Music

MTV has a lot to answer for. Killing the radio star to force-feed us hair bands in the ’80s. Re-imagining punk and grunge to be all those lousy bands that filled two entire CDs of “buzz cuts” in the ’90s. Inventing the reality show and, in reality, gutting music from…

Santa, forgive us for saying this, but screw Christmas. In our opinion, Halloween is the most wonderful time of the year. And since the haunted holiday is just around the corner, there’s gonna be plenty of scary soirees that we’re going to be hanging out at over the next few…

Though other top MCs have had to create their own bogeymen to battle — Kanye has his ego, Eminem had Kim, Lil Wayne has those cough-syrup Martians — T.I.’s got real problems. Released from house arrest and in the midst of 1,500 hours of community service, he still has to…

When considering the work of The Jesus and Mary Chain, most conversations begin and end with the Scottish band’s stunning 1985 debut, Psychocandy. Fair enough. With its simple, melodic pop songs dipped in battery acid guitar feedback, the album is widely regarded as a landmark of the era. Had songwriters…

Fresh on the heels of 2006’s Robbers & Cowards, the debut album that featured the radio darling “Hang Me Out to Dry,” Long Beach-based Cold War Kids fight an uphill battle on their sophomore effort. Loyalty to Loyalty chronicles the band’s efforts to shake the reputation that their single made…

Nearly every music genre has an avant-garde wing, an “underground” scene escaping the notice of mainstream press. Hip-hop is no exception. San Francisco duo Blue Sky Black Death — Young God and Kingston — got together with vocalist Yes Alexander and the result, Slow Burning Lights, redefines what a hip-hop…

An aging hipster and a 16-year-old girl stroll through the mall, absentmindedly enveloped in their respective iPods. They collide. “Hey, watch where you’re going,” says the hipster. “You got pop sensibilities in my drone-y shoegaze.” The 16-year-old girl cocks her head: “Nuh-uh. You got your lameass shoegaze all up in…

Philly three-piece Jukebox the Ghost’s wry whimsical alarm is just the balm to soothe a decade of complaint rock and loudcore ache. Whether surviving imminent manmade apocalypse or entertaining the devil while God explains “how all the shit’s going to be when I blow your little planet into smithereens,” the…

Taking a break from their larger pavilion/ballroom tour with Nashville rock mainstays Kings of Leon, tourmates The Stills and We Are Scientists come to Tempe to showcase their solid new albums to a more intimate crowd. This show says a lot about both bands, stopping by Arizona in between shows…

For far too long, there were far too few bands interested in layering acoustic and electronic elements to make the sort of “chill” music that fills any respectable nightclub with pleather couches. Not anymore. Chill music is everywhere now, Phoenix and elsewhere, though not everyone is doing it as well as Kruder & Dorfmeister.

By Benjamin Leatherman Much like the mythical bird from which our ‘burg draws its name, popular record store Hoodlums has risen – quite literally – from the ashes. As Steve Jansen wrote in this week’s issue, the music emporium’s former location on the ASU campus was gutted by a tragic…

A couple weeks back I wrote a long diatribe about the lost art of the concert poster and challenged you to come up with something that would blow us all away — with the winner getting me to show up at the advertised concert, regardless of its musical merit. Then, to remind you of the contest, I pointed out one local flier I wasn’t fond of, stirring the ire of some readers.