The Mekons are among the few bands surviving from the “glory days” of punk rock — 2007 marks their 30th anniversary. The reason for their longevity (aside from their members engaging in an assortment of musical activities apart from Mothership Mekons) is their treating music as a constantly changing, evolving…
Though she is only in her early 30s, Dutch-born saxophonist Candy Dulfer is a veteran in her own right, having performed and toured alongside the likes of Dave Stewart, Prince, Aretha Franklin, and others since she was in her late teens. On this new release, she takes smooth jazz in…
The output of Brooklyn duo Mouthus consists — for the most part, anyway — of variations on sepulchral groans. Brian Sullivan’s imploding, acidic guitar gestures and Nate Nelson’s buried-in-the-mix drumming combine to form the things sweet No Wave dreams are made of: gray, fugitive whorls spinning just out of sight…
Rilo Kiley: It’s pop so good your mom will love it — if your mom has good taste in pop music. After sowing some wild musical oats with sweet, sorrowful acoustic country music and sunny indie pop, Jenny Lewis (vocals, keyboards), Blake Sennett (guitar, vocals), Pierre de Reeder (bass guitar,…
The DJs who spin at the HoodRide Bodega stand above the rest of the turntablists in the P-town scene, literally. That’s because the funky downtown Phoenix art hangout, located at 918 North Fifth Street, boasts an eight-foot-high ramshackle DJ fortress built into a tree sprawling out of the sidewalk in…
The kindly goblins who orchestrate the inner machinations of this here web-hole were nice enough to finally equip me with two things: 1) a list of links more befitting my “tendencies” and 2) an email account. So it is now that I beseech, nay, beg you to grace me with personal correspondence at matt.neff (at) newtimes.com. Suggestions, review requests, pizza recipes, and ferret-care tips are all welcome, but make sure you know what you’re doing—I don’t want to be knocked out in bed all week humming some nasty pop punk melody or sniveling with the woeful knowledge that I trimmed Chompy’s furry lil digging implements to the detriment of his (currently robust) health.
We’ve kinda had something of a contentious history with the folks at AZPunk (www.azpunk.com) over the past few years. The misfits and miscreants who populate the local Web site’s notorious message board have been known to rip us a new one for any number of reasons (such as slamming us for covering local musicians or scenesters that they feel don’t deserve any ink). But just like parents of naughty little children, we love ’em all just the same, which is why we wanna plug tonight’s AZPunk Fundraiser at the Wok Star, the rock club inside Scottsdale eatery Chop & Wok (7136 East Shea Boulevard).
In this week’s issue of the Phoenix New Times (on news stands now across the Valley), there’s a pretty off-the-chain profile in the music section by yours truly about local rapper Maja (a.k.a. H. Vincent Payne), a laid-back cat who offers a unique hip-hop style, whereby the 24-year-old drops rhymes chiefly about his love of anime, video games, ’80s cartoons, and other geeky topics de jour. The dude also lays down his lyrical dynamite in both English and Japanese (and occasionally even en Español), and has been a hit with nerdcore fans, Japanophiles, and other geeky types at the various anime conventions around the Southwest that he’s performed at, and even as far away as “The Land of the Rising Sun” (read: Japan).
Phoenix-based melodic rock group Runaway Diamonds has been asked to perform at the CMJ Music Marathon next month in New York. We’ve long been fans of the band’s quirky indie rock (we wrote a music feature about ’em earlier this year), and are glad to have them representing the PHX in NYC.
Thursday 27 Big Fish Pub: Hazardous Crew with DJ Killer, DJ Papi Cholo, DJ Spawn, & DJ Illigiq (techno, breaks, hip-hop, drum ‘n’ bass) The Blooze: DJ El Dedo (rockabilly) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Coach & Willie’s: Seen! feat. DJs Paul C., Killah Ranks, Judo-Chop!, & more (drum ‘n’ bass)…
“What do you think of my yuppie douchebag shirt?” My buddy B-Boy is modeling for me in my living room. He’s draped his 6-foot-4, 350-pound frame in some black dress pants and a collared, button-down shirt. He’s shaved his head so it’s all smooth and shiny, and trimmed his burly…
Call him the John Darnielle of the North. Like the Mountain Goats’ songsmith, John Samson of Winnipeg, Canada, has a high, reedy voice, modestly folk-inflected sound, and a keen lyrical wit. Samson played in the early ’90s with political punkers Propagandhi. In ’97, tired of catering to testosterone-fueled mosh pits,…
Since its inception, reality TV hasn’t brought us much in the way of realism. Someone who wouldn’t normally nosh on a plateful of live Madagascar hissing cockroaches breaking down and chewing on a few shouldn’t fall under the “reality” category just because there’s prize money involved and an accredited medic…
It’s a Saturday afternoon, and the Atomic Comics location in north Phoenix is a hubbub of rampant geek activity. Dozens of nerds of varying ages and belt sizes mill around the store looking for back issues of the Amazing Spider-Man, trading gaming tips, or participating in Yu-Gi-Oh! collectible card game…
Georgie James is a duo — specifically, the pairing of John Davis and Laura Burheim. Like The Turtles, they are so happy together, or at least it sounds so. Each of the 12 tunes here draws from the peak pop music of yesteryear, when cheerful songs like The Archies’ “Sugar…
Phoenix has a hot hip-hop scene, so to say that The Premiere’s debut album is the best new local CD to hit P-city streets this year is really saying something. And we are saying just that. Three years in the making, London Paris New York is a monster mash-up of…
Tucson’s Greyhound Soul blends rough vocals, country twang, and straight-ahead rock with a twist of the blues. It’s like hearing the child of Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Hans Olson, the Pistoleros, and one of the small, unknown bands you might catch at Modified on a Wednesday…
New vocalists emerge on the jazz scene every year, but Texas-based Lauren White is one who gratifies the listener through the honesty she gives to the selections included on her debut, which blends several standards from the Great American Songbook with a handful of originals. One tune that immediately stands…
Country music superstar Trisha Yearwood is back with a strong, up-tempo single, a new record label, and a forthcoming CD titled Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love. After 16 years with MCA Records, the balladeer switched to Big Machine Records in May for her first new recording since 2005’s…
One of the biggest surprises of the past few years is Christian metalcore act Underoath, who’ve sold almost a million copies of 2004’s breakout underground hit, They’re Only Chasing Safety, and its gold-selling follow-up, Define the Great Line. Almost as amazing: Their breakthrough was for little Northwestern Christian indie label…
For good or ill (usually the latter, alas), some associations haunt performers for their entire careers. Del Shannon became synonymous with his biggest hit, “Runaway,” and was typecast as an “oldies act.” Stevie Nicks will forever conjure visions of ’80s big hair, white platforms, and gauzy shawls. The name Jorma…
It doesn’t get any more old school than C.L. McSpadden. In fact, the 36-year-old DJ extraordinaire has been working the wheels of steel since the late ’80s (long before some of y’all even knew what EDM was) at bygone Valley hotspots like Club Freedom, Planet Earth, and Club 411. This…
