It’s been a helluva year for Sticky Fingers. The weekly hipster wingding created by William Fucking Reed has hosted plenty of taste-making indie rock, electronica, and DJ acts (Database, Flosstradamus, Pictureplane), changed venues, and helped reinforce the hepcat reputation of Bar Smith, 130 East Washington Street. The night’s one-year anniversary…
Can you call The Smithereens’ new album, 2011, “a return to form” if the band never really went away? Sure, it’s the group’s first disc of original material in 12 years, but they’ve never stopped touring nor releasing records. It’s just that the records they’ve been releasing have been, uh,…
The Voice, which is hosted by former TRL dreamboat Carson Daly, involves four judges: Adam Levine, Cee-Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, and Blake Shelton. The judges, who serve as coaches, faced away from the auditioning singers during last night’s blind auditions so as to remain unbiased in regard to each singer’s image. Each…
The Colossal Event boasted an impressive line up, including Steve Aoki, Felix Cartal, Chase & Status, and Jack Beats. The music wasn’t the only thing worth checking out. Madison Events Center was full of dancers decked out in colorful neon clothing and glitter, accompanied by Hello Kitty and their favorite…
For those who simply cannot wait until next Tuesday — or aren’t hip to the album’s leak — NPR Music has given Helplessness Blues its Exclusive First Listen treatment, streaming the album in its entirety via their website…
With all of the new promos on the rise for the Beastie Boys’ upcoming album, Hot Sauce Committee Part 2, plenty of people have been preparing for the album by listening to the group’s old material. This flier got me in an “Intergalactic” mood. Prescott band Ophelia Callbox has got…
Joe Purdy’s not one for big statements and volume, at least not right off the bat. He’s not a showy performer, he hasn’t shaped an eccentric stage presence, and he doesn’t project needy ego. He’s understated. But that doesn’t mean he’s not usually the center of attention when he performs…
For Howard Stern Show fans, the mere mention of Amon Amarth inspires chuckles. It’s virtually impossible not to think of Stern show writer Richard Christie declaring Amon Amarth his “faaay-vrit” in his trademark Kansas drawl. While Christie — an accomplished heavy metal drummer in his own right — is often…
Outlaw country legend Jessi Colter has never slowed down. She’s most famous for her heartbreaking lovesick ballad “I’m Not Lisa” and her 1970s collaboration with late husband Waylon Jennings, but in the past 10 years, Colter has been busy, too. She’s released a compilation of her own work and a…
Mumford & Sons, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros all chug through town via the Railroad Revival Tour this weekend. The three bands are traveling in vintage rail cars on a six-date cross-continental jaunt, performing together, practicing in the cars, and generally trying to make…
If Steelheart had come around a few years earlier, they could have been Poison or Mötley Crüe. They certainly had the hair-metal formula down perfectly: a lead singer (Miljenko Matijevic) who had incredible vocal range, fully capable guitarists, quality power ballads, and a hairdresser’s ability to get the bangs just…
It’s tempting to say that the lineup for local hard rock station KUPD’s U-Fest looks culled from a Where Are They Now? marathon on VH-1. But that would imply that someone actually gives a shit where bands like Papa Roach, Drowning Pool, and Powerman 5000 are now. Those holdovers from…
Steve Aoki’s set at the Pussycat Lounge in December was a thing of beauty. So why, pray tell, would you want to pay $35 to go to The Collossal Event (which is being headlined by the renowned mixmaster) this weekend? Easy. There’s gonna be more at the event than just…
Title: Leave It Be EPBasics: Well, looks like it’s back to some more old guy garage rock for this week’s YAFI. Thankfully, these rock bands with decidedly older members know a goddamn thing or two about recording good music, and The Unlucky 8s are no exception. Their sound is self-described…
Despite it’s name, you won’t find President Barack Obama kicking it old school inside this chic Craftsman Court lounge, which is modeled after the illustrious presidential residence from which it draws its moniker, right down to the portico columns out front.Instead, the Whitehouse in Scottsdale is populated with winsome women,…
The Beatles’ attack on American charts in the ’60s was only the first incarnation of “The British Invasion.” Like clockwork, at least one British band seemingly every decade manages to become ridiculously popular in the States — even more popular than they are across the pond. The Rolling Stones, Oasis,…
It’s been more than three years since local punk icon Jeff Dahl played his last gig in the Valley, packed up his belongings, and moved to the tropical climes of Hawaii. Dahl hasn’t played a gig since — the small island town he lives in doesn’t have a proper live…
It’s a strange time to be the Black Keys. With their five albums before 2010’s Brothers, they were critical favorites, selling more copies with each release, gaining momentum with the Danger Mouse-produced Attack and Release. When the more soul-influenced Brothers was released last year, it connected with listeners quickly, with…
Orgcore loosely defines a subgenre of punk that draws from alt-country, pop punk, and hardcore, spawned mainly by the tastes of the Punknews.org community. These PBR-drinking, flannel-wearing beardos favor sing-alongs that have the proper balance of melodic beats and gritty vocals. Fake Problems started out as a characteristic orgcore band:…
The idea that a power pop supergroup comprising mostly Canadians unheard of by many people would be wildly successful and one of the most popular indie acts around probably seems absurd. But after nearly 15 years as a band, it’s easy to take The New Pornographers for granted. With four…
Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks make a pretty good pair for a lot of reasons. For one, both partied incredibly hard in their ’70s heydays, when Stewart fronted The Faces, arguably the finest blues rock band England ever produced, and Nicks singing in Fleetwood Mac, definitely the hardest soft-rock band…
Pinback is the introspective, gloomy brainchild of Rob Crow and Zach Smith, who have roots in a plethora of bands. Their side projects are varied (see doom metal act Goblin Cock), but Pinback, formed in 1998, is the longest-running. That’s not surprising — defined by plucking bass riffs and brooding…
