Last year was a big one for Greeley Estates, the best-known post-hardcore act to come out of our state. Almost exactly a year ago, the Greeley Estates released No Rain, No Rainbow, the band’s fifth album in six years. They charted on the Billboard Top 200, changed guitarists, and toured…
You’ve heard of post-punk, post-hardcore, post-grunge, and, perhaps, postpartum industrial pop-folk. But are you familiar with the rock subgenre known, simply and asininely, as “post-rock”? The term has been applied to El Ten Eleven, the Los Angeles-based instrumental two-piece whose atmospheric, non-chorus-based sound murals generally unfold within the boundaries drawn…
There are not many things more morbid than a band called Bitter End releasing an album called Guilty As Charged. If the first mental pictures you get are of death row, then you’re not far off. Lyrics have always played an important role in punk rock, and this hardcore Texas-bred/New…
If you missed these exquisite Prince and the Revolution impersonators when they swung through town a year ago, well, here’s your chance to party like it’s 2010. Led by singer-guitarist/Prince doppleganger Jason Tenner, the Reign has shot to the top of America’s tribute-band food chain, scoring a gig on Late…
It’s mere minutes into J.R. Phillips’ turntable set at Dirty Pretty in Scottsdale and the dapper DJ is already sweating. Between the heat generated by a dance floor packed with bodies and his rapid efforts behind a laptop and mixers, the 26-year-old (who performs under the moniker D-JR) has developed…
New York-born DJ/producer Eli Escobar probably has developed a serious case of burning ears by now, considering how many folks have praised the electro-house hustler’s kinetically charged remixes online during the past few years. Music bloggers across the globe have gushed about the glitchy and aurally enticing soundscapes he creates,…
It’s probably safe to assume that Flotsam and Jetsam and Sacred Reich shared a bill or two back in the 1980s, so calling this weekend’s pairing of Hemoptysis and Landmine Marathon the best local metal show the Valley’s ever seen may be a stretch, but it’s certainly the best local…
THURSDAY 6 27th Avenue Bar: R&B Thursdays (old school, R&B) AZ/88: Josh One (rare groove, urban funk) Bar Smith: Bass, Lettuce, & Techno (deep bass) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (jazz, blues, country, R&B, rarities) Bobby C’s: DJ Willie B. (old school) BS West: Intravenous Thursdays (goth, industrial, electronic, ’80s)…
The year 2010 was a fairly big one for local acts. Just read music editor Martin Cizmar’s lengthy piece from last week’s issue, in which he details 10 great albums by some of the best bands in the Valley. Two groups who also had a banner year were Mesa’s Authority…
This week’s cover story asks the question, “can DMX ever stay out of trouble long enough to top the charts again?” Divining such an answer may take more than mere words can provide. So for you, our readers, we have here three songs to help you decide for yourselves if…
Stephen Drozd of The Flaming Lips is releasing a soundtrack to the documentary The Heart Is a Drum Machine which was produced by local filmmakers Ryan Page and Chris Pomerenke.The film, a documentary which explores why people feel such a connection to music and features cameos by George Clinton, Maynard…
While the rest of Scottsdale were welcoming the dawn of 2011 with block parties, bizarre bonanzas, and beer-soaked bashes, the folks over at the Rogue were spending their New Year’s Eve in a far more subdued fashion. That’s not to say the party wasn’t popping at the south Scottsdale dive,…
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 were the stupidest music stories of 2010?Is a new Gorillaz song about an interview with the…
Courtney Love has gotten herself caught up in a Twitter defamation lawsuit, according to Rolling Stone.The trouble just never seems to end for America’s biggest hot mes…I mean Courtney. She’s being sued for attacking a fashion designer by the name of Dawn Simorangkir in multiple harsh tweets back in 2009…
Alice Cooper will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a few months. If you’re like me, it’s easy to see Al as he is now, an old dude who plays a lot of golf and does a little radio show and reps for JC and…
It’s the fourth day of 2011, which means many of you are probably close to giving up your New Year’s resolution.Need a little inspiration? A few good reasons to buckle down, hit the gym, stick to your principles and/or work harder?Give Bob Seger’s “Like A Rock” a listen. Now, I…
Song: Social Distortion, “California (Hustle and Flow)”Context: Social D’s rescheduled shows at Marquee Theatre are next Thursday and Friday. The band will have a new album, Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, out the Tuesday after their Tempe show. So far this track has been warmly received — “[Singer Mike] Ness…
Dick Dale is the King of the Surf Guitar. Actually, the Boston kid turned OC beach bum pretty much invented the guitar sound associated with everyone from Brian Wilson to Wavves.So it makes sense that Phoenix’s Musical Instrument Museum is super stoked about his January 29 show, an acoustic/electric affair…
Now that the song has been out for a while, Soulja Boy is claiming he wrote Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair,” according to Idolator.Yeah right, I’m calling bullshit. On Sunday, Soulja Boy (@SouljaBoy) tweeted in self-important all caps, “YES ITS TRUE I WROTE ‘WHIP MY HAIR’ FOR WILLOW SMITH. THATS…
I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited for such a fortuitous list of just announced shows. Joining Smith Westerns in the frenzy are Rocky Votolato, Quiet Riot and The B-52s.The rest of this week’s non-overly-biased-by-myself just announced shows:try{for(var lastpass_iter=0; lastpass_iter…
How does the band follow up their previous album, a revamped score to the 1934 documentary The Man From Aran? By getting back to grandiose guitars and dense lyrics, a formula that made the band’s 2003 debut The Decline of British Sea Power such an intriguingly different album. The band…
New Year’s Eve in Scottsdale Scottsdale’s Old Town was celebration central as New Year’s revelers flocked to the White House, Axis-Radius, The Firehouse, and various other nightspots to fete Auld Lang Syne…see photos Epic Red Cup Massive Psycho Circus The freaks and geeks of Warsaw Pact Entertainment and Mourning Fyre…
