So who is this Drake guy, anyway? Of course, there’s Drake the superstar, the guy who opens his latest, Nothing Was the Same, with the brag that he’s as famous as his mentor — though at this point, he’s arguably much more famous than Lil Wayne, who signed him to…
Tempe is running out of venues. The Clubhouse disintegrated in 2012 after a gang-related shooting; Rocky Point Cantina disappeared after a reality show bad trip; most recently, Stray Cat closed suddenly, announcing the bad news on its last day in business. Which is not to say that’s why Valley staples…
In the hype and haze between the viral success of ASAP Rocky’s song “Purple Swag” and the release of his first mixtape, much of the Internet’s gaze was directed squarely at the flamboyant, charismatic young Harlemite. Yet, when Rocky’s “Live.Love.ASAP” mixtape was released, part of the limelight had shifted. Rocky…
So who is this Drake guy, anyway? Of course, there’s Drake the superstar, the guy who opens his latest, Nothing Was the Same, with the brag that he’s as famous as his mentor–though at this point, he’s arguably much more famous than Lil Wayne, who signed him to Cash Money…
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’s soundtrack is the latest in a proud, increasingly long young-adult franchise movie tradition: Pitching their soundtracks at the college-rock types who actually buy compilation albums. It’s streaming now on iTunes, and that means it’s time for another set of strikingly competent tracks pointed at aging…
Ten years ago, Songs: Ohia released its 10th and final album, Magnolia Electric Co., marking the end of that band and the beginning of another, which would take its name from Songs: Ohia’s final effort. Eight months ago, Jason Molina, the genius behind the record, died from organ failure in…
If you’ve read any of my prior ramblings, then you know that I explore the topic of musical credibility a lot. It’s in my nature. Should you and I like what we like, regardless of critical stature, or should we concentrate on artists with a certain level of critical credibility?…
PHOENIX, AZ: 2 AMC. Some of the elders still remember the Beforetimes. They claim not to, especially to the guards, but I see it in their faces when they’re alone together. They remember life before Miley Cyrus came to Phoenix. When they’re alone — after work and before the Two…
There’s nothing like hearing the past, present, and future of heavy metal in one place. But that’s what will happen Thursday, November 7, at Tempe’s Marquee Theatre — a veritable buffet of heavy metal. There’s the “baby band” Huntress; torchbearers of the new wave of American metal Killswitch Engage and…
Lita Ford is a bitch. Her words, not ours: She’s touting the title track of her new album, The Bitch Is Back . . . Live. “I heard [the original song] on the radio, and it just came tumbling down on me like a ton of bricks: ‘Hello! Please record…
Bill Callahan picks his words carefully. If one thing defines his recent work — pastoral, grooving, and far removed from his noisier days recording under the name Smog — it’s the way he selects his words. “The only words I’ve said today are beer and thank you,” he croons on…
How Emby Alexander learned to love the cassette tapes trend and how they may have captured the Phoenix Lights in their latest video.
For Jon Foreman and the rest of Switchfoot, there is no point in doing things the easy way. Easy would be trying to carve out a rock ‘n’ roll career for themselves in either the mainstream or Christian scenes, rather than both. Easy would be taking their lifelong love of…
“For a long time, you’re chasing being thought of as this terminally unique snowflake,” says Brooklyn singer/songwriter Kevin Devine. “And then you kind of realize you’re a worker among workers — and you put your boots on.” The 33-year-old musician is reflecting on the reverse metamorphosis that changed him from…
“Esoteric” is the first word that comes to mind when describing Josh Tillman, the mystic muse behind Father John Misty. Inspiration for the band’s 2012 album, Fear Fun, struck via psychedelic lightning bolt, giving Tillman the courage to be (as clichéd as it sounds) himself. That meant embracing both the…
Your friends hate your Halloween costume idea. I’m not a mindreader or anything, but I’m just pretty sure that’s the case if you’re going in any pop cultural direction for this year’s festivities, particularly pop music. It isn’t that this year’s music memes are especially egregious, although one rises above…
A few months ago, I took 80’s music to task in a little ditty called High School Music: A Reunion from Hell. Of course, I took some shit from some of my friends and classmates, so I promised them I’d try to look at the positive side to the eighties…
It took moving to Seattle and getting his heart stomped on for Harper Lines to get a record full of breakup hits. After the Harper and the Moths (whom we profiled in this week’s issue of Phoenix New Times here) frontman said goodbye to the Valley for what he thought…
For a band that celebrates the subtlety of the classic influences within its music — rhythm and blues, folk rock, alt-country — Harper and the Moths is raw and bold when it comes to their subject matter. They relish the concept of channeling romance, heartbreak, and desire straight into their…
In today’s age of omnipresent coverage and instant information, it’s pretty difficult for bands to maintain any sort of anonymity. The art-rock collective The Residents has stayed unknown for more than 40 years, and Slipknot pulled it off for a while. But one eccentric Swedish act has kept their names…
As usual, local filmmaker Nico Holthaus has set up an unenviable task for himself. On the party weekend before Halloween, he’s scheduled a premiere of the final cut of Art Edward’s fictionalized love letter to the Tempe music scene of the early ’90s, Stuck Outside of Phoenix, at the Pollack…
I think people have finally gotten used to the yearly back-to-school lamentations about just how old or nonexistent college freshmen were when Kurt Cobain died, so here’s a new one: The Format’s Interventions + Lullabies, the erstwhile Great Arizonan Hopes’ infamously under-supported major-label album, turned 10 years old Monday. Surprise:…
