Goth-pop pixie oOoOO is a terrific soundtrack for when a club night in Ibiza gets rained out by hellfire. Both 2010’s oOoOO EP and this year’s Our Love Is Hurting Us are dance music for social misfits. They’re dusky, palely moonlit fantasias enlivened by synths that churn like Bernard Herrmann…
Despite the famous last name — and the fact that he plays the same instrument as his father — Ravi Coltrane, son of jazz icons John (sax) and Alice (piano), doesn’t pretend to be anything more than just a saxophonist. He could claim rights of royalty or expect open doors,…
“Spotify? I’m not a fan,” says Maynard James Keenan from his home in Cornville, where he balances his winemaking and numerous musical projects. “I haven’t made enough from them for a cup of coffee. Rhapsody? Same sad story.” That’s the complaint circulating among musicians as industry buzz builds around the…
See also: Elvis Presley Week Kicks Off at The MIM Elvis hasn’t left the building since last summer, when he took up permanent residency in the renovated Artist Gallery at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. But that doesn’t mean the MIM can’t shake things up a bit. To commemorate…
“Let’s duet!” The Valley hasn’t been short on Willie Nelson sightings this year, but The Railroad Revival Tour’s second go-round promises to deliver some signature Willie thrills with added bonuses: He’ll be joined in downtown Tempe on Thursday, October 25, by John C. Reilly (yeah, he sings too), Band of…
See also: Russell Pearce Blames Victims for Dark Knight Massacre See also: Russell Pearce Apologizes, Kinda-Sorta, for Dark Knight Massacre Remarks See also: Writer’s Guild: Don’t Call Mr. Miranda, MC Pennywise, Mega Ran and RoQ’y TyRaiD a “Supergroup” The individual artists of local hip-hop co-op The Writer’s Guild are focusing…
See also: Remembering Kirby Allan – The Man Behind the Mystique Arizona’s rich music history is often forgotten, but luckily local label Fervor Records is doing its part to preserve some of that legacy with their dynamic catalog of vintage recordings. Coupled with pop culture’s continued love affair with period…
See also: The Rolling Blackouts Cover Kongos The cello is a tremendously under used instrument, but perhaps that’s a good thing. In most cases, the scarcity of the instrument makes a band’s sound that much more interesting. This is the case for Avery, whose unique sound derives from a cello,…
Every Monday morning Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday. In this week’s Record Heat, Brad and Shannon take on the approaching…
The news waits for no one — at least that’s what we read somewhere — so it’s perfectly understandable that you, the reader, might have missed out on a musical tidbit, breaking news about your favorite venue, or one of our rants. So enjoy this digest-style sampling of some of…
See also: Kongos are Huge in South Africa. Is Phoenix Next? See also: The Serene Dominic Show: Kongos Tear it Up Are you stoked for Kongos’ album release party tonight? Well, you should be. The band’s latest album, Lunatic is doing quite well in South Africa. Banana Gun, Iamwe, and…
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads; just a synthesizer, eyeliner, and a touch of androgyny. Welcome to Flashback Friday. So this totally missed my radar last year … or maybe it didn’t and I just plum forgot. But apparently George Michael almost died late last year…
The fierce beats and relentless grind of industrial music drives the DJ sets of Tommy Suftko into the stratosphere. The 32-year-old selector, who performs as LSDJ, regularly drops hard-charging hits from Front 242, Skinny Puppy, and VNV Nation into his mixes, blending heavy sounds with bass flourishes to keep rivetheads…
Shawn Putnam Putnam is a stand-up comedian and comedy writer. Catch him with sketch comedy troupe Bully Mammoth Thursday, August 2 at Stand Up Scottsdale. For more info, go here. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? On…
See also: HavocNdeeD Remix of Linkin Park’s “Wretches and Kings” Gets Love From NME See also: HavocNdeeD’s DJ J-Paul Talks Dubstep, Mormonism, Industrial Music, and More Jared Jackson is one busy cat these days. Besides being a new father, which would likely swamp anyone’s schedule, the 32-year-old DJ and producer…
Dear Readers, You may have noticed that we’ve installed a new commenting system to our site. Comments from our old system may not appear at the moment, but they’re being uploaded and will reappear shortly. The new system, called Livefyre, takes the place of Disqus and has several new features…
Last week Chumbawamba, the nonsensically named band responsible for the ubiquitous nonsensically named hit “Tubthumping,” announced it was calling it quits after 30 years. The news item drew reactions ranging from “Oh yeah, that ‘I get knocked down’ ’90’s band?” to “They were still around?” and also “God, that song…
Danny Abromovitz, 32, of Phoenix punk band West End Crooks died in his sleep on the morning of Tuesday, July 17. Abromovitz, best known as Danny American, was West End Crooks’ bassist and an active member of the local punk community…
Don’t worry, Arizona hipsters: There still is time to get behind Kongos. I know how you fickle fans operate. You drop a band and put your faith in someone more obscure the minute a band you formerly championed begins headlining shows and making money, with thousands of fans shouting out…
What would Jerry do? That’s a question posed by a bumper sticker, but it also adds context to this query: If a band exclusively plays the music of another person or group, whether dead or alive, shouldn’t that group then be considered a tribute band and have a name reflective…
Texan Hans Zimmerman started The Young — with its nearly-impossible-to-Google moniker — as a solo project, but it quickly blossomed into something else. 2010’s Voyagers of Legend (Mexican Summer Records) was a psychedelic masterpiece of pieced-together garage rock riffs, ramshackle drums, and distinct melodies, something like The Replacements lost in…
This week, New Times ran a list 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 are the weirdest instruments we found in Phoenix thrift shops and on Craigslist? What’s the…
