This week’s music feature is on The Summer Set, and their unapologetically unoriginal music that’s still worth a listen.The oft overlooked Leon Russell is working on a new collaboration with the likes of T-Bone Burnett, Elton John, and Bernie Taupin. Oh yeah — and he’s coming to town, too. Did…
Name: Mara Arrieta AKA: DJ Mara of the E.P.C.S.(one half of the group), the other member being Disko Da.Current club nights: Fuse Fridays all the way baby.Genres spun: Electro house, riddim, UK funky, tropical, disco. How did you get started as a DJ? Once upon a time in a land not…
[jump] Even if a band doesn’t have a Facebook page, there will still be a page dedicated to the band for the fans.This page will use a Wikipedia entry as its backbone, so you know it’s dedicated to bringing fans all the up-to-date, important news.Actually, eh, not so much. Want…
Song: Best Coast, “Boyfriend”Context: I’m really, really looking forward to Best Coast’s debut album. Best Coast – Boyfriend…
Are you a hard-working and responsible student at an Arizona college or university who fancies him or herself a music writer?You may just have a shot at being Phoenix New Times fall music intern.Be warned: This is not a job for someone who is looking for easy credits and to…
This week, New Times ran a box 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 happened when New Times clubs editor Benjamin Leatherman joined a fight club? What does local…
Song: Against Me! “White Crosses”Context: I can’t stop listening to this record this week. In fact, I kinda wanna go to Flagstaff to see the band headline instead of open for Silversun Pickups at Marquee…
Every once in a while, a band comes along that breaks with so many conventions and pushes so many boundaries that music critics laud them with terms like “revolutionary,” “groundbreaking,” and “genre-defying.” The Summer Set is not one of those bands and, surprisingly, they’re not afraid to say so. Ask…
It’s safe to say that they don’t make them like Leon Russell anymore. An authority no less than T-Bone Burnett said about Russell, in an April interview with The Onion A.V. Club, “I haven’t been intimidated for a really long time, but Leon was scary-good. He understood Henry Mancini, he…
Games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero appeal to that part of us that not-so-secretly wishes we hadn’t quit practicing music in fourth grade so we could be selling out arenas instead of selling out our souls to make a little more money for our boss. Of course, we know…
We dig Nick Cave. A lot. We’ve documented as much previously here, here and here. With this second set of reissues of the Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds catalog — begun last year to mark the 25th anniversary of their recorded debut — we’ve now reached the halfway point…
Artist: Wolf ParadeTitle: Expo 86Release date: June 29Label: Sub PopLast night, I made an unplanned run down to the Yucca Tap Room to catch this band called Shapiro, a group of pleasant young men from the D.C. area who play piano-driven pop-rock songs that, at their best recall 1970s classic…
Song: Scissor Sisters, “Night Work”Context: Jay Bennett of Nothing Not New has called this “the best song of 2010.” 01. Night Work by gorgeouz…
With dozens of bands on the Vans Warped Tour, which came through Phoenix to the Cricket Wireless Pavilion yesterday, you’d think more kids would be talking about just how their favorite groups did. But there was only one thing bands and fans alike couldn’t stop Tweeting about during the day-long…
Good: Spoon is not boycotting Arizona.Bad: They are playing Tucson. Good: The show is at Rialto Theatre, which is beautiful and full of friendly people. Bad: The show is on October 4, which is a Monday.Proceed according to the whims of your own hedonistic calculus…
Artist: Scissor SistersTitle: Night WorkRelease date: June 29Label: DowntownAt the end of the day, I’m not sure what this new Scissor Sisters record adds up to. But it almost doesn’t matter, because the opening title track is so good that it practically carries the weight of the record all by…
Song: Shapiro, “All Things Around The Sun”Context: I’ve been championing Shapiro for five years. It’ll be nice to see them play their first Arizona show, at Yucca Tap Room tonight. As always, there’s no cover at the Yucca. All Things Around the Sun by RootMusic…
I have to admit the announcement that Nine Inch Nails is “boycotting” Arizona kinda slid by me yesterday.After all, like most right thinking people I sorta assumed Trent Reznor was off doing the soundtrack for some children’s television program I’ve never heard of, or civilly married to Marilyn Manson in…
Zack de la Rocha’s The Sound Strike has added more names to the already massive list of bands/performers boycotting Arizona over SB 1070. Those new boycotters include Maroon 5, Steve Earle, Nine Inch Nails, Gogol Bordello and Chris Rock. Ry Cooder is also a new addition to the list, and…
A big thanks to Pitchfork for doing their part to make the world know not everyone in Arizona is a racist bastard.Today the Site of Record for the music-loving hipster elite mentioned our anti-SB 1070 compilation, A Line In The Sand, and linked to this excellent open letter by local…
A funny thing happened to NYC glam-poppers Scissor Sisters on their way to recording their third album, Night Work — the band scrapped 18 month’s worth of effort in order to finalize the album. Lead singer/utterly charismatic young man Jake Shears noted that the year and half of work left…
Legendary slide guitarist Ry Cooder (he’s played on records by everyone from Randy Newman to the Rolling Stones) has recorded an anti-SB 1070 song called “Quick Sand.” Cooder is one of those country(ish) guys the lefties love — not only is that track available exclusively from NPR until tomorrow, when…
