Marnie Wong, What Are You Listening To?

Marnie Wong Wong is the co-owner and trainer at Boot Camp Babes, a fitness program for women. Find out more information at www.BootCampBabes.com. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? I’m totally digging Spotify right now. I’m all over…

Songwriter Michelle Blades Walks a Tightrope

There is a fine distinction between trusting one’s intuition and merely surrendering to impulse. Twenty-two-year-old songwriter Michelle Blades has walked this tightrope during her time in the desert, deftly veering from improvised jazz folk to staccato post-punk to full-length impressionistic baroque-pop records, all without a single glance over her shoulder…

Silver Medallion Steps Away from Hip-Hop With Road to Wonderland

Silver Medallion was very different four years ago. Back then duo, Oren J (Oren J. Schauble) and Carnegie (Abay Lattin) made party music about the ladies of Scottsdale. The two hip-hop heads mined electro sources like Chromeo, Spank Rock, and Santigold. Their first single, “Scottsdale,” was as cynical as it…

Why? Gets Wonderfully Uncomfortable

It’s always fun when an band records an official anthem, offering a rare peek as to how artists perceive themselves: The Clash stormed with “This Is Radio Clash,” Iron Maiden illustrated its historical themes with “Iron Maiden,” and the Ramones borrowed Motörhead’s lovable bonehead anthem “R.A.M.O.N.E.S.” It’s a stretch, but…

Jesse Malin Links The Clash and The Grateful Dead

See also: Chasers Sold to New Owners and Becomes Pub Rock, A Music Venue With an In-House Radio Broadcasting Studio Jesse Malin has done it all, or most of it at least. In his barely-teens he was fronting Jersey-based hardcore ensemble Heart Attack, then spent the ’90s in glam-punk wreckers…

Record Heat: Pop-Punk and Guns by Brad Dwyer

See also: Chasers Sold to New Owners and Becoming Pub Rock, A Music Venue With an In-House Radio StudioOnce a week Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip…

decker.’s Van Flips on Tour, Injures Band Member Kelly Cole

See also: decker: Love, God, and Sex in SedonaCall it a rough weekend: While on tour in California, Sedona-based folk band decker.’s van flipped over on Friday night, injuring one of the band members. On the road from Santa Cruz to their Los Angeles show, a tire blew out, causing…

Top Phoenix Music Stories of the Week

The news waits for no one — at least that’s what we read somewhere — so it’s perfectly understandable that you, the reader, might have missed out on a musical tidbit, breaking news about your favorite venue, or one of our rants. So enjoy this digest-style sampling of some of…

Dynamite the Liberator Explain “Treehouse”

See also: Phoenix Rockers Dynamite the Liberator Talk About What’s Been Missing in the Valley Music Scene Alternative funk rockers, Dynamite the Liberator have become regulars around town. The fledgling quartet comprising singer Marcus Terrell Smith, guitarist John J. Yohimbe, bassist Rich Tokatyan, and drummer Chad Calton has made an…

Who Needs The Olympic Ceremonies? Duran Duran Chilled in Tucson

Where we’re going, we don’t need roads; just a synthesizer, eyeliner, and a touch of androgyny. Welcome to Flashback Friday. See also: Pet Shop Boys’ New Release Rivals Muse’s Official 2012 Olympic Anthem See also: George Michael: Better Today Than Yesterday? See also: Madness, a Soundtrack to ’80s Fun Houses…

Lee Hazlewood Re-Issues Chart an Unexpected Trajectory

Lee Hazlewood cuts an imposing figure on the cover of the 2012 collection The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes, & Backsides (1968-71). Clad in undertaker black (with a white turtleneck under his coat), he stands with his head cocked slightly, a shaggy bowl-cut hairdo adorning his famously mustachioed face. He’s surrounded…