Another year, another rich haul of Christmas CDs. But instead of coming up with just another essay about holiday music, this time around we decided to help out the ailing economy — not to mention you frazzled holiday shoppers out there — and do a Christmas CD Buying Guide. So…
Click here to enlarge…
I’ve been thinking about the word “nigga” a lot lately. Seems it’s popping out of everybody’s mouth these days, whether it’s high school wiggers or commercial rappers. The way I understand it, there’s two ways to see it: It’s either taking the power out of a derogatory term, much like…
For a leading indie-rock miserablist, Jamie Stewart possesses one of the heartiest, most boisterous laughs you’re ever likely to hear. The 33-year-old Xiu Xiu (pronounced shoe-shoe) front man typically converses quietly, in a polite, thoughtful, self-effacing, and a bit pensive manner, and then — when you least expect it –…
Catherine Ann Irwin and Janet Beveridge Bean have been at this Freakwater thing since about 1988, which is pretty impressive when you stop to realize that Gram Parsons died after recording a total of two LPs with Emmylou Harris; George Jones and Tammy Wynette were together for only about six…
All hail Big Poppa! Not only was the Notorious B.I.G. a master storyteller and MC, but he also has never humped a corpse. That may seem faint praise for such a legend. However, his lack of necrophilia sets Biggie apart from his friends and family, who have turned his moldy…
Conspiracy theorists, ready your blogs: The RIAA unleashed last month’s Hurricane Relief: Come Together Now on the American public to convince us to stop sending aid to Louisiana. Why? Who knows? But this two-disc benefit album is the musical equivalent of 9/11, each CD an unforgivable, falling tower of smoldering…
Brooding hardcore fans with blue bandannas in their back pockets rub shoulders with longhaired death-metal men and skinny, fashionable high-schoolers in white belts when Job for a Cowboy is about to go on at the PHiX. Typically, the hardcore crowd hates the self-indulgent nature of heavy metal, the metal kids…
Recently, my nephew Torin celebrated his fourth birthday. My brother, a sound engineer, recruited a local band, New York Homecoming, to learn a couple of children’s songs and play in his yard at the Saturday afternoon party. Shortly after the band’s 3 p.m. sound check, a Tempe cop showed up…
On a recent evening in a quiet Tempe neighborhood, the guys in Smoky Mountain Skullbusters are in a small padded room at guitarist Dylan Underkofler’s house, practicing for the upcoming release party for the punk outfit’s sophomore record, Yin Through the Yang Door. As drummer/vocalist Rob Davis, bassist/vocalist Mike Roberts,…
Battle Acts for the week of December 1 through 7 Battle Act Dokken Where & When Saturday, December 3, Marquee Theatre, $17 Strongest Selling Point The latest George Lynch replacement? The band’s lawyer for the past 10 years. Okay, everybody all at once: “OBJECTION!” Disclaimer Just because they’re a former…
Ali Jackson, big-shot jazz drummer extraordinaire, won’t claim encyclopedic knowledge of indie rock, but like all sensible Americans, he enjoys Pavement a great deal. “I like that hit that they had on MTV, that ‘Cut Your Hair,'” he enthuses. “It’s real catchy and real earthy, just playin’ around, like you…
Three of the Briefs’ four members recently took the time to briefly discuss their new album Steal Yer Heart, punk rock’s brevity, and the truth behind their songs “Genital General” and “My Girl (Wants to Be a Zombie).” New Times: Any downside to being so brief? Steve E. Nicks (guitarist):…
In the annals of rock ‘n’ roll history, nothing matches the Rolling Stones’ 40-year-old reputation for sex, scandal and outrage. To see how well you know the Stones’ self-made legend, take the Shrapnel quiz on these raunchiest of rockers. The more answers you get right, the greater your, ahem, satisfaction…
All hail Chuck D! Oh, how the uptight and old white pundits parsed his every word. From the days of “jungle rhythms” to the French riots today, the frightened, white and withered have shat themselves over black music. But some musicians deserve protection from the beshitted more than others do…
On the most recent First Friday, at midnight, I’m in a former Mormon church with immense ceilings. Psychedelic colors are dancing on the walls courtesy of some old-school overhead projectors while old-school funk is jumping out of speakers. Even more incongruous is that I’m at a party in the Great…
It’s not easy fronting a band that’s the darling of the rock press. Just ask Spoon front man Britt Daniel, who’s busy collecting five-star accolades for his group’s latest effort, Gimme Fiction. The love that critics heaped upon Spoon in the wake of 2002’s Kill the Moonlight helped make Fiction,…
Battle Acts for week of November 17 through November 23 Battle Act Simple Plan Where & When Friday, November 18, Marquee Theatre, free Strongest Selling Point Time is money, so in order to get TWO FREE TICKETS, you must demo the new Samsung n330 phone and endure a long, hard…
Tim McTague, guitarist for UnderOath, place your right hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth . . . New Times: How do you feel about being labeled a Christian metalcore band? Tim McTague: I think that’s exactly what we’re…
“The blues is dying out here,” my friend Dale Baich told me recently when we were bullshitting about music. I was taken aback by his statement, but when I thought about it, I hadn’t hit up a blues show in quite some time — like many people of my generation…
Sometimes it takes a jarring catastrophe to make things right. When you’re My Morning Jacket, catastrophe takes the form of a breakup. It comes after three achingly beautiful albums and close to a decade of paying your dues, touring at increasingly large venues for growing crowds. It comes while critics…
Finding Americana music on Internet radio is like looking for a bucket of nails at Restoration Hardware: There’s just something that ain’t right about searching for stuff that basic and impervious to innovation in a place so slick, contemporary and self-consciously cool. Unless, that is, you stumble upon the stream…
