Historically, the Coachella lineup has been announced in January. That means it — along with the schedules of some artists who, hopefully, will make their way to Phoenix between dates — should be announced any day now. There have been a number of fake posters circulating on the Net –…
Once a week, Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday…
Yeah, yeah, yeah…we get it. Mondays suck (we’ve read Garfield). But it means the start of a new week, which means a bunch of killer shows in and around Phoenix. And here are a few of the coolest — our top five must-see shows this week…
High-energy hip-hoppers Weird Is the New Cool and Latin-reggae-punk rockers Fayuca wasted no time in hitting the road to begin their 2013 campaign. Mere days after the new year dawned, the two local acts launched their Spark the Flame Tour on Thursday, January 3, and paid a little visit to…
Corey Eaton is a fairly straightforward guy. He doesn’t rock a clever or overly pretentious DJ moniker and tends not to put on any airs about himself or his chosen profession. The 35-year-old — who maintains weekly residencies at several of the Valley’s Dos Gringos locations, as well as Fat…
Lana Del Rey’s “Cola” put some interesting visuals in our heads, especially that line about the particular flavor of her labia – “My pussy tastes like Pepsi Cola,” she sings. As we’ve already gone into, local pranksters MAN-CAT took the vulgarity one step further, creating their own ad campaign, complete…
Matt Anderson The local comedian performs at Monkey Pants Bar and Grill at 8:30 pm, Thursday, January 31. Follow him on Twitter @MattAnd3rson. When you put your key in the ignition, what station would play right now? I am an FM guy because I’m the poorest of them all. So,…
Curious about what’s going on around town this weekend? Need some suggestions where to rock, dance, or krump in the Valley of the Sun? Don’t fret: These are our Five Shows to See This Weekend…
The New Year promises to bring excitement to River Jones Music, as the label just added five bands from around the nation to its roster. From Portland comes Bike Thief and Alameda, from Austin comes the Technicolor Hearts, from Seattle comes Sophia Duccini and from Tempe comes local music scene…
If you’re not a thumbsucking moron who only cares about which overzealous rapper impregnated which leg-spreading reality star, you might’ve heard of this thing called the “fiscal cliff.” If not, lemme just clue you in via economist Paul Craig Roberts: “The fiscal cliff is automatic spending cuts and tax increases…
By now you’ve probably formed an opinion about Django Unchained, the controversial new Quentin Tarantino film starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, and Leonardo DiCaprio. But don’t let that stop you from diving into Karina Longworth’s excellent Phoenix New Times cover story this week, which features the writer/director…
[Editor’s note: The following post by Houston writer and ESL teacher Shea Serrano was named the best blog post of the year in the first-ever Voice Media Group music writing awards. Originally published by our sister blog, West Coast Sound at L.A. Weekly, it’s a hilarious real-time account of an…
On “Just Another Rider,” from 2011’s Low Country Blues, Gregg Allman’s first non-compilation album since 1997, raw emotions well up on this heavy Southern-blues tune as he sings, “Just another rider on that train to nowhere.” And nowhere was where the Allman Brothers Band namesake was headed had it not…
Go ahead and call The Growlers “beach goth.” It’s not only an apt term that hints at the Orange County band’s sound — dark psychedelic rock with a slacker, surfer edge — but when The Growlers put together a big homecoming show in October, they called it a “beach goth…
San Fernando Valley-based heavy metal act Aristeia is all about grandeur — and the band doesn’t try to hide it. On 2011’s Era of the Omnipotent, the quartet juxtaposes guttural screams against high-pitched ones (don’t worry, you won’t find any angular-haired boys singing pretty here), but the group sounds best…
Lest you think that “Mill” in Jared and The Mill is an ironic reference to the Valley’s ’90s alt-rock heyday, tune in to “The Returning Half,” in which the mostly rootsy combo cranks up the amps and the intensity, breaking off a dusty chunk of desert jangle rock that sounds…
Call us weirdoes for noticing something like this, but it seems a good chunk of the local DJ crowd can’t dress for shit. Though it’s true that the focus of any spin gig should (understandably) be on the quality of sounds coming from the mixers instead of what the particular…
Gospel Claws, Put Your Sunshine Away (Common Wall Media/President Gator Records): The men of Gospel Claws had a rough time in 2011 and 2012. Songwriter Joel Marquard fought (and beat) testicular cancer, and the band tragically lost guitarist Mark Erickson. But there’s no mourning on their second LP, Put Your…
As I type this, it’s still 2012, but by the time we hit “publish,” it’ll be 2013. So I’ll turn to the great poet Kanye West to sum it all up: “I’m livin’ in the future so the presence is my past. My presence is the present, kiss my ass.”…
The Trunk Space is a fun place to check out music and casually hang out. The intimate location has a welcoming vibe thanks to friendly regulars and the bands that play so close to the crowd. Winter is officially here, so the espresso bar definitely comes in handy on cold…
Once a week Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday…
Is it possible to have a New Years Resolution for a whole city? Not sure, but I have one. One for Phoenicians one and all, myself included. So here goes: Let’s take some musical risks, Phoenix. Let’s look for opportunities to try new things. No sticking to known quantities. We…
