It was with great sadness that I read about our friend Dan Gibson retiring from Idolator this afternoon. Now, sure, as a local guy, Dan’s been one of our harshest critics (fer realz) but it was always nice to know he was out there, calling us out and keeping us…
This weekend marks a big occasion for fans of outdoor music festivals and jam-ish bands: the McDowell Mountain Music Festival. The lineup boasts The Flaming Lips, Matisyahu and Michael Franti — a pretty solid lineup for such a festival (and I didn’t even include Hot Tuna). Those artists all lend…
There is still something odd about seeing the faces of your favorite “radio stars.” For musicians we all know MTV killed this years ago. But for fans of PRI and NPR many “stars” are still faceless voices that may or may not belong to living breathing human beings. And on…
AZ screamo rockers Scary Kids Scaring Kids will perform on all 46 dates of this year’s annual Warped Tour, according to a bulletin the guys posted on MySpace The tour kicks off in Pomona, Calif. Friday, June 26 and hits the Valley Tuesday, June 30 at Cricket Pavilion. AZ favorites…
What’s there to do this weekend? A lot. Unless you’ve been living under a rock somewhere (or haven’t been reading Up on the Sun much lately), you probably aware that fearless freak Wayne Coyne and the rest of the Flaming Lips are performing on Saturday at the massive multi-day McDowell…
Okkervil River and Roger Miret are about as disparate musically as you can get. The former is the eclectic indie darling septet from Austin, Texas whose intricate instrumentation and folkie sound has been described by NPR as “dark, literate rock that’s as explosive as it is thoughtful and intimate.” The…
So this is a good find we got from the guys in Kinch, over Twitter: R.INC’s “Arizona Ways.”I kinda dig the geekcore beat and the lyrics, which include, in part:”Listen loud and clear to these words I’m bout to say, I’m gonna educate you bitches on these Arizona ways. You…
I’m not sure who it is, but I think I have a favorite poster artist in town. For the first time, we’re giving a second Flier of the Week nod to the same band: Japanese Monsters. Their “Sarah Palin with bug” poster won back in November, and now this Lebowski…
So let’s get it out of the way at the beginning so we can move on to more pressing matters: Anoop Desai and Lil Rounds got kicked off Idol last night, and it was kind of sad to see them go, but nobody can say it was surprising, right? I…
When Earps frontman “Hotwheels” McGregor compares his band to Spinal Tap, he’s not referring to his band’s music (although a song like “Hoggin!” might owe at least a small debt of gratitude to Tap’s “Big Bottom”). It’s just that the Earps’ recent travails remind McGregor of the near-constant onslaught of…
“Hello! Hey, gimme one second, I gotta pee . . .” As I wait for Wayne Coyne, frontman of The Flaming Lips, to take care of business, I remember that when we spoke a year ago, the subject of urine also came up. We were talking about the odd commencement speech he gave…
Mates of State have been living the indie-rock life for over a decade. The husband and wife duo of Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner spin their sharp songwriting, harmonies, and dexterity with a suite of instruments (including piano, guitar, and drums, as well as Rhodes electric organ and glockenspiel) into…
Putting a cover song as the second track on your CD is ballsy. Either you’ve got ’em right there, or you’ve lost ’em forever. For a metal act to put a cover of an Ozzy song second on their record? That’s pretty much suicidal. Sure, Ozzy and Sabbath can be…
The all-star lineup for this year’s Real Coachella in downtown Phoenix begs the question: Why would anyone waste their precious time driving 3 1/2 hours to the desert wasteland of Indio, California, just to see a bunch of has-beens and never-will-bes performing at an overpriced festival when they can catch…
It’s a testament to the seemingly unflappable pomposity of rock stars the world over that This Is Spinal Tap is as relevant today as it was upon its theatrical release 25 years ago. Over the years, This Is Spinal Tap has become more than just a hilarious send-up of rock…
The sounds produced by Joy Electric range from kitschy, ’70s-style synth beats to video game-worthy blips — but with rigid song structures. The production on the band’s albums is extraordinary, marking a high point for experimental electronic music. The vocals on each track are sincere, with hints of boyish imagination…
If you’re into mash-ups, no doubt you’ve heard of the dope DJ duo A Plus D (a.k.a. Adrian and the Mysterious D. Over the past six years, the punky San Francisco couple have pimped the art form of smashing together songs, either through their own masterful mixes (merging Kanye and…
THURSDAY 23 Bomberos: DJ Rani “g,” dk.strickler, & guests (house, global soul) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Cherry Lounge: Scandalous Thursday with DJ Juan Rocha (house, electronica) Club Red: The Blunt Club with X-Clan, 2Mex, Medusa, JiJi, DJ Leviathan, Pow Shadowz, Pickster Uno, DJ Element, Emerg McVay, & more (hip-hop) Copper…
If their only achievement ends up being hipsters’ awkwardly expressing an affinity for “black kids,” then be ready to hoist the victory banners in celebration. Auspiciously, though, Black Kids have a bit more mettle in their dance-pop mix. Lead singer/guitarist Reggie Youngblood, bassist Owen Holmes, drummer Kevin Show, and Dawn…
Two decades after Ozzy Osbourne liberated him from the mean streets of Bayonne, New Jersey, it’s still impossible to pinpoint exactly where Zakk Wylde the rock fan ends and Zakk Wylde the rock god begins. As the teen heir to longtime Osbourne guitarist and co-writer Randy Rhoads, Wylde so idolized…
You gotta love Britney Spears and her “ventilation issues.” If she’s not flashing her hairless pudenda at grateful paparazzi while spilling out of Paris Hilton’s sports car, she’s taking an unscheduled 30-minute breather in the middle of a recent concert in Canada because of lingering cigarette smoke. Don’t you see?…
Fresh off a weekend that found Paul McCartney, Leonard Cohen and Morrissey all play one of the biggest outdoor music festivals in the U.S. — in one day — we find ourselves, as a music-loving society, head over heels for live acts with a touch of gray. It doesn’t help…
