Features

This abject Amy Winehouse video surfaced on the Internet today, a viral outbreak that started with British tabloid News of the World posting it to their site. The video, shot by Winehouse’s continually-incarcerated husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, shows Winehouse and a friend singing a song that delivers slurs to all sorts of races, sexual orientations, and even the handicapped. Later, Winehouse is shown passed out. Here is the video:

Here’s a handful of shows that were just announced this week.

At all times, legendary hip-hop drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson is a man pulled in many directions. The 37-year-old musician, producer, blogger, and hip-hop tastemaker usually has enough projects going on that he could win a multi-tasking award. Aside from being a mainstay in his long-term band the Roots since the…

2008 is proving to be a quizzical summit for Jimmy Eat World. The global masticators from Mesa are touring in support of the still-new Chase This Light (released last October), an album designed to recapture the directness and lightness of “The Middle” after the collective “huh” with which many critics…

It’s been a tough couple of years for The Futureheads. Following the mixed reception to 2006’s ambitious News and Tributes, the British post-punk quartet was dropped by its label and briefly considered packing it in. Instead, they soldiered forward, forming their own label and releasing their third album, This Is…

This week’s creepy-cool flier is for the monthly industrial/EDM event Sadisco. The art fits with the “doppleganger” theme of this Saturday’s soiree.

There are a lot of crappy dating sites littering the Information Superhighway. With millions of users placing and browsing personals ads and inputting general, arbitrary information like “Interests,” “Politics,” and “Religion,” finding true compatibility can be an almost impossible task.

But if music is a universal language and also the language of love, then perhaps a personals site that focuses on the musical interests of its users isn’t such a bad idea.

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog soliciting local CDs for review in this weekly feature called “You Asked for It.” Since then, I’ve received albums from Underwater Getdown, Reign of Vengeance, and this week’s review subject, Dude Offline.

What the hell is wrong with Metallica? I had some empathy about the whole Napster snafu in 2000, when the band complained about copyright violations and being ripped off for royalties when Napster was a free file-sharing site. Metallica won a settlement from Napster (now a pay site), and alienated a lot of fans in the process.

By Benjamin Leatherman Music editor Niki D’Andrea decided to take a well-deserved sabbatical this past weekend, getting as far as possible from the Valley as she could. She didn’t tell anyone where she was headed, but knowing the kind of crazy life the pint-sized powerhouse of lesbian spunk leads, it…

By Joseph Golfen This weekend marked Summer of Sound’s second concert. This time around the hip hop-centered event invaded Chaser’s Bar and Nightclub in Scottsdale; a laid-back, grimy bar that shares a strip mall with both Americano Tattoo Parlor and the Jesus Is Lord Christian supply store. The Premiere The…

By Benjamin Leatherman The horror rockers of Calabrese The monthly First Friday extravaganza in downtown Phoenix always proves to be a massively chaotic mess of sound and art, with dozens of musicians and bands performing inside galleries, outside on sidewalks, and practically any other location they can think of. In…

Here are a handful of shows that were just announced this week.

Local heavy-hitting, post-prog rock band Daughters of Fission will be playing the FBC Music Fest this weekend with several other Valley acts, including Fred Green (check out one of FG’s songs here).

The song below is from Daughters of Fission’s 2008 self-released album, The Moth. It’s called “The Sea.”

This week’s flier comes from the vague world of raves. Local rave/EDM event promoters in the Valley are known for two-sided fliers — some awesome art on the front, and oodles of info. crammed onto the back. For more info. on the event below, visit www.azinfoline.com.

Pharrell Williams is so in-demand as a producer that every time he tours with N.E.R.D., his most consistently weird project, he probably costs himself money. But in the days before the release of his latest gun-for-hire superstar collaboration, Madonna’s Hard Candy, he was on the road again, for reasons that…

Seattle rock heroes Mudhoney — the last band standing from the grunge era — celebrate their 20th anniversary this year with a new studio album, The Lucky Ones. On the phone from his new hometown of Portland, Oregon, guitarist Steve Turner gave us his take on some recent reviews: With…

There was a time when I knew what I wanted to listen to. I was poor, but I bought CDs anyway, and I had stacks of them, purchased with enthusiasm and knowledge shared among friends. A pricey endeavor, sure. But once I discovered Napster and CD-burning, finances stopped counting. I…

Valley post-hardcore/screamo band Greeley Estates is having a CD release party for their third full-length album, Go West Young Man, Let the Evil Go East (Science) on Saturday, June 7. In anticipation of the show, we recently caught up with Greeley Estates guitarist Brandon Hackeson.

Back when I was a young ‘un, I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with a gentleman by the name of Ellas Otha Bates. Mr. Bates was a guitar player and singer of great repute, and when he pulled into town with his band for a gig, I decided to take a shot at interviewing him for the local weekly. I felt that I knew the guy’s groundbreaking music really well, and his history, too, so I was fairly comfortable when I called him up at his hotel room.

Local bands who’ve complained that we’re not reviewing their CDs, take this challenge. I have vowed to review every local CD addressed to me (and marked “YAFI”) in the order it’s received. I’m still getting more gripes than CDs, however, so if you’re upset, please put your music where your mouth is and send it to me. I will be honest about my impressions of your music, for better (last week’s Underwater Getdown CD) or worse (this week’s Reign of Vengeance CD).

With gas hitting $4 a gallon, I’m loathe to drive too far from my usual haunts (north Phoenix and downtown Phoenix) lately, but I did manage to hit a metaphorical bat cave and see a Catwoman this weekend, all in the ‘hood.