If the members of The Neoprimitive have a defining strength, it’s their ability to prioritize the unique quality of their music above the expectations of listeners or the limitations of genre. Each of the six tracks on the Tempe jam band’s self-titled EP embraces a different blend of world music…
After releasing a number of adventurous jazz albums, the Miami-based trumpeter goes back to his roots on this disc, delivering a straightforward collection of original songs that bear an Afro-Cuban feel not far from Buena Vista Social Club turf. Sandoval’s trademark high-register playing is not very prominent this time around,…
Recorded in an old war bunker, the twitchy rhythms and hard synths that drive Digitalism’s full-length debut are only part of the picture. Idealism is also shaped by its punk rock theatrics — shrill sampled guitar riffs bounce off both channels as keyboard blasts lap against drum loops. The German…
Fans of dirty country punk ‘n’ roll will love Big Tex and the Blazin’ Pintos. With raunchy, twangy tunes like “Young and Filthy” and “We Miss Your Chili,” this band may be Phoenix’s answer to Hank III. The cowboy-hat wearin’ quintet’s debut album, Round Up, is basically 16 tracks of…
This seven-piece eclectic entourage is no stranger to those of us here in the United States. The band hails from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and you won’t find any Mounties, hockey players or hosers here. Canada is no more Canadian than Toronto native Neil Young trying to pass as an American,…
No calendar year is complete without at least a handful of insurgent, crit-consensus staples that can’t quite win over the populace. M.I.A, Strokes, Liz Phair — we’re waving sadly back at you from a future where even Maroon 5’s label status is uncertain. Among 2007’s more deserving memes is Battles,…
Following in the footsteps of Latina crossover artists like Shakira and Aterciopelados, this Mexican pop singer takes her music into directions from pop-flavored rancheras and rock to reggaeton-inspired moments. Critics may dislike this lack of focus, but that is precisely the point. Though born in Mexico, Rubio was raised in…
Scottsdale’s debaucherous nightclub scene has gotten a bit dirtier in recent weeks, courtesy of new hot spot Dirty Pretty Rockbar, 7443 East Sixth Avenue. The swanky hangout, operated by the peeps behind the equally chic Pussycat Lounge, has been clogged with A-listers and other booful collar-poppin’ types ever since it…
Some 50-odd years ago, deep in the bowels of Texas, a young sharecropper’s son was hired by a white family to stand silently in the parlor and crank the arm on the Victrola. As the strains of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith pumped out of the horn and into his…
Thursday 28 Andersons: S.W.A.G. Thursdays with DJ Essence, DJ Astonish, & Bryce Breeze (hip-hop, reggae, R&B) Bikini Lounge: Sophisticated Boom Boom with DJ HFE (rockabilly, surf, jazz, classic country, indie, obscuro, R&B) Club Mardi Gras: DJ Dana (country) Hollywood Alley: Blunt Club with Emerg McVay, Hyder, Pickster Uno, medaf- ORACLE,…
This week, Club Candids decided to check out the Rhythm Room All-Stars show, where Big Pete Pearson and crew blared their tunes from the stage all night. This Phoenix favorite didn’t offer the shiny youth we’re used to seeing, but there was plenty of fodder for photos nonetheless. (Click here…
By Brendan Joel Kelley If, like myself, you missed the Drunken Immortals release party for their latest and greatest LP, Hot Concrete, you’re in luck. The band seems to seldom be without a videographer, so here are two songs, “Chain Reaction” and “Apachee,” from the record, live for you, and…
By Brendan Joel Kelley Burning Brides I’m still nursing a hangover from last night’s adventures out: Violet Wild acoustic at Last Exit, then watching Jason Devore of Authority Zero play at the Yucca’s open mic night. Nonetheless, this hangover will probably pale in comparison to what I’ll suffer after Friday’s…
By Brendan Joel Kelley If you haven’t seen the boys in Who Cares – the Reno based hip-hop/jazz trio that includes MC Borg One, Rhodes piano player Maximus McMaster, and sax player Jamal Tarkington – you’re in for a treat this Thursday night when they hit up the Blunt Club…
“What hip-hop do you know that has a Kansas country girl singing?” Mynce, the turntablist for local hip-hop group the Smob, asks me this over beers the day after the band’s CD-release party. The answer is none. I don’t know of many female artists in local hip-hop, period. That’s what…
“I’ve never had so much fun standing in line in my life!” My friend Bones is thrilled that we are, indeed, standing in line at Scottsdale’s Martini Ranch on a recent Tuesday night, because when we get to the end of this line, we’ll be meeting the members of Tesla,…
If you happened to go out on Saturday night, you may have noticed the thick stench of rampant pheromones and incredibly attractive people completely losing their minds. We think it may have had something to do with the moon, because at the Clubhouse Music Venue in Tempe for FauxShow’s Menomena…
Paul DeGeorge describes Harry and the Potters as an indie rock outreach program. He formed the band with his younger brother, Joe, when all the bands flaked on their DIY backyard show six years ago. The duo penned seven bouncy keyboard and guitar-driven indie pop songs in less than an…
Kitchen cutlery and metal bowls. The Language Master tape card reader and a typewriter. More than 80 telephone bells scavenged from Dumpster dives. Old school analog intercoms and secondhand electronics. Sounds like a pretty cool yard sale, huh? Well, it could be, or you may have just stumbled upon a…
When Desiree Duponte, one half of Phoenix death metal duo Hellen, passed away on Friday, April 13, it was a tragic case of destiny unfulfilled. Desiree, along with her sister Mindy, had been creating some of the most innovative, eclectic metal to ever come out of the Valley, and the…
Remember in 1997, when you’d had just about enough of bands that would step on the distortion pedal and yell at the top of their lungs for the choruses, then everything but the bass and drums would drop out for the verses and get all spooky like the Pixies? Sure…
The heirs to the Replacements are hip-deep — Lucero, Drive-By Truckers, and Bottle Rockets leading the heap — but that shouldn’t dissuade you from parking your ass in front of Two Cow Garage. The Columbus, Ohio, trio is just a step behind that illustrious company, led by frontman Micah Schnabel’s…
