I just received news that Feedback Video Magazine, which I wrote about here last year, is having to end its run on KAZ-TV (channel 13 on Cox Cable or channel 27 in the atmosphere). Apparently the guys at 3B studios lost some sponsors at the last minute and the contract…
The legendary Chico Chism I received news this morning from my music editor, Niki D’Andrea, that legendary blues drummer Chico Chism passed away yesterday. You can read Niki’s farewell column here, a sweet tribute to one of Phoenix’s true musical institutions. This is what she sent about his passing… “I’m…
The Brothers Calabrese I’ve followed the horror-punk trio Calabrese for quite a while now (as you can see here in a June 2004 column I wrote), and I’m always pretty stoked when they drop a new record. The three brothers, Jimmy, Bobby, and Davey (that’s in order of their ages)…
As you may have read, I’ve been harassing the guys in Attack of the Giant Squid to let me hear their long-in-development-but-nearly-finished album. Last night they finally came through, treating me to a listen-through at guitarist Tony Patino’s house. You’ll have to wait for the 2/8 edition of my column…
Thursday 25 AZ 88: Mr. P-Body (synth pop, electro) Blue Note: DJs Soloman, & Fred J, & guests (lounge, hip-hop, house) Bobby C’s: Willie B (old school R&B) Cherry Lounge: DJs Tranzl8tr, & Earth (rock, 80s, old school, hip-hop) Club Vibe: DJ D’Anthony (hip-hop) The Crown Room: DJ Gable (rock,…
When I was still in high school in Alaska, I had it in my head for a while that I wanted to be a producer or a sound engineer. I was already way into music. I’d self-published fanzines in Colorado, Texas, and Alaska, but at the time, writing about music…
Updated online January 29, 2007 “I’m the house rocker and the show stopper, the woman’s pet and the man’s threat. I’m Chico, the Boogie Man.” — Chico Chism Legendary blues drummer Napoleon “Chico” Chism, Phoenix’s longtime “Ambassador to the Blues,” died on Sunday, January 28, at the Kivel Campus for…
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…
