That Damn Show, the Phoenix music institution most likely to lead into an extended, vulgar Abbott and Costello routine, is less than a week away: On Saturday, Bad Religion and 11 other local and national bands will file into Mesa Amphitheatre and play music that is probably going to be…
A good 90 percent of my job as a music journalist is keeping my finger on new music, continuously discovering the vast spectrum of sound that human beings can create. Another 9 percent is attending concerts, where I destroy my liver and my hearing for shits and gigs. That final…
Faith Hill leaving Sunday Night Football is interesting mostly because it reminds us that Faith Hill was — for something like six years — employed by Sunday Night Football. “This Kiss,” and then helmet-to-helmet hits, every week. Counterprogramming, I think they call that. We’ve seen cultural institutions move in this…
It’s Monday, and I’m sorry about that. There was nothing I can do. But I bring good news: This week’s Top Five Must-See Shows in Phoenix is further proof that they play live music during the week, and even on school nights…
There’s definitely something special about carnival rides and deep-fried foods that brings out the inner kid in all of us. I still remember living near 19th Avenue and Grant in Phoenix, about three miles south of the Arizona State Fairgrounds, and during that cool time of the year I would…
Having solved all the country’s economic problems, come to an agreement on DOMA, and figured out what to do about gun control, the American government finally has time to focus on what really matters: where richer-than-God superstars Jay-Z and Beyoncé spend their obscenely luxurious vacations. More: Treasury department confirms Jay-Z,…
A verbal altercation between patrons of Country Thunder in Florence early this morning turned bloody, resulting in one man stabbed and another taken into police custody. According to media coverage of the stabbing, deputies from the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office descended on the scene of a spat that was occurring…
Good news for those who dug last year’s locally focused Los Dias De La Crescent event: it’s coming back for a second round. Crescent czar Charlie Levy sent out an e-mail blast Thursday night trumpeting the lineup for this year’s version of the two-night concert, and just like some of…
The surprisingly rural Arizona tour Jimmy Eat World announced on Wednesday left a lot of Phoenix-based fans planning a trip to Wickenburg, but as it turns out, there’s one chance left this month to not only see lead singer Jim Adkins at Crescent Ballroom but also feel good about yourself…
Guitarists and singers get more than all their share of worship. People even give the drummer some from time to time–if they’re generous they’ll even let him solo interminably. But for whatever reasons no one ever coined the phrase “bass hero,” a handle that suited Arizona bassist Kevin Lee Pate…
We’re living in the golden age of musical fetishism. Call it the byproduct of Jack White’s obsessively vinyl/analog warpath or call it resistance to the way digital distribution has dehumanized the musical process. Whatever the cause, it’s never been more fashionable to covet “old school” objects: records, hi-fi equipment, cassettes…
Yellow Minute should never be confused with a New York minute. The atmospheric, psychedelic indie-pop band moves at a much slower pace. With dreamy atmospherics, gentle rhythms and drifting vocals, Yellow Minute is perhaps better for that late-night chill session than the shimmering club scene. At least, explains band founder…
They don’t make ’em like Merle Haggard anymore, but what the hell would they do with ’em if they did? Everything about Haggard is rough: his Bakersfield voice, a scratchy, gnarled thing even in his youth; his trademark accompaniment, the twangy, stinging barbs of Telecaster snaking out of tweed-covered amplifiers;…
Jimmy Eat World’s new album is due out this June, and the Arizona natives announced today that they’ll be touring the state in May. If you’re in Phoenix or Tucson, though, you might have a drive ahead of you — they’re eschewing the usual venues for dates in Yuma, Flagstaff,…
So I finally listened to “Accidental Racist,” and the upshot is that now I kind of want to write some Brad Paisley-LL Cool J fanfiction. Nothing weird — that would be Brad Paisley/LL Cool J fanfiction, and there’s a huge and scary difference — just Brad Paisley and LL Cool…
Since October 2011, Up on the Sun has featured the Record Heat strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer each week, and it’s been included in the print edition as well. With this week’s strip, Brad finishes his run. It’s been great…
Saturday nights are always a big night for Sidney Slaughter. That’s when the 25-year-old local DJ, who performs as Angel Toxin gets to don some sort of geeky or freaky fetishistic costume and spin up some industrial and synthpop sounds along with her beau DJ Apollynon at their weekly City…
The Internet is a perfectly efficient outrage generator. People need things to be super-pissed about so that they can express their social positions to their friends; they burn through that outrage in an orgy of vague, well-intentioned social media protest; they look for something else to be super-pissed about, having…
As I announced a couple of weeks ago, I’m stepping down from the music editor position here at New Times, but it’s with great pleasure that I announce that a more than capable gentleman by the name of Dan Moore will be stepping into the role…
It took three whole years for Stellacutta to finish its self-titled debut album, which finally saw the sweet monitor glow of the group’s Bandcamp page in January. The record is a pristine showcase of the Tempe outfit’s bombastic, jazz-inflected indie rock. The melodic heights reached within the songs show that…
Singer/songwriter Angel Olsen skipped out on SXSW 2013. Though she’s hardly strident or indignant about it, the industry showcase just doesn’t speak to the sensibilities displayed on Olsen’s gorgeous noir-folk LP Half Way Home, released by Bathetic Records in 2012. Those songs, like the wounded but sensual “Lonely Universe” and…
Following the success of last year’s Bloom, an album that landed on many year-end lists, you could say that Baltimore’s Beach House has outdone itself. Unlike many contemporary artists, vocalist Victoria Legrand and guitarist Alex Scally have avoided many genre tropes and firmly remained true to their dreamy, poppy sound. In essence,…
