Though no one’s sure of the exact date, sometime in 1974, in the cold, cold town of Buffalo, New York, a young jazz combo by the name of Spyro Gyra hit the stage. Since then, the group has performed all over the world (seriously — places like Andorra and Jakarta)…
While promoters may have dubbed the tour featuring Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Joe Ely, and John Hiatt “The Four Horsemen Tour,” a better name might have been “Three Texans and a Midwesterner.” Or perhaps “The Founding Fathers Tour,” as these four singer-songwriters should be considered among the founding fathersof the…
Dubbed a “post-punk laptop MC,” Brooklyn musician MC Lars has almost initiated a new form of music with his fast-talking, rap-ish songs about pop culture. With his compositions of electronic beats and blips, as well as actual instrumentals, MC Lars spews through ironic songs such as “Hot Topic Is Not…
The Shins have gone heavy on atmosphere, light on the rocking on Wincing the Night Away, which only makes it that much more effective on those rare occasions in which they do kick it in — more than two minutes into the opening track, for example, where chugging guitars take…
Norah Jones may have begun her career as the leader of the new-jazz movement, but subsequent releases have proven the chanteuse equally — if not more — in tune with ’70s singer-songwriter fare, ’60s R&B, and contemporary Americana. Her latest, Not Too Late, finds these influences converging to produce an…
Oi! If you’re a hepcat scooter kid looking for somewhere to take your Vespa, head for the George & Dragon English Restaurant and Pub, 4240 North Central Avenue, on Wednesday, February 7, when local DJ impresario William Fucking Reed debuts his newest dance night, Style Council. Every hump day, Reed…
1. The Shins, Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop) 2. Stone Sour, Come What(ever) May (Roadrunner Records) 3. Eminem Presents, The Re-Up (Shady Records) 4. Saliva, Blood Stained Love Story (Island) 5. Primus, They Can’t All Be Zingers (Interscope) 6. Killswitch Engage, As Daylight Dies (Roadrunner Records) 7. Bullet for…
Surreptitiously, like folkie snipers in the night, devoted aficionados of this Willcox-based duo have been sneak-listening to tracks from their most recent record, Just Like the Others, and waiting on official availability as the lactic acid built up in their cramped ear muscles. Shoot, it’d been so long that all…
While Ten Dollar Outfit shies away from the “jam band” label, they are sorta like Phoenix’s own version of Widespread Panic-meets-John Mayer, and singer/guitarist Brian Chartrand even admits, “I don’t like playing or singing a song the same way . . . ever, really.” And TDO really is more of…
Welcome to your Woodstock ’69 flash back! While you’re getting naked and covering yourself in mud like a dirty hippie, don’t forget to grab an empty coffee can and drum along to Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle, the best psychedelic ’60s-sounding cult band to come out of the new millennium. Dillon,…
Even if you aren’t familiar with Jack’s Mannequin singer and pianist Andrew McMahon’s former band, the undeniably emo Something Corporate, it’s easy to see the musician’s innate songwriting talent when he performs. Melding memorable choruses, clever turns of phrase and original piano-based melodies, McMahon’s work on Jack’s Mannequin is both…
While Oh Doctor doesn’t really fit comfortably into the “emo” category, its music does bear some resemblance to bands in that genre: the impassioned, “I’m-dying-from-intelligent-introspection” wails of the Nixon brothers, Acey and Kodi (who also play guitar and bass, respectively), and a taste for long, declarative-statement song titles (“Play the…
While they rose to prominence in America via a bewildering major-label deal and two high-profile stints on Lollapalooza, Japanese noise troupe Boredoms had been cult favorites for years leading up to their big break, with a slew of impish, onanistic and abrasive releases to their credit before Reprise dropped 1993’s…
The further Anticon strays from its original granola posi-artiste rap roots, the more intriguing this Oakland, California label becomes. England’s Bracken represents the latest link in the imprint’s evolutionary chain, though slotting We Know About the Need is something of a challenge. While it isn’t really a shoegaze record in…
Established in 1996 by producer Chris “Peanut Butter Wolf” Manak, Stones Throw serves as a benchmark for innovative hip-hop music. This compilation, originally released last year as an in-store exclusive through Guitar Center, arrives at the height of the L.A.-based imprint’s popularity. It collects underground hits (Lootpack’s “Whenimondamic” and Aloe…
The first words out of Lily Allen’s mouth here are on the song “Smile”: “When you first left me, I was wanting more/But you were fucking that girl next door.” So yeah, she’s got the cheeky British attitude that did so well for Lady Sovereign. But despite its lilting reggae…
Remember the first time you heard the Pixies classic “Where Is My Mind?”? It condensed the euphoria of cutting anchor and sailing into the abyss into a four-minute pop song. Now Jay Reatard (that Memphis garage-punker from the Lost Sounds, the Reatards, Angry Angles, and probably a dozen other bands…
Free time has got to be the eternal enemy of local DJ impresario Hyder. When the turntable trickster isn’t spinning at The Blunt Club on Thursdays at Hollywood Alley, he’s working the wax at Shimmy Mondays at Trax, hooking up with the scenesters of the Abstract Workshop, or teaching beat…
1. Mos Def, True Magic (Geffen Records) 2. Nas, Hip-Hop Is Dead (Def Jam) 3. John Mayer, The Village Sessions (SonyBMG) 4. The Beatles, Love (Capitol) 5. Matisyahu, No Place To Be (Sony) 6. Joanna Newsom, Ys (Drag City/Caroline) 7. Ben Folds, Supersunnyspeedgraphic (Sony) 8. Kooks, Inside In/Inside Out (EMI…
The Valley’s post-adolescent crusty punk rockers have been getting a lot of camera time lately, so Club Candids hit up one of Scottsdale’s most popular clubs, Myst, on Friday, January 19, and the only crust was found in the hair gel of the employed and freshly bathed Scottsdale socialites. DJ…
When we heard about the grand opening of Lady Luck Tattoo Gallery in Tempe, we packed our camera and hit the party for some freaky photo-ops. After all, tattoos and Tempe go together like drunk girls and frat parties; both are necessities for the college experience and may lead to…
