New Release Tuesday: And What You Should Buy

Here’s a sampling of today’s new album releases:Il Divo- An Evening with Il Divo- Live in BarcelonaJuvenile- Cocky and ConfidentPrimal Fear- Eye of an EagleAllison Iraheta- Just Like YouR. Kelly- UntitledMartha Wainwright- Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, A ParisNow it’s time to see whether Allison Iraheta can hold her own against…

Club Candids: The Final Party Foul at Homme Lounge

For the last four years, Homme Lounge has hosted dance nights for every music scene from hip hip to industrial to indie rock; but its most consistently crowded affair for the last year and a half has been its Party Foul Friday nights. Now that Homme is closing down for…

What’s Spinning: The Blaze 1330 AM

1. Leonard Cohen – Live at The Isle of White 19702. Arctic Monkeys – Humbug3. Flight of the Conchords – I Told You I Was Freaky4. Flaming Lips – Embryonic5. Julian Casablancas – Phrazes for the Young6. Grand Archives – Keep in Mind Frankenstein7. Vagina Panther – Vagina Panther8. Lhasa…

First Blood

Any act fronted by horror rocker Joseph Poole — better known as Wednesday 13 — may seem like the natural complement to Creepsville 666, a local punk-metal outfit that fancies itself so dangerous that children should hide their album from the folks, but Poole’s latest project, Gunfire 76, may leave…

Lil’ Dave Thompson

I wish I had more critically relevant things to say about Lil’ Dave Thompson, but the truth is that when it comes to the blues, I’m not much for intense discernment. Even the slapped-together, dime-a-dozen any-bar-in-town bands sound good to me. The chord progression, the slow-walking bass groove, the lyrical…

Nico Vega

As we all know, Carson Daly isn’t good for much. But I have to give him — or, more accurately, Last Call’s talent booker — credit for bringing the excellent Los Angeles band Nico Vega on the show to play a couple of songs last spring, after which the buzz…

The Crush

It comes as no surprise that Phoenix band The Crush would choose their hometown as the locale to launch their winter tour. The young quartet, which ranked No. 23 on the Top Unsigned Albums on Smartpunk, is touring in support of its debut, Physical Education. The disc is a combination…

Final Folk Festival

Is it just me, or is “folk” as a descriptive term battling “indie rock” to the finish line of complete uselessness? Take the Monsters of Folk, the singer/songwriter collective that spawned an eyesore mural on Roosevelt and that lots of folks bitched about. Their self-titled debut leaned heavily on blue-eyed…

Homme Send-Off

Better bid a fond farewell to Homme Lounge, 138 West Camelback Road, as the CenPho danceteria/gay bar/hotspot is shutting its doors for good after this weekend. But before co-owners Jeremy Johnson and Terry Walter turn over their keys to the landlord, the joint’s gonna go out with a big-ass bang…

You Asked For It: American Gods

Band: American Gods, a Phoenix hard rock/metal/industrial twosome with a sense of humor. Record: EC-10, which is either a very long 8-song EP or a very short 8 song LP. Basics: The band claims Fear Factory, Nine Inch Nails, White Zombie, and KMFDM as influences and you’ll hear plenty of…

Club Candids: The Lost Leaf

We decided to get back to our roots here at Club Candids so on Saturday, Nov. 21st, we just strolled into a bar and took photos of unsuspecting patrons. The Lost Leaf has long been one of our favorite downtown bars so it’s no wonder the place made it into…

What’s Selling: Zia Records Tempe

College kids and Mill Avenue nutters flock to Zia Tempe for their bountiful, jam-packed selection. They had a big week with Wale topping out their charts, and Nirvana snagging two seats in the top 10. Here’s what has their customers are going gaga.1. Wale – Attention Deficit2. Slayer – World…

You Asked For It: Mike Lennon

Band: Mike Lennon, a country-tinged classic rock-y sideproject from the the bassist of Psychobilly Rodeo Band, the house band at Scottsdale’s Rusty Spur saloon. Record: The Dateline Phoenix 2009 album. The included press materials make it clear the record was actually written and recorded in 2007, making this “dateline” inaccurate…

Flier of the Week: CenPho.TV Anniversary Show

As we told you in this week’s paper, CenPho.TV is celebrating its one year anniversary. Sure, it’s going up against the 2009 Independents Bowl, but with The Love Me Nots, The Surfside IV (who I suspect may have had something to do with this flier) and The Necronauts at The…

Dierks Bentley

Dierks Bentley knows where his bread is buttered, which is why the country superstar’s upcoming benefit concert at Tempe Marketplace has a Harley-and-highway theme and not, say, a redecorate-your-loft theme. “Miles & Music for Kids” will offer fellow road warriors the opportunity to cruise from Cave Creek to Tempe with…

Pete Yorn

You can’t blame Pete Yorn for wanting to cut an album with Scarlett Johansson. After all, the Match Point actress is freakin’ hot. Still, that doesn’t mitigate the fact that Yorn cut an album with Scarlett Johansson. What’s the big deal? Well, imagine if Michael Chabon agreed to co-author a…

CenPho.tv One-Year Anniversary Bash

Whether it’s music, news, or the arts, when you want the best roundup of everything going on in downtown Phoenix (and only downtown Phoenix) you go to CenPho.tv. But when you want to actually hear the best music from downtown Phoenix? Well, you go to the CenPho.tv One-Year Anniversary Bash…

Polka Dot Dot

In a way it seems appropriate that the second full-length album from Polka Dot Dot is entitled Syzygy, a term used to describe the alignment of three or more celestial bodies in the same gravitational system along a line. If you were feeling sufficiently poetic, you could say that was…

Hatebreed

If Jamey Jasta, Hatebreed frontman and former host of MTV’s Headbangers Ball, ever gets sick of the music biz, the dude could probably make a decent living as a motivational speaker. Take the lyrics from “In Ashes They Shall Reap,” a song from his long-running hardcore band’s new self-titled album:…

Axis/Radius 12-Year Anniversary

With all the Scottsdale nightspots that have closed for business in the previous 12 months (SIX, Pink Taco, Mickey’s, etc.), it’s kinda unique to pimp a place that’s managed to survive the triple threat of economic upheaval, tougher DUI laws, and the ever-fickle whims of clubgoers and scenesters. The folks…

Club Candids: Retro Hi-Fi at SideBar featuring Jojo Flores

Who says there’s nothing to do on a Sunday night? Well, to be fair, there wasn’t a whole lot going on. Thankfully the folks behind Retro Hi-Fi at Sidebar pulled out the big guns, in this case Montreal’s Jojo Flores. An internationally revered garage, deep house and Afro-Latin DJ, Flores…

Blues Control

List of possible reasons to see Blues Control at Trunk Space: 1) Indie cred. Your unhip friends “wouldn’t get it,” and even though Pitchfork has already given the band some love, they don’t even have a Wikipedia page yet. You and your post-rock sensibilities are so ahead of the curve…