In 1991, 16volt founder Eric Powell had a vision: He wanted to merge the gritty, primal guitars of garage rock and punk with the relentless machinistic throttle and hum of industrial beats. The result was a barrage of “coldwave” songs brimming with blips and glitches on 16volt’s 1993 debut album,…
There’s an infamous video on YouTube of iconic Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook “DJing” at Serbia’s EXIT festival in 2006. And by “DJing” we mean twisting knobs on an equalizer like a coked-up hamster while the Tom Neville track “Just Fuck” plays. This revealing vid (and similar…
Glam on Friday, June 27th and Saturday, June 28th. By Lilia Menconi We may not have Glam anymore but we’ve got a butt-load of photos in the slideshow. Oh, God, it can’t be true. Glam closing? Really? Nnnnnooooo!!!!! It’s no secret that Glam has been our hands-down favorite club for…
By Benjamin Leatherman Rockzone Records, 1721 East Warner Road in Tempe, isn’t your typical music store. It’s more of a haven for vinyl junkies like our music columnist Steve Jansen, who prefer their sounds to flow from an old-school needle and groove instead of some new-fangled iPod or CD player…
What is with local DJs blowing this burg after getting some renown? DJs Dirty Dave and Denny Le Nimh (of Hot Pink! fame) both did it, as did Z-Trip and Markus Schulz before them. The latest big fish to ditch our small pond is house mixmaster Joe DiPadova, who used…
There’s a moment on The Blackened Flat Tax — a 30-minute effort by the rock-heavy, world-music-fortified Phoenix-based band — when we experience some serious chills (this is our body’s positive, uncontrolled reaction to music that really wows us). The goose bumps start to form at the beginning of “Long Sinner,”…
Few reggae albums can muster up strong anticipation from the dancehall and hip-hop communities simultaneously, but Elephant Man’s latest release, Let’s Get Physical, is just that type of disc. Lots of hype surrounded Ele’s jump to Bad Boy Records. Not only was that a bold move for both parties, but…
L.A.’s ax ‘n’ drums duo No Age (along with a bunch of other young guns like Times New Viking and Pink Reason) has reconnected with the quirky and all-too-damaged spirits coursing through old-school American indie rock. Nouns’ title stinks compared to that of their 2007 debut, Weirdo Rippers, but the…
Acclaimed blues-rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa has been blazing a path in music since B.B. King first discovered the six-string slinger when he was 12 and took him on the road as his opening act. He’s been featured on the cover of Guitar World, Guitar Player, and Guitarist; he continues to…
No one can question Mike Ness’ punk rock badge, with his being the sole remaining original member of seminal rockabilly punks Social Distortion and having survived an addiction to heroin. And while some may question the authenticity of Ness’ solo work — which is markedly less “punk” and more straight-ahead…
The Sulphur Springs/Denton, Texas-based quintet Fair to Midland holds the platypus-rare distinction of sounding like pretty much no one else in rock music today. Consider a track such as the single “Tall Tales Taste Like Sour Grapes,” from the band’s debut album, Fables from a Mayfly, released last June. There’s…
By Lilia Menconi As we approached our 80th Club Candids, we were beginning to think this town was totally tapped out. These past weeks, we’ve had to be a bit bolder with our choices and run the risk of heading into clubs that felt more like superficial war zones than…
By Benjamin Leatherman Here’s a rundown of the top 10 best-sellers at Stinkweeds Record Exchange, 12 West Camelback Road, for the week of June 16 to 22. 1. Fleet Foxes, Self-titled (Sub Pop) 2. Wolf Parade, At Mount Zoomer (Sub Pop) 3. My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges (ATO) 4. The…
I’m driving to work. It’s not my usual pound-as-much-coffee-as-you-can-while-not-hitting-anything-and-still-drunk-from-last-night commutes. It’s a caffeine-free jaunt, filled with itching of uncontrollable proportions. If this itching is comparable to rehab — my skin coming off, the kind of itching you read about — then I’m never going to quit drinking. Let me start…
Patchwork tapestries glued together from trash, cityscapes made out of discarded glass bottles, and junk mail assembled into fancy wall collages are just some of the scavenger exhibits you may find at your local contemporary art gallery. While it’s a hot trend in visual art, the hunter-gatherer/assemblage spirit hasn’t caught…
Fans of Irish folk-rock like Flogging Molly will go Paddy-batty for this local release, which blends traditional tunes like “Hag at the Churn” and “One Eyed Reilly” with spirited, fiddle-driven originals like the snarky title track (where guitarist/vocalist Liam Mackey wails “C’mon, c’mon, Annie, tell us all who’s the daddy?…
No, the world hasn’t been waiting for another folkish band fronted by a precocious, big-voiced singer, and the familiar nature of the strummier material on Let’s Build doesn’t help separate Girl Named Kyle from the pack. Take the concluding “Epar,” which contains the confession “I feel like I’ve been here…
On “I Feel Better,” the second track off Frightened Rabbit’s breakup diary The Midnight Organ Fight, frontman Scott Hutchison proclaims, “This is the last song I’ll write about you.” If only. It’s these moments of false affirmation and agonizing self-torture — voiced in Hutchison’s thick Scottish accent — that make…
Cyndi Lauper’s crazy hair, outrageous clothes, and Noo Yawk accent pegged her as a patron saint of goofballs, thrift-store queens, and misfits in the 1980s. But underneath her “she’s so unuuuuusual!” exterior lurks an understated pop balladeer and underrated singer who’s had a huge influence on many of modern music’s…
The third album is the one fans generally have to worry about. It’s usually the one in which a band has exhausted its supply of genuinely inspired musical ideas and now has to come up with brilliance on the fly. It has to point to some fearless new direction, one…
Back in 2004, DJ guru Rod Carrillo was all over the Valley’s airwaves and club scene, broadcasting his style of trance and progressive house on Energy Radio 92.7/101.1 FM and spinning at joints like Sky Lounge. These days, Carrillo is busy with getting tracks on the Billboard dance chart (his…
By Benjamin Leatherman What are the Top 10 best-selling albums at East Side Records, 217 West University Drive in Tempe? Here’s a list, yo. 1. Dystopia, Self-titled (Life is Abuse) 2. King Khan and the Shrines, The Supreme Genius of King Khan (Vice) 3. Atmosphere, Sad Clown Bad Spring 12…
