If you listen to frontman/bandleader Justin Sullivan tell it, it’s a surprise that New Model Army is still around at all. Formed in 1980 with the intention of playing just two pub gigs in the band’s hometown of Bradford, England, NMA is still heralded today for its politically engaging lyrics…
Now in its sixth year, the Tempe Music Festival brings an annual spotlight to town. As always, the headliners are national acts, meant to draw in a crowd of people who probably have little interest in local music and are far more likely to see a show at the Dodge…
It’s Friday and it’s raining — as if we live in the grungy Emerald City of Seattle. Naturally, I throw on my flannel, itching for a drink when I receive a text from my buddy Guano (really, he goes by Guano). It reads, “I’m done with work pay day wanna…
Some people believe that chakra, a Sanskrit word meaning “circle,” refers to an energy center, a place where the physical body and the “mind” meet as one, where things like aural sensations become visceral stimulations in certain parts of our bodies. If that all sounds like a bunch of seduce-you-spiel,…
Long before hitmakers like Kelis sampled Mozart and Mike Skinner borrowed from Bartok, a ’60s girl group called The Toys layered exquisite teen harmonies over Bach finger exercises and launched a pop-music revolution. Led by Barbara Harris, The Toys brought sonatas to sock hops around the country when their million-selling…
On a Friday or Saturday night, sliding into a nightspot as hot as Taste Ultra Lounge, 6910 East Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale, ain’t too easy, playa. Usually, the super-swanky, Asian-style drinkery is so swarmed with top-shelf trim and bar stars during prime time that the doormen ain’t gonna let your $30K-millionaire…
Three-quarters of the way through a compilation that’s been billed as a locals-only/females-only album, a voice that’s clearly not a girl’s appears. That voice belongs to Chris Corwin (no, Chris is not short for Christina), who, last time we checked, is totally a guy. We didn’t investigate to see whether…
Dave King, frontman for L.A.’s Flogging Molly, writes the lyrics for his songs on a manual typewriter that was made in 1916, the year of The Easter Rising, the rebellion that kicked off modern Ireland’s struggle to free itself from British rule. That touchstone of rebellion is mirrored in the…
Anybody out there remember the ’80s U.K. combo Blue Aeroplanes? They’re the closest comparison this critic’s strained brain can make to the eclectic, happily hard-to-pigeonhole Oakland band Why? While in no way imitative of Blue Aeroplanes, Why? shares stylistic similarities with them — bright, buoyant, terse indie-rock melodies; distinctive, cozy…
The acclaim that so often rains down on (insert overrated dance act’s name here) may soon stumble its bandanna-clad way toward Toronto duo Crystal Castles. While their self-titled debut full-length on Last Gang packs a strain of considerably punky tension under its arcade bleeps and beat programming, the more subtle…
After spending the past seven years building their reputation as a no-frills bluesy grit-rock duo, Black Keys vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney felt they needed a fresh perspective. So they turned to Brian Burton, better known as Danger Mouse, half of Gnarls Barkley, and a recent go-to producer…
A mere 16 minutes of recorded music shot the Canadian kids in Tokyo Police Club into the indie-rock spotlight. Since the release of the seven-song EP A Lesson in Crime in 2006, Dave Monks (vocals, bass), Josh Hook (guitar), Graham Wright (keyboards), and Greg Alsop (drums) have amassed an impressive…
Naming no names, but after listening to an album by a certain “alt-bluegrass” combo, a mini-epiphany alighted: Why listen to a half-assed, smug-hipster version of bluegrass when the real thing — Ralph Stanley, Gibson Brothers, even Alison Krauss — is available? Listening to the Avett Brothers posed a similar argument…
With their show at Clubhouse Music only days away, Music Editor Niki D’Andrea thought a preview of this Canadian indie rock band was in order.
The doods at MySpace have an offer for Valley punk fans that they can’t refuse.
When not relaying one of her tales of love and loss vocally, she would dance away from the microphone and raise the neck of her big hollow-bodied guitar as a queue for her band to release a country hell-storm.
When Aubrey sings lyrics like “with whiskey on my breath I demanded you to undress” there is no question that she’s speaking from experience.
THURSDAY 20 Axis/Radius: Ladies Night (Top 40, rock, dance) Blooze Bar: DJ El Dedo (rockabilly) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Casey Jones: Da Gutter Thursdays with DJ Soulman (hip-hop, Top 40) Club Red: The Blunt Club with Pickster Uno, DJ Element, Emerg McVay, Dumperfoo, & guests (hip-hop, breaks) Crown Room: Crush Thursdays with DJ Gable (mash-ups, Top 40) Draft…
Some Native Americans believe peyote puts them in touch with divine powers. “The white man goes into his church and talks about Jesus,” says Quanah Parker, founder of the Native American Church Movement. “The Indian goes into his tipi and talks with Jesus.” Mescaline, the engineer behind such holy chitchats,…
Every Easter, millions of Americans celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a rebirth that, if you follow the tenets of Christianity, saves the believer’s soul. We music lovers here at New Times, however, can’t help but wonder what musical artists could be resurrected this holiday to save their genres instead?…
The HorrorPops have been called psychobilly for years, but these genre-hopping Danish rockers don’t like boxes. We chatted with a few of the bands’ members about their rebellious streak, their homeland, and their new album, Kiss Kiss Kill Kill. New Times: Your music has always been defined by an anti-status…
It’s a rainy Tuesday afternoon in central Phoenix, and I’m hanging with TJ Jordan, co-owner of the Valley’s newest vinyl shop, Revolver Records. Aromatic candles give the space a warm, cozy vibe. Others must think so, too, because there’s a steady flow of shoppers competing for space in the snug,…
