What’s more humbling for an alt-rock band whose better days are behind them? Playing a free concert being put on by a radio station or performing at a casino. In a few weeks, Smashing Pumpkins will have the dubious distinction of having done both within the span of six months. KUPD…
When a band uses a cat named Snacks as the mascot for their drum kit, you know the group is cool. And when there’s a guy at the show whose seemingly only duty is to get people to clap their hands, the group gets even cooler. Such is the case…
OK Go is back with a brand new soon-to-be-viral video, according to SPIN.The video for the new song, entitled “Last Leaf,” shows that the band has gone in a new direction with their visuals. Rather than another video that showcases the Rube Goldberg Machine (which was shot 89 times), a…
For a punk band more than 30 years old, Bad Religion still knows how to rock out and put on a great show for fans. Appropriately, the band busted out their track “Ten in 2010,” along with a slew of hits. Audience members at the Marquee Theatre last night couldn’t…
Bad Religion Marquee Theatre 11/9/2010 Old age is Hell. Especially if you’re punk rock icons who are looking as long in the tooth as Greg Graffin and the other members of Bad Religion did last night during their show at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe. Sadly, for bands like this…
Best CoastRhythm Room, PhoenixNovember 9, 2010A comment left on my Facebook check-in at last Night’s Best Coast concert at Rhythm Room:”Good luck listening to the same song with different lyrics over and over!”The friend who left that is half right about the LA-based garagey, surfy, lo-fi indie pop band in…
Song: Paul McCartney and Wings, “Band on the Run” Context: If you don’t yet have a copy of Band On The Run, the album, the new remastered version is worth picking up. It certainly sounds a lot better than this mp3. Paul Mccartney & Wings- Band on the Run…
Last week Phoenix New Times ran a big ol’ story on Best Coast in our print edition. We were topped by our sister paper in LA that same day, however.Gustavo Turner, the Weekly’s music editor, had a 6,000-word cover story on the band’s main lady Bethany Cosentino which might just…
Scottsdale’s bar and club scene is as volatile as ever. In the past week alone, we’ve reported on openings and closings, as well as the transformation of one particularly notorious dancehall. Here’s the latest development in Old Town’s nightlife landscape: The Billet Bar has reportedly gone belly up. We’ve heard…
Sweeping generalizations aside, both Aoki and Gillis are famed DJs with similar mashup stylings, as the kids say. Both fellas like to take multiple songs and cram them all into one, a style Gillis has perfected under his Girl Talk moniker. Aoki’s 2008 album Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles had…
Jack White and Norah Jones will be featured on Danger Mouse’s long-running project with Daniele Luppi, according to Consequence of Sound.While Norah Jones has only been rumored to be on the album in some capacity, Jack White has been in the loop for a while. After having showed off his…
[jump] Their song “How to Ride the Bus” is the first NOTES song to be made available. Bassist Dave “Mitch Freedom” Maroney is absolutely bullshitting poor Kristin Anderson, by the way. Valley Metro describes NOTES as, “a series of short animated music videos that demonstrate all the ins and outs of…
And yet, here I wait, eagerly awaiting the next hit single from Cee-Lo’s former Goodie Mob cohort Big Gipp. What the critics are saying:…
Delorean Rhythm Room 11/8/2010Hey — do you like dancing? Who the hell doesn’t? Do you also like to party like it’s Monday? Well then Delorean’s show at the Rhythm Room was where the action was last night. Spanish indie/electronic foursome Delorean kept the beat strong last night with their European-influenced stage…
Song: Kid Cudi, “REVOFEV”Context:I’m surprised there’s so little hype for the release of Kid Cudi’s second album, Man On The Moon 2: The Legend of Mr. Rager, tomorrow. This is the first single. REVOFEV by ITSTHEMANSION…
It’s no secret that blogger-generated genre names keep getting weirder. It’s also no secret that kids with laptops are recording “music” that’s getting weirder and weirder.And so we have Hoop Dreamz, the first “Dunkwave” EP from a Tempe-based outfit called Vladee Divacc. You can stream or download the whole thing…
I was grumblings of the Suns’ porous, lackadaisical defense during a recent game when a different debate started between my girlfriend and I.Which Green Day album is “Brain Stew” is on again? The answer, of course, is 1995’s Insomniac. But a better question is why such an odd query came up during…
It looks like AZ Country USA has ridden off into the sunset. The proprietors of the cowboy-themed bar and nightclub in Mesa posted a message on its Facebook page last week stating that the establishment has closed after only a mere four months of existence. “To EVERYONE I am sorry…
Poor Lily Allen. Her pop music hiatus is now very understandable, considering how much drama she’s dealing with right now.Here’s a quick recap of the 25-year-old singer’s woes: First she suffered from being somewhat of a one hit wonder in 2007. Then in 2008, she suffered a miscarriage with Ed…
A young celebrity has decided not to go all out in acknowledgment of their birthday for once, according to Celebrifi.Miley Cyrus, who will be turning 18 on November 23, isn’t planning on celebrating her birthday Kim Kardashian style with five parties around the world. Her biggest birthday wish is bring…
Joanna Newsom Orepheum Theatre 11/07/2010 If there is one word that best describes Joanna Newsom’s latest album, Have One On Me, it’s “ambitious.” Honestly, is there any other way to describe a triple album? In a lot of ways that ambition makes the record a tough listen. That’s not a…
Elton John November 6, 2010 US Airways Center Elton John and Leon Russell let their fingers do the talking at last night’s show at the US Airways Center. John was, of course, the main attraction and the singer’s solo set was hit after hit, satisfying a crowd full of people…
