Music

Here’s the problem with riding the ass-end of a wave where everything old is new again: The tide eventually comes in, and what was previously a tight refurbishment seems like trite regurgitation. Take London-based synth-pop rockers Boy Kill Boy — the band has a spacy ’80s sound reminiscent of Simple…

Several undiscovered classics down the road from Geek the Girl, it’s becoming increasingly clear that poor Lisa Germano is doomed to be remembered, if at all, as the chick who played fiddle for John Cougar Mellencamp. But maybe that’s what drives her to create such dark, unsettling pop. While arguably…

The first great tragedy of Sublime was the fatal heroin overdose of singer/guitarist Brad Nowell in 1996. The second great tragedy is the ongoing release of compilations that contain any smidgeon of Sublime — demos, outtakes, bootlegs, live versions, remixes — regardless of how rehashed or half-assed. Not that this…

Poor Ben Harper. No matter where he goes, no matter what new songs he brings, he always gets slapped with either the “poor man’s Lenny Kravitz” or the “thinking man’s Lenny Kravitz” tag (depending on the graciousness of the critic). Of course, that’s probably what Harper deserves for so similarly…

Once upon a time, you had to go to New Orleans to see many of the Crescent City’s jazz fusion bands. Then, a big hurricane named Katrina destroyed the city, and the Big Easy’s bands were forced to embark on fund-raising tours ever after. Such is the case with E.O.E…

There comes a time in every band’s career when an overwhelming sense of fear and dread of failure begins to creep in, especially for groups that have the fortune to make a big splash right out of the starting gate and then face the daunting task of a follow-up. But…

The Phenomenauts could be the most inspired shtick-rock band to hit the scene since the day someone brought a Mexican wrestling mask to a Los Straitjackets practice. Hailed as California’s “Best Live Band” by the East Bay Express, The Phenomenauts’ shtick is simple yet effective. Bearing costumes, props and helmets,…

Had Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (yeah, truncating it, Cher/Madonna-style, was probably a good idea) — the 29-year-old, Colombian-born singer who’s been making albums (mostly sung in Spanish) since she was 15 — broken through in the U.S. at the height of the late ’90s, Ricky Martin-led Latin-pop explosion, she’d be…

Ever since local DJ William Fucking Reed debuted his “motherfucking rock and roll dance party” Shake! last year, Saturday nights at The Rogue East, 423 North Scottsdale Road in Scottsdale, have never been the same. Every weekend, hipster hotties crowd this East Valley punk mainstay to bust and bop to…

The Valley’s underground hip-hop scene is blooming, and the latest names to spring to production are Jelts and Idolize of the Wild Life Refuge Crew. The duo’s first collaboration is full of funk, jazz, blues and pop culture samples that infuse the album with humor, drama and a sense of…

Reprieve is the most intimate album that Ani DiFranco’s ever delivered. It’s also the most quiet, with a jazzy, late-night feel, enhanced by the impressive acoustic bass work of Todd Sickafoose and DiFranco’s understated acoustic picking. Standouts include “Subconscious,” a bouncy folk tune that explores the ambivalent feelings that are…

While he’s been circulating on the Austrian DJ circuit since ’97, Paul Nawrata has been tooling around with various projects, most notably alongside Thievery Corporation and DJ Chaoz. His throwback style pays homage to film noir à la Serge Gainsbourg and Ennio Morricone, wrapping light electronica around heavy jazz to…

Solo album number four from New York singer-songwriter Adam Green is pleasant Sunday afternoon pop in the vein of Roy Orbison or Leonard Cohen; clean string arrangements overlay acoustic guitar and warm electric piano while Green’s sonorous baritone swings with elegant panache through the lower registers. His delivery is reminiscent…

e(v)olocity’s done something smart with its debut CD that every band trying to get on the radio should do: packed its four best songs onto the front end of the album. Once the first two tracks — including the mediocre single “Too Far” — are out of the way, the…

AZ homeboy Dave Insley used to be a Nitpicker and a Trophy Husband. He was even in a Chaingang, but those days — and bands — are behind him. Insley went solo with Call Me Lonesome in 2005, distilling his years of honky-tonking around Arizona into pure country, which befits…

Although the band shields it with an expanse of black eye makeup and gothic imagery, the argument that AFI has become a pop band is rather irrefutable. With a new album, Decemberunderground, that has elevated the Los Angeles foursome to MTV stars, and more than a decade of touring under…