On La Cucaracha, Ween continues its tradition of delivering polymorphous albums full of brilliant, warped pop songs graced with lyrics that range from the nonsensical to the silly to the outright offensive. Sliding effortlessly among styles, genres, and sounds, the album finds the Brothers Ween making odd juxtapositions and placing…
The first lyric on Jimmy Eat World’s new album, Chase This Light, is a self-assured (if not presumptuous) one-word imperative: “Stay.” But an enormous wall of distorted guitars then sucker-punches the listener, just before a raucous burst of power-drill-buzzing guitars bolts the listener to the chair. (In other words, vocalist/songwriter…
Sammy Wiley, a.k.a. The Wiley One, is the brother of Cristiana Cole and Marta Wiley (of local esoteric rock group W.O.M.B.), and judging by his new CD, there’s some serious talent in the genes. Wiley’s album opens with “Possibilities,” an upbeat acoustic song reminiscent of Jack Johnson’s work on Brushfire…
There’s so much about Coheed and Cambria’s work that cries out for ridicule, especially the ’70s-art-rock-derived instrumental wankery and the skyscraping, get-your-Geddy-on vocals. Somehow, though, the act’s latest release works in spite of itself. No World for Tomorrow represents the final chapter of “The Armory Wars,” the epic tale of…
It’s been a tumultuous year for Phonte and Big Pooh of Little Brother, the Durham, North Carolina, group that became one of underground hip-hop’s brightest stars at the beginning of the decade. This year saw them part ways with producer 9th Wonder, who seemed to have his hands full producing…
Despite an amazing five-decade career, Herbie Hancock remains an enigma to most. But only the great Miles Davis can lay claim to reinventing jazz with crossover pop appeal as many times over. From hard-bop wizardry with Davis’ second great quintet in the ’60s (some of the best music ever played)…
It’s been almost 20 years since Queen Latifah recorded her first song, “Princess of the Posse,” an assertive rap with Jamaican inflections. She was the definitive strong-minded female rapper of the ’90s, and at the time it seemed unlikely that she’d be anything other than the Afrocentric feminist construct that…
If one wanted to gauge the anticipation for Wonder 4, merely peeping one of the local EDM message boards would reveal the kind of fervor that’s building around the annual rave extravaganza, which takes place on Saturday, November 17, at the Icehouse, 429 West Jackson Street. “This fucker looks sick!”…
The November 15 music section of Phoenix New Times features a first-person narrative about horror-punk legends The Misfits, penned by Brian Barr, music editor at Seattle Weekly, one of our sister publications. Not only does the story provide a plug for The Misfits’ upcoming show at Venue of Scottsdale on November 17 (a killer double-bill that also features surf punks Agent Orange), but it gives us another excuse to re-post the footage of North Side Kings singer Danny Marianino knocking out Glenn Danzig a couple years ago. Danzig hasn’t been the singer for The Misfits since 1983 (bassist Jerry Only now handles vocal duties), and maybe Danzig’s attitude is one of the reasons for that.
Britney Spears: This one’s obvious and way too easy, but Brit’s had a spectacularly bad year, so I’ll get it out of the way first. The head-shaving, the booze-and-drugs-gobbling, battling Federline in court and an automobile with an umbrella, the allegedly bad parenting, the rehab stints, the stunningly lackadaisical VMA performance, the laughably awful, “naughty” video for “Gimme More,” and, finally, the indignity of having a number-one album snatched away at the last minute when Billboard decided to change the rules and allow that horrendous new disc by the Eagles, which is only being sold at Wal-Mart, to claim the top spot. Perhaps only Senator Larry Craig and that astronaut lady had worse years.
Okay, okay. What’s New Times doing reviewing a choral group? It’s gotta be some stale, pretentious stuff, accessible only to blue-haired old geezers, high-brow music connoisseurs, and aristocrats, yes? You’ve even heard that there are tea and crumpets during intermission like at an English cricket match at the Sussex County Cricket Club, right?
It’s one thing to see a “live musician” perform with a computer DJ, surrounded by blinding special effects. It’s quite another to hear the naked soul of a songwriter, accompanied only by her own piano (and three light bulbs for special effect). The latter proves far more compelling — at least when the singer pounding the keys and beat-boxing the lyrics is Regina Spektor.
Photos and review by Steve Jansen Better than: Indulging in the usual Monday night fare, which is laying in my own filth at home and listening to Coast to Coast on 550 AM KFYI. Bay area-based musician Ash Reiter brought her unique singer/songwriter routine to Carly’s Bistro for the first…
In the United States, we take classic rock for granted. It’s become part of the very fabric of our being. And unless you get into deep album cuts (you know, the songs that aren’t played on the radio day after day), it’s hard to let go and just enjoy the…
Like an imaginative, hyperactive kid let loose amid the instruments in an elementary school music room, Minneapolis native Andrew Broder spent his first couple of albums under the Fog moniker crafting charming, headphones-paradise tunes out of turntables, guitars, strangely affecting vocals, found noises, and lots more sonic oddities. Yet Fog…
Gemini Soul takes jazz and injects it with a heavy, rhythmic dose of funk. Bass player André Marcel Ajamu Akinyele’s four-string coils itself around the steady snare percussion with a springing and throbbing reminiscent of Me’shell Ndegéocello’s low-end jams on softer songs like “Gypsy” and “Hang on to Your Love,”…
As much fun as warehouse raves can be — what with all the thrill of thrashing around in some anonymous location that could be visited by the po-po at any moment — occasionally, we dig on getting some after-hours dance action in a legal venue. Such will be the situation…
Thursday 8 Bikini Lounge: Sophisticated Boom Boom with DJ HFE (rockabilly, surf, jazz, classic country, indie, obscuro) The Blooze: DJ El Dedo (rockabilly) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Dirty Pretty: Foxy Bitch Thursday (rock, Top 40, hip-hop) Hollywood Alley: The Blunt Club & Furious Styles Crew Anniversary with Pickster One, DJ…
There are certain holidays that call for a celebration extension, and Halloween is definitely one of them. We partied it up over the pre-Halloween weekend, but we just didn’t get our fill of costumed dudes and whore-ish ladies. So we decided to check out the Ruby Room on Wednesday, October…
It’s 7:30 on a Saturday night in September, and Asylum is already packed. The Tucson club is the only venue in Arizona that consistently caters to fans of industrial music, and this evening, it’s filled to capacity with black-clad twentysomethings dressed like pallbearers from a Mad Max movie. Although night…
Say Anything frontman Max Bemis was diagnosed three years ago as bipolar, which, he says, made absolute sense considering the manic episodes he had been experiencing for some time. If that wasn’t enough, he was also trying to survive a volatile breakup with his first love, an experience that, along…
Are the Resonars a “real band” or aren’t they? Only Matt Rendon knows for sure, and he’s not saying (yet). To paraphrase the immortal Bard, what’s in a band . . . as long as platters as nifty as Nonetheless Blue result? Tucson’s Resonars is basically singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Matt Rendon (Vultures,…
