Club Candids: iji at The Trunk Space

The Trunk Space is a fun place to check out music and casually hang out. The intimate location has a welcoming vibe thanks to friendly regulars and the bands that play so close to the crowd. Winter is officially here, so the espresso bar definitely comes in handy on cold…

Happy New Year From Up on the Sun

Happy New Year, readers. Thanks for hanging out with us in 2012. Stick around — 2013 is going to be even better. See also: -10 Favorite Local Hip-Hop Tracks of 2012 – 12 Favorite Local EDM Mixes of 2012 – New Year’s Eve Guide 2013 – Top 10 Phoenix Albums…

12 Favorite Local EDM Mixes of 2012

The overwhelming popularity of electronic dance music continued its exponential growth over the last 12 months, both nationwide and here in the Valley of the Sun. Beats were bumping nearly nonstop across the local music landscape in 2012 as new dance clubs (such as the Monarch Theatre and EPIQ) debuted…

Samuel L and the Cool J’s: Mod Soul and Pure Pop

As 2012 draws to a close, we’ll be looking forward to the 2013 and spotlighting 13 Phoenix bands that will be making a mark on the Southwest throughout the new year. This blog entry from Jason P. Woodbury turns up the retro soul sound of Samuel L and The Cool…

Of the Painted Choir: Warmly Familiar

As 2012 draws to a close, we’ll be looking forward to the 2013 and spotlighting 13 Phoenix bands that will be making a mark on the Southwest throughout the new year. We wrote a bit about Of the Painted Choir’s Lula in 2012, and felt the mini-review of the mini-EP…

Psychic Blood, & Otro Mundo @ Trunk Space

I don’t know what’s going on in western Massachusetts, but if Psychic Blood’s Drrrty 7-inch is any indication, it’s something fucked-up. Grinding guitars, trashcan drums, and howled vocals give way to a vintage heavy metal riff before exploding back into the post-Sonic Youth storm of fuzz. “Something’s going down,” vocalist…

Maybe 2013 Will Be Better @ The Compound

Maybe it’s just us, but New Year’s Eve soirees can sometime be a bit milquetoast. Set aside all the fireworks and midnight countdowns, and i’s just another party or club night. The thing that really sets the best and brightest Auld Lang Syne affairs apart from most other champagne-soaked shindigs…

Camp Lo @ Stray Cat Bar & Grill

If the ’90s era of rap effectively ended with the violent deaths of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., the new era began the emergence of Sonny Cheeba and Geechi Suede of Camp Lo. The Brooklyn duo quietly introduced their ’70s soul, funk-, and jazz-inspired rap sound on 1996’s Great…

Queensryche @ Marquee Theatre

The Queensrÿche intent on pummeling the Marquee is not your father’s Queensrÿche. The 30-year-old band recently underwent a major overhaul, with only founder and principal singer/songwriter Geoff Tate remaining. “After working with the same people for 30 years, it gets very difficult,” Tate said in a September blog post on…

Wolfgang Gartner @ El Santo Cantina

If Wolfgang Gartner were to compile a list of his biggest moments of 2012, the 30-year-old electro and progressive house producer would have plenty of fodder from which to pick. He not only collaborated with such EDM heavy-hitters as Deadmau5 (on the spectacular club banger “Animal Rights”) and Tiësto (co-producing…

French Girls: Oddball Lyrics, Purring Delivery

As 2012 draws to a close, we’ll be looking forward to the 2013 and spotlighting 13 Phoenix bands that will be making a mark on the Southwest throughout the new year. Today Anthony Sandoval pops in and checks out the rambunctious rock ‘n’ roll of Francophiles French Girls. The Phoenix…

Americana Act The Senators Ain’t Living In The Past

As 2012 draws to a close, we’ll be looking forward to the 2013 and spotlighting 13 Phoenix bands that will be making a mark on the Southwest throughout the new year. Jason P. Woodbury brings this update regarding Americana outfit The Senators, whose rustic sound is picking up steam. In…

Merry Christmas From Up on the Sun

Merry Christmas, dear readers. We’re taking the day off to enjoy our holiday, and we hope you’re having a great one. We’ll resume our blogging activities tomorrow, with leftover cookies in tow. See Also: -Emby Alexander Wishes You A Blue Christmas (And Doesn’t Want To Fight Tonight) -Clay Aiken on…

PALMS Keep It Like a Secret

As 2012 draws to a close, we’ll be looking forward to the 2013 and spotlighting 13 Phoenix bands that will be making a mark on the Southwest throughout the new year. Today, Christina Caldwell brings us a look at PALMS (all caps, babies), the fast-rising indie/surf outfit that recently signed…

I Was Told There’d Be Whiskey

As 2012 draws to a close, we’ll be looking forward to the 2013 and spotlighting 13 Phoenix bands that will be making a mark on the Southwest throughout the new year. Lauren Wise brings us this look at I Was Told There’d Be Whiskey, a rootsy rock ‘n’ roll outfit…

Body of Light: Goth Pop Machine Music

As 2012 draws to a close, we’ll be looking forward to the 2013 and spotlighting 13 Phoenix bands that will be making a mark on the Southwest throughout the new year. This entry concerns Body of Light, the mutating synth pop outfit fronted by Alexander Jarson, one of the members…

The Oxford Coma: The World’s Heaviest Jam Band

As 2012 draws to a close, we’ll be looking forward to the 2013 and spotlighting 13 Phoenix bands that will be making a mark on the Southwest throughout the new year. Prog rockers The Oxford Coma just so happen to be featured in this week’s issue, in a story written…

Kevin Daly @ Yucca Tap Room

For musicians, there are songwriters you like — the songwriters you try to emulate — and then there are the songwriters who live as kindred spirits. Tucson’s Al Perry says he and Kevin Daly, whose 30-plus-year music career in the Valley has included elements of rockabilly, honky-tonk, blues, and punk,…

The Story So Far @ The Nile Theater

For some reason, I was led to believe, in my initial research, that The Story So Far was from somewhere in south England. This created an original foundation for this write-up and my cheeky positioning of the band as “the Hugh Laurie of pop punk bands, an import from the…