Gosh, Pedro Sanchez must have some mad skills besides owning sweet bikes or hooking up with chicks, since the newly elected class president of Preston High School has been visiting dance clubs and discotheques across North America lately. Then again, indie film actor Efren Ramirez just might be trying to…
Thursday 15Acme Roadhouse: College Night with DJ J. Alan (Top 40) Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness: DJ Suzy (hip-hop, dance) Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Area 51 with DJ Jeremy (goth, industrial) Axis-Radius: DJ Riz (funky house) AZ 88: DJ P-Body (jazz fusion, funk) Club Dwntwn: DJs Kirby and Chris Shannon (dance) e4: “Eve”…
Someday they’ll discover it’s not your environment at all, but a biochemical switch in the brain that determines whether you’re into stoner metal or the metal generally preferred by beer-swilling, hat-wearing types. If the members of Clutch do wear hats, they’re probably those trucker caps that say things like “John…
Christmas comes early this year in a pair of intimate Stiletto Formal shows, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve been naughty or nice. In fact, the arty, sex rocker-hipsters of Stiletto probably prefer the former. The band members are fresh off a string of tours and a sweaty sold-out show…
Rhino’s lavish reissues bookend T. Rex’s most fully cooked work, polishing maestro Marc Bolan’s legacy for any Yanks who still think of this overseas superstar as a trashy novelty. Not that trash is beside the point: Bolan’s 1972 masterpiece, The Slider, is full of the kind of grubby teenage reverie…
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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 –…
Back in the spring, when I first heard Fine China’s new album, The Jaws of Life, I fixated on the idea of hidden Phoenix treasures. The album’s great from the first listen — moody, Brit-styled pop, but by a band based here. The album’s easily one of the best local…
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…
If hip-hop’s all about the handle, the hooks, and the homies, then local wordsmith Chilee Powdah’s got the full package. His name (complete with a double “e” for easy rhymes) has thug appeal, and his album Code of Loyalty boasts a combination of thumping club beats, catchy choruses, genre-pimpin’ from…
The travel bug bit Stereo Typed hard on the Phoenix hip-hop trio’s debut full-length. As the album title suggests, these guys get around — but they’re more globe trekkers with a message than bling-seeking jet-setters, delivering political criticism (with minimalist bass grooves on “Energy Raw Power”), social consciousness (weaving words…
Gorgeous bluegrass shaded with a blend of contemporary pop and rock influences, the San Diego trio Nickel Creek’s supple, earthy tones blow gracefully across genre-bending arrangements. Their new album, Why Should the Fire Die?, transcends categorization, and while it doesn’t fully break with their Americana pedigree and the style of…
In the past 10 years, Cave In has made itself a household name among hardcore, indie and metal fans. The Boston band became the king of split records by sharing discs with the likes of Piebald and Scissorfight. Following tours with Converge, the band was slapped with the “metal” label,…
Known for his beat-juggling skills with his ’90s New York DJ crew the X-Men (who would later become the X-ecutioners, so as not to get sued), Rob Swift blew minds back then by incorporating rival West Coast crew the Invisibl Skratch Piklz’s manic, extraterrestrial scratching with East Coast beat juggle…
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…
With Confessions on a Dance Floor, Madonna makes progress in returning to form after the preachy, pale American Life, but this seamless, beat-filled ode to dance clubs isn’t enough to restore her pop relevance. These are the sounds of 1998, halfway between the Chemical Brothers and Stardust, and on “Sorry,”…
In case you were pining for another four-month Hollywood/Nashville marriage to fill the Kenny Chesney/Rene Zellweger void, forget it. Urban and Nicole Kidman are currently not an item according to the London Free Press, which reports Kidman advised Urban, “I’m just too busy for romance right now, as much as…
Breaking into your 20s can be harder than breaking into the music industry, but the acoustic-driven alterna-rockers in the band Micah Bentley have done both with a guileless acquiescence. Between 18 and 23 years old, these strapping young lads — including Micah Bentley himself — dish out lovingly listenable tunes…
Growing up in Chicago, Kaskade was initially into British New Wave acts such as The Cure and The Smiths before discovering clubs, Frankie Knuckles and house music. You can hear it in the melancholy groove of his deep house tracks, echoing the Brits’ love of Northern Soul. Kaskade began spinning…
Steadfastly political and occasionally amusing (as on “Homophobes Are Just Mad They Can’t Get Laid” and “Degrassi Junior High Drop Outs”), these Canadian anarchists were one of Fat Wreck Chords’ first bands, and have been plotting their musical coup for more than a decade. After two albums, the 1997 departure…
