Compulsion is one of those albums that makes you scratch your head with wonder at how it could ever have gone out of print in the first place. Maybe we can blame the overabundance of jazz albums in the stratosphere, or maybe it’s because the late pianist Andrew Hill didn’t…
Airily pretty, vicariously depressing, and just plain emotionally exhausting, the Velvet Underground & Nico tune “Sunday Morning” nailed comedown bummer rock with such precision that most later efforts in that direction have been left wanting. Some 30-plus years later, the Baltimore duo Beach House has recovered and lethargically twirled this…
Nick Cave hasn’t played electric guitar for years and his primitive, grinding approach to the instrument inspired the name of the band and the thrashing, primal, punky noise it spits out on its debut album. With Bad Seeds Warren Ellis (violin, keyboards, bouzouki, guitar), Martyn Casey (bass), and Jim Sclavunos…
Perhaps only The New York Times could have written this headline: “Bluegrass That Can Twang and Be Cool Too.” Excuse me? Somebody inform the Gray Lady that all bluegrass is cool. Nickel Creek, the subject of the above header, is just different. The twang’s there, but forget everything you think…
Although the men of Air have never been the most explosive Frenchmen on the planet, there are times on the album Pocket Symphony where they feel more like air with a lowercase “a” than Air, the brains behind the sad yet swanky space-pop classic Moon Safari. The title itself is…
At a Gwen Stefani show, you are not a citizen of the world, but the subject of a commanding cultural empress whose red-lipped orders are your new desires. That is because Gwen Stefani publicly exists in and presents as her aesthetic a hugely successful, colorful and fun Gwen Nation. Not…
Of all forms of music, you’re most likely to catch two complementary bands on the same bill at a jamband show. In this case, San Francisco four-piece Tea Leaf Green and rural New Jersey sextet Railroad Earth both take the indelible influence of the Band in divergent directions that, when…
Wanna rave on without having to worry about whether the abandoned warehouse you’re dancing at is about to get busted by the cops? Then throw on your club-kid duds and head for Tumbleweed Park, 2250 South McQueen Road in Chandler, where Nightowl Entertainment will present the “100 percent legal” event…
Thursday 26 AZ 88: Mr. P-Body (synth pop, electro) Bikini Lounge: Scratchy Rekkid Night with DJ Shane Kennedy (various) Blue Note: DJ Soloman, & Fredj (acid jazz, trip-hop, house) Bobby Cs: Willie B (old-school R&B) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Cherry Lounge: DJs Tranzl8tr, & Earth (rock, ’80s, old school, hip-hop)…
Actually, there’s a whole hell of a lot to do, and in the interests of honoring the artists/designers that make up the (mostly) dope flyers around town, here’s a truncated round-up… Look at the pretty pictures and see what gets a rise out of you; seems like a busy week/weekend…
This is a bit of either a spoiler or a teaser, since my column about Hellas Mounds won’t be out until late today on the internet or tomorrow on the stands, but whatever the case, I thought I’d give you a little taste of what the band that I’ve blogged…
Over at AZPunk.com, my friends and detractors are polling and discussing the state of punk here in Arizona. The thread is here, and this is what overlord TPStank has to say about it: I’m trying to determine the current state of our community, and it’s got me somewhat disappointed. In…
Above – Chippy’s first drum set, 1971 Not to beat a dead country horse, but I was remiss yesterday in not mentioning that Chip Hanna, who I wrote about in my column Revolver this week, is playing at Mardi Gras tonight – the reason I mention this although I already…
I’m a little bit shocked that my ol’ homeboy Conor Oberst and his latest lineup for the ever-evolving Bright Eyes have actually debuted at #4 on the Billboard charts, despite remaining on Omaha’s stalwart indie label Saddle Creek. The album, Cassadaga, is a step forward for Conor, Mike Mogis, and…
A strange email came to us lately that’s just so out there I’ve got to share it with you… this is what it said: Can a dead man win the American Idol songwriter contest? Maybe… I was co-writer with the late Kurt Mayberry. (research NT archives for Kurt Mayberry or…
A while back I issued a call to arms in my column (found here) for DJs to send me their mixtapes/mix-CDs… and I didn’t get much of a response. There was a little big, which I posted about here, but just a trickle. So I was stoked when DJentrification shot…
Last week, I promised to throw up some Runaway Diamonds tracks once I figured out how to do that with my new blogging software; all the glitches have been solved, so here’s the tunes for you. I’m torn in my opinion of the songs, I think Pomerenke’s lyrics are just…
Hopefully you saw my column this week on punk-rock-drummer-gone-country-troubadour Chip Hanna (if not, read it now, you’re obviously not working). I was under the weather a lot of this weekend and didn’t get out to any shows, but yesterday Chip and his wife Erin had me over for some steaks…
Yes, it’s the infamous 4/20, which means little to anyone except the legions of pot smokers out there who need yet another reason to get stoned. And it also means there’s a plethora of shitty jam band shows crackin’ off, but I wouldn’t recommend any of those unless you’re really…
Of course, we love the club life, but after so many weeks of hitting bar after bar, we needed a change of scenery. We found it on Friday, April 13, at Brand X Store, where local artists Disposable Hero, Family Soda, Mad One, and Fixer showcased their goods, spun some…
“As a drummer, let me tell you, in my experience it’s all the same,” says Chip Hanna, longtime skin hitter for punk stalwarts U.S. Bombs and One Man Army and, nowadays, country singer, songwriter, and guitar player. We’re discussing the similarities between punk rock and country. “If it’s on the…
My buddy B-Boy looks like he could kick some serious ass. At 6-foot-4 and 350 pounds, he strikes an imposing figure in his baggy Dickies pants and stained T-shirts. His shaved head and scraggly beard add to the intimidation factor, so it’s a good thing he’s not a bully. In…
