About eight years ago, the Anticon collective was known as an avant-garde and even revolutionary force within hip-hop culture. Living and recording together in a warehouse in Oakland, California, the eight men of Anticon — Sole, Alias, Doseone, Jel, Odd Nosdam, Baillie Parker, Pedestrian, and Why? — created unusually named…
Nearly four years after forming, Tempe hardcore/trashrock quartet Casket Life has no money, no booking agent, and no record label. But they’re still having a blast — touring the country, getting drunk, and writing great songs that end up sounding somewhere between Sick of It All and the Murder City…
Surreptitiously, like folkie snipers in the night, devoted aficionados of this Willcox-based duo have been sneak-listening to tracks from their most recent record, Just Like the Others, and waiting on official availability as the lactic acid built up in their cramped ear muscles. Shoot, it’d been so long that all…
While Ten Dollar Outfit shies away from the “jam band” label, they are sorta like Phoenix’s own version of Widespread Panic-meets-John Mayer, and singer/guitarist Brian Chartrand even admits, “I don’t like playing or singing a song the same way . . . ever, really.” And TDO really is more of…
Welcome to your Woodstock ’69 flash back! While you’re getting naked and covering yourself in mud like a dirty hippie, don’t forget to grab an empty coffee can and drum along to Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle, the best psychedelic ’60s-sounding cult band to come out of the new millennium. Dillon,…
Even if you aren’t familiar with Jack’s Mannequin singer and pianist Andrew McMahon’s former band, the undeniably emo Something Corporate, it’s easy to see the musician’s innate songwriting talent when he performs. Melding memorable choruses, clever turns of phrase and original piano-based melodies, McMahon’s work on Jack’s Mannequin is both…
While Oh Doctor doesn’t really fit comfortably into the “emo” category, its music does bear some resemblance to bands in that genre: the impassioned, “I’m-dying-from-intelligent-introspection” wails of the Nixon brothers, Acey and Kodi (who also play guitar and bass, respectively), and a taste for long, declarative-statement song titles (“Play the…
While they rose to prominence in America via a bewildering major-label deal and two high-profile stints on Lollapalooza, Japanese noise troupe Boredoms had been cult favorites for years leading up to their big break, with a slew of impish, onanistic and abrasive releases to their credit before Reprise dropped 1993’s…
The further Anticon strays from its original granola posi-artiste rap roots, the more intriguing this Oakland, California label becomes. England’s Bracken represents the latest link in the imprint’s evolutionary chain, though slotting We Know About the Need is something of a challenge. While it isn’t really a shoegaze record in…
Established in 1996 by producer Chris “Peanut Butter Wolf” Manak, Stones Throw serves as a benchmark for innovative hip-hop music. This compilation, originally released last year as an in-store exclusive through Guitar Center, arrives at the height of the L.A.-based imprint’s popularity. It collects underground hits (Lootpack’s “Whenimondamic” and Aloe…
The first words out of Lily Allen’s mouth here are on the song “Smile”: “When you first left me, I was wanting more/But you were fucking that girl next door.” So yeah, she’s got the cheeky British attitude that did so well for Lady Sovereign. But despite its lilting reggae…
Remember the first time you heard the Pixies classic “Where Is My Mind?”? It condensed the euphoria of cutting anchor and sailing into the abyss into a four-minute pop song. Now Jay Reatard (that Memphis garage-punker from the Lost Sounds, the Reatards, Angry Angles, and probably a dozen other bands…
Free time has got to be the eternal enemy of local DJ impresario Hyder. When the turntable trickster isn’t spinning at The Blunt Club on Thursdays at Hollywood Alley, he’s working the wax at Shimmy Mondays at Trax, hooking up with the scenesters of the Abstract Workshop, or teaching beat…
1. Mos Def, True Magic (Geffen Records) 2. Nas, Hip-Hop Is Dead (Def Jam) 3. John Mayer, The Village Sessions (SonyBMG) 4. The Beatles, Love (Capitol) 5. Matisyahu, No Place To Be (Sony) 6. Joanna Newsom, Ys (Drag City/Caroline) 7. Ben Folds, Supersunnyspeedgraphic (Sony) 8. Kooks, Inside In/Inside Out (EMI…
The Valley’s post-adolescent crusty punk rockers have been getting a lot of camera time lately, so Club Candids hit up one of Scottsdale’s most popular clubs, Myst, on Friday, January 19, and the only crust was found in the hair gel of the employed and freshly bathed Scottsdale socialites. DJ…
P.O.S. I’ve said it many times before, but I’m compelled to continue preaching that the Blunt Club is the best club night ever in town for real underground hip-hop. DumperFoo and his homeys keep proving it, week after week. Rather than dropping some names every week I figured I’d give…
Neato! Spent the last week or so immersing myself in the 8-piece live hip-hop/jazz project known as Antedote the Neato Project. If you’re not familiar, you ought to be (you can read more about it in the 2/1 issue of New Times). These eight musicians kick out soulful, intricate hip-hop…
Chase and his cronies at Bad Stain Records have posted up this year’s nominees for the unfortunately named Arizona Ska-Punk Awards (although I know the contraction’s snuck its way into common vernacular, I just think that “ska-punk” is a stupid fucking term). Nonetheless, it is an interesting democratic you-pick-the-winner contest,…
Admittedly it’s a slow blog day when I have to resort to putting absolutely horrible spectacles up on here, but this is so bad, it’s… just fucking bad. No, the band Lordi isn’t local (Daggrr from Army of Robots hit me up with this), they’re Finnish, and apparently won the…
When we heard about the grand opening of Lady Luck Tattoo Gallery in Tempe, we packed our camera and hit the party for some freaky photo-ops. After all, tattoos and Tempe go together like drunk girls and frat parties; both are necessities for the college experience and may lead to…
It’s difficult to describe — even after spending a third of my life employed doing exactly that — the music on the Lymbyc Systym’s new LP, Love Your Abuser, to be released on the 23rd of this month. The duo, local brothers Jared and Michael Bell (Michael’s currently living in…
The digital age has become a major curse to the major labels: Album sales fell 4 percent in 2005, 4.6 percent in 2006. But for rock ‘n’ rolling indie entrepreneurs with access to editing gear, digital cameras and life-rights, a brand-new art form has descended upon the industry’s carcass —…
