Before being unfairly besmirched by the cast of Jersey Shore, the beaches of New Jersey used to conjure images of boardwalks, of gray skies over choppy blue water. The kind of places Bruce Springsteen sang about with mythical urgency on his early records, a place where prom queens sport busted-up…
The last time there was a Stills-Young double-bill was in 1978, when Neil Young bailed on the tour via telegram after nine dates. Now Pegi Young, Neil’s wife at that time and for the ensuing 33 years, is opening for Stephen Stills, and she assures anyone worried that she is…
California Lite, the new album from Key Losers, starts off with a fakeout — 15 seconds of weird, rumbling noise — before segueing into “Limited Time,” a synth-washed gem that owes more than a little to the Laurel Canyon folk. The latest work from Arizona native Katy Davidson (you may…
Pete Salaz, Sean Badger, and the other proprietors of Bar Smith should make sure that all the windows at their hipster headquarters are secure, as the artists of SubConscious will cause the downstairs lounge to shake and quake with some serious bass every Wednesday. Heck, such DJs as Deepfreq, Dehga,…
Joel Marquard has a motto: “Life is messy. That’s how I like my music.” Messy is the right word. How else could you describe Marquard’s new side project, The Through & Through Gospel Review, which finds the songwriter stepping away from his popular indie-rock band Gospel Claws, to explore 12…
When Chicago soul band JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound went into a recording studio to lay down tracks for their recent new album Want More, they weren’t interested in re-creating the high-energy feel of their live shows. “For me, they’re two different ways of experiencing the band,” he says…
Thursday 10 27th Avenue Bar: DJ Manage (Top 40) Afterlife: Thumpin’ Thursdays (various) Bar Smith: DJ Idenaty, DJ EC Rock, & DJ Oh-Jezus (various) Capitol Sports Lounge: DJ Danny Peru (old school, Latin, Top 40) Crave: Champagne Room with DJ Sixfour (Top 40, rock, electro) Cream Stereo Lounge: Blush Thursdays…
One of our favorite weirdo acts is Captured! By Robots, and the gang of automatons and their human slave JBOT are back in town tonight at the Rhythm Room. In honor of their inevitable rise, we thought we’d try to appease the cold and heartless droid rage by demonstrating how…
This week’s issue bring you the story of Joel Marquard’s Through & Through Gospel Review, which finds the songwriter stepping away from the indie rock sound of his band Gospel Claws to explore gospel music. Marquard speaks about belief, his family ties to gospel music, and why everyone (mistakenly thinks)…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What did Hoodlums Music owner Steve Wiley have to say about owning a record store for…
You could say that during the month of October, there are some questionable, but well-intended benefits that sexualize breasts for the sake of raising money for breast cancer research.Well, two can play at that game, ladies. Move over, October. Think your chesticles are sexy? Try comparing them to these glorious…
Welcome to the latest installment of our weekly feature, Sound Off, in which Jason P. Woodbury is joined by a different guest each week to listen to and discuss three tracks from local Phoenix artists. If you would like your songs to be considered for future Sound Off columns, please…
It’s time for a revelation: The new Long Wong’s in Tempe will never be the same as the old Long Wong’s in Tempe. More than seven years after its untimely demise, the Mill Avenue landmark (which gave birth to some of the biggest bands in Valley history) still casts a…
Odd Future hates me. Okay, so not me specifically (at least I don’t think), but what I do: write about music. The group’s relationship with the media has been complicated. They wound of up on the cover of Billboard, them promptly trashed the magazine at a SxSW showcase gig. Nearly…
In the world of rock n’ roll, there’s plenty of room for creativity. There’s also a huge emphasis on respecting the “classics,” which in turn leads to confusion. Plenty of different, unique bands take on the same names, leading to perplexing Google searches and sometimes, exposure to the wrong band…
The Monday after the Tempe Block Party, you would be within your rights to scratch your head and ask “Did that really happen?” And duly, “Did John Popper (of Blues Traveler), Shurman and Jono Manson fly in to play a free show with free food and drink in an apartment…
Okay, seriously. Here us out. This is not a list of bands containing black people (some do, some don’t), it’s a list of bands with “black” in their band names. I came up with the idea shortly after The Black Lips performed at The Rhythm Room, and waited for another…
his week we’re bringing you Breaking Infinity, a blog run by hip-hop/rap artist Jaron Ikner, aka Black One.You can even get yourself some fresh new music for free just by going to the site.More on what’s awesome about this week’s Tumblr of the Week after the jump…..
The last couple of days have been downright lousy. On Thursday, November 3, Gwar guitarist Cory Smoot was found dead by his bandmates as they crossed the Canadian border while on tour. On Monday, boxing great Joe Frazier succumbed to liver cancer. Yesterday afternoon, TMZ reported that Dwight Arrington Myers,…
Dead Meadow’s coming through town tonight with Drainbow and Strangers Family Band, so expect the Rhythm Room to get a little frizzle-fried by the band’s psychedelicized rockers. Three Kings, the band’s most recent release, drags listeners through a bluesy, backwards-glancing psych-rock reminiscent of proto-metal bands like Blue Cheer. While Dead…
M83 Crescent Ballroom Monday, November 7 “Epic” is a word that has come to be synonymous with the music of M83. Fans use it to describe the band’s live experience and frontman Anthony Gonzalez himself has used it to describe the double-album, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming; the new release he’s…
While M83 was bringing “epic” sounds to Crescent Ballroom, a very different kind of epic was going down across town at The Rhythm Room. The Bo-Keys, seven pieces lead by Scott Bomar and featuring Stax/Hi Records players Archie “Hubby” Turner on keys, Howard Grimes on drums, and Ben Cauley (the…
