In the disorganized menagerie of music and art that you’ll find at a typical Phoenix First Friday, I’ve found that it’s usually best to show up without plans and let the muse lead you. Friday night I showed up with a mission, though: See Back Ted N-Ted at Lost Leaf…
This week’s show announcements have a little of everything, including two of the finest purveyors of good ol’ boy drinking music you’ll find: George Thorogood and the Destroyers are set to play Celebrity at the end of July, Toby Keith comes to town in August. Surprisingly, even considering the desparity…
Pitchfork: Coldplay Give Away Live AlbumSpin: Are Green Day Still Punk?Idolator: Would Van Halen’s Original Logo Have Packed The Same Punch?…
According to our man Murph’s blog So Much Silence, Baltimore indie-folk act Wye Oak is coming to Stinkweeds tonight.The show starts at 7 p.m. and costs $5. So Much Silence has a downloadable track and more info on the band…
Our friends over at Electric Mustache have been following Wilco news like the old No Depression zine circa 1997. They’ve got news about the name of Wilco’s new album — turns out it’s Wilco (the album) — and a free downloadable track, called “Jolly Banker.” They’ve also got a full…
Not only does Back Ted N-Ted have a kickass poster for this First Friday show at The Lost Leaf, the band also has new music up on their MySpace. “Loose Control” sounds a little like the stuff Ryan Breen produced for Medic Droid, formerly of Modern Art Records, while “Parks…
Yes, Neutral Milk Hotel, the Louisiana-bred indie act that’s been broken up for a decade, has dispatched an e-mail asking for help. And, since I’m something of an Elephant 6 fan boy, I immediately made a mental pledge to assist in any way I could.Turns out I’ll be voting to…
A Trekkie from Compton. An Iraqi war veteran who majored in physics. An intellectual alt-rapper who idolizes Canibus but beat down his former manager over money. Without a doubt, Greydon Square is as contradictory and complex a figure as you’ll find making music in Phoenix. Not that most people know…
Following closely behind a film that perfects a concept isn’t easy. Try to imagine a moviemaker sinking a big boat in the wake of Titanic, or racing Trans-Ams right after Smokey and the Bandit. That’s what X-Men Origins: Wolverine faces in its final minutes, during that quintessential comic movie moment…
PrehabOne is Too Many (A Thousand Is Never Enough)Self-ReleasedIf Prehab’s One is Too Many (A Thousand Is Never Enough) sounds a little too polished to be a debut, there’s good reason. The guys spent five years as The Bedspins in the mid-90s, racking up 500 shows and serving as songwriters…
We’ve tried a lot of sodas here on Pop Culture, but I think this is the first time we’ve had a British soda. Vimto, an old-timey British pop with a “mixed fruit” flavor. Those crazy limeys love it so much they freeze this stuff in to ice pops and cook…
We usually like the Sun Sessions to be (a) filmed at our office (b) not released several days after the band being covered has played. But we made an exception for Kinch’s cover of Britney Spears “Toxic,” which we filmed Saturday at McDowell Mountain Music Festival. Frontman Andrew Junker did…
Former Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch, who moved to Phoenix after his conversion to Christianity, is going back on the road in support of his debut album, Save Me From Myself. The heavily-tattooed former member of one of nu-metal’s biggest bands released his new record, which clawed it’s way to…
Did you know that Third Eye Blind is still around? Yeah, me either, but the “Semi-Charmed Life” guys (they were crystal meth before crystal meth was cool!) are still a band and still touring, apparently at venues as large as the Marquee. Go figure. What other bands you used to…
Major labels get a lot of flack. Whether it’s because they supposedly put out nothing but overly-commercialized crap, or because they’re suing computer-using kids in a vain effort to salvage their busted business model, it’s rare to hear anyone say anything nice about the Big Four. That’s why Flaming Lips…
The sun has set at McDowell Mountain Music Festival and the crazies have run to the parking lot to retrieve their pink robot costumes for the big Flaming Lips closer. As for the rest of us, we’ve run out to get our jackets as it’s about as cold a night…
Hula-hooping hippie chicks. Deadhead flags. Dudes twirling Devil Sticks. Naked babies running around in circles near their napping parents. A full-on tie-dye revival. Yes, we’re living it up at McDowell Mountain Music Fest, an event we were seduced in to attending by the promise of a show by the decidedly…
It was with great sadness that I read about our friend Dan Gibson retiring from Idolator this afternoon. Now, sure, as a local guy, Dan’s been one of our harshest critics (fer realz) but it was always nice to know he was out there, calling us out and keeping us…
So this is a good find we got from the guys in Kinch, over Twitter: R.INC’s “Arizona Ways.”I kinda dig the geekcore beat and the lyrics, which include, in part:”Listen loud and clear to these words I’m bout to say, I’m gonna educate you bitches on these Arizona ways. You…
I’m not sure who it is, but I think I have a favorite poster artist in town. For the first time, we’re giving a second Flier of the Week nod to the same band: Japanese Monsters. Their “Sarah Palin with bug” poster won back in November, and now this Lebowski…
Maybe it’s because I don’t listen to a lot of it in my off hours, but I’m constantly surprised by the depth and quality of the Phoenix metal scene. I’ve yet to have a bad local metal record come across my desk, and this week didn’t change that. Hemoptysis isn’t…
One of the things I love best about Bright Eyes (yes, I unapologetically love Bright Eyes) is the way the band mingles so many rootsy sounds in songs that end up sounding contemporary. It’s for that reason, and not just Matthew Reveles’ vulnerable, emotive vocals, that I compare the Tempe…
