If, by magic, American Idol actually conceived a competition between this generation’s greatest professional female vocalists (not the semi-pro pop tarts the show usually offers), it’s hard to imagine who’d top Chan Marshall. The Cat Power singer proved an inspired interpreter on 2000’s The Covers Record, and again on her…
Both Pelican and Thrice are stretching the boundaries of their sounds and others’ expectations. Pelican’s City of Echoes soft-pedals their usual throb, taking their complex art-metal instrumentals in a melodic direction. The tracks are still dense but don’t unwind as far, getting through each thematic movement with heretofore unseen concision…
An underground extreme-metal institution, Today Is the Day makes some of the most compellingly ugly music you could ever hope to hear. While pushing shock buttons is nothing new, bandleader Steve Austin has kept TITD at the cutting edge for almost 20 years, with a sound so harsh that bands…
This Nashville duo plays fuzzed-out garage blues that sounds like Tom Waits sitting in with the Black Keys. It’s grimy, primal stuff led by frontman John Wesley Myers’ growl. They formed as a trio in 2004, but when guitarist Mark Holder left in 2006 after their debut EP, You Damn…
Like a sepia-toned photo of days gone by, Watson embodies a sound Nashville disowned years ago for rhinestones and snakeskin. His deep baritone is dark as pumpernickel, smooth as steel, and haunted as that house in Amityville. His music harks back to the dusty honky-tonks and electrified swing of Bakersfield…
Music artist and part-time Phoenix resident Bizzy Bone saw substantial success in the ‘90s as a member of Cleveland rap/R&B group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony — they pioneered a combination fast-paced rap/jazz scat vocal harmony, won a Grammy in 1997 for their song “Tha Crossroads” (an homage to late NWA co-founder Eazy-E), and sold more than 21 million records. Bone Thugs’ 1995 album E 1999 Eternal is considered by many to be the Midwest rap group’s finest hour.
Believe it or not, there are a handful of excellent indie record labels in the great state of Arizona, boasting rosters with some of our finest local artists and some hot underground national acts, as well. This week, we’d like to give a shout-out to one of our oldest hip-hop labels, 5Fith Coast Records.
Hazelwood’s 1st Place Sports Grill on Saturday, April 12th. By: Lilia Menconi For more to fantasize about click here. This weekend, we decided to check out one of those places we’ve passed by a million times but have never bothered to stop in. Rumor has it that Hazelwood’s is loaded…
While countless adjectives have been used to describe Nick Cave’s music over the course of 13 studio albums with The Bad Seeds, it’s safe to say “fun” and “groovy” weren’t among them. That’ll change with number 14, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Happy Tuesday. What are you up to tonight? Laundry? Prime-time television? Forget it.
Saturday, April 19 marks National Record Store Day, whereupon hundreds of independent record stores across our great nation will celebrate the (sadly) dying breed of “mom & pop” music shops through sales, giveaways, food, and live music.
“This is where I start talking about my mommy issues and how I go through men like fucking underwear.”
There’s something for everyone in this week’s edition of Future Shock, whether you’re a classic rock fan, a goth rock fan, or an indie rock head. Read on to see which concerts have been announced this week.
The all-ages crowd kicked up quite a mosh pit at the Brickhouse on Thursday for a handful of blisteringly fast and loud punk bands. The hot pink mohawks and raised fists were flying as Domestic Combat, Rotten Youth, Glass Heroes, and Lower Class Brats rattled the roof of the downtown venue.
Jazz and blues singer Candye Kane has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and is scheduled to have surgery on April 16. The singer, who has shared stages with everyone from punk bands like Black Flag and Social Distortion to alt. county mainstays like The Blasters and Dwight Yoakum, is best known for her bluesy, burlesque music style, but equally admired as a champion of full-figured femme fatales everywhere (the Rubin-esque Kane also had a career in the adult industry, making some X-rated films, posing for Juggs magazine, and serving as a columnist for Gent).
THURSDAY 10 Axis/Radius: Divine Ladies Night (Top 40, dance) Blooze Bar: DJ El Dedo (rockabilly) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Casey Jones: Da Gutter Thursdays with DJ Soulman (hip-hop, Top 40) Cherry Lounge: DJ M2 (rock, ’80s, old school, hip-hop) Club Red: The Blunt Club with Kris Jah Fist, Pickster Uno, DJ Element, Emerg McVay…
“Seriously, it’s like soft porn on wheels!” That is how my friend Joker describes roller derby to me before a recent AZ Derby Dames doubleheader bout at Castle Mega Sports. It’s the first live roller derby event I’ve attended, and Joker — so-named because of her huge, mischievous, toothy grin…
Ask anyone alive during our country’s 200th birthday in 1976, and they’ll tell you it was still the Me Decade, but filtered through Eisenhower eyes, since America had less past to reprocess. On TV, there was plenty of unapologetic jiggle alongside the Happy Days marathon. In music, the ’70s excesses…
Wait, is this a joke? That’s an understandable reaction when encountering the clobbering metal riffs of The Sword, and it’s not the only time in recent years a new hard rock/metal act has elicited such a response. In the semi-proud tradition of Andrew W.K. and Wolfmother, this Austin quartet is…
This young, Dutch-born saxophonist has a long history as a sidewoman, performing alongside Dave Stewart (with whom she recorded “Lily Was Here,” a hit she often performs live), Prince, Aretha Franklin, and many others since her late teens. As a bandleader, she brings influences from funk, Latin music, and other…
Florida quintet Yellowcard broke big on 2003’s Ocean Avenue. Songs like “Way Away” and “Only One” kept the band on the radio, in video games, and on awards-show stages for more than a year. You couldn’t escape Yellowcard. The group recorded a follow-up, Lights and Sounds. Then, singer Ryan Key’s…
Try as you might, there’s no knocking Jay-Z’s hustle. So what if he’s no longer president of Def Jam? So what if he’s mostly irrelevant? So what if there are more literate, talented, and entertaining rappers dropping science out there? Unfading swagger, shameless self-mythologizing, and a willingness to pimp goods…
