Critic's Notebook

A few years ago, I worked as a hip-hop DJ at a nightclub in Illinois. I always tried to please the crowd, so when a girl came to my DJ booth and asked me to play some Feist, I did, though at that point in my life, I had no…

A day in the life of Florence Welch is a lot better than a day in yours: Her group, Florence + the Machine, taped the kickoff episode of MTV’s Unplugged in New York’s oldest synagogue, surrounded by dozens of candles, backed by a 10-person choir, and performing a version of…

It’s said that competitors are truly at their best when fighting with their closest rivals for the ultimate prize. Even the great Bob Marley knew this to be true when he sung “The hotter the battle / The sweeter the victory.” This weekend, the competition is guaranteed to be white…

New York City has a few moombahton nights spring up across its nightlife landscape in the last year, as has El Lay, London, Miami, and even Dallas. (Hell, the Bay Area has at least four or five separate events devoted to the genre). As for Phoenix? Eh, not so much…

As we inch closer to Record Store Day we’re directing our attention to the wonderful independent storefronts participating in this weekend’s revered event. In recent years the indie-moniker has been thrown around so much that it’s almost diluted the meaning of the word. Luckily RSD helps us revel in the…

See also: Coachella: The Best of Sunday, April 15Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg closed out weekend one of Coachella with a performance that was unquestionably legen– wait for it –dary. While both rappers and the slew of guest stars were all fantastic, Tupac’s hologram stole the show.Chances are that when…

It’s almost here: Record Store Day. The day the industry bands together and does its best to shine a light on the independent record stores that dot neighborhoods in cities all over the U.S. Now, I could take this opportunity to lecture about how music fans should treat normal days…

See also: All Hail Jim Marshall’s Black Wall See also: The Ten Hottest Chicks in Metal By now most of you have seen the video from the Golden God Awards of Marilyn Manson (unfortunately sounding like shit) performing “Sweet Dreams” with Johnny Depp as a surprise guest. And while Depp…

Mountain music can, and should, be utterly terrifying to outsiders — at least in its traditional sense. Just imagine toothless hillbillies wearing overalls, rocking out on banjos and upright basses until they’re drunk enough on moonshine to wear their coonskin caps without considering the fashion implications. Cue “Dueling Banjos.” Take…

At an early ’90s Cocteau Twins concert in Denver, half-asleep and fully delirious, I drifted in and out of reality as strobe lights pulsed behind my eyelids, Elizabeth Fraser’s voice wafted about my head, and driving rhythms and reverb held me firmly entranced in a surreal world. This is my…

While the sibling rivalry that eventually took down Oasis was one of rock ‘n’ roll’s ugliest, the infantile “he’s a liar!” and “well, he’s a twat” tirades resulted in fans’ getting the best of both worlds: Liam Gallagher’s Beady Eye and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. Since 2010, the latter…

Springtime means wildflowers! Get out of the house! Springtime means outdoor festivals! Get out of the house! (Springtime also means snakes, snakes, snakes, but let’s just ignore that for now. Or at least put on some tall boots. Be safe. But still get out of the house.) This weekend merits…

March was filled with plenty of madness for Pickster One. The local turntablist whiz and moombahton specialist spent the month working different gigs around Austin during last month’s South by Southwest before jetting off to south Florida to perform for thousands at such parties as Hard Miami, during the annual…

For staunch practitioners of the Christian faith, the Friday before Easter is ordinarily devoted to worship and reflection. The heathens and hellions over at Scottsdale’s American Junkie, however, spent their Good Friday practicing some bad behavior. The Old Town sports bar and nightclub held a raucous Easter Egg Hunt on…

See also: The 10 Hottest Chicks in Heavy Metal So, the Revolver Golden Gods are this week. Screw you if you’re going. Yeah, I didn’t plan wisely. Too busy bumbling about how Dungeon and Dragon nerds are more metal than you (guaranteed a ton of those dudes planned ahead) and…

Reggae certainly has changed since Steel Pulse began in the mid-1970s. Back then, roots reggae ruled the roost. Dancehall, lovers rock, and reggaton were distant visions; dub was spacing outside mainstream circles. With a blend of tightly knit song structures packing pop hooks and sociopolitical lyrics, Steel Pulse gradually took…

It used to be no big deal for Phoenix/Chicago-based folk punks Andrew Jackson Jihad to play the Trunk Space. In fact, it seems it used to happen a couple of times a week. It wasn’t the first place I saw the band (that would’ve been at The Palace of No…

You’d never know it if you took their black T-shirts, black hair and, well, black outlook at face value, but metalheads have no problem laughing at their own darkness. Cartoon Network’s late-night Adult Swim block capitalized on this with Metalocalypse, a show about a cartoon metal band that simultaneously celebrates…

It’s common for a song lyric to mean one thing to the audience and a very different thing to the performer. Not sure what Led Zeppelin is babbling about specifically? It’s probably something horny and fantastical. Other times, nonsensical lyrics end up illustrating some deep insight. “I Am the Walrus,”…

Call us crazy, but it seems some DJs or EDM artists are so prodigiously talented that their skill set may have been born of some supernatural power, like maybe even The Force. It seems a fitting — if not slightly geeky — explanation as any for the keen abilities wielded…

There’s nothing quite like a college party. And just because you have graduated doesn’t mean you can’t still party like you’re pledging for a frat. Giligin’s has everything that made a college party fun, namely beer pong and a young, attractive crowd. There were other bar games that looked a…

Well, this is hands down one of the best fliers we’ve seen in a long time, and it’s too good not to be shared. It’s creative, informative, and most of all, a little familiar. Where have we seen this before? We racked our brains and came up with good ol’…