What Mega Ran’s April Fools’ Joke Says About Arizona Hip-Hop

View image | gettyimages.com On Wednesday, one of the most successful Arizona hip-hop artists, Random (a.k.a. Mega Ran), spent the better half of the day fielding phone calls in regard to the “diss track” he released as an April Fools’ Day joke. The track consisted of a menacing beat that…

Heritage Hump Day: Zen Lunatics – “Media Sensation”

Every Wednesday is Heritage Hump Day! That’s because every Wednesday from now to the end of the year or before someone really big stops us, Heritage Hump Records (a temporary subsidiary of Onus Records) and New Times will be bringing you a limited edition collector’s item of a much beloved…

50 Things People Say at Ultra Music Festival

Ultra Music Festival is 36 solid hours of EDM-themed overstimulation. Superfamous DJs! Pop-star cameos! Half-naked ladies! Oiled-up beefcakes! Dancing robots! Human tacos! Toothpaste Man! Pyrotechnics! Cryo cannons! Fireworks! Everything at Ultra deserves an exclamation point. Or maybe ten. And there’s never fewer than 120 decibels rumbling through your already stimuli-flooded…

Pacifiers and Other Banned Raver Gear We Saw at Ultra 2015

Any veteran of Ultra Music Festival who attended this year’s three-day event was pleasantly surprised by the increased organization and overall maturity of the audience. Certain seemingly simple measures, like an 18-and-over age policy and significantly improved perimeter security, taken following 2014’s trampling of security guard Erica Mack and the…

Ultra 2015’s Ten Best and Worst Fashion Trends

There have been a lot of changes at Ultra Music Festival. The audience is over 18 now. And many of rave culture’s familiar accoutrements — finger gloves, glow sticks, rage totems, etc. — have been banned under the fest’s new Prohibited Items policy. There are those of adult age who…

15 Best Metro Phoenix Metal Concerts in April

April showers? Not so much in the Valley of the Sun. While the rest of the country experiences the fresh air of spring, we are hit with our first wave of hundred-degree temperatures. But that’s okay, because the season also kicks off with a bounty of band tours, particularly those…

Right Hear, Right Now: 5 Great New Songs By Phoenix Artists

Mitchell Hillman listens to more local music than just about anyone in the Valley. He presents his picks for best new music in his column, Right Hear, Right Now. The Senators – “Hummingbird” “Hummingbird” is the first new song since last year’s deluxe release of Harsher Than Whiskey / Sweeter…

Original PHX Riot Grrrls Burning Bush Reignite for Reunion Show

Before the Riot Grrrl movement of the early ’90s or before the advent of social media, there wasn’t a network of like-minded all-female bands across the country working together. All you had was the notion of DIY bands, pockets of groups in far-flung areas of the country maybe mining similar…

The DJs of Thievery Corporation Still Are Peerless Samplers

Twentieth-century writer Charles Colton coined the saying “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” For veteran club DJs Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, their modern interpretation of the phrase was to take the essence of their favorite ’60s records, mesh it with their favorite electronica club sounds, and create a…

Heritage Hump Day: Less Pain Forever – “Throw Your Babies”

Every Wednesday is Heritage Hump Day! That’s because every Wednesday from now to the end of the year or before someone really big stops us, Heritage Hump Records (a temporary subsidiary of Onus Records) and New Times will be bringing you a limited edition collector’s item of a much beloved…

10 People Who Won’t Make It at Miami’s Ultra Music Festival

Watching Ultra Music Festival’s idyllic official after-movies, you might get the impression that UMF is some kind of utopian music-based society where the young and beautiful run only in slow motion, where everyone is welcome and everything is pleasant. In some ways, this is true. You’re more likely to have…