Phil Buckman thinks he’s awesome. It’s not hard to see why the towering 24-year-old musician from Flagstaff feels this way, since more than 200 howling fans have packed Modified Arts to witness his whacked one-man act, I Hate You When You’re Pregnant. But if Buckman needed further reassurance, he might…
The cover of The Seven Autumn Flowers, the sixth album by London’s Trembling Blue Stars, features a watercolor painting of a yellow flower falling into a landscape of muted blues and grays — there’s a lake, and some dead trees, and a fogged-in mountain range towering in the background. Trembling…
Despite Andy Bell’s health problems in recent years — he’s been HIV-positive since 1998, and has suffered through a degenerative bone condition that’s required two hip-replacement surgeries — the Erasure singer’s distinctive voice is as vigorous, dramatic, and passionate as ever on the long-running Europop outfit’s 11th studio platter. But…
What besides the electric guitar, in nature or technology, can sound so much like flatulence and also sound so beautiful? Only a few guitarists — Keith Richards, Johnny Ramone — can make you wonder such a thing. The cover story of the latest from the Bellrays — the Riverside, California,…
Mathematicians believe there’s a formula for everything. Apparently, Mic Devious does, too. The Phoenix-based MC’s rhymes aren’t bad, but his song themes (how he’s the best MC and everybody else sucks, how he’s bangin’ the bomb-ass betties and don’t give a fuck about them beeyotches, how his dad abandoned him…
Calling these guys the thinking man’s heavy metal band may be a lopsided compliment, like identifying Nicole Richie as the brainier one on The Simple Life. But in a field of hedonists like Poison and Def Leppard, worldly Geoff Tate and company distinguished themselves with far weightier themes than the…
Listening to Bury Your Dead with the volume cranked to 11 leaves the sensation of getting punched in the face. Now that’s hardcore. The Connecticut five-piece’s live show will pummel you with blast beats and then, like a deranged drill instructor, order your bruised body off the floor to take…
If old-school metal fans view Soulfly as once-removed from singer/guitarist/songwriter Max Cavalera’s earlier band Sepultura, now they can view Soulfly as once-removed from itself. With its fourth album, Prophecy, released in the spring of last year, Cavalera reassembled the band with all-new members handpicked from Ill Niño and Primer 55,…
The safe money is on local heroes and special guests Authority Zero to be the night’s big crowd-pleasers; they will certainly be kicking the ass of headliners Pepper, the first punks out of Hawaii since the Waikikis. Anyone expecting a night of luau music can leave their expectations with the…
Playgroup is U.K.-based electro maven Trevor Jackson; in addition to making Romper Room punk-funk party bombs like 2002’s Playgroup (notable for including cameos from both Edwyn Collins and Shinehead), Jackson runs Output Recordings, a superhip English label that’s home to chilly post-rock acts like Fridge, and Colder. Jackson is also…
Band documentaries can be great for showing a different side of a group whose music you know well, or just filling in the personality blanks for a group you only really know in passing. For me, MxPx falls into the latter category — I was aware that they’re a long-running…
Phoenix may be known for bands of the Jimmy Eat World persuasion, but for each of those, there is a Vehemence. It’s true — the Arizona metal scene is alive and well. In an attempt to start another downtown tradition, a local production company, SMUT, has dubbed the night after…
1. Bright Eyes, I’m Awake It’s Morning (Saddle Creek) 2. Bright Eyes, Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (Saddle Creek) 3. The Game, The Documentary (Aftermath) 4. Green Day, American Idiot (Warner Bros.) 5. Dresden Dolls, The Dresden Dolls (8ft Records) 6. The Killers, Hot Fuss (Island) 7. Papa Roach,…
Thursday 3 Acme 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 AKA (gothic, industrial) Axis/Radius: DJ MCB (hip-hop, dance) Big Fish Pub: Reggae Thursdays with Selector J-Cut & DJ Blackstar (reggae, dance hall) Dos Gringos –…
For Cheryl Olson, a registered nurse who also chairs meetings for Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, the only thing worse than having her chatterbox, musical know-it-all husband hanging around the house all day, running his quirky little Internet radio station from the den, is having to listen to all the…
Don’t hold the six-word band name against Fear Before the March of Flames. The Denver band is neither indie rock nor attempting to cash in on a trend. However, FBTMOF does have one clear influence: hardcore genre-definers Converge. Until 2004, Converge had been MIA for three years, so it’s not…
After a long run at Boston’s/P.I., the Valley’s preeminent hip-hop night, Blunt Club, has made a temporary move to the Rio Salado Brewery on Mill Avenue in Tempe until it finds a permanent home. On Thursday, February 3, stop by to see your usual favorites: open mic sessions early in…
When you scribble about bands for a regional publication every week like I do, it’s an occupational hazard that shitloads of crap local CDs arrive in the mail daily, destined to become coasters for cans of Budweiser. It’s rare that a local’s disc I come across is beyond lackluster, and…
Rise Against is finally headlining a tour. No longer needing the big boys there to hold its hand, the Chicago punk-rock outfit is stepping out of the shadows of mentor bands like Bad Religion. With its first major-label release, Siren Song of the Counter-Culture (DreamWorks), Rise Against has shown it…
If a band is known for its kooky costumes and outrageous theatrics, people might assume there’s something lacking in its sound. Not so with the J-pop punkers in Peelander-Z, who back their whack with some solid songs. Their origins are a closely guarded secret, but news reports from Area Z…
The recurring mental image I get while listening to High on Fire’s latest molten sludge-metal opus, Blessed Black Wings, is that of Lemmy Kilmister being strapped into that electric chair on the cover of Metallica’s Ride the Lightning, then bellowing a soul-paralyzing shriek as the searing juice jolt smokes his…
On her latest album, Ani DiFranco exorcises ghosts, feigns death, and once again opens herself up to the world. While she’s never separated the personal from the political, Knuckle Down comes across as a direct reflection of her recent personal heartbreaks. DiFranco’s divorce is the subject of a few songs,…
