Steel Pulse Marquee Theatre Wednesday, April 11 When a band has been around 37 years, it knows how to do things right. From tight musicianship to a dynamic stage show — plus a deep catalog of hits — Steel Pulse covered all the bases Wednesday night at the Marquee. The…
In case you couldn’t tell from my previous Throwback Thursday posts, I have a soft spot for the ’90s. I’m a millennial, so it’s easy for me to wax nostalgic over boy bands and raunchy comedies. Last weekend was quite the stroll down memory lane thanks to American Reunion, which…
As a music writer who is not musically inclined, it’s always fascinating to me to catch up with bands and musicians when they’re not on the stage. For this week’s issue of New Times, I hung out with Former Friends of Young Americans for a profile of the local shoegazers…
We’re all a little art starved here in the desert, and Wally Boudway of Wooden Indian argues. Perhaps that’s why they’re going on a show binge of sorts, performing their first residency at Long Wong’s on Fridays throughout April (they kicked it off last week). The Phoenix-based psych-blues-rock purveyors talked…
Two years ago, when Frankie Rose started talking about following her breakthrough debut album with a synth-pop record, friends assumed she was joking. As the drummer for Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts, and Dum Dum Girls, Rose was at the center of a 1960s girl pop revival even before her first…
Dusk has barely begun her descent on downtown Phoenix when anti-genre conformists Former Friends of Young Americans gather for band practice at frontman Toby Fatzinger’s home in the historic Garfield neighborhood. The area is known not only for being one of the city’s oldest and largest historic districts but for…
Thursday 12 16th Street Bar & Grill: Kickback Thursdays with DJ Cedric Ceballos (hip-hop, classics, neo-soul, reggae, R&B, Top 40, old school) Afterlife: Beat the Scene Thursdays (electronica, dance, remixes) Bar Smith: Double Vision Thursday with DJ Kyko, DJ Idenaty, & DJ Dario (Latin, hip-hop) Bobby Q’s: DJ Phlava, MC…
Mountain music can, and should, be utterly terrifying to outsiders — at least in its traditional sense. Just imagine toothless hillbillies wearing overalls, rocking out on banjos and upright basses until they’re drunk enough on moonshine to wear their coonskin caps without considering the fashion implications. Cue “Dueling Banjos.” Take…
At an early ’90s Cocteau Twins concert in Denver, half-asleep and fully delirious, I drifted in and out of reality as strobe lights pulsed behind my eyelids, Elizabeth Fraser’s voice wafted about my head, and driving rhythms and reverb held me firmly entranced in a surreal world. This is my…
While the sibling rivalry that eventually took down Oasis was one of rock ‘n’ roll’s ugliest, the infantile “he’s a liar!” and “well, he’s a twat” tirades resulted in fans’ getting the best of both worlds: Liam Gallagher’s Beady Eye and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. Since 2010, the latter…
Springtime means wildflowers! Get out of the house! Springtime means outdoor festivals! Get out of the house! (Springtime also means snakes, snakes, snakes, but let’s just ignore that for now. Or at least put on some tall boots. Be safe. But still get out of the house.) This weekend merits…
March was filled with plenty of madness for Pickster One. The local turntablist whiz and moombahton specialist spent the month working different gigs around Austin during last month’s South by Southwest before jetting off to south Florida to perform for thousands at such parties as Hard Miami, during the annual…
There was once a time when the name M. Ward was reserved for only the hushiest kind of record collectors, the kind of dudes who scratched John Fahey and Leo Kottke records off their wish lists one by one, who didn’t think alt-country was a dirty word, the kind of…
One of the best moments of the current season of NBC’s Parks and Recreation (in a season full of great moments) was the show’s spot-on NPR spoof in the episode “Born and Raised.” Interviewing on a sort of a Fresh Air-meets-Talk of the Nation show hosted by Dan Castellaneta, Amy…
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 do you need to know before heading to Coachella? How did the Trunk Space’s 8th…
Numerous residents of Queen Creek and around the San Tan Valley have spent the past few days cleaning up a rash of grafitti and vandalism that was inflicted upon their homes and property by a pack of unknown hooligans. Here’s the kicker: The vandalism was likely inspired by weirdo rap…
Admit it, you saw the words “yoga” and “rave” and thought they were two mutually exclusive propositions. One involves healthy living and the other…uh, drugs and baby pacifiers is the first thing that springs to mind there. That thought has certainly crossed the mind of enterprising local rapper Will Glass…
See also: The Psychedelic Pop of Mike Condello Remembered With Two New Releases When we were working up our 100 Songs That Defined Arizona list, one name was mentioned more than any other by our readers and consultants, and that name was Mike Condello (1946-1995). Known best for his work…
For staunch practitioners of the Christian faith, the Friday before Easter is ordinarily devoted to worship and reflection. The heathens and hellions over at Scottsdale’s American Junkie, however, spent their Good Friday practicing some bad behavior. The Old Town sports bar and nightclub held a raucous Easter Egg Hunt on…
Coachella is a weird beast: In addition to hotly tipped acts like Avicii and Justice, big name standard bearers like Radiohead and The Black Keys, and holy-hell-they’re-reuniting bands like Refused and At the Drive In, there’s always a few bands that have just kept soldiering on, whose break-ups and hiatuses…
Latino hip-hop brothers Mob Fam were fresh off of signing with local legend MC Magic’s music label, Nastyboy Records the last time we caught up with the Phoenix-natives. Javi C., T.S., and S.C., had also just finished wrapping filming for their first music video on the label for the single,…
Sometimes, the songwriting process itself is enough to inspire songs, which is how local pop-tinged rock band Crash Coordinates churned out their current single, “Repetition Compulsion.””(Vocalist/guitarist) Chris Kalla and I were inspired by the frustration of having to write a lot of songs for our upcoming full-length,” says guitarist Chris…
