When Rebel Disco czar Jake Goldsmith got the call, he practically lost his shit. Psychemagik would, indeed, be coming to Phoenix to pull a guest gig at the local hepcat DJ collective’s Wednesday night party Push Push at Bar Smith. The 30-year-old’s enthusiasm was to be expected, considering the esteemed…
Was Tito Puente the first Latin funk pioneer? The bandleader behind many driving albums blending Latin traditions with swinging jazz would have been hard-pressed to say yes — funk wasn’t yet invented. But by the 1970s, there were no doubt about the groundbreaking intentions of the Fania Allstars. Move forward…
The writer in charge of FutureKind’s Facebook biography has a lot to say. This is not standard press-kit chatter; this is three-syllable-plus words that could put your everyday thesaurus user to shame, terms like “artisanal,” “amalgam,” and “visceral.” We’re not talking about the most-mind blowing cheese to ever hit your…
Most EDM producers cut their teeth in the club, gauging crowd reaction to discern the heaters from the vibe-killing missteps. The recently formed Phoenix-based electronic duo Pastries with Teeth has honed their craft on a decidedly different dance floor. Andrew “Hoodwink” Hood was approached by the Phoenix Contemporary Dance Company…
Alecia Beth Moore — better known by her pop culture handle Pink — has got a real mouth on her. In addition to being a powerhouse vocalist, Pink delights in saying exactly what’s on her mind, portraying the quientessential “tough broad” role to a tee. She sings her songs like…
When Rebel Disco czar Jake Goldsmith got the call, he practically lost his shit. Psychemagik would, indeed, be coming to Phoenix to pull a guest gig at the local hepcat DJ collective’s Wednesday night party Push Push at Bar Smith, 130 East Washington Street. The 30-year-old’s enthusiasm was to be…
Besides being Black History Month, did you also know February as its much lesser known monthly monicker Heartworm Awareness Month? National Pet Dental Health Awareness Month? Termite Awareness Month? Sinus Pain Awareness Month? That last one was moved up from March, presumably because we needed those three less days to…
Local DJ and jack of all trades William Reed is a busy guy. When we spoke a couple months ago about the end of the weekly Sticky Fingers dance party, he revealed his plans to start Risky Business, a Thursday night dance party at Gypsy Bar, and his plans to…
Thanks to the popularity of the programs such as Photoshop, everyone in this day and age feels like they can become a media design mogul with purchase of a camera and a few ideas. What very few realize is that it takes much more than a few hours in front…
It doesn’t matter who synth metal band Element a440 is playing with. It could be a punk band, a DJ, or death metal group. The outfit’s only concern? To put on a theatrically, entertaining show, visually and audibly. In this week’s issue, we profiled the band and delved into the…
I don’t think there’s anyone who disagrees that posers suck, but being a part of the landscape of contemporary underground music can make one feel as though he half-heartedly has to jump on trends to maintain relevance. It’s easy to be a poser. It happens every time someone says something…
After a five-year break, Pinback is back and better than ever. Not that this San Diego math-rock-meets-subdued-pop band really went anywhere — the group has been consistently touring since the release of 2007’s Autumn of the Seraphs. It’s just that duo Rob Crow and Zach Smith took a break from…
Listening to the North Mississippi Allstars’ debut album, Shake Hands with Shorty, in 2000 was like getting hit in the face with a giant blues paddle. I mean, where did that sound suddenly come from? The music was loud, aggressive, and up front, and the raw edge made it hard…
No offense to Andy Steinbrink, whose excellent paintings (bras, containers of mustard, broken glasses) adorn the cover of his brother Stephen’s latest record, I Drew a Picture, but it’s easy to imagine another record sleeve when listening to the carefully arranged pop and folk songs contained therein. Picture a muted…
Whenever hometown hero Zach Sciacca, known to the masses as Z-Trip, makes like the prodigal son and return to the place where he both cut his teeth and dropped his first killer cuts, it ain’t just an ordinary gig. It’s a major event that thousands attend and noteworthy cohorts support…
In this week’s issue, we profile Arizona-based rapper Murs. Some great stuff got left on the cutting-room floor, so in this installment of Outtakes, we’ll crack open the tape recorder and let a whole bunch of good material that didn’t make the print edition see the light of day. One…
Enough time has finally passed for ’90s parties to be acceptable. It couldn’t have happened a few years ago — the decade was still a little too fresh. But like a nostalgia juggernaut, you can’t stop it: ’90s fashions are making a comeback (have you stepped into a Forever 21…
When the lineup for Rock on the Range was announced last week, a flurry of emails between myself and three other of my fellow chick metal journalists/enthusiasts ensued regarding flights, hotels, and tickets. We had all attended the weekend festival together in 2012, and relished the thought of a heavy…
In this week’s issue, we chat with the members of Phoenix art-punk band The Father Figures, discussing the band’s phenomenal sophomore album, All About Everything. We ended up with quite a bit of information left over from our 90-minute interview, so in this installment of Outtakes, we’ll crack open the…
In person, Toro Y Moi’s Chaz Bundick looks nothing like the mover and shaker of the moment. He wears Windsor eyeglasses and, from certain angles, looks like Harris Trinsky, the bookish petunia from cult TV hit Freaks and Geeks. Bundick, however, is no Dungeon Master. On record, he has the…
Almost every full-time musician can tell of a serendipitous series of events that led him or her down the path of becoming a professsional. Maybe Mom and Dad had some old records that sparked an interest, or tuba spots in the school band were all taken up, so they had…
“This whole interview is just going to be us trying to figure out how an assembly line works.” I am at the house of Mark Glick, the founder of Anxiety Machine records, along with all the members of the hardcore band Gay Kiss. Together, we are packing copies of their…
