When it comes to crooners, they don’t get any cooler than Frank Sinatra. Over the course of his 60-year career, “Old Blue Eyes” won a dozen Grammy Awards, three Academy Awards, and recorded 297 singles, including hits like “Theme from New York, New York,” “My Way,” and “Strangers in the…
You might have read about local electro pop band Super Stereo in this week’s music feature in Phoenix New Times. While you’ll get the details of how the group came together there, you’ll also notice the band is a bit into fantasy and myth-building — so much so, the group…
This is not the first time the Valley has met with an unruly haboob, nor will it be the last. In my infinite wisdom, I figured why not ride the dust wave and make a list of the top ten songs about dust. You can even make a nice little…
Finding success with two different bands puts you in some pretty rarefied company. But just like Dave Grohl, Eric Clapton, and everyone in Joy Division not named Ian Curtis, Louisiana singer-guitarists Grant Widmer and Ted Joyner — the core of upstart indie-pop outfit Generationals — have managed to pull off…
Being in a touring rock band is challenging enough without internal conflicts, but when two members of the group are separating/divorcing each other, there are only two paths to take: 1) the Fleetwood Mac route, in which all the trauma is poured into an album for the whole world to…
If teeny-bopper rap sounds like something Method Man’s nightmares would be made of, it’s not. The Closer to My Dreams Tour, headlined by Young Money labelmates Tyga and Lil Twist (with opener Diggy Simmons, son of Rev Run of Run-D.M.C.), is proof that teeny-bopper not only lives, but that it…
Sometimes, metal bands sound like teenagers screaming over a wall of doomy, spiraling guitar chords. Sometimes, metal bands sound like a demon orgy in a thunderstorm. And occasionally, a good metal band sounds like both. One of the things that make Phoenix band Sicmonic notable is musical diversity. The quintet’s…
It’s a Friday night at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, and local electro-pop band Super Stereo is getting ready to take the stage. The five 20-somethings (two gals and three guys) in the group are wearing sunglasses and coordinated gray-and-white outfits. They look crisp, clean, and cool, as…
Don’t let that mask scare you. DJ Raccoon doesn’t want to dig through your trash; he wants to get your ass moving. “I stray far, far away from Top 40,” Raccoon, a.k.a. Jake Brennan, says via e-mail. Raccoon is more into indie, dance, house, and dub, which he’ll be playing…
After he released Curse Your Branches in 2009, an album frequently called his “breakup letter with Christianity,” you’d think that former Pedro the Lion frontman David Bazan would be done answering questions about his faith. But, inevitably, his wrestling match with Christianity still comes up in nearly every interview with…
Pete Townshend once claimed, “I have terrible hearing trouble. I have unwittingly helped to invent and refine a type of music that makes its principal proponents deaf.” But there’s a drummer/singer out there right now who was born deaf but learned to hear. He’s performed more than 2,500 concerts for…
Third-wave ska peaked sometime in the late 1990s, when bands like The Toasters, Save Ferris, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones achieved mainstream recognition. Times change and people move on, and now we’re left with Rihanna searching for a rude boy. Thankfully, Streetlight Manifesto has been providing a fresh take on…
THURSDAY 7 27th Avenue Bar: DJ Manage, & DJ Android (Top 40, dance) Afterlife: Thumpin Thurzdays (various) AZ/88: Josh One (rare groove, urban funk) Bar Smith: Splash Thursday (reggae, dancehall, Top 40, house) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (jazz, blues, country, R&B) Blue Martini: Rewind Thursday with DJ Mendez (various)…
A name like Summer Massive sets high expectations for a party. All the components were in place — an impressive line up featuring Designer Drugs, Le Castle Vania, and local talent, a large venue (bonus points for cool décor at The Venue of Scottsdale), cheap drinks, and lots of interesting…
, according to Consequence of Sound.As if she wasn’t busy enough promoting her new album 4, which is doing quite well on the Billboard charts, Beyonce will take the lead female role as “an aspiring singer who arrives in Hollywood desperate for a break.”The film is set to be released…
Featuring former members of Tempe jangle-pop kings The Pistoleros, Dead Hot Workshop, The Gin Blossoms, and Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, The Persuaders debuted earlier this year, cranking out the same kind of melodic pop rock that defined the sound of their earlier bands.If you’ve spent any time near Mill…
Last week, Fantasy Records and Hear Music released Rave On Buddy Holly, a 19-track tribute album dedicated to the bespectacled rock and roll icon. Artists like Paul McCartney and Lou Reed cover Holly classics on the album, as do the Black Keys and Modest Mouse. But the finest Holly cover of all…
, according to the Fab Life.Clayton Hill, the inmate, has said that Nation of Islam member Dawoud Muhammad was the hit man who shot and killed the Notorious B.I.G.Muhammad “stated to me that he was on the run for the murder [of the Notorious B.I.G.],” Hill said in a recent…
Today, Universal Music Enterprises will re-release a handful of albums by the late Tupac Shakur, including the posthumous album R U still Down? (Remember Me). Originally released in 1997 (a year after Shakur’s murder), R U Still Down? was one of the rapper’s best-selling albums, going quadruple platinum in the…
For those who felt that “Still Life” just wasn’t enough Horrors, worry not — the band has made Skying available for a full album stream via their website. The much-anticipated follow up to 2009’s Mercury Prize-nominated Primary Colours, Skying finds The Horrors comfortable in the post-punk, touches-of-shoegaze groove that Colours…
Since Anthony was found to be not guilty, the majority of reactions have been rather negative — many, including myself, felt Anthony was guilty of first-degree murder. Anthony was hardly a likable character, as well, a trait that seems to follow accused murderers like the black plague.Now that Anthony is…
The upbeat melodic pop songs of singer/songwriter Maren Parusel can turn someone with even the surliest reputation into a purveyor of positive vibes. Case in point: Pall Jenkins from Black Heart Procession, a band known for creating deep, dark, introspective songs. Jenkins produced Parusel’s debut album, Artificial Gardens, and when…
