Let’s face it — on paper, a band that plays classically influenced operatic rock like a new-world Bonnie Tyler or Meat Loaf has about as good a chance of hitting it big as the next Pussycat Dolls (Lord, don’t get us started). That is, unless said band has the jet…
Damon Gough makes the same album every time, only more so. Recording under the name Badly Drawn Boy, Gough came to prominence with The Hour of Bewilderbeast, the sort of lush, overly ambitious debut that promises a career filled with even higher peaks. And while nothing he’s made since has…
This is typically when Beck would hit you with a change-up — dim the lights, warm the milk, and go quietly into the darkness to follow the party-rock high jinks of Guero with an album more in keeping with his introspective side. And Nigel Godrich did produce Beck’s two most…
“When we quit, indie rock will die,” Robert Pollard famously boasted about the breakup of his long-running band Guided By Voices. That was 2004, and no matter your feelings about the scrawny, albino art form, you have to admit the sucker hasn’t quite kicked the bucket just yet. Neither has…
Phoenix may not be known for a huge Eurobeat scene, but that hasn’t stopped the cool kiddies of The Kohl Heart from blazing a snotty trail of New Wavery through the cookie-cutter communities of the Valley of the Sun. Formerly known as XOXOXO, the band — singer Rachel Taylor, bass…
Lindsey Buckingham has always admired Brian Wilson, but beyond their shared studio perfectionism and reliably good pop instincts, their other great similarity is their strangeness. The former member of Fleetwood Mac thankfully didn’t have to suffer the emotional problems his hero has faced, but a look back at Buckingham’s oeuvre…
It’s been a while since White Pony established the Deftones as nü-metal’s answer to Radiohead, embracing moody, operatic grandeur without abandoning the muscle or the shriek. But after retreating a bit from the edge on the more conventionally heavy Deftones, they’re back to exploring their artsier side with a vengeance…
American fans may have left this early-’80s Canadian postpunk originator for dead, but the band’s cult in Europe hasn’t waned, and it remains hallowed up north. NoMeansNo still tours annually in Europe, but it’s been nearly six years since the band released a record. So maybe it’s the nonexistent expectations,…
If you’ve been wondering why all the cool obscure vinyl from places like Eastside Records and Tracks in Wax has disappeared lately, chances are these platters have found their way into the collections of Djentrification and Peso One. Don’t worry, they ain’t hoarding all the wacky wax from you charlatans…
Pet Shop Boys Yes, they’re still around. For more than 20 years, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have managed to do to dance-pop what Steely Dan did to jazz-pop — bend it on its ear, and turn a shallow pleasure into a bastion of intelligence, satire and true heart. Pet…
Thursday 26AZ 88: Mr. P-Body (synth pop, electro) Bunkhouse Lounge: DJ Doom (dance) Camus: KURRENT_affairs with Pablo Gomez (electronic, rock, pop, avant-garde) Cash Inn: DJ Kat (country) Chilly Bombers: DJ Statik (hip-hop, dance) e4: “Eve” with DJ Tranzl8r (old school funk, R&B) E-Lounge: DJ Domenica (hip-hop, house) Grilled Expedition: DJs…
In the last week of September, an odd thing happened: A Phoenix rap group managed to light up controversy all over the nation via an article that appeared on the front page of the Los Angeles Times by staff writer Chris Lee. The article, titled “Rap’s Captive Audience,” was about…
Who needs TV when I’ve got T. Rex?” Not local glam/’70s rock throwback band Crash Street Kids, who sing the legendary line from the David Bowie-penned “All the Young Dudes” with a sincerity that saves them from the “poseur” label. On a recent Friday night, I’m watching CSK play, along…
Face it, drummers don’t get much respect. There’s an overabundance of easily quoted jokes illustrating this fact, usually underlining surly sentiments about how skinbeaters are viewed as useless and interchangeable, including one oft-quoted barb asking, “What do you call someone who hangs around with musicians?” (A drummer.) But for local…
8mm consists of Sean Beavan, longtime producer for Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson, and his wife, Juliette. Sean creates hypnotic layers of downtempo grooves and dark trip-hop, while Juliette’s sultry, haunting voice sails over the soundscapes with a laissez-faire richness. Critics have compared 8mm to Portishead and filmmaker David…
Self-described “redneck woman” Gretchen Wilson rose from poverty in western Illinois to become a country music superstar, winning critical and popular acclaim for her 2004 debut CD, Here for the Party, and for her sophomore effort, All Jacked Up, released last year. A firebrand singer and crafty balladeer, she writes…
Let’s get it out of the way up front: KMFDM stands for “Kein Mitleid Für Die Mehrheit,” a German phrase that translates literally to “no pity for the majority.” But KMFDM founder Sascha Konietzko is perfectly okay with the popular theory that his industrial dance band’s name stands for “Kill…
Hailing from Indianapolis, Indiana, and based in Tempe since 2002, this hip-hop trio of Ether, Dirty Nap-Z, and Tusk One brings its gritty hip-hop — performed during the Blunt Club series and at venues like The Loft — to Scattered Data. “Don’t Stop” jumps out of the wind-up music box…
You’ve got to be intrigued when singer/guitarist Todd Staples says his band, Suicide Circus, is “along the lines as if Skynyrd and Pantera had an illegitimate baby and Zakk Wylde was the weird uncle that came around to baby-sit.” But listening to Suicide Circus’ self-titled disc is more than intriguing…
Its title an obvious tip of the blue cap to the great Gene Vincent, Racin’ the Devil finds Lee Rocker stepping out from the shadow of Brian Setzer’s pompadour, planting his upright bass at center stage, and tearin’ it up on vocals. And the way he sings, you’d almost swear…
An ugly guy could do a whole lot worse than to surround himself with half-dressed hot chicks — one of whom breathes fire — if he’s looking for attention in an underground scene swimming in ugly guys putting a punk-rock spin on AC/DC’s greatest hits. Stick “Pussy” in the band…
Is it just us, or is Ladytron sounding more human? The Liverpudlian neo-Fab Four seems to have had a crush on shoegazer and Stereolab since the release of its 2001 album 604, but 2005’s Witching Hour, Ladytron’s latest LP, marked a significant sonic shift. Now, that’s not to say that…
