Music

Despite the way it sounds, “Japan’s greatest emo band” is not faint praise along the lines of, say, “Israel’s best Oi! band” or “Spain’s finest Celtic rockers,” though bands do exist to qualify for such plaudits. Remember, there isn’t a non-English-speaking nation on Earth where kids speak punk rock (of…

The hot-rod rock ‘n’ roll stalwarts at Gearhead Records have been indulging in two habits of late: snatching up Japanese bands (Gitogito Hustler, Electric Eel Shock) and laying down big air mattresses for aging stuntmen who may be taking their last leap (Wildhearts, Lords of Altamont). With the Brooklyn-based Spunks,…

Criteria waited until its second full-length to release a record on its hometown label, Saddle Creek, and it’s none too soon, as Saddle Creek needed a huge blast of rock music to complement its recent roster of softie releases. Criteria is the brainchild of Stephen Pederson, the original guitarist for…

Spazzy art-punks An Albatross make slobbering electro-noise terrorists The Locust look like the Backstreet Boys. The Philadelphia group’s 2003 EP We Are the Lazer Viking contains 11 songs — or fragments, since the longest tune doesn’t even crack a minute and a half — which speed by in a blur…

WhatÕs Selling Top 10 selling CDs at Zia Record Exchange, 105 West University Drive in Tempe. 1. Matisyahu, Youth (Sony) 2. David Gilmour, On an Island (Sony) 3. She Wants Revenge, She Wants Revenge (Geffen Records) 4. Jack Johnson, Sing-A-Longs & Lullabies for the Film Curious George (Universal) 5. Matisyahu,…

Jesus drives a lightning yellow Trans Am. That’s one of a litany of revelations on Seattle band ROY’s latest album. Of course, revelations might be hallucinations for a band that takes its moniker from a sad little meth-lab trailer town outside the Rainy City, but that doesn’t matter. The quartet…

Much like the Unlimited EP and 8 Million Stories album that preceded it three years ago, RJD2 and Blueprint’s latest is a true superstar collaboration. Each of the 13 songs on Things Go Better With RJ & Al draws from the two members’ strengths, namely RJD2’s quality hip-hop beats and…

Back pockets stuffed with unassailable influences like T. Rex and The Jam, The Subways’ guitarist/vocalist Billy Lunn and bassist/vocalist Mary-Charlotte Cooper whip up plenty of bratty tension and punky exuberance. But their tunes don’t add up to unforgettable. It’s not their fault that it should matter so much right now:…

Gormandizing a diverse buffet of Stooges, The Clash, Sonic Youth, and Smokey Robinson, GoGoGo Airheart devours, digests and shits out a sound like nobody else. Despite hailing from sun-drenched San Diego, the band’s sound is raw, lo-fi and East Coast. For that reason, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of the Mars Volta handpicked…

1. Matisyahu, Youth (Sony) 2. David Gilmour, On an Island (Sony) 3. She Wants Revenge, She Wants Revenge (Geffen Records) 4. Jack Johnson, Sing-A-Longs & Lullabies for the Film Curious George (Universal) 5. Matisyahu, Live at Stubbs (Sony) 6. Streetlight Manifesto, Keasbey Nights, Vol. 2 (Victory Records) 7. Mogwai, Mr…

A Life Once Lost makes it look easy. The Philadelphia band effortlessly creates contorted melodies, taps out tumultuous beats, and skips from one credible label to another — or so it seems. First, the band nabbed the eye of Jake Bannan of Converge, one of A Life Once Lost’s key…

Something really cool came across my desk the other day. It was a package from a killer Detroit rock band called The Hard Lessons, who’ll kick out the jams at Hollywood Alley in Mesa on March 24. According to their bio, the band members ditched their teaching jobs for the…

Something is wrong with society when the most impish bands of the ’90s start making resonant social statements. But on Under a Billion Suns, Mudhoney seems more vexed and pissed than Green Day or NOFX. Partly, it’s the sound: Oxidized slabs of guitar psychedelia evoke messy times better than polished…

Whether or not you consider the results “hip-hop,” you’ve got to respect Oakland, California’s Anticon collective for establishing its own paradigm. Since 1998’s Deep Puddle Dynamics, the Midwestern transplant crew has branched off into numerous subgroups, exploring new creative waters each time. A celebrated beatmaker for Themselves since going solo,…

Seconds to Breathe is ready for radio. This modern rock quintet has been refining its sound during the past year, culminating with a brand-new album, Sirens. The band works the power chords and strategically places crescendos in a way that is danceable, but also creates the quintessential slow modern rock…

It’s tempting to say that Bands on Grand will be a glimpse of what’s to come for downtown, when there’ll be nightlife galore and bands playing all the time. Really, though, is that such a stretch from reality, at least in a modest, seeing-signs-of-life-down-there way? To be sure, you won’t…

Despite its combative-sounding moniker, the Ska Brawl tour won’t consist of skank-happy rude boys battling in a clash of brass knuckles and brass instruments. Nor will it feature local upstart ska bands like The Dietrichs or the eight-member ensemble Captain Squeegee & The Soap Suds taking out veteran Third Wave…

Don’t fuck with Joan Jett. The leather-lovin’ singer-songwriter turns 46 this year, and she’s come a long way since her prepubescent days with Kim Fowley’s all-girl garage band, The Runaways. And if you thought she looked tough in the 1982 video for “I Love Rock N’ Roll,” you should see…