Two Gallants

A monument stands at the center of What the Toll Tells, Two Gallants’ sophomore album, and like any dramatic reminder of a dark era passed, it inspires some serious introspection. At almost 10 minutes in length, “Threnody” is exactly what its title suggests, a poetic song of lament — specifically,…

Sound Tribe Sector 9

I’ve seen the future of hippie music, and it’s called Sound Tribe Sector 9. Moreover, this phrase isn’t nearly as much of a backhanded insult as it initially appears. Sure, the Atlanta-based quintet is beloved by the I-swear-hemp-underwear-doesn’t-itch crowd. But unlike acts that spend their careers trying to rewrite “Sugar…

DJ Radar

When it comes to turntablists in this town, nobody can fuck with DJ Radar. Not only has Radar composed and performed his classical Concerto for Turntable at Carnegie Hall, but the scratchmaster’s designed and built his own custom looping machine for making his beats, scratches, and wahh’s cascade over one…

Tanya Morgan

Cincinnati/Brooklyn hip-hop trio Tanya Morgan’s debut album, Moonlighting, sounds ebullient. Its tone seems influenced by both West Coast indie rap (and that coast’s penchant for making freewheeling, carefree music) and the punch-line-heavy battle rhymes of East Coast underground hip-hop. Whether intentionally or not, the unusually named Tanya Morgan (the names…

Top 10 selling CDs at Eastside Records, 217 West University Drive in Tempe

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Show Your Bones (Interscope Records) 2. Madlib, Beat Konducta, Vol. 1-2 (Stones Throw) 3. Hank Williams III, Straight to Hell (Bruc Records) 4. Various Artists, The Soul Side of the Street (Bacchus Archives) 5. Integrity, Palm Sunday (Spook City) 6. Aceyalone with RJD2, Magnificent City (Decon…

Sound Advice

MEMO To: New Employees From: Emo-Rock Headquarters Date: July 16, 1999 Subject: Corporate Guidelines With all of the recent hires, we thought it would be prudent to review some essential company guidelines: • Your band name must include a day, a month, or a season. Please note that “Thursday” is…

Lil’ Flip, Chamillionaire

According to conventional rap wisdom, New York’s dead, Atlanta crunk is played, and Bay Area hyphy is poised to become the next phenomenon that dominates the mainstream. But for the moment, anyway, Houston hip-hop still holds the heavyweight belt; the woozy “screwed” style — first explored by legendary syrup-sippin’ DJ…

Seven Nights of DJs and Dancing

Thursday 30Acme Roadhouse: College Night with DJ J. Alan (Top 40) Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Area 51 with DJ Jeremy (goth, industrial) & Panic with DJ Manchester (indie, new wave, rock, mod soul) AZ 88: Mr. P-Body (synth pop, electro) Barcelona: DJ Rob (dance) Camus: KURRENT_affairs with DJ Pablo Gomez (electronic,…

Career Move

This month marks 10 years since I started covering music in the ‘Nix for New Times, and in that swath of time, I’ve met a plethora of promoters and venue managers around here — many of whom, let’s just say, I wouldn’t introduce to anyone I actually care about. It’s…

Crush Hour

Dear Miranda, I’m your biggest fan! I know, being the famous country singer you are, you must get this a lot, but I really think we’d make a great couple. Sure, there’s a bit of an age difference here. It’s not like I could be your dad, but, hell, my…

Love His Way

It’s a very depressing song, isn’t it?” asks Richard Butler with a rueful laugh. The longtime frontman of the Psychedelic Furs is referring to “Maybe Someday,” the final track on his solo debut, and he’s right. The nicotine rasp that burned itself into music history in such New Wave standards…

Colorstore

Striking album cover art aside, Colorstore’s debut full-length revels in tortured artist glory with 10 moody tracks that swell and recede like the ocean reflecting a violet and tangerine sunset. The fact that it’s so gorgeous should only make fans more antsy to actually get their paws on it –…

Morrissey

It’s often difficult to critically analyze a much-beloved artist, because the reviewer’s tendency is to excuse irksome traits or loathsome sonic detours simply because of past greatness. And so while it’s tempting to give Morrissey a free pass for hauling in a children’s choir for several songs on his eighth…

Young People

It’s interesting, yet not all that surprising, to learn that Young People singer Katie Eastburn — when not recording or touring with the bicoastal, avant-garde duo (she lives in New York,; multi-instrumentalist Jarrett Silberman is in L.A.) — is a dancer and choreographer. The band’s brooding third album bears aesthetics…

Ambulance LTD

The only conceivable way this seven-song EP from Ambulance LTD — released as an appetite-whetter for the quartet’s second full-length, due later this year — could come across more British is if there were a scratch ‘n’ sniff circle on the booklet cover that smelled like fish and chips. Not…

Billy Joel

The term “guilty pleasure” has become the blanket defense used by status-conscious critics for uncool acts they secretly love but can’t admit to in print. But in an era when even Kelly Clarkson gets good press, perhaps the guiltiest pleasure of all is boring old Billy Joel. Unlike other punching…

Subhumans

If you tell a true ’80s punk fan that the Subhumans are playing a gig, you’ll need to clarify which Subhumans you’re talking about. There’s the Subhumans from the early ’80s Vancouver punk scene, who rocked alongside bands like D.O.A. and the Pointed Sticks, and then there’s the Subhumans from…

Ferret Music’s Under the Gun Tour

Let’s be frank. The problem with metalcore is that it all sounds the same. Enter Zao’s hotly anticipated Fear Is What Keeps Us Here, its upcoming sophomore effort for Ferret Music. Details are scarce, but the band is debuting two songs on this tour. And here’s the kicker: The album…

Queen

It might not be cool to say, but missing out on seeing Freddie Mercury perform live is one of the great musical tragedies of my life. I’m always struck by the regret I feel at this fact, and attempts on my part to compensate — namely, rewatching Queen’s Live at…

Critical Fatwa

All hail “Love Rollercoaster,” a sweet slice of funk brought to us by the Ohio Players. There is not enough funk in this world. So we welcome every bite of funk that has been fed to us and every band that cooks it. Oh, Ohio Players, the sins that have…

Various Artists

If recent breakouts by Mylo and Vitalic have proven that there’s still life left in house music and upbeat electronica (and they have), Idol Tryouts proves that there’s also life beyond it. This double-disc set, compiled by the soothsayers at the edgy Ann Arbor label Ghostly International, is split into…