Music

What the other critics are saying:…

Artist: Black FrancisTitle: NonStopErotikRelease date: April 6Label: Cooking VinylI wish I’d never seen The Pixies in concert back in the day. If I hadn’t, I might be a bigger fan and not one of those people who thinks “over-rated” when someone espouses his or her Pixies love.I distinctly remember buying Come…

Kinch has always been an ambitious band. Still, I was almost taken aback by the Phoenix piano-pop outfit’s latest project, a remix/b-sides collection called Ziptape.Not only is the music awesome — a live acoustic version of the rare track “Oh Boy” (one of my favorite songs the band has done)…

How Shakira can be considered in any way “rock n’ roll” is puzzling. Still, the warbling popster has teamed up with the Hard Rock Cafe to sling some glitzy fashionable pieces she designed herself, all while helping her Pies Descalzos Foundation.One T-shirt ($26), with an Ed Hardy-ish front, has an…

[jump] Emotion & Commotion is due out next Tuesday, 4/13, yet the album leaked 2 weeks ago — hardly a surprise for a big label (Rhino) release like this. Emotion is Beck’s first album since 2003’s appropriately-titled Jeff and features a guest vocal from Joss Stone, who also happens to…

Circus Mexicus just kicked things up a bit.Okay, terrible puns aside, the soccer tournament Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers have scheduled for this year’s big drunken party in Rocky Point seems like a good idea. The World Cup will be going on at the same time, which is what inspired…

Artist: GrowingTitle: Pumps!Release date: April 6Label: ViceNo less an authority than Pitchfork.com, the Bible of indie rock, declared the Brooklyn experimental group Growing to be “cruising music for Brian Eno fans.” Better watch what you say, Pitchfork, or you’re gonna have a lot of pissed-off Eno fans on your hands.Growing…

I was excited to see an e-mail about the new Against Me! record, due June 8 on Sire. As the band’s publicist says, the record from one of the best live bands I’ve seen in the past year was produced by Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, etc., etc.) so it…

What does a band do if its tour bus hits a deer? Ask Blessthefall, who at least pretend to deal with that situation in the latest dispatch from the Bangover tour, currently selling out shows in Canada. How do we know it’s Canada? Just listen for the part where the…

Those not familiar with Twin Sister will notice a flowing, romantic feel to their music. Lead singer Andrea Estella’s vocals are sinfully innocent with a heady nod to Stereolab’s Lætitia Sadier…

When you used to be in a band with a guy that made arguably the most anticipated album of the last two decades, which turned out to be Axl Rose’s epic failure Chinese Democracy, it’s kinda hard to top the hype yourself. But alas, Slash has found a few ways…

Artist: Holly Golightly and the BrokeoffsTitle: Medicine CountyRelease date: March 30Label: Damaged GoodsHard to believe Holly Golightly’s been doing this rock ‘n’ roll thing for almost 20 years. In a long list of things that make me feel old, add her tenure as a viable musical act. I’ve been a fan…

AKA: DJ Mastamonk Current club nights: Friday at Vintage in Tempe or Dirty Pretty in Scottsdale, Saturday at Whip Lounge in Tempe, and a Sunday monthly residence at Martini Ranch in Scottsdale. Preferred genres: Man, there’s waaay too many things I like playing genre-wise right now. Really diggin the funky…

Halocene, a female-fronted Valley pop-rock act I kinda like, is scheduled play at this Saturday’s Phoenix Coyote’s game. The show will be staged just outside the doors of Jobing.com Arena and will run from 5:30 until just before the game begins.I won’t be there, having vowed to not travel to…