Being labeled as a genre’s pioneer can be an exhausting role, sometimes allowing these once forward-thinking musicians an opportunity to rest on their laurels. For Blake Miller, the frontman and lynchpin to Los Angeles’ dance-punk act Moving Units, rest isn’t an option. Not just content with working under Moving Units’…
This Friday’s Viva PHX Music Festival, which takes over downtown Phoenix for a night, won’t just feature popular national bands tearing it up on 14 Valley stages. Included in the lineup of more than 70 musical acts are some of the most notable local bands to represent the Valley. As…
Music journalism is rife with writers quick to say that a band “defies all conventions” or “breaks the mold.” It’s rarely the case, but sometimes an act comes along that’s worthy of the sensational labels. YACHT, a dance-pop duo from Los Angeles via Portland, is the act in question, having…
Vertical Scratchers come with one helluva goddamn resume. John Schmersal is a former member of ’90s synthpunk luminaries Brainiac (and Enon and Crooks on Tape and a touring member of Caribou, but who’s keeping track?), and partner Christian Beaulieu has put in his time with Triclops! and Anywhere. Their debut…
Sometimes tension is a necessary tool in the creative process, and other routes must be taken reach a goal. Such is the case for Painted Palms, the San Francisco-based electro-pop act composed of cousins Reese Donohue and Christopher Prudhomme, whose late-night emailings of clips and samples has yielding something much…
Want to get in a show this week? There are plenty of concerts over the next five days around Metro Phoenix to choose from, as you can see for yourself by viewing our extensive online concert listings. And we’re fairly certain that there’s something for everyone, regardless of your particular…
Ramona Gonzalez is simply a musical paradox. Operating under the moniker Nite Jewel, the Echo Park-based musician weaves synth-driven pop that’s as much a product of the Casiotone era as it is ’90s R&B. Where one might expect instrumentation to be lo-fi, Gonzalez shines such production to a polish, layering…
The Ataris Pub Rock 2/28/14 Kris Roe is the perfect cannon fodder for a music reviewer looking to go harsh on a singer. His band is hardly relevant, his recent shows have been fairly lackluster, and he’s had his fair share of attitudinal problems. Saying his group, The Ataris, stunk…
While bands and musicians from all over the states will head to the Valley for next Friday’s Viva Phoenix music festival, none will travel as far as Honolulu-based rockers Kings of Spade. The five-piece band will be jetting from their island home to the mainland as a part of their…
Hear that? It’s the clock counting down the hours until your weekend begins and it’s nearing the magic moment known as quitting time. To help the time pass more quickly, you might consider what it is you’ll actually be doing during the next couple days and nights of work-free bliss…
Miley Cyrus US Airways Center 2/27/14 It was a pot — and pop — lover’s paradise at 21-year-old Miley Cyrus’ packed-house Bangerz tour stop Thursday night in Phoenix. Concertgoers walked in to see multi-colored balloons hanging from the ceiling and covering giant fixtures throughout US Airways Center. The smell of…
Lawrence and Mark Zubia are flat-out Arizona rock ‘n’ roll royalty. Simply put, it would be difficult to find a more accomplished set of musician brothers from around these parts, save for the Meat Puppets’ Cris and Curt Kirkwood. But one could make an argument that the Zubia siblings have…
The Ataris have always been Kris Roe’s baby. He is the singer, chief songwriter, and one constant member of the platinum-selling pop-punk band. An Indiana native, Roe has been fortunate enough to see music he wrote and performed go platinum in March 2003. For the 10-year anniversary of that platinum…
Madball Pub Rock 2/25/14 Upon entering the low-lit dungeon of Scottsdale’s Pub Rock Tuesday night, there was an immediate wall of aggro vibes smashing you in the face. More than understandable, considering the night’s entertainment was New York hardcore legends Madball. Formed in the late ’80s after a trend had…
The Pixies Comerica Theatre 2/24/14 In the darkened setting of Comerica Theatre on Monday night, it was easy to close your eyes and imagine the floaty female harmonies are those of the Pixies’ original bassist, Kim Deal. It wasn’t, of course, as those harmonies belonged to Paz Lenchantin, a more…
Want to get in a show this week? There are plenty of concerts over the next five days around Metro Phoenix to choose from, as you can see for yourself by viewing our extensive online concert listings. And we’re fairly certain that there’s something for everyone, regardless of your particular…
So, how was your weekend? Perhaps you got all up in the club, got in as much revelry as possible, or got yourself into one of the big concerts going on around town. Meanwhile, the Up on the Sun staff spent the past several nights hitting up shows like Cibo…
The Urinals, Far Corners, Man Hands, Button Struggler, Mr. Atomm’s Bombs Double Nickels Collective 2/22/14 In the sterile fluorescent light of Tempe’s Double Nickels Collective, a crowd of about 50 congregated with the shared intention of seeing Southern California’s legendary punk trio The Urinals Saturday night. It was a tight…
The Wind-Up Conspiracy Roosevelt Row 2/21/14 Downtown Phoenix’s most bizarre DJ duo ever, The Wind-Up Conspiracy, made their public debut last night and added an extra touch of strange to the oddball art circus known as Third Friday. The distinctly strange twosome of DJ Birch and DJ Decca played their…
Cibo Matto Crescent Ballroom 2/21/14 It’s been a minute since the NYC-based band, whose name means “crazy food” in Italian has graced a Valley stage. And by a minute, we mean close to 15 years. Last night, supporting their first release in about that same amount of time, Cibo Matto…
Hear that? It’s the clock counting down the hours until your weekend begins and it’s nearing the magic moment known as quitting time. To help the time pass more quickly, you might consider what it is you’ll actually be doing during the next couple days and nights of work-free bliss…
Admit it: You’ve always longed for a music video that, in sum, features shots of bananas, pineapples, and other fruit; an explosively gaudy color scheme; several bizarre green-screen backgrounds seen at a rapid-fire pace; a rap interlude; a saxophone solo; lyrics about French bread and oysters; and the phrase “motherfucking…
