New Order at Coachella, April 13, 2013

Oliver ScherilloNew OrderNew Order While over at the main stage, the bulk of the Coachella crowd was enduring Phoenix with the hope that Daft Punk would come out — they instead got R. Kelly — a smaller but perhaps more enthusiastic crowd got a first-rate greatest hits set from New…

Kevin Pate Memorials Set for This Week in Phoenix and Tucson

Guitarists and singers get more than all their share of worship. People even give the drummer some from time to time–if they’re generous they’ll even let him solo interminably. But for whatever reasons no one ever coined the phrase “bass hero,” a handle that suited Arizona bassist Kevin Lee Pate…

Polica @ Rhythm Room

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Justin Vernon, the reclusive mind behind Bon Iver, said Poliça is the best band he’s ever heard. If that doesn’t get your indie sensibilities all hot and bothered, nothing will. (We’re assuming that Vernon, crowned King of Indie by the Grammy committee in 2012, has heard…

The xx @ Marquee Theatre

Minimalist R&B-inspired music is riding a wave of popularity right now, but not all makers of breathy, sexytime music are created equal. The sensuality in the music of The xx — comprising Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, and Jamie Smith — is one that The Weeknd and James Blake can’t…

Modest Mouse @ Crescent Ballroom

In an recent interview with New Times’ music blog, Up on the Sun, eccentric bassist Les Claypool confessed: “Primus was never supposed to be on the radio, never supposed to be on MTV, never supposed to sell platinum records.” One imagines that Isaac Brock, the singer/songwriter behind Modest Mouse, must…

Sigur Rós @ Comerica Theatre

There’s no getting around it: Icelandic band Sigur Rós is utterly ridiculous. First, there’s the language singer Jonsi often sings in: Vonlenska, or Hopelandic, a gibberish dialect consisting of mewls and coos. And then there’s the blasted pretentiousness: The band named an album ( ), for Pete’s sake. Looking like…

Synth-Poppers Vial of Sound Are Living in Analog

We’re living in the golden age of musical fetishism. Call it the byproduct of Jack White’s obsessively vinyl/analog warpath or call it resistance to the way digital distribution has dehumanized the musical process. Whatever the cause, it’s never been more fashionable to covet “old school” objects: records, hi-fi equipment, cassettes…

TrapZillas @ Urban Heat and Bar Smith

The DJ/producer duo of Adolfo “Dolphz” Salazar and Logic Ali, better known as TrapZillas, has an absolute monster of a weekend planned. The pimped-out trap specialists — who hail from Phoenix and L.A., respectively — will spend the night of Friday, April 12, pulling off back-to-back gigs at two EDM…

Yellow Minute Spaces Out

Yellow Minute should never be confused with a New York minute. The atmospheric, psychedelic indie-pop band moves at a much slower pace. With dreamy atmospherics, gentle rhythms and drifting vocals, Yellow Minute is perhaps better for that late-night chill session than the shimmering club scene. At least, explains band founder…

The “Okie From Muskogee” Has Always Been a Populist

They don’t make ’em like Merle Haggard anymore, but what the hell would they do with ’em if they did? Everything about Haggard is rough: his Bakersfield voice, a scratchy, gnarled thing even in his youth; his trademark accompaniment, the twangy, stinging barbs of Telecaster snaking out of tweed-covered amplifiers;…

Seven Nights of EDM, DJs, and Dancing

Thursday 11 Afterlife: Touch Thursdays (Top 40, EDM) AZ/88: Black Out Thursdays with Josh 1 (soulful house, lounge) Barney’s Boathouse: Thirsty Thursdays with DJ Pulse (Top 40) Cadillac Ranch: Thirsty Thursdays (Top 40, hip-hop, house) Dos Gringos (Scottsdale): DJ Switch (rock, Top 40, remixes) Firehouse Scottsdale: Weekly College Rager (Top…

Country Thunder Schedule 2013: Every Act on Every Stage

Arizona’s leg of Country Thunder 2013 begins Thursday in Florence, and if you haven’t decided whether to go already, you have some ticket-buying decisions to make in a hurry. It’s with that in mind that we at Up on the Sun are providing the following public service: a complete schedule…

Danny Brown Interview: “I Have Been Around Phoenix.”

“I am unpredictable,” Danny Brown says. “That’s why I call myself the hybrid. I never do the same shit.” Danny’s high-pitched speedy delivery attracts listeners and hip-hop heads alike to his Adderall-influenced songs. He’s recognized for his idiosyncratic rhymes and jokes (who else can reference Janis Joplin and GG Allin…