10 Black Pop Stars Who Should Go Country

See also: Q&A: Darius Rucker: “Even If I Wasn’t Playing It, I’d Be Listening to Country.” See also: Seven of Music’s Most Beautiful Mustaches to Inspire Your Mustache Movember Growth [Editor’s note: Country Time is a new biweekly column for our sister music blog in Seattle, celebrating that city’s favorite…

Top Five Must-See Shows This Week

Yeah, yeah, yeah…we get it Mondays suck (we’ve read Garfield). But it means the start of a new week, which means a bunch of killer shows in and around Phoenix. And here are a few of the coolest, our top five must-see shows this week…

Slash, Celebrity Theatre, 9/5/12

See also: Slash Still Has an Appetite for Destruction See also: Buckethead on His Time in Guns ‘N’ Roses: “No Answer.” See also: Guns N’ Roses at Comerica Theatre, 12/27/11 See also: Tommy Stinson of Guns N’ Roses and The Replacements: “A [Replacements] Reunion Is About As Likely as an…

Strung Out and The Ataris at Nile Theater, 8/5/12 (VIDEO)

See also: Strung Out’s Jason Cruz: Twisted in a Suburban Teenage Wasteland See also: Strung Out at Clubhouse Music Venue, 1/28/12 (VIDEO) See also: Ataris’ Kris Roe Explains the Meaning Behind His Arizona Tattoo, Classic Phoenix Venues, and Warped Tour See also: The Ataris at Yucca Tap Room, 3/16/12Strung Out…

Twin Shadow at Crescent Ballroom, 9/4/12

See also: Twin Shadow: Songwriter Trades in Gauzy New Wave Honesty See also: Download: Bogan Via’s Sparkling, Pulsing “Kanye” See also: Take Cover: Bogan Via Covers Department of EaglesTwin Shadow and Bogan Via @ Crescent Ballroom| 9/4/12Twin Shadow played its first Phoenix show last night and there’s no denying that…

Yeasayer at Crescent Ballroom, 9/3/12

See also: Rise Against Ends Boycott of Arizona; Sound Strike Changes Focus See also: Five Sound Strike Bands We’d Like to See Perform in ArizonaYeasayer @ Crescent Ballroom, 9/3/12 Last night had all the ingredients for a great performance: a band fresh off the Soundstrike, a sold-out show, a cool…

Quick Henry Hit Studio for First Full-Length Album

See also: Mergence and Quick Henry Unite See also: Quick Henry’s Musical Recipe: Equal Parts Passion, Soul, Jameson and Ginger AleWhile most people took some well-deserved time off to mark the Labor Day holiday, consummate Tempe blues rockers Quick Henry used the extended weekend to log in some time at…

Tycho, Crescent Ballroom, 9/2/12

Tycho @ Crescent Ballroom | 9/2/12To set the scene for this show, I should let you know I took some 25i-NBOMe. This research chemical is so new that it doesn’t yet carry with it any scary taboos, let alone a nickname that makes it more sellable on the streets. Apparently,…

Top Five Must-See Shows This Week

Yeah, yeah, yeah…we get it Mondays suck (we’ve read Garfield). But it means the start of a new week, which means a bunch of killer shows in and around Phoenix. And here are a few of the coolest, our top five must-see shows this week…

The Tallest Man on Earth, Crescent Ballroom, 9/1/12

The Tallest Man on Earth @ Crescent Ballroom| 9/1/12It’s not hard to find a folk singer strumming a guitar in public. Stumble into a coffee shop or look out on the street corner and you’re bound to find someone doing it. Finding someone in one these spots who also happens…

Purity Ring, Crescent Ballroom, 8/31/12

Purity Ring @ Crescent Ballroom|8/31/12 Lesson of the day: don’t overestimate the obscurity of a band. Or, at least check ticket sales. I went to Purity Ring confident that standing room would be still available for me and my girlfriend, but I was the only one able to get in…

Rehab, Rhythm Room, 8/30/12

Rehab @ Rhythm Room| 8/30/12Not since bearded-era Jim Morrison have rotund drunks been celebrated with such crazed enthusiasm. Not that I could ever compare last night’s Rehab show at The Rhythm Room to even the most spaced-out of Morrison’s career and consider it fair. But I did learn a few…

Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys, Rhythm Room, 8/29/12

Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys @ Rhythm Room| 8/29/12Sometimes, different is good. After a long, steady musical diet of mostly rock, jazz, blues and Cuban music, I let my country side out for an evening with Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys. Though, in all honesty, it was pretty…

Hear Lightning Bolt Drummer’s New Solo Album Before Trunk Space Show

There are many distinct “walls of sound,” though it might be easy to generalize their impactful effect on ones cranium and aural canal. There’s the Phil Spector recording technique which huddled a number of musicians across an equally scattered array of microphones, resulting in a panoramic, ensconced dynamic warmth. There’s…