Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

So how do you follow the worst album of your often celebrated career? Smack everyone in the fucking mouth with your bona fide best album. As much as it pains me to admit it — Kanye’s latest album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, is a solid effort that far exceeds…

Gospel Claws, “Summer Nights Lakeside”

Local indie rock outfit Gospel Claws’ first album is causing quite a stir.It’s not hard to see why the band has caught the ear of everyone up to and including National Public Radio’s All Songs Considered with songs like their first single, “Summer Nights Lakeside,” ostensibly about a beach party/assisted…

Mark Your Calendars: Festival Announcements Galore

While music festival season is pretty much wrapped up for the year up, there’s still plenty to get excited about since next year’s festivals are being planned.Announcements have been rolling out one after another this past week. Big news has broken about dates, headliners and lineups for the biggest shows…

Kanye West – Power

Song: Kanye West, “Power” (Remix featuring Jay-Z)Context: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was released today. Another strong effort from ‘Ye. Certainly a lot better than that shitty new Dre single, “Kush.” KANYE by ahasver1…

Dr. Dre ft Akon & Snoop Dogg – Kush

Song: Dr. Dre ft Akon & Snoop Dogg, “Kush”Context: Dre’s new single really is a pile of shit. I can’t believe we waited a decade to hear single that has Akon’s overplayed ass on it. If all of Detox is this bad the Doctor needs to keep it unreleased. Dre…

The Many Abs of Usher

We at Up on the Sun are looking forward to tonight’s performance by Usher at Jobing.com Arena. It’ll be nice to see his little song and dance while we wait for the headliner. What’s that? You say Usher is the headliner? Come on now. We all know that the only…

Eastside Records to Close By Year’s End

There’s something of an unwritten law here in the Valley that dictates the following: Anything remotely cool will eventually either die or start to suck. Don’t believe me? Try tuning into KUKQ on your car radio while heading over to the Mason Jar or Jugheads to catch a show, followed…

The VeraGroove “Hand in Hand”: Exclusive Track

As Tempe self-described desert reggae rock n’ roll group The VeraGroove gears up for their Travlin’ Man EP release show Saturday, December 4 at Marquee Theatre, the guys graciously decided to share an exclusive track from the EP with Up on the Sun readers before anyone can get their hands…

Lollapalooza to Go International in Chile

Lollapalooza has expanded to Chile, according to Billboard.Perry Farrell’s music festival will be going down at O’Higgins Park in Santiago, Chile for the first time on April 2 and 3, 2011. This will be the first time that Lollapalooza has ever gone international. Presumably Chile got the honor in part…

Girl Talk – All Day (Yes, the Whole Thing)

Song: Girl Talk, “All Day”Context: So you’re probably thinking it’s cheating to make Today’s Soundtrack the entire new Girl Talk album. Well, not only has been it impossible to download this damn thing from the official site since it came out, it’s actually supposed to be just one track. So…

Mos Def Joins The Sound Strike Boycott

Mos Def, the Hollywood actor who you may remember was once a respected rapper, has joined Zack de la Rocha’s Sound Strike.Yes, #69 on the official list of Stuff White People Like, will not be bringing his enlightened rhymes to Arizona because of SB 1070, a stupid anti-immigrant law which…