Welcome to another installment of Up on the Sun’s 2011 Review. We’ve been counting down our favorite songs, shows, national and local releases of 2011. This installment takes a look at 2011’s top cover songs. Enjoy! The idea of The Beatles, The Pixies, Tom Waits, and Elton John sharing a…
We won’t be back in full force until Tuesday, but somethings are just too fun to wait. Brad Dwyer brings us a double dose of funny this week, pondering an age old question in this week’s installment of Record Heat: Coffee or beer? Then, Dwyer provides the soundtrack for a…
You excited to see hometown heroes Jimmy Eat World on the night before the night before Christmas?Well you better have grabbed tickets quick, because the Wooden Blue Records Reunion Show, featuring a classic Phoenix lineup of Haskel, Aquanaut Drinks Coffee, Halema’uma’a, and Jimmy Eat World, is officially sold out.For the…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What are we spinning? Up on the Sun’s best music of 2011 lists. Could Guns N’…
I finally made it into The Ghost of Eastside Records last night, and it was awesome. A little hard to find, sure (someone yank that “Records” sign from Smoke Shop Records, er, Headquarters and hang it up at the new spot), but worth the search. What it lacks in size…
It took him 15 years, but Axl Rose did it. Whether you loved it or hated it (general consensus leans toward the latter), Guns N’ Roses released Chinese Democracy, the band’s long-awaited follow-up to The Spaghetti Incident, in 2008. And though the record didn’t exactly tank (614,000 units sold as…
One of the more curious entries in last year’s Village Voice Pazz & Jop music critics’ poll was a fan-made (not commercially released) compilation of early Bob Seger material titled Never Mind the Bullets, Here’s Early Bob Seger. The album was ranked 111, beating out releases by Tom Petty, Elton…
Welcome to the latest installment of our weekly feature, Sound Off, in which Jason P. Woodbury is joined by a different guest each week to listen to and discuss three tracks from local Phoenix artists. If you would like your songs to be considered for future Sound Off columns, please…
American comic book artist Ed Piskor has a keen eye for pop culture. His 2009 collaboration with Harvey “American Splendor” Pekar, The Beats: A Graphic History, turned its eye to the Beat poets, and his Brain Rot series for Boing Boing touched on vintage Nintendo Entertainment Systems, real-life Seattle superhero…
Fifteen years ago today, astronomer, cosmologist, author, and science poet Carl Sagan passed away. Few have done as much to convey the mysteries of outer space in more poetic, beautiful terms. His 1980 13-part PBS series, The Cosmos, is essential viewing (note the awesome Vangelis compositions). In 2009, John Boswell,…
Can you believe we’re nearly finished with December? That means we’re inching ever closer to the Arizona Centennial, and ever closer to our 100 Greatest Songs of Arizona list. We need your help — we’ve got some good suggestions in our 100greatestazsongs@gmail.com inbox, but we need more. What songs have…
In America, the naughty list folks have it pretty easy. Our parents warned us about coal in our stockings (though recent memes suggest something even worse), but our Christmas threats were mostly harmless, and never, regardless of awful behavior, seemed to materialize. Then there’s Krampus, a long tongued, cloven-hooved, furry…
The music of Brandon Decker, who records as decker. has proven to be a pleasant surprise. Primarily based in Sedona, an area known more for snoozy New Age, smooth jazz, and coffeehouse folk, Decker’s third record, Broken Belts, Broken Bones doesn’t sound unlike something you might hear over the sound…
By now it’s news to no one that the United States Postal Service is in trouble. As detailed by Nick Greene earlier this month at Village Voice’s Running Scared, this means print media is in for a punch (you know, while it’s down and everything), your bills are going to…
You sick of hearing about how awesome Saturday night’s Andrew Jackson Jihad show was? Well, too bad. Some of us weren’t able to make it, as Brad Dwyer illustrates in this week’s installment of Record Heat. Lucky for you (and Brad), we caught a good chunk of the show on…
Andrew Jackson Jihad at Crescent Ballroom Some guy spat on my face, I have random bruises all over my legs, and even though I only drank water, I reek of beer. The crowd booed and yelled “fuck you” to Andrew Jackson Jihad…looks like Andrew Jerkson Jerkwad needs to go back…
Alice Cooper, Rob Halford, The Tubes, Brian “Head” Welch, and more Comerica Theatre Saturday, December 17 See the full slideshow of Alice Cooper’s Welcome 2 My Pudding at Comerica Theatre. They don’t call it a variety show for nothing. Most of the crowd for last night’s Welcome 2 My Pudding,…
Field recordings made in crypts, caves, and slaughterhouses combined with eerie, ambient electronics. Sound like your idea of holiday cheer? Exactly. There probably won’t be a lot of green and red at Saturday, December 17’s Lustmord gig at Club Red, but that’s the idea. Since the early ’80s, British musician…
Welcome to another installment of Up on the Sun’s 2011 Review. Over the next week, we’ll be counting down our favorite songs, shows, national and local releases of 2011. Enjoy! Okay. I’m done. Spent. No more lists. The reissues list was hard. The show list was hard. The songs and…
Tommy Stinson can’t slow down. The guy stays busy — playing bass in Guns N’ Roses (clocking nearly 14 years in the band, only Axl Rose and keyboardist Dizzy Reed have been in the band longer), releasing solo records (like this year’s excellent One Man Mutiny), and playing in Soul…
As reported by our sister blog Jackalope Ranch, Tempe’s Open Source Project is scheduled to close at the end of the month, making it another entry is a sad string of venues closures. But the doors won’t be shut before local prog-rockers The Oxford Coma have their way with the…
Welcome to another installment of Up on the Sun’s 2011 Review. Over the next week, we’ll be counting down our favorite songs, shows, national and local releases of 2011. Enjoy! Is it just me, or was 2011 weird? Like, really weird? Lou Reed and Metallica made an album together. It…
