The Internet has made it extraordinarily easy for indie creators to compete on the same platforms as major ones and hardly easier at all to make money like them. For artists, the problem is obvious; for fans and consumers, it’s more subtle. It’s easier to discover a story or a…
From the Shangri La art Tell this guy about the death of the album.By Michael Corcoran “The album is dying in front of our very eyes,” Variety columnist and music business know-it-all Bob Lefsetz wrote recently based on weak LP sales, including Katy Perry’s Prism, which sold only about 220,000…
Sometimes it seems like wishing for a band to be famous is just the most polite way imaginable of wishing for all of its members to lead miserable, unloved, unfulfilling lives. Rest assured that when our writers got together to talk about Phoenix bands who deserve to be famous none…
Like most American children, I was indoctrinated into the Christian tribe. In case you somehow aren’t familiar with the mythology, one of the main ideas is that if you do what the book says, you’ll go to a place called heaven. Now, the book doesn’t lay it out very clearly,…
By Patrick Montes In the hype and haze surrounding the timeframe between the viral success of ASAP Rocky’s song “Purple Swag” and the release of Rocky’s first mixtape, much of the internet’s gaze was directed squarely at the flamboyant, charismatic young Harlemite. Yet, when his “Live.Love.ASAP” mixtape was released part…
Chilleen’s on 17 — way up 17, in Black Canyon City — is still open, which is the first thing you’ll notice about it if your previous experience with Bar Rescue was Tempe’s Rocky Point Cantina closing almost immediately after being transformed into Havana Cabana. The second thing you’ll notice…
So who is this Drake guy, anyway? Of course, there’s Drake the superstar, the guy who opens his latest, Nothing Was the Same, with the brag that he’s as famous as his mentor — though at this point, he’s arguably much more famous than Lil Wayne, who signed him to…
Tempe is running out of venues. The Clubhouse disintegrated in 2012 after a gang-related shooting; Rocky Point Cantina disappeared after a reality show bad trip; most recently, Stray Cat closed suddenly, announcing the bad news on its last day in business. Which is not to say that’s why Valley staples…
In the hype and haze between the viral success of ASAP Rocky’s song “Purple Swag” and the release of his first mixtape, much of the Internet’s gaze was directed squarely at the flamboyant, charismatic young Harlemite. Yet, when Rocky’s “Live.Love.ASAP” mixtape was released, part of the limelight had shifted. Rocky…
So who is this Drake guy, anyway? Of course, there’s Drake the superstar, the guy who opens his latest, Nothing Was the Same, with the brag that he’s as famous as his mentor–though at this point, he’s arguably much more famous than Lil Wayne, who signed him to Cash Money…
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’s soundtrack is the latest in a proud, increasingly long young-adult franchise movie tradition: Pitching their soundtracks at the college-rock types who actually buy compilation albums. It’s streaming now on iTunes, and that means it’s time for another set of strikingly competent tracks pointed at aging…
Ten years ago, Songs: Ohia released its 10th and final album, Magnolia Electric Co., marking the end of that band and the beginning of another, which would take its name from Songs: Ohia’s final effort. Eight months ago, Jason Molina, the genius behind the record, died from organ failure in…
If you’ve read any of my prior ramblings, then you know that I explore the topic of musical credibility a lot. It’s in my nature. Should you and I like what we like, regardless of critical stature, or should we concentrate on artists with a certain level of critical credibility?…
PHOENIX, AZ: 2 AMC. Some of the elders still remember the Beforetimes. They claim not to, especially to the guards, but I see it in their faces when they’re alone together. They remember life before Miley Cyrus came to Phoenix. When they’re alone — after work and before the Two…
There’s nothing like hearing the past, present, and future of heavy metal in one place. But that’s what will happen Thursday, November 7, at Tempe’s Marquee Theatre — a veritable buffet of heavy metal. There’s the “baby band” Huntress; torchbearers of the new wave of American metal Killswitch Engage and…
Lita Ford is a bitch. Her words, not ours: She’s touting the title track of her new album, The Bitch Is Back . . . Live. “I heard [the original song] on the radio, and it just came tumbling down on me like a ton of bricks: ‘Hello! Please record…
Bill Callahan picks his words carefully. If one thing defines his recent work — pastoral, grooving, and far removed from his noisier days recording under the name Smog — it’s the way he selects his words. “The only words I’ve said today are beer and thank you,” he croons on…
How Emby Alexander learned to love the cassette tapes trend and how they may have captured the Phoenix Lights in their latest video.
For Jon Foreman and the rest of Switchfoot, there is no point in doing things the easy way. Easy would be trying to carve out a rock ‘n’ roll career for themselves in either the mainstream or Christian scenes, rather than both. Easy would be taking their lifelong love of…
“For a long time, you’re chasing being thought of as this terminally unique snowflake,” says Brooklyn singer/songwriter Kevin Devine. “And then you kind of realize you’re a worker among workers — and you put your boots on.” The 33-year-old musician is reflecting on the reverse metamorphosis that changed him from…
“Esoteric” is the first word that comes to mind when describing Josh Tillman, the mystic muse behind Father John Misty. Inspiration for the band’s 2012 album, Fear Fun, struck via psychedelic lightning bolt, giving Tillman the courage to be (as clichéd as it sounds) himself. That meant embracing both the…
Your friends hate your Halloween costume idea. I’m not a mindreader or anything, but I’m just pretty sure that’s the case if you’re going in any pop cultural direction for this year’s festivities, particularly pop music. It isn’t that this year’s music memes are especially egregious, although one rises above…
