If the term “butt-shake” isn’t part of your musical vernacular, you’d better get hip ASAP and have a listen to Phoenix’s own Acapulco-Five-O. Inspired by ’50s and ’60s spy music, go-go, Latin exotica, and, of course, butt-shake, Acapulco-Five-O was designed to infect the masses with the rockin’ pneumonia and the…
Great gods of gravy, where would the hep world be without the subtle machinations of the Cramps and Stray Cats? Why, there wouldn’t hardly be any rock-a-billy music ’round at all! Not to trash those combos (who’ve had their moments, especially their earliest singles), but there were (and are) truer,…
There’s a slew of reasons we dig Al Page. Not only does the laid-back DJ and promoter have one of the most fly Afros in all of P-Town, but he also busts much ass on both the record decks and behind the scenes at the Hidden House, 607 West Osborn…
It’s finally winter, and I’m feeling like that damn coyote in the cartoons, hungry for something good to put in my facehole. I’m tired as hell of chasing that elusive euphoric high by gulping beer and wine — a compromise I’ve been trying since my doctor ungraciously told me to…
Out of Sync, the new memoir from former ‘N Sync member, failed cosmonaut and gay American Lance Bass, came out on October 23. (It’s surprisingly good.) Over the phone from New York – where he’s living while starring in the Broadway musical Hairspray as Corny Collins — and speaking in a slight Southern twang, he was very congenial. We talked about his critical words for Justin Timberlake in the book (he felt “completely betrayed” when JT broke up the band for a solo career), coming out, and dating the actress who played Topanga in Boy Meets World.
Every obit, blog post, and newscast will not fail to mention his despicable treatment of his ex-wife Tina Turner — so consider it mentioned.
What those voices will not tell you is what you can only hear and feel in the urgency and ambition of his music. From his rock & roll-christening fuzzed guitar on “Rocket 88” to his psychedelic gospel funk; from his unvarnished tremolo on uncountable electric blues singles to the black-power groove of the instrumentals he recorded with another St. Louis master, Oliver Sain; from his transformation of rhythm & blues into rock into soul (and then back again), to his electrification of the wildest stage spectacles that pop music had ever seen, Ike Turner deserves the appellation visionary — and can hold his own with touchstone figures such as Scott Joplin, Chuck Berry and Miles Davis.
THURSDAY 13 27th Avenue Bar & Grill: DJ Turtlewaxxx (hip-hop, old school, Latin groove) Axis/Radius: Crystal Thursdays Ladies Night (Top 40, rock, dance) Baja Tilly’s: DJ Adrian (old school, R&B, cumbia, reggaeton) Big Fish Pub: DJs Annalyze, Cake & Booty, Diosa, ill-legal?, & more (various) Bikini Lounge: Sophisticated Boom Boom…
Because kids in 2007 aren’t buying CDs like kids of yesteryear did, retailers like Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and Target are threatening to scale back their shelf space to stock only new releases from artists with proven sales. Not a big deal if you buy CDs on Amazon or iTunes, but…
It’s an excessively rainy Friday night in late November, and Johnette Napolitano has just finished playing a solo acoustic set at Martini Ranch in Scottsdale. We are alone together in the “green room” (which is actually a soft-maize color), surrounded by comfy brown couches, big-screen plasma TVs, and mirrors. Napolitano…
After more than a year of nonstop touring behind their latest album, Sacrament, Virginia thrashers Lamb of God are out on the road for one last leg before taking a much-needed break in 2008. But before the band closes the book on Sacrament, we caught up with ultra-friendly powerhouse drummer…
In the 1950s, along with Ray Charles, singer Napoleon “Nappy” Brown was one of the transitional performers between blues and rhythm & blues (the latter in the ’60s transmuted to “soul music”). Proceeding from a blues foundation, Brown worked gospel, pop, and jump-blues (i.e., Louis Jordan) into the mix. That,…
Eagles Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit may all love music, but they don’t make it collectively unless there’s a mammoth payday involved. Maybe that’s why this set, which is being released through a profit-maximizing deal with Wal-Mart, seems inspired more by commerce than art. The…
A cross between the melodic punk of Lawrence Arms and the churning hardcore of Rise Against, AWS combine a high quotient of both heft and hooks. Original drummer Nicholas Pasquale Angelini is the beast’s backbone, driving tempo like Jeff Gordon, and keying a thick bottom end worthy of J.Lo. Atop…
Dutch DJ Tom Holkenborg, better known as Junkie XL or JXL, provides the equivalent of an audio aphrodisiac with his latest album, Booming Back at You, a collection of electro-sexy songs filled with throbbing bass, swooning synths, pumping drums, and hormonal harmonies — suggestive, yes, but not as direct as…
Conjuring up a cool-sounding name for your record-spinning gig ain’t the easiest thing. It’s gotta be catchy and clever enough to draw in the hipsters, without seeming too hokey. Such is the struggle for Fatigo vocalist/guitarist Mike Montoya and Shizz scenester DJ mig50, who’ve yet to create a moniker for…
After more than 25 years in the music business, Johnette Napolitano has made her masterpiece. From the haunting synth programming on “Amazing” to the poignant ballad “The Scientist” to her deep ‘n’ doomy cover of Lou Reed’s “All Tomorrow’s Parties,” Scarred is a sonic portrait of an artist who has…
Christmas cheer can be found in the oddest of places. We stumbled upon it in the midst of clothing and knick-knacks (most likely acquired from the dead) at Retro Redux’s Kitschy Christmas Party on Saturday, December 8. As with any vintage clothing and antique shop, the 7th Avenue store was…
There’s nothing new going on here, just straight-up, raging metal. We didn’t bother to read Body of Scars’ list of influences (if they have one), because we can clearly hear them. The dual guitars churn out the high-pitched, racing-scale solos mastered by Iron Maiden and — more prominently for BoS…
There can be little question that Stanley Clarke is one of the greatest jazz-fusion bassists alive today. He continues to make inspirational work both live and in the studio, as heard on this new disc. He opens the proceedings with the four-part suite that gives the CD its title. The…
Wu-Tang Clan’s fifth album comes at a time of strife within the group. Ghostface Killah and Raekwon have laid into Wu ringleader and beat maker RZA for the album’s creative direction. Calling Wu a sinking ship and RZA a “hip-hop hippie,” Raekwon says the beats on 8 Diagrams are too…
Shows to see before I die:
Björk
Led Zeppelin
Radiohead
Stevie Wonder (check)
When I was a fourth grader at Tempe’s Curry Elementary, a couple of kids cornered me on the playground. Their agenda? They wanted to let me know how they truly felt about me.
I love a good rock show, but one of my complaints about modern rock “concerts” is that there aren’t enough spontaneous jams. If a “surprise guest” comes out at a rock concert, it’s usually only a surprise to the audience, and the singer’s not gonna just hand the microphone to whomever jumps onstage while the band maintains some extemporaneous groove behind it all. Everything is so planned out, so meticulously calculated, that the rush of a “surprise” is almost impossible for rock.
Not so for hip-hop. What I witnessed at the KRS-One show tonight brought music back to its source – the people. The former front man of Boogie Down Productions performed for almost two hours, and capped off his set with a freestyle jam that included Phoenix’s own Grime and Cut Throat Logic, as well as a surprise (for everybody) appearance by Luckyiam of the Living Legends. Quite frankly, it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen at a local hip-hop show. Or any hip-hop show, period.
