Vampire Weekend is a quartet of Columbia University graduates who are not vampires and do not sing about them. They do, however, sound a lot like what would happen if Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and one or two members of the Walkmen decided to record an album…
The man they once called Tiger Tom was savvy enough to secure all the rights to his ITV variety show, which ran in England and America from 1969 to 1971, but securing rights from some of the performers proved harder. That’s why review copies of the DVD This Is Tom…
In a time when the opportunity for unsigned musicians to jump-start careers via MySpace seems already to have come and gone, the steadily building success of Tempe’s Eyes Set To Kill is both encouraging and confounding. Since posting a profile on the ubiquitous Web site in March 2005, the band’s…
Becky Stark, frontwoman for psych-pop/indie-folk foursome Lavender Diamond, is on a mission for peace. “All of our concerts we open by saying something like, ‘Congratulations, everyone, for peace coming to planet Earth . . . let’s hear it for peace on Earth,’ and everyone always wants to applaud,” she says…
The Sopranos blackout, Paul McCartney’s bare feet on the cover of Abbey Road, the vast number of sharpshooters hidden in the shadows of Dealey Plaza, and the inexplicable public fascination with Paris Hilton. America wrestles with these enigmas, seeking answers and finding none. Bigger than all of them is the…
By Brendan Joel Kelley It’s finally Friday, and since you’re probably reading this at work you’re likely desperate to clock out and get the weekend kickstarted. If you aren’t going to the hard rock/metal installment of New Times’ Summer of Sound series, your best bet is to hit up the…
Candee D*Vine wants to be your friend! She’s 19, cute, bisexual, and “up for anything.” If you approve her request, and you probably will, she’ll go into the pile with the rest of your “friends,” who are more than happy to invite you to check out their naughty Webcams, remind…
As far as showoffs go, Arizona is an unforgivably cocky offender. First, we get all high and mighty about that great, glorified geological ass-crack up north, then we start trottin’ out the “heavies” to campaign against Lyndon Johnson, and now it seems we’ve casually cracked our knuckles and announced a…
The Fourth of July is right around the corner. In case you’ve ever wondered how “American” you really are, here’s a quiz to help you figure out some answers before the fireworks start. 1. Given the chance to actually wear the American flag, you would . . . A) Turn…
By Brendan Joel Kelley If, like myself, you missed the Drunken Immortals release party for their latest and greatest LP, Hot Concrete, you’re in luck. The band seems to seldom be without a videographer, so here are two songs, “Chain Reaction” and “Apachee,” from the record, live for you, and…
By Brendan Joel Kelley Burning Brides I’m still nursing a hangover from last night’s adventures out: Violet Wild acoustic at Last Exit, then watching Jason Devore of Authority Zero play at the Yucca’s open mic night. Nonetheless, this hangover will probably pale in comparison to what I’ll suffer after Friday’s…
By Brendan Joel Kelley If you haven’t seen the boys in Who Cares – the Reno based hip-hop/jazz trio that includes MC Borg One, Rhodes piano player Maximus McMaster, and sax player Jamal Tarkington – you’re in for a treat this Thursday night when they hit up the Blunt Club…
“What hip-hop do you know that has a Kansas country girl singing?” Mynce, the turntablist for local hip-hop group the Smob, asks me this over beers the day after the band’s CD-release party. The answer is none. I don’t know of many female artists in local hip-hop, period. That’s what…
Paul DeGeorge describes Harry and the Potters as an indie rock outreach program. He formed the band with his younger brother, Joe, when all the bands flaked on their DIY backyard show six years ago. The duo penned seven bouncy keyboard and guitar-driven indie pop songs in less than an…
Kitchen cutlery and metal bowls. The Language Master tape card reader and a typewriter. More than 80 telephone bells scavenged from Dumpster dives. Old school analog intercoms and secondhand electronics. Sounds like a pretty cool yard sale, huh? Well, it could be, or you may have just stumbled upon a…
By Brendan Joel Kelley Last night our intrepid photographer friend Luke Holwerda hit up the Police’s reunion tour stop at US Airways Arena, and snapped some awesome shots (more after the jump). Here’s Luke’s report on the gig: The crowd was really truly excited when the boys walked on stage…
By Brendan Joel Kelley As I was reminded by my music editor, Niki D’Andrea, this morning, this weekend is packed with good music, some of it New Times related. First of all, tonight is the jazz/blues/swing installment of New Times’ Summer of Sound Series, featuring DJ Seduce, Sonorous, Calumet, Paris…
By Brendan Joel Kelley Recently I wrote a column about the use of certain pejorative words – “ho’s,” “bitches,” and “niggers” – in hip-hop and the controversy that’s sprung up over them recently. Luckily, it’s not just the media that’s concerned. Here in town, there’s a group called Make Hip-Hop…
A couple of weekends ago, I traveled down to Sonoita, near the Mexican border, to hit up my cowboy buddy Andy Hersey’s release party for his new CD, Between God and Country. The first song on the disc is called “Roughshod Range,” and I’d been sitting at his ranch with…
There’s a certain, what I call, celebration of summer in our culture. I don’t care who you are. If you live in New York City in a tenement or in Arizona on a ranch, there’s something about the freedom of summertime [that harks back to our childhoods]. You wake up…
One of the most volatile and acclaimed bands to rise out of the Washington, D.C., hardcore punk scene in the early ’80s, Bad Brains overcame novelty status (four men of color playing punk) by mixing blazing speed and virtuosity with reggae riddims and social consciousness. Fronted by the often unpredictable…
When industrial rock gods Skinny Puppy play the Marquee Theatre on Tuesday, there is only one thing that audience members can truly count on: fucking insanity. The band, which has regularly reinvented itself since its formation in the early ’80s, built its reputation by bringing nightmares to reality. Using elaborate…
