On “I Feel Better,” the second track off Frightened Rabbit’s breakup diary The Midnight Organ Fight, frontman Scott Hutchison proclaims, “This is the last song I’ll write about you.” If only. It’s these moments of false affirmation and agonizing self-torture — voiced in Hutchison’s thick Scottish accent — that make…
Cyndi Lauper’s crazy hair, outrageous clothes, and Noo Yawk accent pegged her as a patron saint of goofballs, thrift-store queens, and misfits in the 1980s. But underneath her “she’s so unuuuuusual!” exterior lurks an understated pop balladeer and underrated singer who’s had a huge influence on many of modern music’s…
The third album is the one fans generally have to worry about. It’s usually the one in which a band has exhausted its supply of genuinely inspired musical ideas and now has to come up with brilliance on the fly. It has to point to some fearless new direction, one…
Back in 2004, DJ guru Rod Carrillo was all over the Valley’s airwaves and club scene, broadcasting his style of trance and progressive house on Energy Radio 92.7/101.1 FM and spinning at joints like Sky Lounge. These days, Carrillo is busy with getting tracks on the Billboard dance chart (his…
By Paul Rubin The best shows are the ones where you go through some unexpected things in your head as you’re watching and listening. It’s really about the magic — the sound and sights of surprise — that transcendent music and performance can be. It happened to me last night…
So our regular, weekly “Flier of the Week” doesn’t go up until tomorrow, but after stumbling upon this fly flier for weekly Vice Saturdays at e4, I had to share. Nothing like a glossy card with a foxy lady to get us out to a Top 40/hip-hop dance night.
By Benjamin Leatherman The Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, site of rock ‘n’ roll history. Long before either the U.S. Airways Center or Dodge Theatre were even a twinkle in some architect’s eye, the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum was the premier concert venue in the PHX. Besides its status as the…
Pussycat Lounge in Scottsdale on Thursday, June 12th. By: Lilia Menconi To see more boobs, er, photos, check the slideshow. We found ourselves in Old Town Scottsdale this past Thursday, on the hunt for a club event that turned out to be canceled. Whoops. So we had to think on…
A few weeks, ago, I posted a blog inviting local music artists to send their CDs to me for review. I vowed to review each local CD in the order it was received. Since then, I’ve gotten a handful of CDs and done reviews, giving critical treatment to Underwater Getdown, Reign of Vengeance, and Dude Offline. This week, I’m reviewing Mr. Blackbird.
By Benjamin Leatherman What are the Top 10 best-selling albums at East Side Records, 217 West University Drive in Tempe? Here’s a list, yo. 1. Dystopia, Self-titled (Life is Abuse) 2. King Khan and the Shrines, The Supreme Genius of King Khan (Vice) 3. Atmosphere, Sad Clown Bad Spring 12…
This past weekend was split between work and play. 80 percent of the time, when I go out, I’m out to cover shows and events for this here fine publication. So it was on Friday night, when I drove out to Last Exit Bar & Grill in Tempe for the Tramps & Thieves CD release party. Saturday, I headed to an old haunt, the monthly industrial dance night *Sadisco, at Homme in Central Phoenix. Sunday was spent drinking potent imported liquor at a friend’s house, so we’ll skip that bit (not that I remember a whole lot anyway).
By Jonathan McNamara No dear reader, we haven’t gone loco on you. We know Bonnaroo went down in Tennessee, but members of the Village Voice family were there recording it all for you. BB King shows he’s still got it at Bonnaroo. Check out not one, but two galleries from…
This abject Amy Winehouse video surfaced on the Internet today, a viral outbreak that started with British tabloid News of the World posting it to their site. The video, shot by Winehouse’s continually-incarcerated husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, shows Winehouse and a friend singing a song that delivers slurs to all sorts of races, sexual orientations, and even the handicapped. Later, Winehouse is shown passed out. Here is the video:
Surely Tempe-based Americana/rock bands get tired of the Gin Blossoms comparisons. But that’s the best measuring stick we can come up with for many of the bands making music off Mill Avenue now – including Los Guys and Tramps & Thieves. The music harks back to the days when Mill Avenue was a rock club strip, and heartfelt confessions made their way through lyrics draped over solid Americana strumming and time-tested rock rhythms. The sound always reminded me of Heartland Rock, lost in the desert and trying to find its way back.
Here’s a handful of shows that were just announced this week.
THURSDAY 12 Axis/Radius: Divine Shady Whiteout Party with DJ White Shadow, Demar, & MCB (various) Bar Smith: Peppermint Lounge with DJs Brazilia, & Mara (various) Blooze Bar: DJ El Dedo (rockabilly) Bobby C’s: Willy B. (old-school R&B) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Cell Block Venue: DJs Rod Carrillo, Matty, Brook B, & guests (dance,…
At all times, legendary hip-hop drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson is a man pulled in many directions. The 37-year-old musician, producer, blogger, and hip-hop tastemaker usually has enough projects going on that he could win a multi-tasking award. Aside from being a mainstay in his long-term band the Roots since the…
She’s 81 years old, dressed in a curve-hugging black velvet dress with a slit all the way from waist to foot, exposing the dress’ red satin interior and the entire length of her shapely leg, which she extends luxuriously toward the people seated below her. Then she crouches down, opens…
2008 is proving to be a quizzical summit for Jimmy Eat World. The global masticators from Mesa are touring in support of the still-new Chase This Light (released last October), an album designed to recapture the directness and lightness of “The Middle” after the collective “huh” with which many critics…
It’s been a tough couple of years for The Futureheads. Following the mixed reception to 2006’s ambitious News and Tributes, the British post-punk quartet was dropped by its label and briefly considered packing it in. Instead, they soldiered forward, forming their own label and releasing their third album, This Is…
Zachary James Dodds sounds too world-weary to be just 22 years old. On his debut five-song EP, Dodds, who also plays guitar for local folkies the Via Maris, spins vivid tales — both real and imagined — that would seem to belie his age. Behind sparse but eloquent arrangements, Dodds…
In 1997, when Portishead’s self-titled second album arrived, the group’s sound was routinely described as trip-hop. Eleven years later, that term is as dead as Fatty Arbuckle, but Portishead is alive again and more captivatingly obtuse than ever. “I never had the chance/To explain exactly what I meant,” lead singer…
