She can’t sing, her dancing is questionable, her hooks are purchased, and she has a documented crazy streak — yet Britney Spears has still managed to make the comeback of the decade. She’s currently on her Femme Fatale arena tour, where the visual spectacle trumps the sound quality, and fans…
The Black Lips are at a crossroads. After 2009’s 200 Million Thousand, the murky, messy bummer of a record that stalled their career, the longtime Atlanta psych-garage band suddenly appeared at risk of becoming a novelty act known more for their chemically fueled R-rated on- and offstage antics (which included,…
A little more than three years ago, The Format shocked the Valley with the announcement of their breakup. The duo of Nate Ruess and Sam Means seemed poised to put Arizona music in the national spotlight. They had established their own imprint, The Vanity Label, with national distribution through Nettwerk…
Hate, sex, and drugs. Those are the qualities that unite the musical selections of DJ Squalor, with tunes coming from a wide spectrum of misanthropic genres industrial, EBM, electro, dance, experimental, and noise. “If it’s dirty, wrong, fast, and has the right pulse, I drop that shit.” Squalor provides the…
You know your band is cool when indie folk hero Devendra Banhart “opens” for you at a house party. It was pretty exciting for local rockers The Tremulants, anyway, when they found themselves playing after Banhart in the basement of a Mesa home one Saturday night in early June. “I…
On paper, a concert featuring Mavis Staples and Dr. John, also known as Mac Rebennack, seems like a natural pairing. The two have become elder statespeople of the soul genre. Staples solidified her rep last year, winning a Grammy award for Best Americana Album for You Are Not Alone, her…
THURSDAY 16 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, rarities, vintage) Blue Martini: Rewind Thursday with DJ…
Last Year, America got a pumping rock-fist of Japanese Music when X Japan, the most popular J-Rock band ever, played their debut U.S. show at Lollapalooza before rocking through a few major cities on their first North America tour. I witnessed their fiery pyrotechnics and emotionally-charged duality between tearful ballads…
When it comes to summer music festivals, most people tend to think of well established, corporate-sponsored events like Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, or the Pitchfork Music Festival. But one music festival that seems to be establishing itself as something of a big ticket in recent years is the annual Gathering of the…
On hip-hop supergroup The Roots’ 2002 album, Phrenology, there’s a track called “WAOK (Ay) Roll Call,” wherein the band gives shout-outs to 230 of their favorite and most influential music artists, including Grandmaster Flash and Common. At the very end of this illustrious list, the track ends with the words…
Soulwax’s Steve Slingeneyer, better known for his One Man Party moniker, headlined an evening full of electronica during Faux Show’s Summer Pre Party at Brick. Steve wasn’t the only one partying, the bar and patio were full of patrons dancing and socializing all night. Check out this weeks Club Candids…
Matt and Kim Marquee Theatre Tuesday, June 14, 2011I’ve been told time and time again that I need to see Matt and Kim live. I almost made it happen last year, but their Clubhouse Music Venue show sold out before I could get tickets. From friends and reviews, I gathered that the…
Rapper, proucer, and The Voice vocal coach Cee Lo Green will kick off his own talk show on Fuse on June 22, according to Paste.The upcoming show, entitled Talking to Strangers, is a performance and interview series that’s all about Cee Lo sitting down to interview indie, rap and R&B artists…
Virtuoso Brian Carroll, better known as Buckethead, is an unheralded musical genius. Sure, it’s weird that he performs with a bucket on his head and a white costume mask as he assumes the role of a character who survived a “chicken holocaust,” but anyone who’s listened to his solo works…
Plenty of people can appreciate good writing when they recognize it. I particularly appreciate reading good pieces about music. If I’m reading something that’s not about any of my favorite bands, that’s even better because maybe I’ll learn something, and perhaps you will, too. Welcome to our first installment of our…
The members of Swell…Adios, made up of the core-duo of guitarist/vocalist Lauren Farrah and drummer/producer Shane Kennedy, are quick to discuss the music they love.It should come as no surprise that Farrah and Kennedy are such avid music nuts. Listening to the demos the pair has been steadily posting on…
I came across the band’s debut album, Go Tell Fire to the Mountain, this past Friday, entering into it with mixed emotions, fueled by not knowing what the hell was about to come over the speakers. After all, WU LYF stands for “World United/Lucifer Youth Foundation” and the band often…
, according to MTV News.In the brand new video, Perry throws a kick ass ’80s house party at her home with the help of party co-host and my homegirl Rebecca Black, house band Hanson, and sax master Kenny G, who plays Uncle Kenny. Plus, ’80s stars Debbie Gibson and Corey…
This was the twentieth Circus Mexicus yet. It’s a Phoenician tradition of sorts. An excuse to pack up the kids, head down to Mexico, drink beer, eat fish tacos and watch Roger Clyne perform for the umpteenth time. While that might make for a fun weekend, the same old story doesn’t make for a good one. Absurdity however, does.
The New York Dolls are widely considered one of the most influential bands in punk, glam, and hair metal. Mötley Crüe and Poison are among the dozens of acts that cite the Dolls as influences. Ironic, then, that the New York Dolls are opening for the Crüe and Poison this…
Those instrumental breaks certainly add a wild-card element to Sun and Shade, furthering the band’s sound rather than allowing it to rest on past laurels. That eye on progress is something that the members of Woods have quite the knack for, yet the band hasn’t, by any means, forgotten their…
Swedish indie pop band Acid House Kings have garnered quite a bit of praise for their latest album, Music Sounds Better with You. Pitchfork called the twee pop quartet’s album “their strongest-sounding record,” and Pop Matters says “it’s nearly impossible to resist them.” But as they saying goes, “Imitation is…
