BY MIKE ESCOTO In preparation for Tuesday night’s concert at Modified Arts I spent a good chunk of my day listening to the latest album from Philadelphia singer/songwriter Kurt Vile. Although Vile (yes that is his real name) has released three solo albums in the past two years it wasn’t…
Stop me when this sounds like a Seinfeld episode: Our leading character, a music critic, decides to indulge an old vice on a Tuesday night, going out to see a foul-mouthed female electronica artist/rapper who amused him back in his college years. Upon arriving, he’s surprised by how many people…
[jump] As I mentioned in my preview of the concert from this week’s issue, the Guantanamo School of Medicine are the closest in both spirit and sound to that of the Dead Kennedys. Guitarist Ralph Sight and bassist Billy Gould seem to channel the spirits of East Bay Ray and…
Local indie pop favorites Miniature Tigers (who are rumored to be moving out East soon) embark on a 2-month tour tomorrow across the country.
Although the Vivian Girls and Wavves don’t come from the same coasts, their melodic surf pop music and close ties to Brooklyn-based label Woodsist/ Fuck-it Tapes can easily clump them together. For Those Darlins however, it’s their nitty-gritty southern fried swing that makes them stand out in such a densely…
It’s probably too early to compile my top 10 albums of the year list for 2009, but I’ll go ahead and tip my hand on one that will almost definitely make it: Islands’ Vapors. I’ve had the Montreal indie band’s new record in and out of my car’s CD player…
It’s not often that a band garners encore-like chants from their fans before a show unless it’s an arena band such as Bon Jovi or U2. However, this was the scene at Mesa Ampitheatre Thursday 10 minutes before Brand New greeted the fairly packed house. The Long Island punk act took the stage…
“Tell me why people are willing to pay $60 to see an old fucking Irish punk band.” This was the mandate that was handed down by music editor Martin Cizmar when I mentioned my desire to review last night’s appearance by The Pogues at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe. As…
Digital Leather is the lovechild of Shawn Foree and, well, Shawn Foree. He is the creative force behind the band — injecting dirty synths, subdued guitars and crunchy drum machines into his grimy sound. This paragraph, taken from the band’s website, best sums up Digital Leather’s live sound:The live Digital…
Here are just a few of the scenes I witnessed last night at the Gogol Bordello concert at the Maruquee: Complete strangers linked arms like brothers and can-caned in a circle pit while avoiding incoming moshers. Lead singer Eugene Hutz at one point used not one but two microphones to…
There’s something inherently incongruous about the serene, relentlessly thoughtful music U2 made at its creative peak and the stadium-sized spectacle that came to Glendale last night. Sure, the band has been one of the few extant rock acts capable of (nearly) selling-out football fields for two decades, but I still…
The International Horror & Sci-fi Film Festival at Madcap Theaters Hard to believe the International Horror & Sci-fi Film Festival has terrorized the Valley for five years now. To our delight, the three-day affair returned to its original location this year, right in the heart of ASU student nightlife’s portion…
Hard to believe the International Horror & Sci-fi Film Festival has terrorized the Valley for five years now. To our delight, the three-day affair returned to its original location this year, right in the heart of ASU student nightlife’s portion of the Mill Avenue District. What once was Harkins Centerpoint…
“Oh yeah,” Nathan Williams of Wavves leered as I introduced myself last night at The Rhythm Room. “You’re the guy who wrote the article with the ‘Wavves spits on a guy’ headline.” That wasn’t the headline, exactly, but the article he was referring to clearly set the stage for an…
Third Thursday in Scottsdale proved a massive mish-mash of ages, scenes and reasons for attendance. Matt and Kim played a free gig for FM 103.9’s free concert series, Sean Kingston was at Venue of Scottsdale, plus, there was that whole art walk thing. The Brooklyn-based duo Matt and Kim took…
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BY MIKE ESCOTO If you were a music fan in Phoenix on Wednesday night and looking to hit up a concert you had plenty of acts to choose from. The obvious choices were Yo La Tengo at Marquee Theatre or Ghostface Killah and Mayer Hawthorne at The Clubhouse. With two…
It’s been a pretty solid year to be a Yo La Tengo fan. The Hoboken-based indie-rock institution (25 years and running) didn’t just release one new album this year, they released two. Their latest, Popular Songs finds the band exploring their entire stylistic breadth, indulging in the orchestrated pop, Motown…
The Vivs sweet brand of Motown girl group pop shoved through a pure punk filter, a sort of freaked out Bangles sound, blared through Modified Arts last night. Reverb-ed vocals left the Urban Outfitted trio’s harmonies sounding like calls from the bottom of a well, and, humorously, made between song…
Tour de Fat at Tempe Beach Par New Belgium Brewing maintains that Tour de Fat is a bike festival first and a beer festival second. To prove it, they got a Tempe citizen to donate his car and agree to utilize only a bike he received at Tour de Fat…
Wanda Jackson has been dubbed many titles, most of which are some play on “The Queen/First Lady of Rock/Rock n Roll/Rockabilly.” This year she finally got that official recognition when she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an “Early Influence.” Last night, a 71-year-old Jackson…
It’s been something of a packed Saturday, what with Tour de Fat, the Tiki Throwdown, Oktoberfest, and various and sundry other weekend events happening around the Valley. If you’ve still got some energy and cash left, jump in your ride and head for Grand Avenue in downtown Phoenix, where the…
