Justin Bieber Acts Like a Man on “Eenie Meenie”

It’s not often you hear or see guys imploring girls to settle down. Rather, women are all too often stuck with the rap of getting “players” to commit (it’s science: just read Cosmopolitan or watch any romantic comedy), so it’s refreshing to hear a song where it’s the man (if…

Flier of the Week: Domo at Yucca Tap Room

At first glance, you might think this poster is for a 90’s movie night. At Yucca Tap Room? Nah.Local pop rock band Domo, including singer/guitarist Jason Sukut (who designed the flier), are simply paying tribute to the film Men at Work, starring Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez.”I wouldn’t exactly call…

X

Put away your Docs, Mr. Aging Gen X Rock Fan — this almost certainly isn’t the X that afforded you so many precious mosh-pit memories back in the day. That X featured the pitch-perfect wailing of John Doe and Exene Cervenka, the V-twin rockabilly guitar of Billy Zoom, and the…

George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic

It’s understandable if fans are apprehensive about seeing a George Clinton performance in the year 2010. After all, the man turns 69 years old this summer, and there’s a point where the line between “playful eccentricity” and “rampant senility” start to blur. Reports of fellow funk icon and frequent Clinton…

Melvins

What makes these proto-grunge mainstays stand out from the crowd? Is it their low-and-slow sludge musicianship? Their glory days as the elder statesmen of the Northwest music scene? Lead singer/guitarist Buzz Osborne’s irrepressible Robin Lopez hairdo? Naw. It’s their dang Protestant work ethic. In the two-plus decades since their debut…

Manic Mondays

Under normal circumstances, Monday night isn’t exactly a big evening for DJs and dance events (look no further than scant amount of listings we’ve got for proof). Since it’s Memorial Day weekend, however, chances are good that y’all might be in the mood to party. DJ Steel’s weekly Manic Monday…

Job for a Cowboy

It seems most bands from Arizona can’t escape their desert roots. While Job for a Cowboy is a death-metal outfit of the hardcore variety, their name surely reflects their Glendale roots. The West Valley band has received national attention from Rolling Stone and the New York Times, which described Job…

Domo

Domo is quite possibly the most underrated band in Phoenix. Sadly, they don’t perform around town much, but they when do appear, it’s a treat. With their catchy, bouncy, spritely, and endearing songs, they combine both pop and punk sensibilities without veering into the dreaded and disgusting teeny-bop genre known…

Sleigh Bells

Treats, the debut record by the Brooklyn boy-girl duo Sleigh Bells is one big sugar rush, a summertime explosion of electro pop that, by autumn, likely will reveal itself as just another guilty pleasure or, worse, just another indie band with more buzz than sting. The 11-song record is a…

Club Candids: The Vig Uptown

The Vig in Arcadia has been a frequent card we’ve played when we’re deciding on a place to stop for a bite to eat and a tasty cocktail. So when we heard about the opening of the Vig Uptown, we were more than willing to check it out. The restaurant…

What’s Selling: Zia Records Phoenix

The kids who shop at Zia in Phoenix always manage to do a pretty good job of keeping on top of the latest hip hop and metal trends with a healthy dose of indie rock peppered in. This week is no exception. The Deftones top off their weekly charts, E-40…

Ringo Jones Gang: The Vulture City Bank Robbery

Band: Ringo Jones Gang/Band, whichever one floats your boat.Title: The Vulture City Bank RobberyBasics: It appears I need to do a better job ascertaining the all important fact of You Asked For It — if a band is actually from Phoenix/Arizona. This week’s subjects, Ringo Jones Gang, is actually based…

Miley Cyrus Admits She’s a Player on “Can’t Be Tamed”

The world is seriously so lucky to have Miley Cyrus as a role model for young girls.The popster recently released her latest single, “Can’t Be Tamed,” off her upcoming album of the same name, to be released June 22. From the song, we learn Cyrus goes “through guys like money,”…

Everybody Was in the French Resistance . . . Now!

Concept albums can be tricky. Get it just right and you’ll earn plenty of critical praise. Make it too complicated and your average listener may not get it. Of course, if you’re already in a successful band and you don’t want a forgettable record on your discography, your best bet…

The Big Event

The EDM impresarios and party promoters behind this weekend’s outdoor extravaganza The Big Event are charging anywhere from $25 to $65 for the privilege of attending (depending on when and where you buy admission). And believe us, it’s worth every damn penny. Described as the “Arizona’s largest dance music event,”…

The Black Keys

The blues take a back seat on The Black Keys’ sixth record, Brothers, and the results are impressive. The two-man band from Akron, Ohio, has mostly dispensed with the dirty, garage-blues riffage that made them famous, turning to down-home glam before easing into a lonely soul vibe that finally gives…

Angels & Airwaves

Fart jokes. Nudity. Getting laid. Not getting laid. These were a few of the topics that often came up at Blink-182 shows and helped the band secure a place in the hearts of girls and boys everywhere. The “equal parts comedy and music” formula proved successful for the guys, helping…

Flathead

Were these Tempe-based punkabilly legends simply whisked off the planet in 2005? Visit their flatheadaz.com Web site and you find nothing but dead links to six-year-old newspaper stories and a heartfelt plea from the band to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. (Coldly, they overlook that tragic business in Chicago…

Talib Kweli

A hard-knock life? Eh, not so much. In stark contrast to so many of his fellow Brooklyn-born MCs, Talib Kweli was raised by two university-professor parents and spent part of his childhood in a posh Connecticut boarding school. As such, matters of Afrocentric conscience, not urban street survival, informed his…

Brooks & Dunn

Farewell tours often end up an ongoing tease, giving fans a “we gotta see them now because we’ll never ever get to see them ever, ever, again” sense of panic and finality, only to have the “extended” farewell tour roll through town again a year later. Kiss has been saying…