Chase and his cronies at Bad Stain Records have posted up this year’s nominees for the unfortunately named Arizona Ska-Punk Awards (although I know the contraction’s snuck its way into common vernacular, I just think that “ska-punk” is a stupid fucking term). Nonetheless, it is an interesting democratic you-pick-the-winner contest,…
Admittedly it’s a slow blog day when I have to resort to putting absolutely horrible spectacles up on here, but this is so bad, it’s… just fucking bad. No, the band Lordi isn’t local (Daggrr from Army of Robots hit me up with this), they’re Finnish, and apparently won the…
It’s difficult to describe — even after spending a third of my life employed doing exactly that — the music on the Lymbyc Systym’s new LP, Love Your Abuser, to be released on the 23rd of this month. The duo, local brothers Jared and Michael Bell (Michael’s currently living in…
The digital age has become a major curse to the major labels: Album sales fell 4 percent in 2005, 4.6 percent in 2006. But for rock ‘n’ rolling indie entrepreneurs with access to editing gear, digital cameras and life-rights, a brand-new art form has descended upon the industry’s carcass —…
What’s cool about Gorillaz is you don’t need Jamie Hewlett’s animation to appreciate the genius of the music. But what’s even cooler is the way that animation steals the show on any number of the highlights in the awe-inspiring Gorillaz compilation DVD Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades (Virgin Records U.S.)…
The members of Boys Like Girls live at home in the suburbs with their parents and write vague, emotionally charged songs sugarcoated with precision pop hooks. Add Martin Johnson’s wavering, pained voice, a requisite ambiguous name, and producer Matt Squire (Panic! At the Disco), and the band fits emo to,…
Damn, a glitch in the interweb prevented this from going up with the previous post about the swell kids in Peachcake, Stefan Pruett and Johnny O’Keefe. Stefan sent me over these tracks for all you fans and haters out in the blogosphere to scope out. But also, besides the nifty…
I always enjoy the little missives I’m sent from Stefan of weirdo duo Peachcake, but this one was so exceptional I had to share it with everybody, ’cause it’s a damn thoughtful and interesting idea. Check it… 2007 has gotten off to a relatively slow start. We’ve been home now…
We Fly Our Kites at Night I don’t ordinarily get vindictive towards bands that I actually like, but I’ve got to solicit y’all’s assistance in lighting a fire under the arses of the guys in spazz/punk outfit We Fly Our Kites at Night. The boys, who I wrote about more…
The Necronauts I’ve been wondering what local indie/alt/punk trio the Necronauts have been up to lately; seems I haven’t heard about any shows or tours recently, and they’re one of the most entertaining acts we’ve got around here. If you’ve been missing Billy, Andrew and Dale as well, I’ve got…
“We put Vaseline on the men’s urinal so you can’t do coke off of it,” Tyler King tells me from behind the bar at the Stray Cat in Tempe, on the Wednesday after Christmas. “Cruel, but funny.” King is, of course, cracking on the reputation of certain punk DJ nights…
In April of last year, New York magazine published an article by Adam Sternbergh called “Up With Grups,” discussing the phenomenon of hipster parents. He touched on the sociological and economic nightmare we face if there is no longer a quantifiable generation gap — if parents’ habits and tastes are…
Courtney Love and Sharon Osbourne have a lot in common. They are both outspoken, headstrong women who married men who later became monstrously famous musicians. They both had plastic surgery. They are both known for throwing things — Love for hurling makeup at Madonna, Osbourne for pelting Iron Maiden with…
Young men fumbling to grasp the power of their hormones usually look to the brawny lead singers of hard-rock bands to learn machismo and sexual confidence. Unfortunately, these same impressionable teens simultaneously lap up the music’s misogyny, and so they only develop into self-pitying sexist pigs with an overactive interest…
In a couple of weeks you’ll see my column about a few of the kids that attend the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences, one of the premier sound engineering schools in the country, located right here in Tempe and Gilbert. I’ve been hanging out with a few kids (“kids”…
Dumperfoo on the Canvas Hmmm, having two separate bomb-ass birthday parties, one in L.A., one here in the ‘Nix, seems a little bit ambitious, but if there’s one dude in town who can pull it off its Blunt Club impresario and artistic wunderkind Adam “Dumperfoo” Dumper. This post is to…
Yes, the free booze… not only do you have the always reliable One to hit up tonight for dancing and making out (this one features Rick Ramirez along with DiPadova, and upstairs at Homme Groovetribe First Fridays is popping off), but Sunday DiPadova’s launching a new night at a new…
This story, as originally conceived, was supposed to be a compilation of the year’s best boxed sets and other reissues. But then it hit us — in today’s shuffle-driven iPod world, with the pace of pop culture moving at breakneck speed, it’s pointless to make such temporal distinctions. The past…
It was, according to no less an authority than the New York Times, the year rap went regional. There was plenty of recent evidence to support this claim, beginning with the suddenly paltry record sales racked up by some of hip-hop’s heaviest weights. There was lots of historical evidence, as…
In 2006, the pop singles market continued to dominate, in no small part because the pick-to-click-driven mentality of online music stores and ring-tone sites gave consumers unparalleled freedom to Choose Their Own Musical Adventure. What suffered in the meantime, though, was the quality of pop/rock albums. These platters frequently spawned…
The criterion for this list was simple: Only the hardest, heaviest metal albums were considered. Bands that play a hybrid style of metal that is not thrash, speed, death, black metal, hardcore, grindcore, or some amalgamation thereof were not included. What follows is pure effin’ metal. Bang your head off…
Now is a bad time to be a giant music corporation, but ethically challenged music fans couldn’t ask for better days. Bootlegging has always been about catering directly to the fans, and the Internet breeds the best bootleggers yet: bigger and stronger and faster than ever before, the better to…
