeglasses, or the kittens they’re brandishing on the album cover fool you. The dudes in We Are Scientists look every bit as awkward as beloved femme-punk trio Le Tigre, but thankfully pocket protectors often conceal the hearts of lions. The California trio’s…
Meanwhile, in a back room somewhere in northern New Jersey . . . “Do you know why I’ve gathered you here for this important meeting?” “No, Boss,” replied the eight members of the E Street Band in unison. “Have you heard the new Marah album?” Springsteen hissed through clenched teeth…
Fans of music heavier than the cast of Celebrity Fit Club 3 have had much to rejoice about over the past couple of years, what with so many powerful, innovative sounds coming out of the art-metal underground (as so nicely documented in a recent New York Times piece), plus the…
His dad, novelist Larry McMurtry, bought him his first guitar when he was 7, and his mother, an English professor, taught him how to play it, but even so, the acorn resides close to the tree. James McMurtry’s country-tinged roots rock is keyed to his facility with words, his insights…
Whatever happened to those freaky-deaky sisters we knew back in high school? You know, that one pair of punky-funky-gothy chicks who dressed like they were Tim Burton groupies or RenFest extras, knew every Kate Bush and Cure song by heart, and had unhealthy obsessions with dolls and fairies. We heard…
Puerto Rican born and raised house DJ Robbie Rivera earned his chops the hard way on the island, spinning for whomever would hire him — without the benefit of pitch control on his tables. Now a worldwide house phenomenon, he’s got the pitch modulation down perfectly, as you can hear…
