It was early morning when I got the e-mail confirming my phone call with Dave Longstreth from Dirty Projectors. It was to be at 9a.m. my time, the following day. I went to work and went about my business as usual when it hit me. What does one ask the…
Cardiac Party is breaking up. Considering the Phoenix electro-pop outfit’s Teen Challenge was one of my favorite local CDs of the year, I’d say this is very unfortunate news, though if there’s any silver lining it’s that the band’s bassist Jason Woodbury may have more time to write the excellent…
Idolator: Ticketmaster Brokers A Criminally Vulgar Tie-In With Morrissey’s Upcoming ShowElectric Mustache: Photos: Elliott Brood, Matthew Reveles & Wooden Sky @ The Rhythm Room 10/14/09NME: Billy Corgan to give away new Smashing Pumpkings songs for freeNME: Boy George writes song about Amy WinehousePitchfork: Watch: The Deranged Kanye West/Spike Jonze Short…
Tucson’s Golden Boots is one of the finest indie bands in the state, as we’ve told you before. Unlike a lot of Tucson bands they also occasionally play Phoenix — which gives them a whole new level of cred in our book. It’s cool to see the band land the…
AKA: DJ Sol Martinez Current club night(s): FUSE Friday at Bar Smith is my main night right now. I’m gonna be opening up at Cream Stereo Lounge for Giant Wednesdays starting next week on the 21st. How did you get your start? When I was in high school, I first…
Did you happen to miss out on last weekend’s uproarious Tiki Throwdown at Tempe’s Yucca Tap Room? Still hoping to get lei’d? Then local band The Surfside IV have a deal for you. They’re gonna be involved with this Sunday’s Surf Rock Tiki Luau Party III at the Rhythm Room,…
Wait, repeat that: Were you considering not going to see Wavves at The Rhythm Room tonight? Really? I’m so sorry… that you’re a total fucking idiot.Admittedly, I’m sort of a Wavves fanboy at this point, having written a column kinda-sorta about the band that quoted one of their songs in…
Lady Gaga, that lightning rod of weirdness and pop music giant, has announced her new North American tour, appropriately dubbed “The Monster Ball.” It was a month ago when she and professional interrupter/gay fish Kanye West had announced their “Fame Kills” tour, picking Phoenix as their first stop. Well, “Fame”…
Yes, The Valley’s ever-fluxing, erm “format modifying,” station FM 103.9, better known as The Edge is still hosting those free Third Thursday concerts that brought acts like MGMT, The Ataris and Alien Ant Farm to the open-air mall Tempe Marketplace. Now a mainstay in Old Town Scottsdale’s Craftsman Court, this…
There are few relationships in music quite as strong as the one between power pop and its fan base. Sure, every genre of music has devotees who absorb everything they can, but at some point, the product of most such obsessions ends up in a cardboard box and passed over…
The headlines usually accompanying Nathan Williams, better known as Wavves, seldom have anything to do with his music, a low-fi blend of classic West Coast pop buried under layers of hiss and distortion. His drug-fueled onstage meltdown at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound Festival in front of a couple thousand people fanned…
Leave it to a folk singer to conjure a folksy-funny name like Monsters of Folk. It’s knowing, it’s smart, it’s self-deprecating — exactly what you’d expect from the four low-key indie-rock luminaries who compose this most retiring of supergroups. But are they really all that? New Times had a sit-down…
It’s a shame we can’t get every concert advance we’d like to in the paper, but it’s nice to have PHXmusic.com for occasions like this: The Black Heart Procession and The Mumlers are coming to Rhythm Room on Tuesday. BHP, the veteran San Diego indie band, just put out their…
Electric Mustache: Photos: Vivian Girls at Modified Arts 10/13/2009Idolator: Would You Go See Creed If You Only Had To Pay 75 Cents For The Privilege?NME: Sex Pistols to sue over ‘God Save The Cream’ ad campaign?Pitchfork: Rivers Cuomo to Work With Katy PerryPitchfork: Hear Bon Iver’s “Last Show for the…
Live Nation says it’s 2-for-1 ticket deal is a hit, and will expand it. “After seeing sales increase by 300% over the previous weeks’ promotions, with fans saving more than $350,000, Live Nation announced today that fan response has been so positive, the company’s popular 2-for-1 concert ticket offer has…
Electric Mustache: We Want YouWaved Rumor: Weezer – (If You’re Wondering if I want you to) I Want You ToSpin: Q&A: Rob Halford of Judas PriestIdolator: Tracking The Ever-Shifting Priorities Of MTV Networks’ Standards And Practices DepartmentSo Much Silence: Good Afternoon, Vintage Photo Of Will Smith Playing RBI BaseballNME: Pavement…
Things getting better with age is an age-old cliché that rarely holds true for anything beyond the obvious “fine wine” analogy, but we can safely add “Nick Cave’s career” to that short list. Now on the far side of a half-century of life, the last few years have been remarkably…
Quick synopsis: I wrote a column saying CenPho’s music scene was dying as Tempe rises up, a bunch of people freaked out, someone even printed an ironic t-shirt mocking my column. The situation blew up over the weekend (we hear reports of “Fuck Martin Cizmar!” Fuck New Times!” and “Downtown…
[jump] Make no mistake — Bob Dylan is not one of my favorite people. I know and understand fully his impact and influence on music, but his career became what it was long before I graced the earth with my presence. That’s no excuse for not being a Bob Dylan…
[jump] It seems that Thom Yorke’s contribution is the most anticipated of the bunch, since anything he does these days is reported to an obsessive degree (thanks, Pitchfork). His song, “Hearing Damage” sounds right in line with the sound he created on his solo debut The Eraser. Joining Yorke is a…
East Phoenix punk bar Jugheads has also booked a number of upcoming shows by some major legends from the genre, including Christ on Parade and MDC (whose moniker stands for “Millions of Damn Cops” or “Metal Devil Cokes” depending on who you ask). Black Fag, the flamboyant SoCal Black Flag…
For Bloodshot Records’ 15th anniversary, or quinceañera, if you will, they’re throwing themselves a little party. So far, that party has stopped at 10 cities across these United States with plenty of BBQ, booze and tunes to satisfy the most nomadic and hungry of folk punks. At Tempe’s Sail Inn…
