Not sure if Spanish is indeed the loving tongue, but it wasn’t two minutes into “Peregrina,” the opening track of The Lovelost’s debut album, Foreign, before I decided I loved the Lovelost. It didn’t matter if Ixchel del Castillo was singing about a Mexican telenovela star or a mineral water;…
Things normally seem dead around these parts at this time of year, thanks in no small part to the heat kicking into high gear. So we were mighty surprised when the cats behind hip-hop lifestyle brand Coolin Out announced they were bringing back their club night Supreme Sundays this weekend,…
Once upon the ’90s, there was an underrated melodic grunge band named Failure. When it was seven years old and touring its third album, Fantastic Planet, the group fell off its proverbial horse. Its members subsequently wandered the music industry’s topography during a 15-year hiatus that ended February. And there’s…
Jared & the Mill was never meant to be a band. The group was never meant to garner national attention at South by Southwest, and it was never meant to become a local darling known for its vocal harmonies and relentless gigging. And it definitely was never meant to play…
Bobby Bare Jr. wants to make something very clear: Undefeated, his latest long-player isn’t a “breakup record”; it’s a “getting dumped” record. Written and composed following the parting with the mother of his youngest son, the record documents the end of a relationship, one that didn’t end on mutual terms…
You can blame Phish, but covering another band’s album in its entirety has become a cool and popular thing to do. Three Phoenix acts break from their normal routines in a benefit concert for the Lupus Foundation of Southern Arizona. Phoenix Afrobeat Orchestra will perform Portishead’s Dummy, There Is Danger…
When trance gone electro, house and big room DJ and producer Ferry Corsten isn’t making music or spending time with his family, he’s likely got one thing on his mind: tearing down a mountain on his snowboard. Corsten, who plays at Maya Day and Night Club in Old Town Scottsdale…
Tucson favorites Lenguas Largas are making the trek up to the valley for a June 14 performance at the Yucca Tap Room with The Paul Collins Beat. Lenguas Largas began as recording project between vocalist/guitarist Isaac Reyes and guitarist Ricky Shimo in 2009, and has since expanded to the unorthodox…
The Trunk Space in Phoenix is geared toward many musical audiences that are fans of punk rock and experimental bands. Mullarkey, Trunk Space’s volunteer booking agent, who declined to give a first or last name, says that many of the upcoming shows are from bands reaching out to the venue…
You could easily be forgiven for mistaking More Primitive, the new LP by Seattle-based blues trio Lonesome Shack, for a mid-’70s recording from the North Mississippi hill country, the fertile blues scene that gave listeners artists like R.L. Burnside, Fred McDowell, Jesse Mae Hemphill, and more. But no, singer/guitarist Ben…
Rocky Votolato is a guy on the shore skipping stones across the water. Part craft, part amusement, the circumspect Seattle songwriter’s success and happiness has ebbed and flowed like the tide, something he’s gradually grown more accustomed to, though it’s not always been a smooth ride. Finally firmly at peace,…
Where would Minibosses be without Samus Aran and Jimmy Page? On the day of its release in 1987, pre-teen Aaron Burke picked up Metroid, an action game for the Nintendo Entertainment System that debuted Aran, a daring bounty hunter in space. A longtime science fiction/space fan, Burke fell hard for…
Watchu know about Liquid Stranger? In reality, probably not as much as you think. Sure, you’ve probably heard a tale or two about the reclusive, enigmatic producer/DJ over the years, but most of it likely is untrue. For instance, despite the sinister dubstep-influenced sounds and ultra-mysterious aura he cultivates, the…
Lonesome Shack may be based in Seattle, but you’d be forgiven for mistaking the band’s Alive Records debut, More Primitive, for a mid-’70s recording from Mississippi’s fertile Hill Country blues scene, owing much of its elegant boogie to the droning styles of R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, and Fred McDowell. But…
Tech N9ne’s record label is called Strange Music, a name that fits like a glove. From his beats to his lyrical style to his appearance, the Kansas City-based hip-hopper is simply an unusual guy. Last time Tech came through Phoenix, local photographer Ben Garcia caught a shot of Tech that…
Frederick Huang and his group Of the Painted Choir have been reinterpreting the sad, sad subgenre of “desert rock” for years now, dismantling every last vestige that distinguishes the craven likes of Gin Blossoms and the Refreshments (yikes!) by losing both the desert and the rock. That leaves this Phoenix…
Jack White was still upholstering furniture in southwest Detroit when the Detroit Cobras formed nearly two decades ago. Inspired by classic rhythm and blues, the band was known for giving obscure tunes a garage rock varnish, with former exotic dancer Rachel Nagy’s sassy vocals hitting you below the waistline. As…
From house to rap, one of the coolest things about Phoenix’s music scene is there’s an abundance of variety constantly being released. Check out five songs from local artists released in May that should make you proud of the diverse Phoenix music scene…
A memorial service for Phoenix-born Tomas Tovar Rascon, a famous banda singer known as Tito Torbellino, will take place today at 5 p.m. at Celebrity Theatre. The service is open to the public, and the theater reports that 1,700 tickets sold out in four-and-a-half hours yesterday…
Now more than ever, there is lot of metal — from comedy to thrash to black to grindcore — getting slung in and around Metro Phoenix, thanks to concerts and gigs by locals and touring acts alike. As such, Up on the Sun’s resident metal scribe, Lauren Wise, is on…
You won’t believe some of the things we saw while out at the clubs this past month. Besides gawking at all the usual nightlife shenanigans, we happened to spy such weird and wild things as life-sized anthropomorphic animals costumes, dudes firing up laser beams, and a few religious types leading…
The beautiful excited girls dancing on the TV screen were the ones who caused Lewis Ray Cammarata to go into music. That was when he was watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. Cammarata remembers it likes it happened yesterday because his dad was wincing with disgust, but his…
