During its heyday in the ’70s, reggae powerhouse Trojan Records never released an album in the U.S., but Trojan imports were must-haves for every serious reggae collection. Although it’s not obvious in his work with Radiohead, Johnny Greenwood is a huge reggae fan, and he’s one of the few non-reggae…
Musicians working solo in the singer/songwriter category don’t have it easy — the label alone scares off a lot of listeners, thanks to a stigma of ceaseless sameness and average acts flooding the genre with acoustic guitars, granola warbling, and philosophical-hippie-shit-meets-posturing-confessional lyrics. And they lack the attention-grabbing power of a…
The kings and queen of raw, naked pain and quavering, sheltered emotionalism will bring their irresistibly precious brand of experimental indie pop to the Valley next Sunday. Songwriter Jamie Stewart, his cousin Caralee McElroy, and drummer Ches Smith come in advance of the April 10 release of Remixed & Covered,…
Listening to Angélique Kidjo’s forthcoming album, Dijn Dijn (Razor & Tie), is like attending a crash course in World Music 101. Her 11th full-length, scheduled for a May 1 release, is filled with familiar Western classical-inspired formulas — poppy hooks, radio-friendly durations, and a star-studded list of guest musicians from…
When indie-rock radio embraces a song before a band has even released a proper full-length — which is what happened to Lovedrug and the ethereal “Down Towards the Healing” — it’s easy to think the group is riding high on musical Easy Street. But instead of resting on its laurels,…
When they aren’t busy letting loose in Black Rock City, local Burning Man freaks DJ Kodama and Chromatest J. Pantsmaker (a.k.a. the Salacious BeatSlingers) have been giving Valley hepcats a reason to stay out late on a school night with their weekly gig, A Case of the Tuesdays. Consider them…
This ain’t a scene, it’s a bottomless, underground-market glut: ’00s noise upstarts spinning off fly-by-night collabos à la ’80s Marvel Comics limited series. Members of dronecore sorcerers Double Leopards and ever-metamorphizing duo Mouthus teamed up previously as White Rock and, in 2005, released Tarpit (named after the studio the two…
Thursday 22 Axis/Radius: Ladies’ Night (hip-hop, rock, dance) AZ 88: Mr. P-Body (synth pop, electro) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (various) Blue Note: DJ Soloman, & Fredj (acid jazz, trip-hop) Bobby Cs: Willie B (old school R&B) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Chilly Bombers: DJ Statik (rock, hip-hop, dance) Club Vibe:…
“Ten bucks says I can get one of these guys to show me their wiener,” my friend Toxic JuJu tells me, as we grab some seats at the bar inside Pumphouse II to take in a gay male revue. I look around the bar. The place is packed with men,…
Not that we needed an excuse to go out and get drunk, but at least this time, we had a good reason to buy a new green shirt, because it was a St. Patrick’s Day celebration, baby, and we sure as hell didn’t want to invite any pinching (we get…
Fracture Point All the commotion on here lately regarding my distaste for Marshall “Fucking” Beck, formerly of the metal band Rebirth, seems to have left many metal heads (or at least Marshall’s Myspace friends) under the impression that I either don’t care about metal or don’t appreciate the genre. Granted,…
Army of Robots… dramatic! This is an early heads up so that if you can cruise up to Flagstaff on Friday, make plans now. Not only is it not in the 90s up there, Friday night at the Hotel Monte Vista (one of my favorite venues up there) Army of…
shaking in my Adidas…. Mr. Marshall “fucking” Beck, “the most controversial motherfucker in the Arizona music scene” thought it’d be funny to print my home phone number and address up in this piece; which he can certainly do on Myspace, but not here, where I moderate what goes up. While…
I wasn’t sure what to do tomorrow for Saint Patrick’s Day; I’m Irish as fuck, but my local Irish pub, Casey Moore’s, is a madhouse on 3/17, with souped up prices and a bunch of jackasses crowding the place. Another alternative had to found. Luckily, I saw Jared from the…
Marshall Beck and his sisters The Marshall Beck “Mr. Controversial” debate continues to rage on Ear Infection, thanks in great part to his admittedly posting Myspace bulletins to his 45,000 friends. (PEN15 wrote “I WISH THIS WOULD STOP SO I DONT HAVE TO SEE 26 MYSPACE POSTS A DAY BY…
This week, we decided it was high time to turn our attention to the local labia-lovin’ ladies, so we hit up e-lounge on Saturday, March 10, where it was packed with smokin’-hot mamas looking to drink, dance, and fondle each other in the corners. Not only were there plenty of…
Consider this a call to arms. In the wake of the arrests of DJ Drama, Don Cannon, and their crew, the Aphilliates, in Atlanta in January — for distributing mix tapes with copyrighted songs (that the major labels were paying them to pimp) — I’m asking all local DJs to…
It’s been hailed as Sebadoh’s defining moment and “a meeting place for indie universes.” But not to the bastard controlling the purse strings at Homestead Records. For his money, 1991’s III, a collision of sensitive indie-folk balladry, weird psychedelic experimentation, a goofy-ass cover of some God-forsaken Johnny Mathis ballad, and…
The “No Fear” tour is a tasty musical menagerie of acts at the forefront of their particular metal flavor. Metalcore representative Killswitch Engage combines a blitzkrieg bottom end that hunts with the springing fury of Pantera, labyrinthine Scandinavian metal melodicism, and agile yet sophisticated structures that showcase the band’s hooks…
A video on YouTube titled Great Moments in History begins, somberly enough, with the strains of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. All the usual throat-swelling suspects are paid a reverent visit — Kennedy’s inaugural address, Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Elvis on The Ed Sullivan Show, the Beatles at…
Otep, the L.A.-based metal fusion quartet led by singer/poet/self-described “mental pugilist” Otep Shamaya, released one of the most dense, disturbing debut albums in the history of metal with 2002’s Sevas Tra, a fiery confessional wherein Otep screams about being raped by her father against a searing sonic backdrop of eerie…
The prospect of hearing 72 minutes of wildly cacophonous squeeze-bulb horns may be too much for even the most patient listener. And as is often the case with world music albums with a field-recording slant, the story tends to be more interesting than the actual recorded document. Indeed, the tale…
