It’s not hard to get lost in the world of Vermont-based songwriters Matt “MV” Valentine and Erika “EE” Elder. The duo’s blanket of releases — dozens of tapes, CD-Rs, downloads, live tour documents, and long players for labels like Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace!, Time-Lag Records, and Three Lobed Recordings —…
Oh, Alanis, you sure have mellowed out. Seventeen years ago, you released Jagged Little Pill, one of the most commercially successful albums of the ’90s. Those vindictive songs about heartbreak (“You Oughta Know”) were balanced by the Taoist outlooks (“Hand in My Pocket”) and not-so-ironic situations (“Ironic”). It was an…
In the hands of most DJs, a pair of turntables is the place to put colored Serato Control records. When wielded by the expert hands of Richard Quitevis, known in the music world as DJ Qbert, a pair of Technics 1200s will reach transcendence, becoming a true musical instrument or…
Happy Halloween, everyone! On behalf of everyone at Up on the Sun, I hope you find a cool concert or party to go to tonight, and thoroughly encourage you to party a little too hard. Halloween is a blast–as a kid, neighbors handed out free candy because you dressed up…
Last week, a couple of so-called indie bands released music videos that featured quirky blonde actresses. Michelle Williams traveled to Niagara Falls Wild Nothing’s “Paradise” and The Girl Next Door Elisha Cuthbert imagines herself in a movie in The Gaslight Anthem’s video for “Here Comes My Man.” Both of these…
One of the brilliant things about collaborative music groups is that there’s always work to be done. Accounting for half of the super group Writer’s Guild, Mr. Miranda and Random a.k.a Mega Ran hit the road earlier this month to tour with fellow local emcee Mouse Powell, allowing group member…
This past Saturday, Korn crashed through town, performing at the Arizona State Fair. I watched in glee. This is a band that truly contributed to opening the door to metal for me. Before that discovery, I was a sixth grader rocking out to Westside Connection, much to my Backstreet Boy-loving…
Since 2010 New Hampshire-bred metal band Vattnet Viskar has adroitly melded all sorts of metal: sludge, atmospheric, black, and the mixture has impressed crowds in dark, dingy venues all over the country. Two EPs deep and their debut full-length album in the works through Century Media Records, Vattnet Viskar come…
There are two Halloweens: One is for the kids, so they can get dressed up in costumes and score candy. The other? It’s known as “the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.” Yes that is…
Its something of a necessity for every DJ/producer working the global EDM circuit to have a specialty or a signature sound if they hope to ever make it. For L.A. club king Morgan Page, his particular spin (pun intended) on dance music involves posh house soundscapes accentuated by dreamy vocals…
If you’ve attended a major music festival, club night, or dance party within the past 12 months, it’s almost certain that you’ve heard “Spaceman” being blasting over the sound system. The otherworldly six-minute track, crafted by Dutch-house wunderkind Hardwell (pictured) earlier this year, has pretty much become the new “Levels,”…
Seattle band Earth’s progression from instrumental drone-metal negativists to tempered electric Americana drone artists has been as natural and languid as the band’s riffs. Led by guitarist Dylan Carlson — the only constant member in the band’s nearly 20-year run — the group formed in the early ’90s, inspiring legions…
If you’re hedging your bets on who will be the next big thing in hip-hop, you should probably wager on A$AP Rocky. The Harlem-born member of A$AP Mob struck a nerve with his 2011 mixtape, LiveLoveA$AP, which adroitly combined disparate elements like East Coast boom bap, ambient synths, and crushing…
There will be no Sex Pistols songs performed at the Public Image, Ltd. concert. Yes, PiL is fronted by the former British public enemy number one and Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten (real last name Lydon), but those days are past. In fact, Lydon, despite the obvious royalty check boost,…
The baritone voice has a certain feel — employed by both the louche and the doom-obsessed (see Jim Morrison; see Morrissey). IDM artist Matthew Dear falls somewhere in the middle and, more often than not, his sexual invitations sound much like monotone warnings. On “You Put a Smell on Me,”…
A couple of cool things made their way onto the planet in 1982. USA Today went into circulation, the first permanent artificial heart began beating, Michael Jackson dropped Thriller, and Arizona State University’s student radio station went live. The Blaze 1330 AM celebrated its 30th birthday last week, and to…
If you haven’t been inside the nightspot located across Saddlebag Trail across from El Hefe and Majerle’s Old Town in Scottsdale recently, there have a been more than a few changes to the place recently. What was once the debauchery-laden Pussycat Lounge (which closed this past summer) is now the…
Ben “Macklemore” Haggerty has quickly become an unlikely and conscious voice in hip-hop. His name may seem new, but this is really Haggerty’s second wind, and he’s using his newfound platform to speak out — but also to have some fun. Speaking by phone from his native Seattle, Haggerty picks…
By Mark Keresman Quickly: How many female jazz instrumentalists can you name? Not singers, of which there are aplenty, but ace players of instruments of the female gender? There are more prominent ones on the scene than there were, say, 30 years ago–composer/bandleaders Carla Bley and Maria Schneider, trumpeter Ingrid…
Italian dance-punker Rocco Rampino, better known as Congorock, brings a different groove to the EDM genre. Rising up in the world with EDM anthems such as “Ivory” and “Babylon”, Congorock has made his own mark on the elctronic genre. See also: Russell Ramirez on the History of Swell Records, Old…
Just in time for the Halloween season, noted heavy metal icon and horror enthusiast Scott Ian of Anthrax has launched a new web series,Blood & Guts, on the Nerdist YouTube channel. Ian visits various horror-oriented special effects studios, gets a close-up look at famous movie props (think the original Alien…
The weird-bearded wait is over: the new album by Tempe based-gaze project Local Wizards has arrived in sweet digital stream and neat-looking CD digi-pak format. Performed, recorded, and released entirely by 19-year-old Kendall Humbert, The Signal is a collection of amorphous dream-pop, understated space ballads, and cathartic synth rippers. See…
