For a guitar player who was behind many of the hits that helped build the successful path forged by Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham has kept an intriguingly low profile on his own, releasing only a handful of solo records over the years — mostly because his individual projects would eventually…
Over the years, categorizers have shoved My Morning Jacket in numerous pigeonholes: jam, Southern rock, Americana, and more. Group leader Jim James doesn’t much like being labeled, though, as Evil Urges, the act’s latest disc, makes clear. The CD begins with the title track, “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream…
Call it an amendment to Godwin’s Law: As reviews of Vampire Weekend’s self-titled disc accumulate, the probability they’ll mention Paul Simon’s Graceland approaches 100 percent. It’s a lazy game of connect the dots, really. Graceland traces an MOR-shattering pilgrimage wherein Simon spent 17 days recording in South Africa, cheesing off…
Throughout its original 15-year run, Alice in Chains regularly alternated electric assaults with acoustic breathers, such as the early-’90s EPs Sap and Jar of Flies. The band’s 1996 episode of MTV Unplugged remains haunting — not least because of the visible toll that drug abuse had taken on singer Layne…
Gourmandizers of punk and rockabilly vinyl would be more than a little jealous at the sight of Nicky Flores’ record collection. Why? Probably because the 29-year-old DJ has some unique and choice wax stacked away in his accumulation of more than 1,500 platters. Like, say, an LP version of the…
By Benjamin Leatherman Classes are back in session at ASU, so its only natural that sales have been brisk lately at Tempe’s Zia Records location, 105 West University Drive (or at least that’s what they told us). Here’s a list of their top 10 bestselling albums for the week of…
By Lilia Menconi Find some more in the slideshow. It doesn’t seem like that long ago when we were on our way to a high school dance, blasting the Toadies and ripping out our voice boxes singing, “Do you wanna die?” over and over again. Well, that was a whopping…
If I was Michael Jackson’s uncle, you’d know it. No conversation would go by without me mentioning it. Seriously, I’d have business cards printed up:
Martin Cizmar
Uncle of Michael Jackson
The King of Pop
Maybe you’ve heard of him?
By Martin Cizmar So, hey there, I’m Martin, the new Music Editor here at New Times. It’s Thursday, when Niki usually does her Flier of the Week but, I gotta say, I’m not feeling a lot of the local fliers I’ve been seeing on MySpace this week. I feel like…
So I’ve been writing this inebriated nonsense for more than a year now. Not a bad showing of “commitment,” considering the amount of booze I’ve thrown down my throat. Then again, being a drunk is all about commitment, discipline, and the ability to see the truth. I look at people…
Maybe it’s just us, but the stale Mill Avenue nightlife scene has been in dire need of a shake-up recently. We’ve grown somewhat bored with the same old clubs pumping out the same old hip-hop and Top 40 tunes every weekend, and have longed for something better to come along…
Nestling somewhere between metalcore and screamo/post-hardcore, From Dark sounds a lot like a bunch of other bands you’ve probably heard: The Used, Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold, Underoath, Thrice, and Senses Fail, to name a few. The formula? Spiraling, melodic guitars; dissonant lyrics; steady drum rhythms; and vocals that alternate between singing…
On You & Me, The Walkmen’s signature organ wheezes as though it’s on the repair bench, and the hazy, back-corner guitar tones haven’t changed much, either. One of the decade’s most riveting bands channels its energy on this, their fifth album, into electrifying climaxes and a surplus of early ’60s-era…
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, released in 1981 (and recently reissued), was an attempt by David Byrne and Brian Eno to forge new territory via found sounds, samples, and assorted Africanisms that foreshadowed a good many musical trends. In contrast, Everything That Happens represents a retrenchment, albeit an…
If sanity in hip-hop is sexy, then J-Live might fuck around and become Denzel. The New York underground fixture’s fifth indie release, Then What Happened?, is a consistent collection of songs that promote common-man sensibilities and simple humanity — traits often absent in hip-hop these days. J’s strength is his…
Young hunk Ryan Cabrera’s third effort, The Moon Under Water, is supposedly his entry into serious music. Check out Cabrera’s brunette locks and soul patch as well as his Bono-inspired attire on the album’s back jacket — this guy is a thoughtful rocker, dammit. He’s been listening to Springsteen (actually…
Even though she has barely reached legal drinking age, this Cleveland-born singer-songwriter has accomplished much more than many other troubadours of her generation. In addition to scoring a regular spot on the CW soap One Tree Hill, she has also earned enough respect to be able to share the stage…
Unlike many of his rap contemporaries, Rashid “Common” Lynn has matured artistically — but he had a head start. Back in 1992, when he released his debut CD, Can I Borrow a Dollar?, under the name Common Sense, he was already sage beyond his age — and since then, his…
As far as local “supergroups” go, Boilermaker’s got some street cred. The quartet includes Neil Jay Impossible, guitarist and vocalist of the Impossible Ones, vocalist and bassist Luke Lanham from North Side Kings, and bassist Ms. Butcher and drummer Thrashley from The Dames. Although all the members’ mainstay bands are…
By Lilia Menconi We liked these people. To look at more people we liked, check the slideshow Anytime we can kill two birds with one stone, we are all about it. Business meeting over lunch? Sure thing. Pedicure with a facial? Yes, please. Shower and a blowjob? Oh, why not?…
By Benjamin Leatherman Revolver Records, 4214 North Seventh Avenue, just recently celebrated its first anniversary, so we figured the best way to fete the music store and its owner TJ Jordan would be to let y’all know what his top 10 best-selling LPs were for the week of September 1-7…
You might’ve seen DJ Dino (a.k.a. Denard Webb) rocking the decks with dirty electro tracks last weekend at the Lovestruck party in downtown Phoenix. Or perhaps you saw him when he was doing the same back in July at the Dark Knight, or at any of the dozens of other…
