This week’s main music feature is a column I wrote in Austin, Texas after a week of South By Southwest craziness. It was a rough week for Arizona — the most attention anything related to our state got was a panel hosted by boycotters — but Meat Puppets frontman Curt…
Song: Meat Puppets, “Up On The Sun” Context: Have you ever heard the song this blog takes its name from? If not, here you go — it’s mentioned in this week’s music feature so this seems as good a time as any to remind everyone why Up On The Sun is…
Cut Copy are proud to announce their Grand Canyon State debut in Tempe, AZ @ The Marquee Theatre on Friday, August 12.Their Tempe show is preceded by a date at Spain’s Low Festival on July 22 — that means Cut Copy is actually going out of their way to come play Arizona…
U.S. fans of Japanese Music face one, ever-present obstacle in their quests to discover new J bands: They’re not here. Up on the Sun constantly monitors upcoming concerts from Japanese bands. In good years, that means three or four shows; not exactly a great variety of acts.No, the best bet…
You’ve never danced your ass off harder than you thought you ever could until you’ve been to a Girl Talk concert.Everyone at the Marquee Theatre was going nuts throughout Greg Gillis’ entire set. Gillis kept up with the crowd’s energy and nearly exceeded it as he kept the remixes coming.Read…
It’s a sunny Saturday afternoon, and a quintessentially South by Southwest scene is unfolding at a concert outside Austin’s Waterloo Records. Eager day drinkers clamor to get into a fenced-off parking lot in this recently re-developed section of the city’s main drag, where the old “Keep Austin Weird” mantra has…
In a recent interview with Cowbell Magazine, Mountain Goats songwriter John Darnielle says, “I grew up a geek, so I wasn’t good at sports. A lot of us maintain those biases, but those biases are silly. Sports are awesome.” Darnielle doesn’t appear on the new record by The Baseball Project,…
It’s been eight years since 100 people died in the Great White nightclub fire in Rhode Island. Not even through the first song of its set at The Station in West Warwick, the band was interrupted when pyrotechnics sparked a fire that caused a grisly stampede in which scores of…
Song: Girl Talk, “Play Your Part (Pt. 1)”Context: Quick reminder that Girl Talk will be in Tempe at Marquee Theatre tonight. Should be a hell of a party. 01 Play Your Part (Pt. 1)…
Want a weird review of the new Strokes record?How about one that starts like this:”Everyone has those kinds of friends, those friends you grow estranged from during the course of life but still keep in touch. You’ll hear from them every year or so, maybe get a Facebook update…”Now imagine…
Last week was Spring Break at Arizona State University which means the streets of Tempe were silent as most date-rapers and date-rapees their victims were out in Lake Havasu (note: for the love of God, not Rocky Point, please don’t be in Rocky Point! Your mother is sick with worry! She can’t…
The creatively-titled The Grateful Dead Movie, directed by Jerry Garcia, will be back in theaters for one night. That night is April 20 — 4/20 — which adds to the fun. The film was shot in 1974 at one of the band’s legendary five-night stands at the Winterland Ballroom in San…
, which means scalpers are out to make all the dough they can get their hands on, according to Pollstar.Second-hand ticket retailer Viagogo has released information that scam artists that have been selling fake tickets are collectively reeling in just over $4 million a month and just over $49 million a year.Viagogo…
Angles is hardly their best effort — well any album the band releases won’t be able to hold a candle to 2001’s Is This It — yet many critics claim that 2006’s First Impressions of Earth is their worst. I might catch some shit for this, but I find Angles…
Icelandic singer Bjork has taken after the Gorillaz. Her latest album has been partially recorded on an iPad, according to Consequence of Sound.On the other hand, she’s also taking a page from the Flaming Lips in that listeners will have to piece the album together. Biophilia, which will be Bjork’s second…
Song: The Appleseed Cast, “February”Context: Appleseed Cast’s show in Tempe tonight is pretty much the last drip of Southby run-off for the year. Enjoy it! The Appleseed Cast – February…
There may or may not be a Rebecca Black concert at Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall in June.Some outlets, such as our sister paper in Orange County, have reported the fliers for Black’s mall tour are not a joke. The New York Times had reported the same thing but is now backpedaling.If there…
, according to Spinner.Many fans of his work with Blink-182 have recently expressed that they don’t particularly care for his solo work. Barker responded by calling his critics and saddened fans “closed-minded… Nazi bitches.”On his new album, Barker explored a new direction by venturing into hip-hop music. Among the hip-hop…
Looks like last fall’s string of tour dates (including two nights at Marquee Theatre, which our own Mike Meyer covered) has invigorated the long-inactive A Perfect Circle, as the band has dropped news of a North American tour set for this summer, including a stop at Comerica Theatre on July…
Song: Foster The People, “Pumped Up Kicks”Context: LA’s Foster The People play Day 2 of South By Stateside tonight at Sail Inn. I caught their show Saturday at SXSW and was really impressed — you want to see them in a small venue like that when you can, trust me…
Tempe Beach Park was alive with green last night. Flogging Molly made their annual stop in Arizona to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, playing a show heavy on Irish ballads played at maximum speed, witty Celtic banter and plenty of toasts to their Arizona fans. The band showcased songs from their…
luggo is looking pretty beat these days, but with good reason. The local dubstep producer hasn’t been getting much sleep lately because he’s been hella busy gearing up for a trip to Florida for a couple performance. A few hours after this interview was conducted, Sluggo headed to Orlando for…
