The marriage of death metal muscle to industrial smarts might not be one you’d care to throw rice at, but you can’t deny these two crazy kids make a handsomely bleak couple. Fear Factory is credited as being one of the first to witness this unholy union, with Soul of…
Picture this: It’s three in the morning, long past last call. The parties have wound down, and the only place to go is the 24-hour Quick Mart. Still awake, you need a soundtrack to a dream, something soothing, yet not boring: music to lull you off to another world. The…
While other kids in the dawn of their 20s wax artistic, Atlanta’s Black Lips are stalwart in their scuzzy retro glory. Let It Bloom, their third album as the favorite little brothers of Sonics freaks everywhere, may sound like it was recorded on tin in 1968 — with wisps of…
1. 50 Cent, Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (Interscope) 2. Mariah Carey, The Emancipation of Mimi (Island) 3. Young Buck, T.I.P. (M.A. Records) 4. Young Jeezy, Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 (Def Jam) 5. Three 6 Mafia, The Most Known Unknown (Sony) 6. Kanye West, Late Registration (Roc-a-Fella) 7…
Power pop, for far too long, has been music wasted on the old. Throughout the ’90s, it seemed only to emanate from bitter people over 30, but now you have accomplished bands not much older than the teen constituency power pop was originally intended for. And self-sufficient ones, too –…
Aside from a bottle of wine and my couch, something that really makes a Friday night for me is music. Loud music, with hypnotic, booming bass. On a Friday night not long ago, I’ve found it right in downtown Phoenix. I’m in the groove with hundreds of warm bodies at…
Punk’s not dead, and thanks to the booming local music site AZPunk, it’s not exploited, either. AZPunk.comp Volume 4 offers equal-opportunity aggression from a mind-boggling 37 bands from across the Valley and such far-flung punk enclaves as Tuba City and Yuma. In almost 75 minutes of music, there’s old-school anarchy,…
Vader? I thought you said Veda, that chirpy adult pop band that sounds like Cocteau Twins if they left the reverb pots alone and stopped being so doggone ethereal. What? Veda is playing the Marquee on Saturday? Sheesh, what are the odds that Indian chanteuse Mira Veda is also playing…
People who bewail shiny, happy new country music but don’t wanna water down their beer with tears should check out this Vancouver quintet, which blurs the line of whatever traditional music you’ve got with its every-song-can-have-banjo-and-fiddle credo. And on this year’s offering, Smart Kid, resident singer-songwriter Trevor Rogers demonstrates he…
It’s been called dance music for people who like rock, but the tag’s too reductive. While The Crystal Method’s “big beat” sound has often featured a rock roar (including guitarists Wes Borland from Limp Bizkit and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello), it also accompanies layered loops of pop, soul…
Funny they’re calling this union of nü-metal refugees (and one newcomer) the “Fall Brawl” tour, since none of the bands could really be associated with the hateful, ultra-aggressive wing of the nü-metal movement so rightfully maligned and hardly missed. Even while they were sucking up to mentor Fred Durst (from…
Poor Paul McCartney: a Knight of the Realm, with a personal fortune of more than $1 billion, a new wife (an ex-model) and kid (to join his other three), and an early career so monumental that journalists still manage to perform critical fellatio while bashing him. You’ve got to feel…
Get geared up for a turkey coma by sampling some of the Valley’s most delicious bands, pitch in to feed the hungry, and get a scrumptious DVD of the show mailed right to your door — all for 10 bucks. Hosted by longtime Valley promoter Harold Morales, the first AZ…
East of El Segundo’s refineries and beachfront ghettos, Hawthorne, California, remains an unassuming musical bastion, home to the Beach Boys, pop wunderkind Emitt Rhodes, and Greg Ginn of Black Flag. It’s also the stomping grounds for dios (malos), Angelenos who share Brian Wilson’s love of druggy melodies and rich vocal…
Pop-punk boasts about as much intrigue these days as “blues-rock,” “rap-metal” and every other innocent-sounding compound that has grown into a stinky, world-dominating blob. For five years, Chicago’s Lawrence Arms have stayed interesting by being the Renaissance men of a genre that’s broader than our wary ears might recognize after…
Whereas most rappers make a name for themselves by slaying competitors in freestyle rhyme battles, MC Chris came up through strange circumstances: voicing a cartoon spider. Fans of the Cartoon Network’s cult favorite Adult Swim series should know Chris from his hyper-obnoxious voice as Hesh on Sealab 2021 and various…
When taking stock of all the things we don’t have in Arizona (seasons; a caring, compassionate sheriff; viable New York pizza; etc.), you can finally scratch off the following item: a Latina trio who sing bilingually and can give Destiny’s Child a run for their pesos. ‘Cause now we got…
Maybe I’m shallow, but I’m still waiting for a band called Daughters of Fission that’s four women with Coke-bottle eyeglasses and hair up in hideous buns who magically transform into ravishing Amazons midway through their set. This unit is three gals short and way too serious to take this high-minded…
Filmmakers like to go on about how rhyme-slingers make such naturalistic actors, how the MCs’ innate intensity translates well to the big screen. Oakland-based Why? makes an equally convincing argument for the viability of undie backpackers as high-caliber, indie-rock front men. Anticon Records stalwart/everyman Jonathan “Yoni” Wolf started Why? a…
Charlie Sexton, having left home at 12 to storm Austin as a guitar prodigy, does not lack in heartland grit. Maybe that’s why his latest, Cruel and Gentle Things, harks back to an era before rootsy rock was called “alt-country” and required the prurient use of Dobro and banjo to…
When Vaux released its first album, There Must Be Some Way to Stop Them, on Volcom Recordings in 2003, we could sense something was percolating; this band was on the verge of something explosive. Fans waited to see the band perform live or release the next album, wanting to witness…
Bands change, fortunately, and so does the music they make. But that implies opinions must change, too. After describing MXPX as a pale Green Day imitation to the bass tech for MXPX’s front man Mike Herrera on this summer’s Warped Tour, a moment later, we were introduced to Herrera. Oops!…
