After a fruitful 40-year career, the legendary Steve Miller finally comes out with his first live DVD, Live from Chicago (Coming Home Media/Koch Records), a three-disc package that includes a full concert captured during last year at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago (to which he returned for its release); a…
We did it. We listened attentively — and when our habitually short attention span kicked in, inattentively — to Electric Fan Sounds Works presented by The Tucson Electric Fan Appreciation Society. Not once, but three times. And during these listens, we accomplished some things, such as editing and paperwork. We…
Attend a number of Foot Ox concerts, and you’ll normally see project founder Teague Cullen, by himself, frantically running through a repertoire of singer-songwriter tunes about love and hope. His second album in as many years, It’s Like Our Little Machine, slows things down a bit, leaving space for exceptional…
Singer/songwriter David Berman is as much of an ironist in life as he is in art. Note that after landing in rehab following a Xanax overdose (an act with sardonic aspects of its own), he belatedly embraced Judaism — a belief system he’d never taken seriously despite his band’s name…
It’s hard not to admire the audacity of an artist who, after clawing his way up from the underground to the brink of the big time, not only makes his would-be breakthrough a half-tribute to Michael Jackson’s Thriller and a half-parody of it but also loads it up as a…
“California’s original punk/surf power trio” released a greatest hits album in May, the appropriately titled Surfing to Some F#*ked Up S@!t. Of course the compilation includes the classic “Bloodstains” (an old favorite of DJ Rodney Bingenheimer on L.A.’s KROQ station), and “Everything Turns Grey,” another track from the band’s seminal 1981…
Shai Hulud debuted with 1997’s Profound Hatred of Man, and judging by this year’s Misanthropy Pure, they haven’t exactly altered their lyrical approach. The group hasn’t really tinkered with its sound, either, but metalcore has changed significantly over the past decade. Whereas popular metalcore now entails a parade of down-tuned…
It’s been more than a decade since the blockbuster electronica duo of Ken Johnson and Scott Kirkland (a.k.a. The Crystal Method) broke out big-time in 1997, helping to popularize the late-’90s “big beat” EDM sound. And though most alt-music acts from that era have faded into obscurity, Crystal Method is…
By Jonathan McNamara Last week Music Editor Niki D’Andrea tossed her opinion built on years of musical immersion into the ring of Phoenix-based Slut Sister’s newest album Raw Meat. She stated that the album “sounds epic and violent, but it’s the lurching, creepy, stalk-you kind of malevolence, rather than the…
The arrest of DJ Double-O, one half of East Coast hip-hop duo Kidz in the Hall on Saturday, July 26, has been the talk of the town this week. Double-O, whose real name is Michael Aguilar, was arrested in Tempe and charged with assault and disorderly conduct after a performance at Cherry Lounge & Pit. As reported in The Arizona Republic this week, Aguilar was walking around the venue with a bottle of Grey Goose vodka. When venue security tried to take the bottle from Aguilar, he held on to it. Video shot by witnesses shows Aguilar holding a bouncer on the floor, before several bouncers jumped in the fray and began punching Aguilar. The 29-year-old performer was taken to the hospital, where he underwent surgery for a broken eye socket.
By Lilia Menconi Mmmm. Boobies. Now check the slideshow. If you happened to be a ’90s rocker (pick your flavor — butt or punk) in Phoenix, you surely caught a Plinko or Pelvic Meatloaf show as you made your rounds among the Nile, Party Gardens, and the Mason Jar. The…
By Jonathan McNamara That’s right, Phoenix! Have you checked out Weezer’s Web site today? If you had you’d know that the geeky foursome from california is coming to the Arizona State Fair on October 18. For the complete list of dates and locations (in text rather than cryptic picture collages…
By Jonathan McNamara Weezer loves YouTube. If the video for “Pork and Beans” wasn’t proof enough, there’s this latest offering from the band on their official YouTube channel that reveals the band’s upcoming tour route…through song. Did I hear “Phoenix” in there? The band says the concert will begin on…
I had already planned to review the new CD from local hip-hop icon Roca Dolla when I received a phone call from local MC Justus yesterday. Justus is a veteran of the Phoenix hip-hop scene, and he’s recently started doing a guest blog for us, called “Ear to the Street.” He asked if we were writing something on Roca’s new CD, because he said he felt it was “Arizona hip-hop” to the max and a really great record that’s representative of the best talent AZ has to offer.
This past weekend marked the Phoenix New Times Summer of Sound metal show. The event, on Saturday, August 2, was jam packed with bands. In addition to headliners Godhead and local SoS bands The AMPutatiONs, Malakai, The Human Condition, and Fracture Point in Club Red, the venue had four other Valley metal bands playing on the Red Owl side of the club.
By Joseph Golfen It’s a total drag when you really need someone bumped off and you’re a little short on cash. Enter the Discount Assassin. The super-low budget short by local filmmaker Shaun Clayton, premiered at Samurai Comics on Saturday night. The six-minute film takes a look at the gritty…
By Benjamin Leatherman Matthew Reveles and Fancy Cloud are scheduled to perform tonight at Holgas. August is usually the deadest month when it comes to First Friday. Blame a combination of late summer heat and monsoon mugginess that makes people want to stay hunkered inside someplace air-conditioned instead of sweating…
By Benjamin Leatherman Party hard with Sweetbleeders tonight at the Ruby Room during their CD release show. So watcha got planned for tonight? Heading out to the monthly First Friday festivities or perhaps dropping by the nearby multiplex to watch The Dark Knight for the 863rd time? We say bollocks…
By Benjamin Leatherman The indie rock cuties of Paramore are scheduled to perform on Saturday. Here’s a compilation of the big shows and events scheduled to go down at Valley concert and music venues this weekend. FRIDAY, AUGUST 1: BeatleMania Live [tribute band] 7 p.m. $37-$40 (visit www.ticketmaster.com) Casino Arizona…
By Jonathan McNamara Friday August 1: Breaking Dawn midnight release party at Changing Hands Bookstore Twilight Series fans are too busy scanning the internet for details about the upcoming book in the series. Harry Potter anyone? If you don’t know about Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Series, get your head out from…
By Joseph Golfen Everybody’s got one. That song that’s always on no matter where you go or what you do. That song that is at once instantly recognizable and eternally evil! You cringe at the opening chords and every time you hear it a little piece of your love for…
What’s Crackin’ Azilla? This is your boy Justus coming to you live and direct from the Heart of the Phoenix. I just want to thank Phoenix New Times for allowing me to break down what is going on in our exploding underground scene — not from the eyes of a journalist, but the eyes and ears of an artist who lives this scene every day
