The 2006 album Exodus Into Unheard Rhythms found Oh No sampling only from Galt MacDermot’s musical theater scores. In doing so, he discredited the theory that says pulling loops from one well yields rigid results — Exodus stings in champion pairings and expert compositions. Less than a year later, a…
One-man acts are a lot like power chords: Just when you think they’re getting a little old, you realize that you’ve still got a long way to go before you get sick of them. Tucson’s Bob Log III is certainly not above resorting to gimmick. After all, the man dons…
It’s unusual for an opening band to have better stage presence, greater energy, and a more dedicated fan base than the headlining act that follows it. But as rare as that is, nobody in the audience seemed surprised when Norwegian EBM/power-noise hybrid band Combichrist eclipsed industrial icons KMFDM at the…
Rachel Nagy is a strong, sexy frontwoman. Her vocals canter, strut, and shimmy with the knowing look of the much-adored — half coquettish tease, half jaded indifference. She coos to the rocked-up Latin swing of “My Delight,” swings her hips with rockabilly swagger on “If You Don’t Think,” and dives…
There’s much musical lore about the Lone Star State, but what is it about San Antonio, Texas? There are many songs about Houston and Dallas, but relatively few regarding San Antonio, considering the town’s alumni include Sir Doug Sahm, the Butthole Surfers, and Carol Burnett. (Is it the water?) Add…
Here’s the thing: Hair rock is a lot cooler now that it’s become ironic. Every year, band after band that used to be something somebody once cared about sometime in the ’70s reunites and hits the road together to milk whatever celebrity they have left for a few more dollars…
Wanna play doctor? The ghoulie girls and beastly boys of Club Hell definitely do, which is why they’re gonna transform the Ruby Room, 717 South Central, into a fetishistic freakfest of naughty nurses and devious doctors for Medical Fun 2.0 on Saturday, August 11. The ER goes BDSM as Club…
Three sources have now confirmed the latest Van Halen hype: the band is reuniting with original singer David Lee Roth and embarking on a 50-date tour this October. (The sources are Web sites Melodicrock.com, BillBoard.com, and MSN.com).
The Meat Puppets: Rise To Your Knees
Anodyne Records, 2007
Since it was my brilliant idea and all to name our bouncing baby blog after a Meat Puppets album (not the best one, but we damn well couldn’t call it “II” now could we?) and considering my marked tendencies to fawn and drool whenever said Puppets pop up in conversation, it was only natural that I was ready and raring to kiss their asses up and down for this one. Well, you can imagine my consternation when I listened to it several times over and found it dull as snot. Flat vocals, plodding paces, boring drumming, with some nice guitar solos but not enough to pull the whole thing outta the muck. Almost seventy minutes long and a chore to listen to, see.
However…
WOW! RUSH WAS, LIKE, SO AWESOME! GEDDY LEE WAS PROBABLY THE BEST BASS PLAYER EVER! AND NEIL PEART WAS AMAZING! IT WAS SO COOL! AND THEN THEY PLAYED ‘TOM SAWYER’ AND IT WAS AWESOME! BEST SHOW EVER! THEY HAD PYROTECHNICS AND LASERS AND EVEN A REALLY HOT GIRL WHO CAME OUT AND BASTED THEIR CHICKENS AND…
Oof, sorry about that. Sometimes my little brother gets a hold of my computer thinking it’s one of them super-fun Speak ’n’ Spells and he just makes such a mess. G’wan, git! Ye rascally scamp.
Anywho. As someone who generally thinks still-existing classic rock bands are by and large old, fat, greedy, boring corporate thunder lizards who deserve to be swept off the face of the planet to make room for fresher bands, I’m basically required to hate Rush. But then again I know the best way to destroy any pretenses of trying to be hip is to say they were great. And that’s the flat truth that I’m dealing with on this grey morn: I basically liked ‘em. In spite of the corporate rock trappings, in spite of the hype around their musicianship, in spite of the cheese…they rocked hard ‘n’ heavy.
Welcome to Up on the Sun, the new and improved New Times music blog. I am your new blog captain and man-on-the-scene, Matt Neff. As the new reporter on the, uhh, thriving Phoenix music scene, it’s my duty to inform you of what I plan to write about.
Thursday 2 Bikini Lounge: Sophisticated Boom Boom with DJ HFE (rockabilly, surf, jazz, classic country, indie, obscuro, R&B) Bobby Cs: Willy B. (old-school R&B) Burn: Club She with DJ Domenica (hip-hop, indie, electro) Charlies: DJ Bryan (country, Top 40, hip-hop, dance) Cherry Lounge: DJ Tranzl8tr (rock, ’80s, old school, hip-hop)…
There’s nothing quite like dive-bar karaoke at 7 on a Thursday night. Especially in a No. 1 dive like Kay’s Lounge. When my guest pig, Zep, and I open the door to this place, it is immediately palpable that the new NO SMOKING legislation is a huge mistake for the…
I know there are people out there who spend their time considering what’s punk rock and what isn’t. I’m not one of them. But something happened not long ago that’s made me think a lot about what’s punk. And I can tell you that the most punk rock thing I’ve…
Two married pop-country superstars, one stage, one burning question: Who would win in a celebrity death match between these two happily married artists? Why Faith Hill Will Win: With hits like “Wild One,” “This Kiss,” “Breathe,” and “Mississippi Girl,” Hill has established herself as one of the greatest country music…
Curly, raven-haired Annie Clark (a.k.a. St. Vincent) is a beautiful dork and potential prom queen of the science and math magnet school, seemingly groomed like the protagonist of Princess Diaries for the indie-pop throne. A quirky, imaginative musician, Clark’s played guitar for Polyphonic Spree, Sufjan Stevens and Glen Branca, which…
It took the hills of Tennessee to shake The Comas’ singer and guitarist, Andy Herod, of his bad habits. But the story goes back farther, to 2004’s breakout release, Conductor, penned in the wake of his breakup with Dawson’s Creek star Michelle Williams, a heartbreak immortalized in the woozy song…
Janis Joplin Crap N Vomit likes to annoy. Scratch that. The bloody bastards love to freaking annoy. Whether it’s provoking MySpace’s Tommy boy to delete their original profile because of their apparently grotesque band name, or their anti-press release stating that “my mom doesn’t like us,” the Mesa-based three-piece makes…
Descriptions such as “quaint” and “charming” are not the way a hip-hop artist would like to have his music explained. But if the kicks fit, then all you can do is flaunt ’em. In Jelts’ most recent release, Sunset in the City (available for free download at www.wildlifecrew.com), the graffiti…
Who can solve Turbonegro’s riddle of the sphincter? The six-piece punk band from Oslo, Norway chose a moniker that evoked “a large, well-equipped, armed black male in a fast car, out for vengeance.” Yet they’ve described themselves as “threatening gay men playing loud rock music.” And they do resemble some…
Every music lover has a line beyond which material that had been intriguing becomes self-indulgent. On In Glorious Times, the Museum members don’t just cross this line; they flip back and forth over it like Carly Patterson on angel dust, daring listeners to decide from one moment to the next…
Eight years have passed since DJ Mayonnaise’s debut LP, and while the Portland, Maine producer piled droning keyboards, brass, and ample noise on downtempo beats for Still Alive during this hiatus, he held fast on an apparent refusal to choose a less embarrassing moniker. Mayonnaise — er, let’s use his…
