It’s been a long fucking summer, and the end’s still not in sight, so when you need a break from the pummeling sunshine and simmering concrete, check out Aqwela Entertainment’s Summer Oasis at Earl’s Tin Palace (15784 North Pima Road in Scottsdale) on Monday nights. DJ Tranzl8r spins all styles…
Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s ethereal, Willie-esque timbre has never sounded so down-to-earth as it does on Come On Back. No doubt, a major explanation for this strong vocal presence lies with the fact that the album is a tribute to the favorite tunes of Gilmore’s recently deceased father — it’s probably…
Guitar heroes with taste always seem to live in the margins, and Duke Robillard is no exception. The founder of Roomful of Blues has a tuneful, supple way with rockabilly, jazz and soul-inflected blues that should appeal to anyone with an ear for lyrical leads and painterly chords and riffs…
If Phoenix band Motive has an actual motive, it’s having a good time, and that means booze, metal, sex, and — wait, did we say booze? Plus, these guys make some crushingly heavy music that’s a blend of Testament, Obituary, and Amon Amarth. To understand Motive’s sound in a single…
Can you imagine The Knack as a death metal band? We didn’t think so, either, until we heard The Number 12 Looks Like You’s cover of the late ’70s New Wavers’ classic “My Sharona.” After experiencing The Number 12’s guttural growling followed by the chorus’ cheesy, high-pitched “woo!”, we knew…
Everybody Rise! demonstrates that as surely as a band can lose its mojo — usually when the recording budget is high, along with the burden of expectation — it can find it again. Free from the snooty art class that Sub Pop has become, the Makers return to the winking…
Gogol Bordello, New York’s only Ukrainian Gypsy punk band, has a planetary musical vision. The band’s strong Ukrainian roots — evidenced by the furious accordion work of Yuri Lemeshev and the mad fiddling of Sergey Rjabtzev — are augmented by morsels of reggae, flamenco, Balkan wedding music, heavy metal guitar…
You could almost touch the hesitation when people finally got an earful of Electric Version, the New Pornographers’ 2003 follow-up to their instantly canonized debut. An “It’s-Good-But” record if ever there was one, Version was easy to defend but difficult to love, a record that demanded a little more than…
Fans expecting more crushing feedback, pile-driver drumming and arty, late-’90s-style British bluster will be shocked by the quiet, introspective vibe BRMC displays on its third outing. There’s plenty of overdubbing — Autoharp, congas, piano, organ, drums and electric-guitar noise — but the mix has an unplugged feel that leaves the…
Every Time I Die isn’t a hardcore band — at least, it isn’t anymore. On Gutter Phenomenon, the Buffalo band adopts a much more straightforward rock sound in tracks like the heavy “Tusk and Temper.” ETID exemplifies hardcore’s roots in punk rock as well, keeping things high-speed and gritty (the…
With most new bands trying to hit platinum their first time out, you rarely see acts develop over the course of several albums anymore — either you’re huge or you’re gone. This sad fact is yet another reason to enjoy the twists and turns of the White Stripes, who have…
When Tucson’s The Bled recorded their first full-length for Fiddler Records, Pass the Flask, vocalist James Muñoz had just replaced the band’s former singer and had mere days to familiarize himself with the songs. Nonetheless, Pass the Flask was a masterpiece of screaming, growling heaviness, a blend of mathematical metal,…
Screw the Crüe — for our money, the single most iconic moment of the ’80s sleaze-metal era is that scene in The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years in which belligerent W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes floats in a swimming pool in full stage leather, swearing and dumping…
Born in Chicago, Bad Boy Bill grew up on hip-hop as well as dance music. There in the hotbed of house, he listened to Farley Jackmaster Funk of WBMX’s Hot Mix Five, the area’s legendary DJ team. Funk had one of the first house singles to chart (a cover of…
What do Willie Nelson and Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips have in common? Besides resin-caked brainstems, both legends have handpicked the same unknown singer-songwriter as an opening act: Travis Graves, otherwise known as Mt. Egypt. And while his upcoming sophomore disc, Perspectives, is already sparking up a buzz on…
It’s hard to believe that the Fleshtones have been at it for 30 years. Beachhead sounds as youthful, snotty and out of control as anything they’ve ever cut, brimming over with joyous garage-band enthusiasm. They kick things off with “Bigger and Better,” in which they shout: “It’s nothing new, it’s…
It was inevitable that part of the fallout of the post-punk/punk-funk riot that recently wrapped its icy fingers around indie rock would be voracious crate-diggers starting to work back through history, excavating any overlooked band that roughly approximated the bass-bulging and jittery riffing taking up hourlong blocks on MTV2. One…
Brazilian chanteuse Lilian Vieira went to study voice in Rotterdam, where she met drummer Stefan Kruger and keyboard wiz Stefan Schmid. And although their collaboration is based in Holland, the sound is pure Brazil. The trio is continually finding unique ways to blend electronic beats with samba, afoxé and other…
While you wait for the next Coldplay album, Nashville’s Blue Merle should fill in nicely. It’s eerie how much singer Lucas Reynolds’ tenor sounds just like the voice of Coldplay leader Chris Martin. Named after a Led Zeppelin lyric (not the Australian sheepdog), this foursome somewhat distinguishes itself by using…
It’s no surprise that our most soulful president tapped Buckwheat Zydeco to play both of his inaugurations. Slick Willy knew no one other than the oft-labeled “world’s greatest party band” could, well, you know, get the party started. Buck, born Stanley Dural Jr., refuses to follow a set list, opting…
Well, stick a boot in my ass and whistle “Dixie,” I do believe Toby Keith has gone soft! Seems like only yesterday the linebacker-size Oklahoman was the biggest, baddest mofo in all of country music — favorite of rowdy rednecks from coast to coast; godsend to U.S. Army recruiters; mainstay…
Any excuse for a party, right? Local dance rock institution Hot Pink! is throwing itself a pre-two-year anniversary get-down before its actual two-year birthday party. We like their style. On Friday, August 12, DJ Nimh and his cronies are flying in legendary NYC impresario DJ Michael T., creator of the…
