Given the recent press devoted to the return of the cassette, you may have expected a bigger coming-out party than the first-ever Cassette Store Day, on September 7. The Zia Records Exchange on Camelback rolled out all of six cassettes at the front counter, all easily dwarfed by a Questlove…
Bigger, louder, deeper, and weirder, the second album from Youth Lagoon is the sort of follow-up that exceeds its predecessor in every way. Boise’s Trevor Powers, 24, toys with expectations — both his own and those from the indie rock world that was watching his development closely — on Wondrous…
by Jeff Moses MIlitant chicano / indigenous hip hop duo Shining Soul have been putting their gritty brand of rap out for more than three years, and they’ve got an impressive rep to show for it. Alex Soto and Franco Habre, also known as Liaison and Bronze Candidate, have opened…
I’m not here to tell you why or how you should watch your reality singing contests, so I’ll just offer this as a value-neutral option: If you’ve given up on the Cardinals already and are looking for another way to root for Arizona on NBC, this week’s set of auditions…
Caliente. Excitado. Divertido. Get to know these Spanish words, because they describe the type of experience you’ll have when you attend a Flamenco Por La Vida performance at the Crescent Ballroom every Saturday night. The talented flamenco troupe sings, dances and plays music to traditional Spanish flamenco melodies, charming crowds…
It’s been 18 months since the 2012 Super Bowl and now we’re talking about M.I.A’s middle finger again. Turns out, even though NBC and the FCC didn’t file charges against the English-Sri Lankan songwriter for flipping the bird and mouthing “I don’t give a shit,” the NFL has been in…
Attention local EDM junkies: If you’re planning to roll into tomorrow’s Sound Wave Block Party sometime around the late afternoon or the early evening, your asses are gonna miss out on a few cool things. Like, say, the “Bad Bitch Anthems” of she-jay Brazzabelle inside Maya Day and Nightclub, the…
Two phrases that Franco Gagliano tends to say a lot nowadays are “I don’t want to offend anyone” and “I’m not gonna lie to you.” When Franco ruled supreme as owner of The Mason Jar, one of Phoenix’s longest-enduring rock clubs from the early ’80s into the early Aughts, you…
The band’s been around for only something like eight months, but already it’s been banned from Last Exit, kicked out of Pub Rock, and even 86’ed from a Laundromat. The bassist recently quit and now the group’s canceled all its upcoming gigs to focus on a new album, new videos,…
On his recent album, Southeastern, singer/songwriter Jason Isbell writes plaintive ballads about dying cancer patients, tender country soul numbers about the process of recovery, and swampy power-pop about Super 8 ass-whuppings. It’s his fourth solo album since leaving Georgian southern rockers Drive-By Truckers in 2007, following a divorce from Truckers…
It’s that time of the year again: State Fair time. What’s not to like? It provides three weeks of opportunities for Valley folks of every variety to congregate and yuck it up within the confines of the Arizona State Fairgrounds, get their fill of uncomfortable white-knuckle-inspiring rides, fried food that…
I don’t think anyone will be shocked by this admission, but I’ll make it: I don’t like Britney Spears or Miley Cyrus very much. (Aside from that Notorious B.I.G. mashup from a few years ago.) They are not really gyrating in my demographic’s direction. But Britney Spears has a new…
I’ve stood and watched guys and girls play (mostly guys, mostly guitar), and wondered what it would be like to make an instrument talk… to connect with a crowd… to say something with lyrics. But lately, I’m not so sure. Maybe I wouldn’t want to be a musician. Maybe just…
I admit I have an issue with mainstream heavy metal. Some of the musicians possess undeniably impressive technical prowess, but they appear determined to adhere to strict marketing regulations or to develop a meathead attitude, further perpetuating the stereotype known as “jock metal.” A first glance at the bill for…
Future Loves Past’s debut album gives “polish” a good name. “Disco,” too. That’s not the only musical jargon the Tempe natives rehabilitate on All the Luscious Plants, but they’re the first ones you’ll have to confront when you listen to it. This is a polished, dance-y, slick — that’s another…
A band that repeats the phrase “you will always be a loser” toward the end of a five-minute song may come off as misanthropic, but suffering through the put-downs pays off in the end. Titus Andronicus finishes its magnum opus “No Future Part Three: Escape from No Future” by singing…
Carly Rae Jepsen seems worried about me. At the moment, she doesn’t seem to care about the 13 million copies sold of her omnipresent “Call Me Maybe,” her meteoric ascent, nor even the slightest mention of the stadium show she’s about to play in Cape Cod, a stop on her Summer Kiss stadium tour.
Good luck finding much of anyone using the term “nostalgic” as a compliment nowadays, but I wonder if we might revise our position based on Okkervil River’s latest, The Silver Gymnasium, released on ATO Records (their first for the label, after years with Jagjaguwar) just last Tuesday. To be sure,…
Eminem has always explicitly played a character on his records, so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that he’s playing one on TV now that he’s re-dyed his hair and dumped his earnest Recovery/Chrysler commercial persona. Based on the reaction to his bizarre “high” ESPN interview with Brent Musburger and…
Mac Lethal is very, very excitable. The Kansas City, MO rapper, label owner, and former Rhymesayers artist has good reason to be, however — he’s still in the wondrous honeymoon stage of fatherhood with his six-month-old son, he’s recently authored his first book, and he’s one of the Midwest’s most…
A few weeks ago, in a little ditty called Five Signs That You Might Be a Music Junkie, I mentioned that I never deliberately listen to the same song more than once a day. That’s right, no “play it again, Sam” for this geek. (Note: That quote is from Casablanca…
One man installs a recording studio in a house or a storefront, starts an independent record label, signs a roster of artists, and boom, a music factory is born. It’s the stuff that fills whole display cases in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Berry Gordy with Motown Records…
