See also: Joel Marquard Makes a Mess of Gospel With The Through and Through Gospel Review If history has shown us anything in the local music and arts scene, it’s that the community has a fierce love of its own champions. That love will be on full display on Saturday,…
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 five releases are we most excited for this summer? We ask: Are local band residencies…
Just as fortunetellers have their little fishing expeditions to crack a sucker’s psyche, so, too, rock writers have their shortcuts on deconstructing a band’s sound without using the dreaded catch-all phrase “eclectic” (which, in truth, we’ve already exhausted in this article’s headline). Here’s the laziest methodology: Just ask the band…
“I’m not particularly that brilliant,” El-P says, laughing. “It takes me longer to do something worthy of putting out.” The Brooklyn-based rapper, former label head, and indie hip-hop stalwart isn’t bothered by the five years it took to put together his latest collection, Cancer 4 Cure (out now via Fat…
Ian Astbury, throat of the long-running British rock band The Cult, doesn’t appreciate his band being reduced to “dumb rock ‘n’ roll” by hipsters. Not one bit. “The illuminated, erudite, indie, or post-modern culture, whatever — it almost serves them to shove people like us out of the room,” Astbury…
You have to look pretty hard for someone who doesn’t have an opinion about Spotify, the Swedish music-streaming service that launched in 2008 and hit the States in 2011. It’s hard to deny its ease, selection, and um, free-ness, but it’s also been a magnet for controversy. In both the…
It’s been a weird couple of weeks in the world of music-meets-advertising. Between Andrew W.K.’s announcement to speak at a My Little Pony convention and KISS’ licensing deal with Family Guy, it’s been pretty damn weird indeed. But think about it: A hard-partying My Little Pony would look great sitting…
Yesterday we ran a list of our most anticipated summer releases featuring, among others, Fiona Apple and Passion Pit. Lo and behold, Apple announced a tour date in Phoenix, and now, we can add Passion Pit to the list. The indie-pop combo is heading to the Marquee Theatre in Tempe…
“Lay Lady Lay” is a classic Bob Dylan tune, even if it doesn’t sound like classic Dylan. ‘Ole Bobby D. claims his voice sounded different on Nashville Skyline because he quit smoking before recording. Magnet and Gemma Hayes’ soft, orchestral take on the song appeared on the Mr. & Mrs…
Some of Phoenix’s premier rappers will have a unique chance to share the stage with a hip-hop institution when Phife Dawg of legendary outfit A Tribe Called Quest rocks the mic at Club Red in Tempe, this Friday, June 22. Not only is it a chance to revel in some…
Well, how’s this for a good East Valley announcement day? Not only is Morrissey headed to Tempe’s Marquee Theatre in November, but singer/songwriter Fiona Apple has announced a tour that brings her to the Ikeda Theater at Mesa Arts Center on Tuesday, September 18. Touring in support of her highly…
See also: Rumspringer: Earnest Trio Builds Nothing on Punk’s Ever-Shifting Sands Bachelor parties are a tradition. The kind of debauched, “I-can’t-believe-we-did-that” bone-headed tradition that works for popcorn flicks (coming soon: The Hangover 3: Still Hangin’, where the boys find themselves in outer space or something). But a DIY bachelor party…
See also: We Love Morrissey, but Does He Love Us? See also: Morrissey at the Orpheum Theatre It’s weird time to be Morrissey: British rock tabloid NME recently apologized to the downer-pop icon for alleging he’s racist (stop me if you think that you’ve heard that one before), he’s currently…
The future ‘s looking pretty damn bright for Steven Chung, which is probably why he’s wearing those Von Zipper shades in the picture above. Over the next 72 hours alone, the 31-year-old house music maestro (who performs as DJ Tranzit) will open for EDM wunderkind DallasK this evening at Wild…
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads; just a synthesizer, eyeliner, and a touch of androgyny. Welcome to Flashback Friday. See also: An ’80s Conversation with Super Stereo I hadn’t thought about British synthpop duo Erasure for a long time — until Super Stereo brought them up during last week’s…
Erick Biez The local comedian performs on the Stand Up Live Comedy Gold Showcase featuring Jeff Dye on Wednesday, June 27. For more info, go here. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? No radio, not now, not…
See also: Mr. Meeble’s European Adventure See also: Mr. Meeble at Crescent Ballroom For glitch dance duo Mr. Meeble, music and visual effects go hand in hand. The duo’s latest music video for “Star Power” features the visually stunning “ghost portal” and many of the effects that make the Meeble…
More than 15 years ago, trance wunderkind Markus Schulz earned some serious scrilla performing at now-defunct Valley clubs like The Works in Scottsdale and Freedom in Tempe, as well as spinning up EDM on local radio. The German-born trance artist, who resided in the Phoenix area in those days before…
For this week’s installment of Take Cover, a singer-songwriter covers Sublime. Tempe-based musician Page Davis picked up his acoustic guitar, puka shells, and visor to jam “What I’ve Got.” “What I like about this song is its rebellious nature. I think it’s so punk rock — he actually says in…
It’s that quiet moment after a rehearsal when players smoke their smokes and drink their drinks out on a front porch. Everyone has said his piece musically, and whatever small talk ensues now lets you know which night owls slept in and missed the big news stories of the day…
It’s not every father that gets to share a stage with his son on Father’s Day, but that’s exactly what will happen when Meat Puppet and former Phoenix resident Curt Kirkwood performs with son Elmo Sunday at the Musical Instrument Museum. “I thought it was a good idea,” the elder…
Waylon Jennings would have been 75 on June 15. The outlaw country singer passed away in 2002, but his ghost still haunts the country scene in Phoenix. You can’t wander too far without some acoustic guitar-wielding singer in boots giving you an earful about his legacy. That’s how it should…
