See also: Comic Approach I look forward to adding my little commentary to Brad Dwyer’s strip each week. It gives me a chance to stretch out, touch on strange topics, or share some goofy insight I think I have about something. Not saying it always works, but I really hope…
Record Store Day is an exciting time for music geeks. What better way to celebrate than to get some free tunes? Local sci-fi electronic group Episodes is releasing Partir Kaylan as a cassette available at Stinkweeds and online at Bandcamp today. “Episodes is a science fiction comic group, so to…
There are a slew of reasons we dig Al Page. Not only does the cat have one of the most fly Afros in all of P-Town, he’s also one of the most laid-back and approachable DJs in this ‘berg. Every weekend, Page busts much ass on both the record decks…
If you find yourself stomping the grounds of Old Town Scottsdale next Thursday night you might want to heed the haunting melodies dwindling from the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. Inside you’ll find visual artist/vocalist Anna Vivette performing songs off of her debut album, Coloratura; a dark operatic take on…
Lady La Lady La is the morning show host for 101.5 JAMZ FM Monday-Friday from 6-10 a.m. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? KOOL 94.5 FM. What’s the first album you bought? Timbaland & Magoo. What’s the first…
It’s a classic scenario: Boy meets girl. Boy can’t have girl. Boy and girl build up a bunch of tension and hook up anyway, usually to some romantic acoustic song like “Save Tonight.” This song has been used to fit that scenario in shows like Daria, Felicity, and A Lot…
The Arizona music community lost a prominent figure and friend when Marco Holt from local rock group The Tremulants passed away this weekend following a bout with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Since 2003, Holt served as the indie rock band’s primary creative force and lone consistent member, doubling as guitarist and singer…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What are our 10 favorite awkward dance moves at Coachella? How close does Dark Star Orchestra…
Brad Pfirrman listens to the radio. The gravel-voiced Pfirrman, better known to a loyal chunk of listeners in Tempe and Phoenix as Beef Vegan, host of KWSS 106.7’s The Morning Infidelity, is on the road en route to his day job, and he’s turned down the radio to answer my…
It’s “Emo Night” at Idle Hands, a dimly lit bar in Manhattan’s East Village. I’ve stumbled in with a some friends for a drink, unaware that the stereo system would be blaring angsty emo hits from the early 2000s. As I grab a seat, I hear a familiar sound, the…
Ever since its genesis with Chuck Berry and Elvis, the rock formula has consisted of three parts fun and one part danger. Proto-punkers like the MC5 and The Stooges gradually shifted the ratio a bit, but somewhere down the line, the guitar-based offspring of blues, rock ‘n’ roll, and punk…
Kottonmouth Kings are almost as serious about their music as they are about getting high. And you can expect plenty of music and smoke at Marquee Theatre in May to wrap up their tour. That’s right, they’ll be lighting up the stage (pun intended) with their stoner rap.Kottonmouth Kings, Caifanes,…
This month’s Cover the Crescent is drug-themed thanks to 4-20. The Love Me Nots are covering The Doors (check out their version of “Soul Kitchen” here) and The Necronauts decided to take on Nirvana. “I’ve known these guys [The Necronauts] for a while, and I think that’s one of the…
See also: Record Heat: I Feel Like Puking by Brad Dwyer Collecting comics is a lot like collecting records, only they are a little less strenuous to move (just a little). They take up a lot of space, a lot of folks wonder what the hell you’re doing with them,…
See also: Kelly Clarkson Nails Super Bowl 2012 National Anthem Maybe you’re a Carrie Underwood fan, but for my money, Kelly Clarkson is the best American Idol the show has given us yet. I should probably clarify — I’ve never been a big Idol watcher. I’ve always yay or ‘nayed…
Local spinster Rodrick Mullins typically performs under the spinster moniker DJ Babel (which is an acronym for Beyond All Beliefs Entertain Life). Frankly, he might as well change his nickname to DJ Jungle Boy, since the 34-year-old has a major yen for wild and chaotic variant of drum ‘n’ bass…
What music critic prophet could have predicted that in 2012 hip, indie songwriters like Los Angeles-based Ramona Gonzalez, who records haunting, danceable pop as Nite Jewel, would be compared to acts like Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam or Sade? But here we are, the year the Mayan calendar ends, and…
William Fucking ReedReed deejays Sticky Fingers every Friday night at Bar Smith. For more info, visit Sticky Fingers’ official website. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? Currently, my car radio defaults to KWSS 106.7-FM, which hosts my Friday/Saturday…
In case you couldn’t tell from my previous Throwback Thursday posts, I have a soft spot for the ’90s. I’m a millennial, so it’s easy for me to wax nostalgic over boy bands and raunchy comedies. Last weekend was quite the stroll down memory lane thanks to American Reunion, which…
As a music writer who is not musically inclined, it’s always fascinating to me to catch up with bands and musicians when they’re not on the stage. For this week’s issue of New Times, I hung out with Former Friends of Young Americans for a profile of the local shoegazers…
Dusk has barely begun her descent on downtown Phoenix when anti-genre conformists Former Friends of Young Americans gather for band practice at frontman Toby Fatzinger’s home in the historic Garfield neighborhood. The area is known not only for being one of the city’s oldest and largest historic districts but for…
There was once a time when the name M. Ward was reserved for only the hushiest kind of record collectors, the kind of dudes who scratched John Fahey and Leo Kottke records off their wish lists one by one, who didn’t think alt-country was a dirty word, the kind of…
