There’s a rollicking charm to Blitzen Trapper’s blend of folk and classic rock that suggests a summer day. Perhaps it’s the bright, sunny ’60s melodies or the way guitars alternate between the crackle of country-fried distortion and jangling acoustics, vacillating between Neil Young and Jerry Garcia like a picnic featuring…
Each spring, thousands of music fans from all across North and South America load their cars with camping gear, illicit substances, and three days’ worth of clothes and head to Indio for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. It’s a yearly ritual that involves little showering, more than 100…
He may be armed with a laptop and sample pad, but don’t confuse what Chico Mann — the stage name of Marcos J. Garcia — does on stage for DJing. “I get mistaken for a DJ, and it’s like, ‘Wow, no, this is not DJ,'” Mann says. As a member…
Disturbing Tha Peace/Def Jam recording artist Willy Northpole has been busy lately — dropping new tracks via his Twitter and Tumblr sites. Recent tracks include “George Kush” and “I’m Gucci,” and last week he released “Two Fresh Too Cool,” hinting at a seriously poppy direction. The track is a departure…
Are you the kind of Korn fan that’s bummed out that the band’s new single, “Get Up” features Skrillex (of “macho-izing dubstep” and “Girls That Look Like Skrillex” fame) and abandons the band’s nü-metal sound in favor of…well…a kind of dubsteppy nü-metal sound? Fear not — Brian “Head” Welch, the…
New York’s experimental rock band Gang Gang Dance hits up the Valley tonight, headlining the Crescent Lounge during its inaugural week. Jamming on the band’s latest album Eye Contact is a mind-warping experience, and between all the loopy sound-scapes, abstract synth structures and aural embellishments, we found our thoughts wandering…
Gear up to buy tickets to the performances of some really solid talent.311, Chris Cornell, The Chariot, and other artists will be bringing their shows to town soon.The rest of this week’s just announced shows after the jump…..
UPDATE: The show has been rescheduled for Friday, December, 9.Yesterday we brought the news that the ever-busy Maynard James Keenan was bringing his art-rock/comedy troupe Puscifer to Phoenix on Friday, December 9, with the venue TBA. Today, we can confirm that Puscifer is scheduled to perform at the place we…
Arizona natives Miniature Tigers have been pretty busy in the last year. They performed with The Roots in the Red Bull Sound Clash, they’ve been working on their album Mia Pharaoh, they released a new single entitled “Boomerang,” and most recently, they have just finished up their fall tour.This week…
Maynard James Keenan doesn’t seem to like down time. When not working with prog rock giants Tool, he performs in the arty A Perfect Circle, and when not keeping busy with either of those bands, he makes wine here in Arizona, and has a major role in the upcoming existentialist…
The southern California leg concluded nicely. Thanks to a great promoter and the draw of some awesome local rippers, we played to 130 kids at The Smell in Los Angeles, a well-known downtown all-ages space with a relatively big stage. We don’t normally get the opportunity to play with big…
Bad news for fans of ’80s new wavers Blondie — the band has canceled its appearance, previously scheduled for October 4 at Foundry on First. Promoter Danny Zelisko confirms that the band had a “late scheduling conflict,” and on Facebook states that the gig may possibly be rescheduled. I spoke…
Ellie Elmore: The interior designer and Zumba fitness instructor. Teaches at Diverse Elements Dance Studio in Phoenix Monday nights. For more information on her classes, go here. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? Lately, 97.5-FM has been…
Seattle band iji have roots here in Phoenix. Songwriter Zach Burba started the group in Tempe, and played frequently at The Trunk Space, honing his weird funk-pop. I’ve always liked the Burba’s sensibility (full disclosure: a band I used to play in a band that covered the iji tune “Meet…
What kind of music do you listen to? It’s an honest question that rarely yields an honest answer. After all, the wrong answer could get you shunned in certain circles. However, a more complex question could very easily be, what kind of music does your band play? With lines blurring…
You’ll find this week’s issue wrapped up in our annual Best of Phoenix special. This week, Chris Hassiotis takes us into the world of teacher-turned-rapper MegaRan, who is taking the world of nerd-rap by storm. We’ve also got short features on blink-182, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra, who are scheduled to…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What does NPR’s music blog have to say about Sister Cities? What does Halocene’s Addie Nicole…
Man quits day job. Spends hours a day playing video games. Speaks in rhyme. Travels country for weeks, never settling in one place. This could be a cautionary tale. This could be a diagram of a man’s descent into unemployment, antisocial behavior and, ultimately, madness. This could be game over…
It takes only about 40 seconds of “Up All Night,” the first single from blink-182’s new album, Neighborhoods, for the track to feel like a statement. That isn’t to say that what comes before that mark (skittering electronic flourishes and a punk rock riff huge enough for the stadiums) is…
It’s September, which means that most music nerds are deep into their “Albums of the Year” process. I’m no different. I’ve got about 15 drafts of my list, and the name Unknown Mortal Orchestra appears on most of them. The Portland-via-New Zealand band’s eponymous debut alternately recalls Led Zeppelin, Prince,…
This year has been kind of fantastic for Phoenix indie-rockers, Snake! Snake! Snakes! Aside from making their way into the trailer of the independent film Tanner Hall, their song “We Come Out At Night” is in The Morning Infidelity’s top 25 list of the year’s best local songs, and the…
Luz de Vida, a compilation featuring Neko Case, Spoon, Jimmy Eat World, Calexico, Giant Sand, Lenguas Largas, Robyn Hitchcock, Brian Lopez, The Meat Puppets, and many, many more, is set to see release in two formats, a 37-track digital album, and a limited-edition 12-song vinyl release, on October 18. The…
