Here’s a look at what’s selling this week at local record stores.MGMT’s Congratulations holds strong with spots in three of the four stores included in this week’s tally. Dr. Dog, Broken Bells, Caribou, and Devin the Dude also make several appearances.Hoodlums Music and Movies 1. fun. – Live at Fingerprints…
Welcome to The Grand Tour, a regular feature where PHXmusic.com takes you inside practice spaces, tour vans and seedy apartments occupied by Phoenix-area bands. This week we offer a peek into “The Iron Lady,” an alleged former brothel in CenPho where scuzzy power poppers Naive practice. If you would like…
The latest issue of AZ Kaos has an interesting dissection of my theory on Aesthetic Atrophy which is worth sharing.In case you missed it, “Aesthetic atrophy is the diminished capacity to appreciate new or unfamiliar music or other sensory stimuli. It is typically accompanied by the sufferer’s retreat to familiar…
Band: Comfort For ChangeTitle: Radio TherapyBasics: It’s quite odd that a Phoenix band would offer up an album that was released in 1999 for review.Wait, what’s that? The album was released just recently? Wow, you could have fooled me.Radio Therapy (or Radiotherapy, that is still ambiguous since it loaded up…
This eye-catching flier comes courtesy of Mesa indie musician Austin Gibbs, who plays this Friday, April 23 with a bunch of local bands at The Trunk Space in Phoenix. Not really sure what it means, but it definitely is eye-catching. The girl’s blue eyes are brought out even more by…
While many American Idol finalists go on to Z-list fame — anyone remember Nicki McKibbin, who graced the cast of VH1’s Celebrity Rehab? — former American Idol fourth-place finisher Chris Daughtry has proved his star isn’t in danger of falling anytime soon. Daughtry, who sold over 5 million copies of…
Sometimes, the world just has a way of working out. Like how this year, April 20 happened to fall on a Tuesday — the day new albums are released — enabling Kottonmouth Kings to debut their latest full-length, Long Live the Kings, on 4/20. It’s only fitting for a group…
Far be it from me to deny these reefer-rap legends the freedom to reinvent themselves, but seriously: What’s the deal with Cypress Hill’s new album, Rise Up? From a cover-art standpoint, it looks like runoff from a Billy Bragg sample book — all played-out Bolshevik lithography and overdeveloped forearms. Not…
Megafaun. Mega-fun? Megaphone? Mega-fawn, as in a big gigantic deer? How are you supposed to pronounce the name of this band? I have no idea. But I do know this: It doesn’t matter. Whether you can pronounce it or not, you’re sure to have good time at this show —…
There’s just over five months until the Red Bull Thre3Style national finals go down in Denver, and Phoenix’s JR Phillips (a.k.a. D-JR) is probably gonna need all that time to perfect his turntable talents. The 26-year-old mixmaster bested six other P-town cats last month to earn a berth in the…
Dear Goldenvoice, Promoter of the Coachella Valley Arts & Music Festival,My name is Michael Lopez, I am 26 years old and I have been attending your festival for the past five years. In those past five years, I have had some of the best music experiences in my life. In…
This week, looking at What’s Selling is a little different. That’s because Saturday was the long-anticipated Record Store Day, and hopefully you didn’t miss out.Not only did all of our favorite local record stores have live in-store performances, but they sold a ton of exclusive material only available one day…
We’ve been running into so many photographers from other publications (azcentral.com and Java, just to name a few) at Friday and Saturday events so this past weekend, we decided to bank on the element of surprise and we headed to the Lost Leaf on Sunday night.Sure, it was a little…
Title: Long Ride HomeBasics: 36 Cents And A Dream are comprised of three former members of the band Low Cut. The fourth worked on the solo album for Gin Blossom Scott Johnson. This all sounds promising, in a way, if by “promising” you mean “boring, painfully Arizona-y, country-twinged rock with…
Maybe you loved your prom and were voted into Prom Court and got lucky that night and had the perfect dress and everything was oh-so-magical and memorable.Or maybe, like most, things went wrong on prom. Your date ditched you halfway through, you spilled punch on your tux and you ended…
It’s hard to find out what Brooklyn-based Luke Temple has on his iPod, but judging from the tracks we’ve heard from Here We Go Magic’s recently released CD Pigeons (especially the lead single, the catchy “Collector”), he’s been listening to a lot of psychedelic-era Pink Floyd and Rolling Stones or…
A recent trend in the indie music world seems to be bands comprising simple two-person setups who try to make their music as distorted and lo-fi as possible. Though the trend may not be for everyone, it has produced some decent music so far — just look at bands like…
One of the major problems facing the organizers of Valley music festivals is the weather. Residents are used to the heat, but most bands that are familiar with Arizona summers have little interest in playing an outdoor music festival at 2 on a sweltering June afternoon. Not that you can…
The plight of too many talented songwriters is obscurity, often because they write songs for others. When a song becomes famous, few know the person behind the music. Thankfully, Mark Knopfler, the Scottish-born singer, songwriter, and former lead guitarist for Dire Straits, did not fall into obscurity. Since his Dire…
Australia’s too-cute-for-school Sia came to prominence in the U.S. after her song “Breathe Me” was featured in the final episode of Six Feet Under. Looking back, it makes sense her big break would come on the small screen: Sia’s sweet style is endearing to the fantasy-like, surreal scenarios portrayed on…
Superstar spinner Steve Aoki has got plenty of connections and he ain’t afraid to use them. The 32-year-old’s record label, Dim Mak, has featured some of the best beat-makers in the business, including MSTRKRFT and The Bloody Beetroots. He’s also part-owner of hip L.A. restaurant Shin with Julian Casablancas of…
There’s nothing like a new dance night with an elaborately-dressed crowd and an eclectic music selection to make Valley nightlife feel almost fresh again. The fleshy burlesque and S&M performances didn’t hurt either. Check out our slide show of Crotch Rockitt’s maiden voyage…
