We’re guessing there’s a specific breed of people who would enjoy rare, quality disco with a cosmic, space-aged feel to it. And, if you happen to have this strange bloodline, NOVA at the Yucca Tap Room is the night for you.We visited the every-other-Sunday night event this past weekend. Now,…
Nayo Jones My Name Is Nayo Soul (PowerMove Records) Grade: C+ Critics have been commenting on the death of R&B for a few years now, to the point it’s almost universally accepted that the genre is artistically bankrupt, with few if any quality acts still practicing the time-honored craft of…
Sink Or Swim – The Secret Samu…..
To a classics scholar, Asteria is a mythical goddess who drowned herself in lieu of a non-consensual shtupping by the all-powerful Zeus. She’s a symbol of feminine power and defiance. To fans of Midwestern pop-punk, Asteria are five well-dressed 20-somethings with week-old stubble who sound a little like Hit the…
This is typically where you’d find a diatribe against Hellogoodbye and their bland, unoriginal electro-rock sound. True, the band sounds like an unlikely (and unwanted) collaboration between Blink-182 and T-Pain. True, there are certainly bands that do the whole dance-rock thing to much greater effect (Under the Influence of Giants,…
Max Cavalera is the Roger Waters of heavy metal. Both men spent the early part of their careers fronting hugely influential and innovative bands (Sepultura and Pink Floyd), then left to pursue solo careers that have been inconsistent and, at times, self-indulgent. Meanwhile, their original bands have dutifully continued on,…
Don’t judge Chris Daughtry by the company he keeps. Touring with Nickelback, Puddle of Mudd, and Finger Eleven, the American Idol hopeful and the band he assembled could easily be lumped in with the pool of indistinguishable Clear Channel rockers. In fact, even if you judged him by his first…
Like Baywatch, Balkan warfare and runaway Internet speculation, Lyle Lovett will always be indelibly linked to the 1990s. It was in the ’90s, after all, that the spindly country crooner won three of his four Grammy Awards, married Julia Roberts in history’s most egregious abuse of Funny-Looking-Musician Romantic Privilege, and…
The force is quite strong with DJ Dark Vader. While he doesn’t wield a lightsaber or bomb around in a TIE Fighter (at least, not that we’re aware of), the renowned mixmaster has spent the past few months making the East Valley a little bit more irie with his weekly…
You have to love a band that puts its name in its song titles, as Reno punk trio Cobra Skulls have done in the past. Take their 2007 disc, Sitting Army, for example. Every one of the 13 tracks utilizes the word “cobra.” “Don’t Count Your Cobras Before They Hatch,”…
If you haven’t heard of The Cab yet, you’re probably over the age of 23. Associated with Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco, and Cobra Starship, this Las Vegas quintet is known for dance-rock ear candy. Fall Out Boy singer Patrick Stump and Panic at the Disco singer Brandon…
So what’s the time? Like the Beastie Boys said, it’s time to get ill, which is why Tony Poer is busting out his gold Adidas track suit and dusting off 400 old-school hip-hop tracks in preparation for Fresh on Saturday, August 8. Along with DJ mig50, Poer will be turning…
If stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods sold music, Bowerbirds would be on the list of organic artists in stock. Simple folk music with haunting melodies and lyrics (free of any overproduction or trans fats) is the recipe for guitarist Phil Moore and keyboardist/accordionist Beth Tacular. Oh, yes, and…
A few years back, Blue October frontman Justin Furstenfeld went to great lengths to make it clear that music was a business to him, first and foremost. So maybe it shouldn’t be such a surprise that his music is devoid of sincerity. He complained about having to be away from…
After they were labeled a mix of Sigur Rós, Radiohead, and George Michael in their hometown alt-weekly, you might think Barcelona had been mistaken for the substantially more interesting Swedish mega-group, I’m From Barcelona, a 30-piece ensemble wielding kazoos, accordions, banjos, and tubas. But Seattle Weekly knew which band it…
There are some weekends when we just want to hit a favorite spot in town and see how photo-worthy it can be.Last Friday, July 31st, was one such night. We rolled down to The Rose & Crown Pub which is fast becoming one of our favorite drinking holes in Central…
We’ve lost count of the number of DJ collectives and crews (“cliques,” if you must) that occupy our fair city’s EDM landscape. Just off the top of our heads, there are: Salacious Beat Slingers, Cosmic Sea, Groove Corps, the Solstice posse, and Warsaw Pact. Hence the idea behind Tribes, where…
It doesn’t take long to get into El Ten Eleven. Hell, I was hooked a few songs into the L.A. post-rock duo’s self-titled debut. Then, toward the end of my listen, I got a call from a blocked number. It was “Dave,” who had dialed the wrong number, but didn’t…
Artists will spend their whole career searching for the elusive beast that will turn out to be their defining work. Portland, Oregon, artist/musician Jona Bechtolt, who records under the moniker YACHT as a solo artist, has likely done that with his fourth album, See Mystery Lights. Throughout, Bechtolt exercises his…
Outside of jazz circles — and people who actually pay attention to the Grammys, where she’s been a perennial nominee and/or winner for well over a decade — Canadian-born singer/pianist Diana Krall’s name usually rings a bell because she’s the wife of Elvis Costello. The pair married in 2003, and…
The Reverend Horton Heat is the undisputed king of psychobilly, but you could make a helluva case for Nekromantix frontman Kim Nekroman as the genre’s crown prince. In many ways, Nekromantix epitomize the psychobilly look and sound even more than the good Reverend himself. With their gravity-defying pompadours and fixation…
Black Metal Box Black Metal Box (Self-released) Grade: B 98 KUPD is the premier (if not the only) radio station in the Valley for rock and metal. The station has a devoted following of music lovers in it for the soul-crushing bass and the scream-your-pain away vocals, not the cookie-cutter…
