Features

Song: The Horde and the Harem, “Gold Rush”Context: This Pacific Northwest quintet plays part one of the annual South By Stateside showcase on Monday at Sail Inn in Tempe.  Gold Rush by The Horde and the Harem…

While the similarities between Beach House and Wye Oak run deep, their sounds thankfully aren’t exact copies of each other. On Civilian, Wye Oak duo Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner take the Baltimore-based male/female indie rock duo formula and make it their own, infusing a twinge of folk and even…

Black Cactus Records does a little bit of everything — people associated with the local collective design merch, record albums and make web sites for members.Now they’re promoting shows, too. With touring bands, even.This Thursday, March 10th, the BC gang brings LA’s Goldenboy to Mesa’s Goathead Saloon, a venue which…

Renowned actress Gwyneth Paltrow is negotiating a record deal with Atlantic Records, according to Monsters and Critics.The label is in talks with Paltrow to make a country pop album. After all, she seems to be a hot reborn star in the performance market right now, having recently made appearances on…

Song: The Low Anthem, “Champion Angel”Context: It’s a folk explosion today as Mumford & Sons and The Low Anthem announce shows in the Valley of the Sun. Mumford’s show will be a totally unique event — they’re traveling by train to Chandler — but The Low Anthem’s show at Ice…

British retro-folk revivalists Mumford & Sons have made it no secret they yearn for a bygone era when electricity was something to be marveled at and a man’s facial hair could be as intricate as the handwriting in the letters he receives fortnightly from his dear sweet love.So it’s not…

There wasn’t an edition of popular dubstep session Subversion going on this week, and not just because the Subsonic Tour starring Excision was at the Marquee Theatre last night.The organizers and promoters behind Subversion announced today via they’re in the process of not only moving the event back to its…

Song: Database Megamix Context: Hipster DJs Database will be at Bar Smith tonight. Drop by after First Friday if you’re looking for a big sweaty party. DATABASE MEGAMIX [DJ BORBY NORTON] by dbnmegamixes…

, according to Paste.The project began when an Englishman named Richard Newman decided to reach out for singers, musicians and producers via Twitter to make a cover song together in honor of his two year Twitter anniversary.Just a few short days later, Tw1tterband pulled off a pretty solid cover of…

Opportunities abound for y’all to catch DJ M2 in action, whether it’s during his weekday shift on hip-hop station Power 98.3, or every Thursdays over at Dirty Pretty during Groove Candy.  Either way, it’s well worth going out of your way to do so, as M2 weaves some mixing magic…

Bill Campana The Valley poet has participated in poetry slams both locally and nationally and can be found at various events around the state. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? It’s hard to say. I change the…

After a short absence from the nightlife scene, Pure Saturdays has found a new home in Old Town Scottsdale. The hip-hop weekly, which was temporarily homeless as promoters hunted for a new venue, is taking up residence at Disco starting this weekend. Power 98.3 personalities will be in the house for…

Song: The Olivia Tremor Control, “California Demise” Context: Most shows only get one shout-out in Today’s Soundtrack. I could have done Elephant 6 bands all week in anticipation of tonight’s show at The Duce. The Olivia Tremor Control – California Demise by The Tambourine…

Mark Burnett has yet another reality show in the works. The upcoming singing competition called The Voice is coming to NBC. Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and Cee Lo Green of Gnarls Barkley and independent fame will be the judges, according to Entertainment Weekly.Christina Aguilera has also been negotiating with…

In this week’s issue our new Clubs Editor Jason P. Woodbury writes about up and coming Tempe post-punk act Vegetable. The band has only been together about three months but already done a regional tour, pressed vinyl and had the honor of playing the last show held inside the now-shuttered…

Tempe art-punks Vegetable sprouted much more quickly than most bands. Whereas plenty of their peers’ projects take years to develop, Vegetable’s backstory comprises a flurried few months, culminating in a debut single, a regional tour, and the honor of closing out the now-defunct Eastside Records in the time it would…

Athens, Georgia, is considered one of this country’s fine music towns. But that idea needs a little parsing, because the sleepy Southern city is no industry-laden Nashville or tradition-respecting-and-bucking Austin. What Athens is is a great place to be a musician — and every now and then you might make…

I’ll forgive you if you hadn’t noticed Last Train to Paris, the album that Sean “Puffy” Combs released in December, and the debut of his R & B collective Diddy Dirty Money, comprised of Combs, Dawn Richards (of Danity Kayne fame) and singer/songwriter Kaleena Harper.You may have been distracted by…

Song: Neutral Milk Hotel, “Holland, 1945″Context: One of my favorite songs from an Elephant 6 act, in honor of tomorrow’s Holiday Surprise Tour at The Duce. Holland, 1945…

The Refreshments are playing South By Southwest.   No, not those Refreshments. The famous Tempe act from the 90’s is still very much broken up. Not that you’d know it from a hilarious listing on a SXSW site which names a band called the Refreshments from Tempe, Arizona. The site shows the cover…

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. Why did Kanye West’s new video get temporarily pulled from YouTube? What is Yoko One going to…

Phoenix New Times annual Big Brains contest is back.The contest is designed to reward and nurture up-and-coming talent in the Valley by giving ground-floor movers and/or shakers a grand.Straight cash, homie.There are categories for design/fashion, visual art, performing art, film/video, culinary art and a wild card so if you know…