Concept albums can be tricky. Get it just right and you’ll earn plenty of critical praise. Make it too complicated and your average listener may not get it. Of course, if you’re already in a successful band and you don’t want a forgettable record on your discography, your best bet…
The EDM impresarios and party promoters behind this weekend’s outdoor extravaganza The Big Event are charging anywhere from $25 to $65 for the privilege of attending (depending on when and where you buy admission). And believe us, it’s worth every damn penny. Described as the “Arizona’s largest dance music event,”…
THURSDAY 20 27th Avenue Bar: Ladies Night with DJ Moy, & DJ Jared Paul (Top 40, hip-hop, Latin) Afterlife: Filthy Thursdays (dubstep, breakbeats) AZ88: Mr. P-Body & Friends (classic and old-school grooves) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (jazz, blues, country, R&B, rarities) Bobby Q’s: All-Star Thursdays (hip-hop, Top 40) Bomberos…
The blues take a back seat on The Black Keys’ sixth record, Brothers, and the results are impressive. The two-man band from Akron, Ohio, has mostly dispensed with the dirty, garage-blues riffage that made them famous, turning to down-home glam before easing into a lonely soul vibe that finally gives…
Fart jokes. Nudity. Getting laid. Not getting laid. These were a few of the topics that often came up at Blink-182 shows and helped the band secure a place in the hearts of girls and boys everywhere. The “equal parts comedy and music” formula proved successful for the guys, helping…
Were these Tempe-based punkabilly legends simply whisked off the planet in 2005? Visit their flatheadaz.com Web site and you find nothing but dead links to six-year-old newspaper stories and a heartfelt plea from the band to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. (Coldly, they overlook that tragic business in Chicago…
A hard-knock life? Eh, not so much. In stark contrast to so many of his fellow Brooklyn-born MCs, Talib Kweli was raised by two university-professor parents and spent part of his childhood in a posh Connecticut boarding school. As such, matters of Afrocentric conscience, not urban street survival, informed his…
Farewell tours often end up an ongoing tease, giving fans a “we gotta see them now because we’ll never ever get to see them ever, ever, again” sense of panic and finality, only to have the “extended” farewell tour roll through town again a year later. Kiss has been saying…
Reading the words “rare” and “spectacular” in a review of your latest album on the Web’s most influential music commentary site: good. Seeing the word “clusterfuck” following those two words: not quite as good. That’s straight from Pitchfork’s review of Minus the Bear’s fourth LP, this month’s Omni. It ranked…
Since releasing her sophomore full-length album, Battlefield, in July 2009, the Valley’s own Jordin Sparks has kept a relatively low profile. Opening for the Jonas Brothers here, a Haiti benefit single there. Nothing that approached the publicity blitz of her American Idol triumph three years ago. Well, the beaming 20-year-old…
Recently, a certain state that shall remain nameless enacted a crazy-ass immigration law that made it the laughing stock of progressives all over the country and the target of fierce opposition by pro-immigration activists. That law mandates, in part, that when law enforcement agents suspect a person who has been…
We put out the call and Arizona’s music community responded.Phoenix New Times is very proud to officially introduce A Line in the Sand, a compilation of protest songs from Arizona artists opposed to SB 1070, the crazy new immigration law which will, in effect, mandate racial profiling of Hispanics to…
Artist: Sleigh BellsTitle: TreatsRelease date: May 11Label: Mom & Pop MusicOnce upon a time, there was this band called Le Tigre. They released three very good records between 1999 and 2004, filled with catchy electro-pop, showy beats conspicuously generated by a drum machine, absurd guitar riffs, and crunchy power chords.Was…
This week, New Times ran a box 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. How was the world premiere of the Glee live tour in Phoenix? Just how douchey is…
What do all these ultra-talented turntablists have in common? Answer: They all got the phuck outta Phoenix and headed for sunnier SoCal pastures of Los Angeles. You can include Joe DiPadova in this category, as the laidback house DJ packed up his decks and finally made the big move to…
Sweeps week is just around the corner which means you’ll soon be left without Grey’s Anatomy’s indie rock picks for a few months. Feast before the famine as Patrick Watson comes to Rhythm Room Friday. The Californian/Canadian has been called “strange, beguiling, beautiful, moving” by NME and a writer for…
Sundays in Tempe can be kind of a drag, but with Southwest Psycho’s new endeavor at the Big Fish Pub, anyone whose musical interests include the suffix “billy” has a new Sunday spot to see live music and shake a tail-feather. Cruise the slideshow to see for yourself…
This season of American Idol is almost over (thank gosh), and it’s finally down to the Final Three–the clear frontrunner Crystal Bowersox, the frat-ish wannabe rocker Lee DeWyze and the lovable underdog Casey James.This time around, the contestants get to choose their own songs to perform in the first round,…
Song: Band of Horses, “Laredo”Context: Totally digging this record, goes great with the new couch in my office. Laredo by bandofhorses…
The Phoenix Police Department can sometimes be a major buzzkill. Just ask the folks who attended the Cheap Thrills one-off this past weekend. Around 100 or so were in attendance at the hepcat party on Saturday night, dancing and debauching way past 2 a.m. inside underground CenPho art space The…
Artist: The Black KeysTitle: BrothersRelease date: May 18Label: NonesuchThe Black Keys have always been a band that I should like. The kind of music they play is generally one kind of music that I’ve always been into. But for one reason or another — they weren’t bluesy enough, they were…
I’m excited to report that our friends over at Electric Mustache recently put up their very first Podcast. The indie music blog, which features a blogger and photographer we love to hire to do stuff for us from time to time, has always been a great read, and I expect…
