Eric Clapton may have aged a bit too gracefully for many fans of his incendiary work with Cream, abandoning that youthful urgency in favor of a gentlemanly school of easy listening. And Back Home, his latest effort, clearly plays to Clapton’s older, wiser, less exciting side. As the title suggests,…
Priestbird — not to be confused with Priestess, Judas Priest, or “Freebird” — can be confused with Tarantula A.D. That’s the name under which the New York trio crafted its unique, enticing blend of classical music, freak-folk, punk, psychedelia, prog-rock, and metal before changing their moniker in recent months. Why…
Catherine Vericolli and Ryan Champagne might’ve dubbed themselves The Lucky Bitches, but the truth is that they’re quite the pleasant pair. Consider them to be goofballs to the third degree, as they named their DJ duo after a French & Saunders skit and incorporate silliness whenever possible into their weekly…
Most critics gave up on these horndogs back in ’68, when they had the temerity to boot out founder Al Kooper to get someone who could really shhhaaaang! The counterculture gave up on ’em completely when they went on a 1970 State Department-sponsored tour of Eastern Europe and had to…
A Club Candids without drinking? What could possibly make us want to go out besides the sweet promise of bars filled with bountiful booze? The biggest downtown arts event of the year, that’s what. This week, we decided to keep our livers clean and take in a little culture on…
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,…
