Part of Devendra Banhart’s appeal is the sheer magnitude of his iconoclasm. Nobody sounds quite like him. With his wobbly, warbling falsetto, colorful but unusual lyricism, and penchant for musical and vocal outbursts that run counter to the slow-bubbling acoustic folk informing his arrangements, he’s like the crazy uncle who,…
If there weren’t asshole junkies and layabouts, Danny Marianino and company would have precious little to go on a tirade about. Lucky for us, there seems to be no end to the supply of good-for-nothings hanging around the social hall. This third effort goes further out than the band’s last…
Uh-oh . . . TVT’s collection of Southern thug rappers is pretty much — to borrow a phrase from Lindsay Lohan — completely retarded. The Dirty South’s incarnation of gangster rap is no torch-bearer to the West Coast’s industry-shaking forebears like ‘Pac and Eazy. Lil’ Jon and the Eastside Boyz,…
Go through the looking glass this weekend at Wonder, an Alice in Wonderland-themed rave at a yet-to-be-announced location on Saturday night. Wonder ought to be one of the biggest parties around here this summer — local DJ Kore, of azhardcorejunkies.com, says, “If this doesn’t bring everybody out, then there’s nothing…
Last year the Georgia-based rapper Bubba Sparxxx made an underappreciated record called Deliverance that presented a bracing vision of hip-hop told from the perspective of a small-town country bumpkin. This year the Nashville duo Big & Rich is flipping that coin, playing country music from the POV of slick Music…
Though it wasn’t as startling a musical about-face as, say, Pat Boone’s embrace of heavy metal, Josh Rouse took a pretty big leap from semi-depressive alt-country strummer to sunny ’70s blue-eyed soul man on last year’s 1972, the Nebraska native’s fifth album. Whatever the reason (was he tiring of the…
Top 10 sellers at Stinkweeds Records (1250 East Apache Boulevard in Tempe) for June 13 through 19: 1. Sonic Youth, Sonic Nurse (Geffen) 2. PJ Harvey, Uh Huh Her (Island) 3. Beastie Boys, To the 5 Boroughs (Capitol) 4. Reubens Accomplice, The Bull, the Balloon, and the Family (Western Tread)…
Why let such a trifling thing as the death of your most important member (or members) stand in the way of gettin’ the band back together, maaaaaan? I mean, who needs that bloated ol’ Jim Morrison and his stank-ass leather pants when Ian Astbury can grow a mussy shag, throw…
If you like a little evil with your needles, look no further than this Saturday’s Sadisco 54 party at Jugheads. Sadisco (www.sadistic-disco.com) is a monthly industrial/EBM/noise event where resident DJs Squalor, ///she///, 1975, and Aversion drop ear-eating bombs of wax — this month’s event bumps up the atmosphere with ’70s…
Lines in My Face might seem an odd album title for a band whose members’ mean age isn’t old enough to drink at a bar, but Chronic Future has already been around the block a few times at this point. On this, the band’s third full-length release, Chronic Future has…
There are tons of great DJ Shadow concert bootlegs floating around on disc and vinyl, but the stunning clarity and seamlessly mixed content of the official In Tune and On Time Live! puts all the rest to shame. This 20-track, 78-minute CD (packaged together with a 24-track DVD) is culled…
Like a burly swamp monster, Alabama Thunderpussy creeps from the sludgy depths and suddenly lurches out in a blazing rage. It’s a complicated monster, however, with a love of soft Southern rock ballads. Fulton Hill opens with a deceptively mellow instrumental called “Such Is Life,” a four-and-a-half-minute extravaganza oozing a…
The Promise Ring’s reign as one of emo’s flagship bands had nearly ended by the time kiddy pop-punkers like Good Charlotte or New Found Glory started cashing their Hot Topic merch checks. After a brain tumor and surgery gave leader Davey Von Bohlen a brief scare, he led the Promise…
When Hip-Hop strolled into the debutante ball in her homespun garb, she barely got a glance. Those who did look scoffed at her lack of instruments, forgetting that guitarsbassdrums are only tools, with no imagination besides that which is brought to them. Two decades later, sitting prettier after capping the…
It’s baaaack! This summer sees the Vans-sponsored Warped Tour reaching its 10th summer of rocking young people in baggy shorts silly with a motley crew of relatively diverse bands from across the spectrum of “aggressive music” — however you choose to define it. As always, there’s wheat, and then there’s…
In the mid- to late ’90s, Armand Van Helden was the name in American progressive trance and house, penning hits like “U Don’t Know Me” and “Witch Doktor,” while remixing tracks by everyone from Puff Daddy to the Rolling Stones. His two post-millennial LPs met with tepid critical press and…
Like their stateside sisters the Dixie Chicks, the Corrs have watched their commercial success grow as they’ve pruned the traditional musical elements that originally defined them from their sound. Borrowed Heaven, the photogenic family group’s fourth studio album, contains traces of their Irish heritage, but the flavor’s never more prevalent…
Before he was a member of this bicoastal dance-punk outfit, drummer John Pugh belonged to the same small but energized Arkansas music scene I did; every time the pre-Pugh !!! would come to Little Rock, we’d throw a dance party raucous enough to attract the cops but good-natured enough to…
Because bland people who have bland conversations at bland dinner parties need more bland background music to play once the Train CD ends, South Carolina’s Edwin McCain puts out a new album every two years or so. Really, though, what would you expect from a guy initially championed by Hootie…
Now that Creed has broken up, the Cali-based P.O.D. — best known for its hit “Youth of the Nation” — has cornered the market on spiritual groups. But lead singer Sonny Sandoval explains that he’s somewhat uncomfortable with that label. After all, no one is calling the Beastie Boys a…
Underground hip-hop crews may not have the flash and bling of their mainstream counterparts, but they usually get the last laugh via artistic credibility and career longevity. (When was the last time you heard from a No Limit soldier or a Cash Money Millionaire?) On Saturday, June 19, you get…
1. NB Ridaz, NB Ridaz.com (Upstairs) 2. Usher, Confession (LaFace) 3. Velvet Revolver, Contraband (RCA) 4. Juvenile, Juve the Great (Universal) 5. Petey Pablo, Still Writing in My Diary (BMG) 6. Modest Mouse, Good News for People Who Love Bad News (Epic) 7. Kanye West, The College Dropout (Roc-A-Fella) 8…
