If you become the soundtrack to FX’s Portlandia, you’ve reached a new kind of hipsterdom. Or is it meta-hipsterdom? The semantics boggle the mind. The show satirizes the many eccentric personalities you’ll find in the “keep it weird” Oregon city, all of which could be considered hipsters on the sliding…
Do our rappers need a long-term view? Are they shooting themselves in the foot by devoting their albums to the nitty gritty of the day-to-day? Take Keith Richards, for instance. It took him half a damn century to air his dirty laundry: the ladies on the tour bus, the squabbles…
Dario Varela rocks the decks like nobody’s business. The 29-year-old DJ has become a staple of Latin dance events in downtown Phoenix in recent years, having spun cumbias and reggaeton tracks in such spots as Sky Lounge, Silver, and PHX Nightclub. Varela’s sights are now set on conquering Scottsdale, as…
Despite the attendance being a bit of a disappointment to its promoters, Red Light Disco at Tempe’s Club Red last Friday night was far from a letdown for those who managed to show up. Rave kids, EDM enthusiasts, and colorful clubgoers were in the house as DJs spun from an…
Want to know what new release discs and platters are moving across the Valley at local record stores? We’ve got you covered with another installment of What’s Selling. Shopping at Spanish language record shops is a whole lot different than a regular trip to your local Zia Record Exchange. Discotecas…
If you’re a Static-X enthusiast, then you’ll probably like Pighammer, the new album from Wayne Static. Actually, when Wayne Static founded Static-X, his original vision was the concept of Pighammer–more electronic and industrial, not based on live performance. Imagine plenty of the evil disco, compressed guitars and hazy vocals, smothered…
As far as American cities go, Kansas City isn’t at the top of the list when it comes to violence, tunes, and scandal. But that wasn’t always the case, with the city’s music and organized crime worlds inextricably intertwined. Kansas City was a hotbed of jazz in the ’40s, acting…
Since 1999, Huntington Beach’s Avenged Sevenfold has been on a tear. Emerging from the Southern California metalcore scene, the band firmly established itself as a force in mainstream metal, with an eclectic style that draws as much from hair metal theatrics as it does hardcore breakdowns. The band’s five studio…
We’re sure that somewhere, there’s a Lord of the Rings fan — they like to be referred to as “Ringers,” mind you — who is totally comfortable with the opposite sex, doesn’t live in his mom’s basement, and doesn’t spend his days dreaming of Mordor and reciting poems about Tom…
Lindsey Buckingham was always the most punk of the soft-rockers. Never mind his following up Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours with the weird-as-hell Tusk, recording vocals in the bathroom and trying to get Talking Heads with a marching band on the title track; even his Fleetwood hits are models of stripped-down intensity…
Mainstream pop punk fizzled out as a commercial prospect when the Hot Topic demographic traded in their Hurley T-shirts and baggy shorts for guyliner and skinny jeans. But no one passed the memo on to New Found Glory, who have stayed true to the brash, poppy force that defined the…
Sam Groove is one technologically inclined cat. The 25-year-old DJ wields a laptop, iMac, Pioneer DJM-400 mixer, and various MIDI controllers, amps, and more than 10,000 MP3s at his disposal. When he steps up to the stage at Club Red, 2155 East University Drive in Tempe, during Red Light Disco…
There were plenty of shenanigans at Martini Ranch on Sunday, October 2. Fans of hair metal rocked out to Metalhead while others danced in the packed Shaker Room to the sounds of DJ Dave “Wave.” We captured the fun in this week’s Club Candids slideshow…
Be sure to join Dearspeak this Saturday at New City in Phoenix for a very special occasion.They’re playing a show in honor of the release of their new EP, Oh For Freedom. Plus, Dearspeak will be performing with additional members for this show!The event will be an enjoyable evening of biographical music…
Want to know what new release discs and platters are moving across the Valley at local record stores? We’ve got you covered with another installment of What’s Selling. After taking most of 2010 off, Chicago indie-pop rockers Wilco are back strong with last week’s The Whole Love release taking top…
There’s no getting around it. No matter how awesome DJ Star Slinger may have been before getting shouted out by Donald Glover, AKA Childish Gambino, AKA Troy on one of TV’s best shows, Community, he was immeasurably cooler afterward. The cred boost wasn’t entirely necessary. Slinger, known as Darren Williams…
Pale Face Sailor, Another Tomorrow, Woodworks, and Every Letter will all be sharing the stage with Quick Henry to bring you a great start to your weekend.If you want to witness the action, check out the scene at the Rogue Bar on Friday night. It all starts at 9 p.m…
If you have trace memories of immortal Houston blues-rock combo ZZ Top, it’s probably of two bears with long beards spinning guitars, a drummer without a beard (named Beard), and legs (“she’s got . . . ’em”). A few years before that, though, just before punk broke, Circus Magazine described…
Depending on your perspective, Incubus was either the last big alternative band of the ’90s or the first big post-alternative act of the 2000s. Make Yourself, the band’s 1999 release, launched them into radio-dominating superstardom, featuring enough concessions to the burgeoning nu-metal scene to fit in with System of a…
Love connections turned musical duos, like The White Stripes and Matt & Kim, often attract attention, but the unique chemistry sometimes steals the spotlight from the music itself. And, yeah, that often happens with Viva Voce, too. Everyone loves a love story, even if the band doesn’t particularly like to…
Breathe In, Breathe Out is the new record from The Zombies. Yeah, those Zombies, the band that recorded “She’s Not There,” “Time of the Season,” and “Care of Cell 44.” The band that recorded Odyssey and Oracle, which created the framework for most modern psychedelic pop. The new record finds…
Growing old in rock ‘n’ roll is one tricky beast, especially when you are Blondie, a band with a catalog defined by youth culture: sleek, sexy, funky, and ever stylish. Panic of Girls, the new record from Blondie, struggles with the contradiction. At 66, it’s hard to think of singer…
