Free online music service Spotify has plenty of fans (and nearly as many vocal detractors) but let’s stick to the facts. According to the music library, Ladylike is a “rock-oriented version of The Pussycat Dolls,” a “contemporary girl group comprised of four striking vocalists.” Below the description, you can listen…
Irene, simply put, is an enabler. Ostensibly a duo, Cincinnati’s Bad Veins are able to augment their indie-pop performances with a vintage reel-to-reel player, such a crucial element to the band that it’s been anthropomorphized, sort of as a do-it-all female multi-instrumentalist (complete with her own Twitter: @thereelirene). “Irene does…
Valley charity Ear Candy — which gets instruments out of closets and sheds and into the hands of Arizona school kids — has teamed up with some notable names. Like the dance party residents at Sticky Fingers, for example, or local indie-poppers Bears of Manitou, and AOR kings Blue Öyster…
It looks like Christmas is coming a little early this year. Justin Bieber will be kicking off his just-announced North American headlining tour in the Valley. OMB! Biebs will be stealing the hearts of thousands of girls at Jobing.com Arena on Saturday, September 29. He’s hitting the road in support of…
See also: Fugazi: Five “Waiting Room” Listening Essentials It’s usually a safe bet to cover an artist that influenced a band’s sound, so Darkness Dear Boy opted for some Fugazi. “I’d say we’re rock, reggae, punk, and a little honky tonk. With Fugazi, you’ve got the punk and rock,” says…
The Avengers may still be kicking plenty of ass at the box office, but don’t get it twisted — superheroes are not easy to come by. As luck would have it, though, the closest thing to a hero Phoenix has will be making an appearance at this weekend’s Comicon. He…
See also: Three Nerd Concerts to Celebrate Phoenix Comicon A lot of the time, I open Record Heat with some flimsy parallel between the world of comics and music — worlds that have been well connected forever, from Crumb’s brilliantly scuzzy album covers to Adrian Tomine’s classic Weezer poster to…
See also: Up on the Sun’s interview with Chick CoreaOne of America’s jazz great and Grammy Award-winner, Chick Corea, is coming to town. The jazz legend has played alongside people like Miles Davis, but his own catalog is rife with creative explorations. With a little help from Gary Burton, the…
We’re not going to come out and say that the Sound Strike — the commercial boycott of Arizona by a group of bands, musicians, and artists launched in May, 2010 — is over, but we’re not not saying that the Sound Strike is over. Chicago punk band Rise Against, one…
See also: Isaiah Toothtaker Discusses the Hood Internet-Produced Tooth Wavy It’s been tough for us to stop spinning Toothy Wavy, the collaboration among Tucson-based Isaiah Toothtaker, Max B, and The Hood Internet, so it only makes sense that we’d wind up spending a some time with The Hood Internet’s official…
Where we’re going we don’t need roads; just a synthesizer, eyeliner, and a touch of androgyny. Welcome to Flashback Friday. When I got the green light to revisit some of my favorite ’80s music for this series, it kind of felt like I was going to start making a really…
Seattle guitarist Bill Horist has been making records since the early ’90s, and he’s racked up the kind of avant-garde credentials any would-be guitar mangler would kill for. He’s worked with John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Reggie Watts, Kinski, Six Organs of Admittance, Secret Chiefs 3, Master Musicans of Bukkake (with…
Carrie Benton Benton is an improviser with The Torch Theatre and invites you to the Skewed News Hour, Friday nights at 7 p.m. at The Torch Theatre. She also performs with Chaos Comedy at Dearing Acting Studio at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturday’s. When you put your key…
It’s been a week of sad news: The auto world lost Carroll Shelby, Vidal Sassoon’s passing shook up the fashion realm, and Mary Kennedy is once again stirring up rumors of the Kennedy curse. Today, the world of music has lost another great voice. Donna Summer, the Queen of Disco…
We’ve taken a look at the bands that dominated the ’90s with chart topping singles and one hit wonders, but this week, we’re doing something different. The term “orgcore” may have you scratching your head more than a cultural institution like Green Day, but it’s always been my favorite subgenre…
You don’t need us to remind you that temperatures are rising fast in the Valley, but lucky for us, local musicians like Arizona rapper Savant, have responded with some hotness that is actually music to our ears. (Soak up the cheese, people, I’m here all week.) In all seriousness, though,…
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. Ever wonder what’s acceptable in a mosh pit? We discuss. How did Chilean MC Ana Tijoux…
In 2008, NBC tried to reboot the legendary ’80s program Knight Rider, casting Justin Bruening as the son of David Hasselhoff’s Michael Knight, and casting Val Kilmer as the voice of KITT, a hyper-intelligent car. Ty Patterson — the Phoenix-based MC who raps as Trap — was not onboard with…
“Legendary” might be a diluted description for a band these days, but there’s no other way to label Mexican rockers El Tri and their frontman Alex Lora. The dude is — how do we put this? — kind of a big deal. The names may not ring immediate bells, but…
Jason Pierce doesn’t really remember where he was while piecing together his band’s newest psychedelic wonder, Sweet Heart Sweet Light. The Spiritualized leader knows the album took three years in three different cities to complete; it’s just that the medication he was ingesting for liver disease left him in an…
See also: KUKQ Returns to Phoenix (Via the Internet) See also: KUKQ Phoenix Launches Online; We Speak With Nancy Stevens, Craven Moorehead, and Jonathan L KUKQ Phoenix — the Internet radio station bearing the classic call letters of a bygone Phoenix institution — launched in March, but as station director…
See also: A Hot Ghetto Mess of Hip-Hop, Art, and B-Boys – The 10-Year Journey of The Blunt Club This is proving to be a great time for the Valley’s hip-hop circuit. Mouse Powell’s music video for his Arizona anthem “Holding Home” dropped only a week ago, and already the…
