If you’ve attended a major music festival, club night, or dance party within the past 12 months, it’s almost certain that you’ve heard “Spaceman” being blasting over the sound system. The otherworldly six-minute track, crafted by Dutch-house wunderkind Hardwell (pictured) earlier this year, has pretty much become the new “Levels,”…
Maybe you hear it directly, maybe you don’t. But there’s a spirit that sits in between the notes on Algiers, a spirit that guided the record, some decades-old essence of a converted Baptist church near the Mississippi River that Tucson’s Calexico drew on like a well to record its seventh…
Seattle band Earth’s progression from instrumental drone-metal negativists to tempered electric Americana drone artists has been as natural and languid as the band’s riffs. Led by guitarist Dylan Carlson — the only constant member in the band’s nearly 20-year run — the group formed in the early ’90s, inspiring legions…
If you’re hedging your bets on who will be the next big thing in hip-hop, you should probably wager on A$AP Rocky. The Harlem-born member of A$AP Mob struck a nerve with his 2011 mixtape, LiveLoveA$AP, which adroitly combined disparate elements like East Coast boom bap, ambient synths, and crushing…
There will be no Sex Pistols songs performed at the Public Image, Ltd. concert. Yes, PiL is fronted by the former British public enemy number one and Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten (real last name Lydon), but those days are past. In fact, Lydon, despite the obvious royalty check boost,…
The baritone voice has a certain feel — employed by both the louche and the doom-obsessed (see Jim Morrison; see Morrissey). IDM artist Matthew Dear falls somewhere in the middle and, more often than not, his sexual invitations sound much like monotone warnings. On “You Put a Smell on Me,”…
A couple of cool things made their way onto the planet in 1982. USA Today went into circulation, the first permanent artificial heart began beating, Michael Jackson dropped Thriller, and Arizona State University’s student radio station went live. The Blaze 1330 AM celebrated its 30th birthday last week, and to…
If you haven’t been inside the nightspot located across Saddlebag Trail across from El Hefe and Majerle’s Old Town in Scottsdale recently, there have a been more than a few changes to the place recently. What was once the debauchery-laden Pussycat Lounge (which closed this past summer) is now the…
We know there’s tons of Halloween parties happening this weekend, with a little something for everyone going down. If you’re spending the whole weekend at home noshing on Halloween candy and watching zombie movies, you’re doing it wrong. But for fans seeking punk thrills, the Yucca Tap Room is the…
There’s plenty to be worried about these days. Just off the top of our heads, there’s the very real possibility of a Mitt Romney presidency, the horrors of the ever-lagging economy, and all that folderol about whether or not the world’s ending in a couple of months. Frankly, your brains…
Ben “Macklemore” Haggerty has quickly become an unlikely and conscious voice in hip-hop. His name may seem new, but this is really Haggerty’s second wind, and he’s using his newfound platform to speak out — but also to have some fun. Speaking by phone from his native Seattle, Haggerty picks…
Is there any better way to ring in the Christmas season than a Pitbull concert? His new album, Global Warming, is hitting shelves at the end of November, just in time for the holidays, no? If you’re not sure what to ask Santa for this year, how about a few…
Since the New Times is moving this column to coincide with the print edition, I thought I’d take a moment to re-introduce myself and give you a peek into why I’ve resided in Arizona for the past 17 years. It has a little to do with the glowing gray area…
Arc In Round @ Yucca Tap Room|10/22/12 I’m a bloody sucker for shoegaze. Even if it sounds relatively crappy to a “veteran” shoegaze groups like Slowdive or My Bloody Valentine, I have trouble saying no. Luckily, getting turned on to Arc in Round turned out to be far above average…
Melvins Lite @ Crescent BallroomMelvins Lite, the latest incarnation of the 30-year-old sludge/punk/metal band The Melvins, took the stage at The Crescent Ballroom last night, chalking up stop number 48 on their record-breaking 51-day tour of the country. They’re hitting every state…and Washington D.C. See also: New Times Talks to…
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas–even though Halloween is still just around the corner. As grocery stores begin to stock their Christmas crap decorations, the last show announcements of the year trickle in. Historically, the line up for Alice Cooper’s Christmas Pudding gets announced every October, and while…
Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop…
By Mark Keresman Quickly: How many female jazz instrumentalists can you name? Not singers, of which there are aplenty, but ace players of instruments of the female gender? There are more prominent ones on the scene than there were, say, 30 years ago–composer/bandleaders Carla Bley and Maria Schneider, trumpeter Ingrid…
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…
Italian dance-punker Rocco Rampino, better known as Congorock, brings a different groove to the EDM genre. Rising up in the world with EDM anthems such as “Ivory” and “Babylon”, Congorock has made his own mark on the elctronic genre. See also: Russell Ramirez on the History of Swell Records, Old…
Just in time for the Halloween season, noted heavy metal icon and horror enthusiast Scott Ian of Anthrax has launched a new web series,Blood & Guts, on the Nerdist YouTube channel. Ian visits various horror-oriented special effects studios, gets a close-up look at famous movie props (think the original Alien…
The weird-bearded wait is over: the new album by Tempe based-gaze project Local Wizards has arrived in sweet digital stream and neat-looking CD digi-pak format. Performed, recorded, and released entirely by 19-year-old Kendall Humbert, The Signal is a collection of amorphous dream-pop, understated space ballads, and cathartic synth rippers. See…
