If you watch the music video for Matt & Kim’s indie-dance hit “Daylight” but know nothing else about the band, here’s exactly what you’ll think: “Good gracious. Those are very happy-looking people.” Frolicking through their Brooklyn ‘hood, humorously crammed into refrigerators, dumpsters, and other uncomfortable spaces while — wait for…
THURSDAY 30 27th Avenue Bar: R&B Thursdays (old-school R&B) Afterlife: Filthy Thursdays with Silent J, Casanova, Marc Elliot, Cris Castro, & more (dubstep, electro, breakbeats, drum ‘n’ bass, underground hip-hop) Airia Nightclub: Ladies Night with DJ Circle, & D-JR (hip-hop, Top 40, remixes, house, electro) AZ88: Josh One (rare groove,…
Rick Springfield isn’t just a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and the guy who played Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital — he’s also a miracle of preservation rivaling that amber-encased mosquito in Jurassic Park. Now 61 years old, Springfield still has the hair, the looks, and the fit matinee-idol physique of the…
The lead singer of a band that sold 25 million albums is performing a solo acoustic show in a smallish venue. That should probably be a pretty big deal, but most people wouldn’t go to see Scott Stapp on a bet. There aren’t too many living frontmen more despised than…
It’s easy to write off an act that becomes famous because of its success on American Idol. That is to say that most Idol contestants’ careers have proved short and boring. Carrie Underwood, then, is one of the exceptions to the rule. The 27-year-old country superstar not only sold the…
“Don’t put baby in a corner,” the late Patrick Swayze said to Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing. If I were in a similar movie, starring alongside Maxim Ludwig & the Santa Fe Seven, I’d advise anyone around us at that dull Catskills resort to not put my man Max in…
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.Could Jan Brewer’s henchmen close Tucson’s Rialto Theatre?What can Apple do with $75 million instead of running…
Jeff ArundelBomb Purple RecordsJeff Arundel has been through the ringer. Since we last heard from the Midwestern singer-songwriter, on 2005’s Ghost Party, he’s gone through a painful divorce, the details of which are documented in the almost uncomfortably frank, and very raw, acoustic opener.”She let someone inside her bed /…
Song: No Age, “Depletion”Context: Jay Bennett’s long-awaited return to Nothing Not New blogging came with a great record. Depletion by subpop…
President Obama said Bob Dylan was skeptical about a recent performance at the White House, according to NME.Dylan did not ask for a meet and greet with Obama, nor did he ask to take a picture with the President or even rehearse at the White House before his show. Artists…
After months of living in limbo, Phoenix’s favorite hip kid dance party (formerly held at Blackforest Mill) has finally settled into a new location. On the last Saturday of each month, Cheap Thrills takes over the new Brick pizzeria at the Arizona Center in downtown Phoenix. See the debauchery that…
John Legend is the latest artist taking the initiative to make a difference in education by joining Teach For America’s National Board of Directors.He is looking forward to giving children more opportunities to learn and improving education in America.Legend is no stranger to taking action for change, though. He launched…
O.A.R. The Celebrity Theatre September 28, 2010The Celebrity Theatre’s layout and rotating stage made for a warm performance by veteran jamband O.A.R. that accommodated every seat in the house last night.The design of the venue made the band’s entrance particularly special since fans got to slap hands with the band…
Marianas TrenchThere’s just something about Canada and pop-punk bands. Some of the most successful, teen-friendly groups to come out of our neighbor to the north embrace that sorta whiny, super-catchy sound, from Avril Lavigne and Sum 41 to Simple Plan and Hedley. Here’s hoping Marianas Trench is the next group…
Artist: No AgeTitle: Everything in BetweenRelease date: September 28Label: Sub PopAfter two weeks of total Best of Phoenix immersion, a time during which I worked a whole lot and listened to very little music, the new record by No Age is a welcome blast of noise.Some of that noise created…
Move aside, angry pigeons — piss is the new birdshit. In a story that seems too good to be true, MGMT drummer Will Berman was hit in the chest by a glass full of urine during a gig at the Manchester Apollo Sunday night. The band was in the middle…
‘Tis the season to write songs about killing Sheriff Joe Arpaio. This past week I detailed how folk-punkers Andrew Jackson Jihad and other local bands had penned songs for the recent Chronicles of Sheriff Joe record that decries his racist tendencies and invokes murderous notions of offing Maricopa County’s top…
Song: Deerhunter, “Earthquake” Context: Michael Lopez raved about this song in this week’s review roundup of Halcyon Digest. Check it out. 01-deerhunter-earthquake-caheso by kirotnes…
Local boy Alice Cooper is up for induction into Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Better news yet, this year’s field is so weak he appears to be a shoo-in.Actually, this year’s list of 15 nominees is probably no weaker than last year when, somehow, ABBA was inducted into…
Less Than Jake, the Florida ska-punk outfit you may remember from such hits as “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts,” “History of a Boring Town” and “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts” will play their 1996 major label debut Losing Streak live in its entirety at a Riot Fest in Chicago next…
Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball Tour — a concert that probably generated more buzz that any other in Phoenix this year — will come back through town on March 26, 2011. The show will again be at US Airways Center.Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. here.Gaga’s July show sold…
Theirs is a complex aural equation, one that bursts through with genuine moments of genius mixed with just quite too dense to comprehend instrumentation. Whatever your take may be, Halcyon Digest is the band’s crowning achievement — which is, by the way, saying something for a band like Deerhunter –…
