It’s been a long time since the music industry had musicians’ best interests in mind. And it’s not just the greed of the industry; it’s the fans, too. I’m not talking about the multimillionaires in Metallica. I’m talking about the underground punk band whose album you downloaded for free last…
In the social media era, it seems unfathomable that an artist, no matter how trivial, could completely disappear off the radar. In the 1970s, it was a different story entirely. Sixto Rodriguez was one musician who not only fell through the cracks but was thought by many to have died…
It’s as though the lamentable death of recorded music was accompanied by a kick-ass wake. Sure, label executives have had to sell their fancy homes and put their kids in public schools, but the rest of us have feasted on a musical smorgasbord. Nothing better exemplifies this than this month’s…
On Saturday That Damn Show is back for 2013 at the Mesa Amphitheatre, featuring national acts like Bad Religion and local favorites like the Veragrooves. Check out the full schedule here and read on for a preview of Canada’s own Bend Sinister. (Full disclosure: We’re co-promoting this show with KUKQ.)…
That Damn Show, the Phoenix music institution most likely to lead into an extended, vulgar Abbott and Costello routine, is less than a week away: On Saturday, Bad Religion and 11 other local and national bands will file into Mesa Amphitheatre and play music that is probably going to be…
A good 90 percent of my job as a music journalist is keeping my finger on new music, continuously discovering the vast spectrum of sound that human beings can create. Another 9 percent is attending concerts, where I destroy my liver and my hearing for shits and gigs. That final…
Faith Hill leaving Sunday Night Football is interesting mostly because it reminds us that Faith Hill was — for something like six years — employed by Sunday Night Football. “This Kiss,” and then helmet-to-helmet hits, every week. Counterprogramming, I think they call that. We’ve seen cultural institutions move in this…
It’s Monday, and I’m sorry about that. There was nothing I can do. But I bring good news: This week’s Top Five Must-See Shows in Phoenix is further proof that they play live music during the week, and even on school nights…
There’s definitely something special about carnival rides and deep-fried foods that brings out the inner kid in all of us. I still remember living near 19th Avenue and Grant in Phoenix, about three miles south of the Arizona State Fairgrounds, and during that cool time of the year I would…
Having solved all the country’s economic problems, come to an agreement on DOMA, and figured out what to do about gun control, the American government finally has time to focus on what really matters: where richer-than-God superstars Jay-Z and Beyoncé spend their obscenely luxurious vacations. More: Treasury department confirms Jay-Z,…
A verbal altercation between patrons of Country Thunder in Florence early this morning turned bloody, resulting in one man stabbed and another taken into police custody. According to media coverage of the stabbing, deputies from the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office descended on the scene of a spat that was occurring…
Good news for those who dug last year’s locally focused Los Dias De La Crescent event: it’s coming back for a second round. Crescent czar Charlie Levy sent out an e-mail blast Thursday night trumpeting the lineup for this year’s version of the two-night concert, and just like some of…
The surprisingly rural Arizona tour Jimmy Eat World announced on Wednesday left a lot of Phoenix-based fans planning a trip to Wickenburg, but as it turns out, there’s one chance left this month to not only see lead singer Jim Adkins at Crescent Ballroom but also feel good about yourself…
Guitarists and singers get more than all their share of worship. People even give the drummer some from time to time–if they’re generous they’ll even let him solo interminably. But for whatever reasons no one ever coined the phrase “bass hero,” a handle that suited Arizona bassist Kevin Lee Pate…
We’re living in the golden age of musical fetishism. Call it the byproduct of Jack White’s obsessively vinyl/analog warpath or call it resistance to the way digital distribution has dehumanized the musical process. Whatever the cause, it’s never been more fashionable to covet “old school” objects: records, hi-fi equipment, cassettes…
Yellow Minute should never be confused with a New York minute. The atmospheric, psychedelic indie-pop band moves at a much slower pace. With dreamy atmospherics, gentle rhythms and drifting vocals, Yellow Minute is perhaps better for that late-night chill session than the shimmering club scene. At least, explains band founder…
They don’t make ’em like Merle Haggard anymore, but what the hell would they do with ’em if they did? Everything about Haggard is rough: his Bakersfield voice, a scratchy, gnarled thing even in his youth; his trademark accompaniment, the twangy, stinging barbs of Telecaster snaking out of tweed-covered amplifiers;…
Jimmy Eat World’s new album is due out this June, and the Arizona natives announced today that they’ll be touring the state in May. If you’re in Phoenix or Tucson, though, you might have a drive ahead of you — they’re eschewing the usual venues for dates in Yuma, Flagstaff,…
So I finally listened to “Accidental Racist,” and the upshot is that now I kind of want to write some Brad Paisley-LL Cool J fanfiction. Nothing weird — that would be Brad Paisley/LL Cool J fanfiction, and there’s a huge and scary difference — just Brad Paisley and LL Cool…
Since October 2011, Up on the Sun has featured the Record Heat strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer each week, and it’s been included in the print edition as well. With this week’s strip, Brad finishes his run. It’s been great…
Saturday nights are always a big night for Sidney Slaughter. That’s when the 25-year-old local DJ, who performs as Angel Toxin gets to don some sort of geeky or freaky fetishistic costume and spin up some industrial and synthpop sounds along with her beau DJ Apollynon at their weekly City…
The Internet is a perfectly efficient outrage generator. People need things to be super-pissed about so that they can express their social positions to their friends; they burn through that outrage in an orgy of vague, well-intentioned social media protest; they look for something else to be super-pissed about, having…
