Frank Zappa needs no introduction . . . or does he? Though considered one the 20th century’s greatest composers by critics, much of his music, wasn’t accessible to mainstream audiences. Songs like “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” and “Valley Girl,” a duet with daughter Moon Unit, broke through, but only enough…
When you listen to Mind Over Matter, the new album from Young the Giant, it is impossible not to notice the different energy coursing through the band’s collective vein. With his throaty cries, frontman Sameer Gadhia sounds as if he’s expelling personal demons, and Mind undeniably is more propulsive than…
Ryan Avery has put his stamp — and then some — on the downtown Phoenix scene. Over the past decade, the ultra-hyphenate has been a musician, comedian, singer, performance artist, mustachioed raconteur, conductor, and frontman for such bands as Fathers Day, Drunk and Horny, and Nightwolf. At any given time,…
The music industry is a brutal battlefield. It’s strewn with the bodies of talented artists who were suffocated by success (Kurt Cobain), swallowed whole by indulgence (Keith Moon), or taken by tragedy (Randy Rhoads). No genre is safe: The path to the top of the charts is paved with some…
Those who have come to know The Motet as an Afro-centric band should be happy with the band’s directional shift on its eponymous new album. While the African influences that gave the Boulder, Colorado, group its footing in the 1990s can still be heard, The Motet has morphed into a…
Yuck’s Max Bloom faced down new songwriting challenges on his band’s second album by concentrating on making Glow & Behold a more cohesive, concise whole. The London band’s 2011 self-titled debut drew widespread praise on both sides of the Atlantic for its invigorating take on 1990s alternative rock. For Yuck’s…
The already stacked lineup for the Viva PHX music festival just got a little bigger. It already boasts more than 40 different bands and artists from A to Z (namely, Adam Arcuragi to Zero Zero) and, as of this morning, now includes quirky dance punk/electropop act YACHT and local DJ…
My first taste of Foster the People was hearing KROQ’s Locals Only playing “Pumped Up Kicks” in January 2011. My roommates and I sat in the back of my station wagon, waxing up surfboards and getting ready to paddle at El Porto in Manhattan Beach. I hadn’t seen the music…
My oldest daughter arrived yesterday with my two grandsons, ages 1 and 3. That’s right. I’m a music-blogging grandpa. If you’ve ever read any of my past rambling, you may remember that I’m still wrangling kids as well (five kids total, three in the house). That means I’ve got myself…
On an already long list of distinctions, Skinny Puppy recently added a new line, and not one that makes the pioneering industrial band very proud: the United States government has used the band’s music as a torture device. “We heard through a reliable grapevine that our music was being used…
Though I confess to being an ardent reader of them, I’m resistant to shoveling my year’s listening habits into a year-end list; looking back like that feels like underscoring the records I missed rather than the ones I was spinning endlessly. Beyond that, I find it nothing short of off-putting…
Billy Joel has earned more than a few awards during his lengthy career, including six Grammys, a slew of honorary doctorates, and inclusion in both the Songwriters and Rock and Roll halls of fame. And later this year, the piano-playing superstar can add another prize to his overflowing trophy case:…
Has selfie culture officially gone batshit? Oxford Dictionaries named “selfie” the word of the year in 2013 (it narrowly beat out “twerk” and “binge-watch”) and anyone who goes to concerts sees audience members spending most of the show shooting themselves. Now a marketing firm called 3d Public Relations is asking…
In 2011, Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington were on tour in Berlin when, on an off-day, they were too restless to relax. Stationed in a hotel room, Jaar asked Harrington, who was playing guitar in Jaar’s touring band, if he wanted to make some music. Harrington said yes. The duo…
Phil Anselmo has been a pioneering metal vocalist ever since joining Pantera in 1987. Since then, he’s contributed vocals to more than three dozen acts — most notably as the frontman of Down and Superjoint Ritual — and has been involved in twice as many other projects, including voicing Satan…
On an already long list of distinctions, Skinny Puppy recently added a new one, and not one that makes the pioneering industrial band very proud: The U.S. government has used the band’s music as a torture device. “We heard through a reliable grapevine that our music was being used in…
Music gormandizers of Phoenix, better make sure you’ve got an open schedule on Friday, March 7. Oh, and a comfortable pair of walking shoes as well. Both are going to come in handy if you want to make the most of Viva PHX, a one-day music festival that New Times…
For music journalists, there’s nothing better than when an artist or performer gives good quote. While musicians can be pretty hit or miss when it comes to interviews, when one gets garrulous and decides to dish or diss, there never seems to be enough tape or memory space available for…
The results are in, and there are a few quirky choices among the bunch — maybe even a snub or two. But regardless of who made the cut, you can be damn sure that much speculation and dissection will ensue. So we’re referring to the Oscar nominations, right? Nah. Actually,…
Society is obsessed with culture clash. Stories of different countries making love and starting wars, cuisine fusions and foreign customs — people eat it up, day after day. But what else society is craving nowadays? A rowdy new democracy. And the music industry wants the same. Enter The Aristocrats, three…
The key to any band’s longevity is the ability to maintain a core sound while changing to lure new generations of fans. The Rolling Stones are the quintessential example, having survived 50 years on gritty rock ‘n’ roll licks that receive fresh infusions of timely sound forms (from country to…
For those who came of age after Y2K, the heady days of heart-on-sleeve pop-punk, as defined by bands like Fall Out Boy, Cartel, and Panic! at the Disco, brought radio-ready acts that were as relatable and open-hearted as they were kitschy. Few records encapsulated this timeframe with the honesty of…
