Nick Lowe @ The Musical Instrument Museum|10/1/12If the tag “The Jesus of Cool” strikes you as hyperbolic or overblown, you’ve never watched 63-year-old Nick Lowe strut onto the stage, strap on his big Gibson J-200, and proceed to crack jokes and break hearts for 90 minutes. Lowe, with his easy…
Curious about what’s going on around town this weekend? Need some suggestions where to rock, dance, or krump in the Valley of the Sun? Don’t fret: These are our Five Shows to See This Weekend…
It used to be that playing the state fair circuit meant you were a has-been, that your rock ‘n’ roll career had gone belly-up (you know, like billed after the puppet show, Spinal Tap-style). Maybe it’s still like that in most places, but the Arizona State Fair always manages to…
I’ve long held the suspicion that Los Angeles-by-way-of-Tucson songwriter Jacob Cooper (better known by his production moniker, Jacob Safari) ganked the name of his long-running Bark Bark Bark project from a prominent graphic displayed in a scene from Anchorman (“A La Jolla man clings to life . . .”). I could be wrong,…
Nick Lowe has worn more than a couple stylistic hats in his 40-plus years as a songwriter, performer, and producer. He played ambling country rock with Brinsley Schwarz, ushered in pub rock, punk, and new wave with solo records and production for Stiff Records, and eased into a remarkable career…
You’ve got a lot of reading to do, guys: snuggled tightly in this week’s massive Best of Phoenix 2012 issue is a regular issue of Phoenix New Times. In anticipation of the busiest musical weekend of the year, you’ll find pieces about KUPD’s two-day metal festival Desert Uprising, EDM waterpark…
Pity the Americana singer/songwriter. No matter how in vogue the genre may be (looking at you Mumfords, with a sidewise glare at The Lumineers), it’s tough to stand out among the selvedge denim-wearing crowd. Tattoos? Everyone’s got ’em. Suspenders? Grab ’em at Target. Punk past? Who doesn’t have a Ramones…
Once 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 in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday…
The New Familiar is more than just the name of the forthcoming album from L.A.-based Goldenboy. It’s an aesthetic, says songwriter Shon Sulllivan, whose resume includes work with Elliott Smith, Spain, The Eels, The Watson Twins, The Rentals, and more. “People always ask us, what do you sound like? The…
So, songstress Fiona Apple played a set at Mesa Arts Center the other night. It was really very good, with Apple seeming quite happy in front of the crowd (bizarre rant about “small-titted girls” and her label aside). But anyway, that’s Tuesday night’s Apple news. Here’s today’s: Apple has been…
If it were 1987, Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson’s “Don’t You Wanna Stay” wouldn’t be a country-radio dominating hit; it would be a Bics-in-the-air hair-metal ballad, something Whitesnake or Cinderella would play near the end of the set to get all the girlies grooving. But it’s 2012, and the song,…
That last Bon Iver record was all right, you know? I mean, it’s not going to blow the mind of anyone familiar with their mom’s record collection, as it simply recycles the best stuff from Phil Collins and Bruce Hornsby records and kind of makes it sound Radiohead-y. But there…
Fiona Apple and Blake Mills @ Mesa Arts Center|Tuesday, September 18Singer/songwriter Fiona Apple has a reputation. Her public struggles with fame and her label give the impression that a Fiona Apple performance could fall apart at any moment. But it never came close last night at Mesa Arts Center. Not…
If pressed to come up with the metal version of classical music’s “Big Three”, Brahms, Beethoven, and Bach, violinist Rachel Barton Pine, a performer who’s well versed in both styles, has got it covered. “You can’t leave off Sabbath, because they were the first metal band from which everything derived,…
See also: The Walkmen Can’t Be Beat on Heaven (Q&A with Hamilton Leithauser) See also: The Full Walkmen @ Crescent Ballroom SlideshowThe Walkmen @ Crescent Ballroom| Sunday, September 16, 2012The Walkmen have always sounded worn. “Sometimes I’m just happy I’m older,” singer Hamilton Leithauser belted on “We’ve Been Had,” from…
Blake Mills isn’t a household name, but like classic sidemen of lore (David Lindley, Ry Cooder, Leon Russell), he’s makes an impact wherever he shows up. As a guitarist in Fiona Apple’s band (he’s performing with her on Tuesday, September 18, at Mesa Arts Center), Lucinda Williams, Cass McCombs, Billy…
See also: The Walkmen @ Clubhouse (2010)The Walkmen didn’t set out to write a “dad rock” album with their seventh album Heaven — though that’s exactly how the press received it. It doesn’t help that the record’s photos feature the band members surrounded by their kids and spouses, or that…
Lots of musicians use their platform and notoriety to score DJ gigs. And why not? Picking the music is fun. Chris Baio, known for manning the bass guitar in Vampire Weekend (a band whose name combines things very “in” right now: vampires and weekends), sort of did things in reverse…
The Walkmen didn’t set out to write a “dad rock” album with their seventh album, Heaven — though that’s exactly how the press perceived it. It doesn’t help that the record’s photos feature the band surrounded by their kids and spouses, or that songs like the high-and-lonesome “Southern Heart,” the…
With a combined age of 108, no one would bat an eye if you described Henry Rollins and Keith Morris as elder statesmen of punk rock. It’s not that Rollins, 51, and Morris, 57, are old in the strictest, let’s-weigh-out-average-life-expectancy sense of the word, but both have continued the frantic…
See also: OFF!’s Dimitri Coats Talks Phoenix Oil Theft Charges See also:Henry Rollins on Occupants, the Occupy Movement, and the RadioYesterday, 458 episodes of legendary maverick pirate/BBC radio broadcaster John Peel’s radio program were mysteriously uploaded to SoundCloud. For fans of radio that plays by no rules, this is a…
See also: OFF!’s Dimitri Coats Talks Phoenix Oil Theft Charges See also: Henry Rollins on Occupants, the Occupy Movement, and the RadioAnyone who’s braved the blitzkrieg that is hardcore supergroup OFF!’s self-titled bruiser, released on Vice Records earlier this year, knows that Keith Morris fits a lot of content into…
