Former Tucsonan Justin Champlin has roots in area bands like The Okmoniks, Sneaky Pinks, and Golden Boots, but since 2001, he’s occasionally donned a rabbit mask, stripped down to his skivvies, and blasted out barebones rock ‘n’ roll as Nobunny. The songs play like a sloppy mixtape from a boozy…
It’s a good thing there aren’t many residences near Big Surf Waterpark in Tempe. It’s creeping toward midnight on a Friday night in October, and the Sound Wave Music Festival is in full swing, causing a maelstrom of electronic beats to echo across the pools and slides. While Phoenix expat…
The knock on underground hip-hop has always been that it’s not sufficiently “fun.” Hip-hop radio stations routinely light up with requests for crass, chorus-driven ditties (often of the Southern variety), while alternative rappers are too often dismissed as humorless and boring. Sure, most people can agree that Mos Def and…
In 2010, former Sleater-Kinney guitarist and NPR blogger Carrie Brownstein announced she was starting a new band. A MySpace page went up. No music, only a cryptic message: “What is the sound of an avalanche taking out a dolphin? What do get when you cross a hamburger with a hot…
Thursday 27 27th Avenue Bar: DJ Manage (Top 40) Afterlife: Thumpin’ Thursdays (various) AZ 88: Josh One (various) Bar Smith: Ladies Night with DJ iDenaty, DJ EC Rock, & DJ Oh-Jezus (various) Blue Martini: Rewind Thursday with DJ Mendez (hip-hop, dance) Bobby Q’s: DJ Deuce (hip-hop) BS West: Intravenous Thursdays…
Beavis & Butt-Head makes its triumphant return to MTV on Thursday, October 27 at 10/9c, and quite frankly, we can’t wait. This preview of “Holy Cornholio” looks promising, but one thing is missing–music videos! Half the fun of watching Beavis & Butt-Head was listening to the duo’s commentary on popular…
As its name portends, there were plenty of dolls on hand for the opening weekend at Dollhouse Cocktail Lounge in Scottsdale. Dime pieces were on the walls of Old Town’s newest nightlife playground in the form of stylish magazine covers arranged above VIP seating while dames, dolls, and divas populated the…
When you look up the definition of “viral video” in the internet dictionary, The Black Keys new video for “Lonely Boy,” the first single off the highly anticipated El Camino, would be the prime example, complete with links to other articles awkward hand claps and hip gyrations. The new video features…
It’s a pretty common complaint around town that awesome acts often skip Phoenix on tour. Well, here’s a story that argues the opposite. New Orleans-based rap duo The Knux are kicking of their tour here in the Phoenix Metro, at Scottsdale’s Rogue Bar on Tuesday, November 8. The band often…
At some point recently I found myself trudging along the westbound 10 freeway, scanning through the FM dial, when I heard a familiar snare sequence followed by the chorus: “That girl is poison/Never trust a big butt and a smile/That girl is poison.” Oh, yeah. A little Bell Biv Devoe…
Clanging acoustic guitars, pitched somewhere between Led Zeppelin’s ballads and John Fahey’s American Primitivism, and then, a voice, singular and unmistakable. It is the voice of Lou Reed: “I would cut my legs and tits off when I think of Boris Karloff and Kinski / In the dark of the…
Bane hasn’t issued a full-length album since 2005, but that doesn’t keep the band from hitting the road. The latter comes natural, but regarding the former? “We have to be under insane pressure to get a song done, and if we’re under that pressure, we get it done,” says frontman…
Catching the band at the Marquee will be an entirely different beast than getting sloppy at the Birds Nest at the Phoenix Open, where the band has played during the past two tournaments, but the Marquee show should definitely be sufficient for all of the local hippie chicks and jam…
I don’t want to get too hyperbolic here, but this year Jay-Z and Kanye teamed up for one of the year’s biggest albums, and I can’t help but make the comparison when I think about Phoenix emcees Mr. Miranda and Mega Ran hooking up for a combo album. Titled The…
Putting it simply, the women of Wild Flag knew exactly what they were in for starting a new band. “We’ve all been in bands,” says keyboardist/vocalist Rebecca Cole. “We knew the pros and the cons.” Been in some bands? No kidding. With resumes that include The Minders, Sleater-Kinney, Quasi, Helium,…
In recent years, horror flicks and metal have enjoyed a loving relationship. Metalheads love horror, and the feeling is mutual. (Where did we put that copy of The Blair Witch 2 soundtrack?) Obviously many metal musicians truly enjoy sci-fi, monster and horror films (with guys like Rob Zombie, The Misfits,…
In case you were thinking that maybe we’d sucker you into watching a Serene Dominic vidcast with special guest Judas Priest and then turn around and have Glen Tipton and Ian Hill hand puppets, you know, pull some of those journalistic pranks that New Times is notorious for –guess again!…
Okay, so the 15 Favorite Songs thing. It happened. I freaked out a little (a lot) picking my selections, but it was a fun, in a self-aggrandizing way. I wrote yesterday that it was nearly impossible to do what the event asked: come up with 15 songs that you love…
A few months ago we brought you the story of Bryan Lightningrod, a 98- (38)-year-old vampire (dude) from Cairo (Chandler) who makes music (noise with titles like “I Want to Fuck Your Butt”) and creepy-ass music videos with young girls’ butts being (unknowingly?) taped at skate parks. …
Want to know what new release discs and platters are moving across the Valley at local record stores? We’ve got you covered with another installment of What’s Selling. It’s been a little over a month since we last scoped out Zia Record Exchange’s list of top sellers. Since then only…
Brainnnnnnnssssss. The poor ‘fella depicted in our flier of the week looks like a zombie treat, head cracked open and ready to go. But wait, he looks like…no! It can’t be! He’s still alive? Halloween gigs are a’plenty, but this spooktacular gig, featuring Sasquanaut, The Woodworks, Future Loves Past, The…
There’s a glimmer of hope that Up On The Sun’s DMX Rap Sheet will finally be put on the back burner as the hip-hop artist returns to the music world, determined, reportedly sober, and with new management headed up by Jason Fowler of J Mike Management & Entertainment, based in…
