Music

When I was 17, I worked at a skateboard shop in Anchorage, Alaska, called G&B, the first skate shop in the state. Growing up in Alaska doesn’t afford one much exposure to underground music — you have to dig for it. Luckily, beneath the glass front counter at G&B, there…

Singer/guitarist Karie Jacobson and drummer Drew Kowalski of the Dagons were a duo way before this current trend of rock minimalism became all the rage. And forget about the candy-coated innocence of faux siblings Jack and Meg. Comparing the White Stripes to the Dagons is like comparing the Osmonds to…

“God bless this mess,” Khadijah Anwar proclaims at the top of Slicker’s We All Have a Plan, the third album by Chicagoan John Hughes III, a dude possibly better known for his ownership of Hefty Records (home of Telefon Tel Aviv and Prefuse 73 offshoot Savath & Savalas) than for…

Lauded producer Kanye West has a king-size chip on his shoulder about being passed over so many times as an MC. But with the breakout success of The College Dropout’s first two singles (“Through the Wire” and “Slow Jamz”), it’s a safe bet the chip has been whittled down to…

The two albums sturdily bearded Floridian film professor Sam Beam has released as Iron & Wine — 2002’s The Creek Drank the Cradle and the new Our Endless Numbered Days — are the kind perfect for putting on when you’ve just performed some sacred ancient ritual in the woods and…

First, the bad news: This package tour from New York hip-hop superindie Definitive Jux could use a couple higher-profile names than it currently boasts. At a hometown launch last month, label star Aesop Rock put in a breathtaking appearance at the end of a marathon show; though his rapping was…

Ben Funke’s the overachieving, gifted kid you’ve always hated and wished you were. At 18, he’s the driving force behind the electro synth-pop trio XOXOXO, touring the West Coast in style, and getting paid to play gigs he’s booking himself. His band tours in a shiny new 2004 Honda Element,…

Slim Golba cuts a unique figure even walking along freaky Mill Avenue, where his bouncing, loping gait and long graying hair, braided in classic cigar-store-Indian style and falling in front of his button-down shirt, create the image of a mellowed ancient soul much older than his 43 years. On this…

Someone tagged the plywood where the mirror used to hang in the men’s room at Long Wong’s: “Where do we go now? Tempe dies April 3, 2004.” Last Saturday was, in fact, the Tempe desert-rock institution’s last day open. But the tagger had it all wrong. Tempe died a long…

At this year’s South by Southwest music conference, I unexpectedly witnessed the invention of a brand new musical genre — honkycrunk. I didn’t discover the honkycrunk at any officially sanctioned event, or even onstage, but rather at an impromptu “showcase” I threw in my room at the Austin Hilton 48…

Arguably one of the most vital and prolific live music venues in Arizona is closing for good. On Saturday, April 3, Long Wong’s on Mill Avenue showcases twelve of the notable local bands that have gotten it attention over the years, including signature Tempe acts such as Dead Hot Workshop,…

Once, the roar of punk rock noise rallied a cry of anomie and alienation like a shot across the slowly steaming and sprawling suburban bow, spawning the vibrant, diverse Eighties underground. Now it seems the gentle swoon of traditional folk, country and blues — housed under the guise of Americana…

“[The Liars have] contempt for their audience . . . nothing that resembles forethought or emotion. Unlistenable” Grade: F Spin Magazine, March 2004 ” . . . a record you fear listening to” Grade: One Star (Poor) Rolling Stone, March 2004 Did the Liars pee on some rock critics’ corn…

“I wish a tomato would carry me away.” Perhaps these lyrics aren’t the truest universal to be found on the brazen and amazing new album by Reubens Accomplice, The Bull, The Balloon and The Family, but they’re the ones that best encapsulate the frustration guitarists Jeff Bufano and Chris Corak…

A group of young, slightly geeky, self-hating emo kids from Long Island, Bayside pours its little hearts out on its debut record, Sirens and Condolences (Victory), turning high-school prom tragedies into magnificent rock songs. These kids worship at the altar of exalted emo-punk forefathers Jawbreaker, whose frontman, Blake Schwarzenbach, sang…

Louie Vega’s musical journey to maturity has been an extensive tour of self-discovery through collaboration and experimentation. Vega broke as a teenage DJ in the Bronx Latin freestyle scene of the ’80s (notably remixing the classic 1987 hit “Silent Morning” by Noel) and has been a dominant figure in house…

Forget about beer. Not even an hour after finishing their Wednesday gig — on the opening night of the South by Southwest music festival — the members of Phoenix rock band Blanche Davidian are standing by the bar at the Elysium in downtown Austin, doing shots of Robitussin. Make that…

As the shelf life of pop confections shortens and our flash-cut attention span for artistic growth and progression shrinks, so has the number of acts able to break out of genre pigeonholes to establish an identity of their own. It’s too late for emo’s stragglers who have seemingly been swallowed…

Hip-hop has always been populated by eccentrics — Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav, with his nasal voice, oversize clock necklaces and unfortunate crack habit; Wu-Tang’s Ol’ Dirty Bastard, a.k.a. Big Baby Jesus, a.k.a. Dirt McGirt, whose hoarse rhymes rarely go a verse without mentioning pussy; and then there’s Kool Keith, a.k.a…

By day, local lad Jon Rauhouse is a mild-mannered pedal steel player who works with a wide number of interesting alt-country fringe stars, in the studio and on the road. But when he’s turned loose in the cosmic lounge, Rauhouse turns into a kind of everyman of pop and country,…

Before we continue, let us ponder some hard questions. What if the Strokes weren’t The Strokes? What if they weren’t that band from New York with the obnoxiously cool haircuts and the obnoxiously uncool tee shirts? What if there was no hype draped around their skinny necks? What if they…