After hitting up a couple empty clubs this past Saturday night, we finally gave in and headed to The Rogue in Scottsdale for Shake!’s two-year anniversary. Leave it to William Fucking Reed to steal the crowds, because on Saturday, February 24, the place was packed with a mixed mob looking…
As much as Kittie benefited from the late-’90s nü-metal explosion, they were always one smart step removed from it: From the scrappy, Hole-via-Cannibal Corpse death-grunge of 1999’s Spit, to the Pantera-style bludgeoning of 2001’s Oracle, to the finessed, goth-tinged chug of 2004’s Until the End, the all-female Canadian quartet never…
Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible is a dense, academic, and ultimately rewarding album fixated on questions of spirituality, religion and the concept of self — and, more specifically, how to reconcile these things in a bleak world where uncertainty is the norm, hope seems dead, and God isn’t exactly benevolent. (That…
Although Fall Out Boy lyricist/dreamboat Pete Wentz is inveterately verbose, his words don’t mask profundity, and that’s a big reason for his band’s success. A lot of emo acts have a limited audience because of all that freakin’ emotion. But instead of turning songs into platforms for pain, Wentz eschews…
Sex Change starts off re-exploring Trans Am’s journeys on the Autobahn, as the echo of Afrobeat guitars washes over the lull of a trance-inducing synth riff. But they move on quickly while keeping the synth front and center on “North East Rising Sun,” where droning psychedelic vocals tug against a…
Well, Lucinda Williams’ first release in four years won’t be making many people’s lists of Least Depressing Albums of 2007. Someone took her joy again. And this time, there’s no sign that joy is coming back, as Williams struggles through the heartache of her mother’s death while dealing with the…
This trio from Richmond, Virginia, includes singer/songwriter/guitarist Jacob Thomas Berns; Earnest Christian Kiehne Jr., a multi-instrumentalist who plays almost every folk instrument you can think of; and Sonya Cotton, who supplies breathy mountain harmonies. The gentle ambient folk music here spins a subtle web, and while the music is light…
Alternative Press included Moneen’s latest effort, The Red Tree, on its “10 Essential Albums of 2006” list, and went on to say that if you’d give your favorite record of the year five stars, The Red Tree would get six. Now, chances are, you’re thinking, “That’s just crazy talk.” And…
Few hard-edged punk bands were as blatantly pissed off about politics in the ’90s than Naked Aggression. Formed in 1990 by singer Kirsten Patches and guitarist Phil Suchomel among the breweries and cheese factories of Madison, Wisconsin, Naked Aggression’s original purpose was to protest the first Gulf War. The band’s…
After scoring two platinum albums and one massive hair-metal anthem (that ode to statutory rape titled “Seventeen”), Winger officially crashed and burned with the commercial failure of 1993’s Pull. And while most rock fans had written off the band, which actually rocked harder than most of its peers, guitarist Reb…
See ya never, Blonde Redhead! The top spot for bands made up of one sprightly Asian singer plus two experimentally oriented white guys has been usurped by Northern California spazzers Deerhoof. Last year was Deerhoof’s year. Finally, plenty of show-going indie fans caught on to what a few have known…
MSTRKRFT’s “Easy Love” video will get you fired if you watch it online while you’re at work. Nobody in the video has sex, and, unfortunately, there’s no nudity, but the vowel-shunning Canadian production duo churns out a heavily disco-influenced, grimy electro sound while squirming women in examination chairs are doused with strawberry milkshakes. “Easy Love” […]
There’s tons of stuff going down this weekend in connection with the annual Art Detour in downtown Phoenix (just check out our special insert in this issue). With three big days of artistic shenanigans, by the time Sunday, March 4, rolls around, you’re gonna want some place to cool your…
Petterson was born in New York City but lives in Nashville. He’s not a punk, nor is his music bluesy, so the title of the CD is puzzling. Maybe he’s just venting some leftover NYC attitude. Petterson’s music is folky, funky and country, with a skewed vision and gruff vocal…
1. Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Don’t You Fake It (Virgin Records U.S.) 2. Explosions in the Sky, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone (Temporary Residence) 3. Jesu, Conqueror (Hydrahead Records) 4. Comeback Kid, Broadcasting . . . (Victory Records) 5. Authority Zero, 12:34 (Big Panda Records) 6. Alkaline Trio, Remains…
Okay, so that comeback album never quite came back, stalling out on the quality trail somewhere between It’s Hard and Roger Daltrey’s latest solo album. And the band’s down to two crucial members from the glory days of “Substitute” and “I Can See for Miles.” But if The Who can…
Born in 1936 in Jamaica, raised in Texas, and based in Phoenix, Big Pete Pearson is proof that the blues (as a flourishing, vibrant form) is not dying of old age and House of Blues-bred respectability. Likely among the last of the breed of Chicago-style bluesmen, Pearson has a burly,…
Brothers Peter and David Brewis may have an unerring knack for melodic hooks, but full songs prove a trickier proposition for them. Two-thirds of Field Music, the Brewises deliver their second album of frequently shimmering ditties on Tones of Town, stitching together Beach Boys harmonies, string sections, and XTC-style pop…
Keller Williams, the one-man jam band, is known for his ability to get the sound of a full orchestra out of his acoustic guitar using a variety of pedals and loops. On Dream, he invites 20 friends along for 16 unpredictable performances as a trio, quartet, full band, and duo…
Seattle singer-songwriter Jesse Sykes has long been uncomfortable with critical responses to her music as dark, lonely, and deeply depressed; instead (as she’s taken to saying), she plays “spooky American music.” This may seem like a minor semantic quibble, but it’s crucial to getting your head around Sykes’ second full-length…
Saliva’s rote fusion of rap metal, grunge, and alt rock should’ve died before the turn of the century, but it never has. Amazingly enough, the more generic and obsolete the Memphis band sounds, the more records it sells: “Ladies and Gentleman,” the first single off Blood Stained Love Story, recently…
For two decades, Walter Salas-Humera and his Silos have been one of the leading lights of Americana music. Sadly underappreciated, the New York-based Silos have released more than a dozen efforts that merge country, folk, and indie rock in increasingly fascinating ways. The band’s high-water mark was Cuba from 1987,…
