Music

Now is as good a time as ever to redefine “desert rock.” For most people, it means expansive country rock with a couple of cacti in the background. But now, thanks to urban sprawl, it often means expansive country rock music surrounded by lots of sports bars and move-in-today apartments…

Seductive jazz singer Wensday made her first Phoenix appearance at Alice Cooper’s 2006 “Christmas Pudding” concert, where she performed a soulful version of Cooper’s power ballad “Only Women Bleed.” That track is included on Torch Rock, with ad-libbed lines like “Just kick that jackass out of town.” The other 12…

What is Ozzy now, a hundred or something? You’d think the old coot would call it a career rather than further tarnish his legacy. Like most icons past their prime, though, maybe he just doesn’t know when to say when. He’s clearly saddled by idiots. Why else would he choose…

Near the conclusion of Austin Powers (the first one), Dr. Evil taunts our hero, “There is nothing worse than an aging hipster.” Veteran femme rock icon Grace Slick has said “old people” look, uh, foolish playing rock ‘n’ roll. It is a nice trick if one can manage it —…

This Portland trio clearly doesn’t want people to know much about its background. Its latest album, Friend and Foe, though visually impressive with its cutout CD booklet and clever use of contrasting colors, contains almost nothing in the way of information about the band. The band also makes a concerted…

Twelve years ago, it seemed as if the music world barely noticed the release of The Police’s posthumous double-live album. Clearly, something’s changed since. And though it is encouraging to see such ravenous demand for the reunited Aryan trio, it’s kind of hard to justify plopping down 200 bucks to…

Say what you will about Norah Jones, but the woman has the guts to choose opening acts that could potentially blow her off the stage. On her last go-round, Jones enlisted the mighty Gillian Welch to warm up the crowd, and this tour features the considerable talents of M. Ward…

File Great Lake Swimmers under “alternative Canadian country” — faster (sometimes) than a speeding Iron & Wine, less intense than a galloping Band of Horses and just about exactly as nasal as a youthful Neil Young (because though you can take the band out of Canada, you can’t take Canada…

Amidst the bombast of Nirvana-influenced alternative rock in the ’90s, a handful of Chicago-based musicians pioneered the genre of music tagged by critics as “post rock.” Mixing a heady compound of jazz improvisation and outsider indie mentality, post rock provocateurs established quiet musicianship as the overarching aesthetic in the face…

San Francisco mixmaster extraordinaire Lorin Ashton, a.k.a. Bassnectar, has spent the past decade in the Bay Area’s underground scene amassing a legion of fans who dig his exotic sonic concoctions, which blend thickly warbling bass lines, spastic techno glitchery, and throbbing breakbeats with generous dollops of funk, hip-hop, and freestyle…

It seems like ages since we’ve been able to sit at a bar and enjoy a cigarette with our booze. This weekend, we may well have found the coolest patio in town. Bar Smith in central Phoenix has a real city vibe with its open-air bar, wedged between two other…

On a recent Thursday afternoon, disgruntled by the heat, Phoenix drivers, and the smell of my pants, I drop my Boston terrier, Murray, at home and high-tail it to a small bar in a strip mall marked by a fuzzy neon orange-red glow. I arrive at the Dilly Dally ready…