Thursday 19 Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness: DJ Suzy (hip-hop, dance) Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Area 51 with DJ Jeremy (goth, industrial) Club Dwntwn: DJs Kirby and Chris Shannon (dance) e4: “Eve” Ladies’ Night in the Fire Room with DJ Tranzl8r (rock mash-ups) Hollywood Alley: Blunt Club with Emerg McVay, Dumperfoo, & Jeremy…
1. Matisyahu, Live at Stubbs (Sony) 2. Sublime, Gold (Geffen) 3. The Strokes, First Impressions of Earth (RCA) 4. Eminem, Curtain Call (Aftermath) 5. System of a Down, Hypnotize (Sony) 6. Avenged Sevenfold, City of Evil (Warner Bros.) 7. Nickelback, All the Right Reasons (Roadrunner) 8. Korn, See You on…
“I want to break into ‘Tiny Dancer’ right in the middle of one of our songs and just weird everybody out,” Andrew Pringle, pianist and vocalist for the Rescue Plan, tells me after one of the band’s practices. Elton John seems a bit incongruous an influence for the five-piece screamo…
If you didn’t look at the track title on the Treme Brass Band’s demo CD, you’d assume it was party music: jaunty tuba gets a jump on a buoyant melody filled in with trombone, trumpet and sax. The swaying rhythm is hand-clappin’, foot-stompin’, old-time New Orleans jazz — the sound…
When it comes to rap legends, few rhymers are more legendary than Tupac Shakur, but no one is more exploited. Controversial and often contradictory while alive, he has become universally loved since his still-unsolved murder in 1996, even by those who used to hate him. Stars from Ja Rule to…
In a scene awash with hardcore kiddies and cooler-than-you indie acts, the local reggae-punk hybrid renegades in Fayuca stand out like potheads at a policemen’s ball. The band’s highly improvisational new CD, Black Market, ebbs and flows with a fusion of south-of-the-border soul and barrio punk, complete with chunky guitars,…
Most bands falsely advertise — they describe their sound ad nauseam as different and unclassifiable, but a good listen usually outs them as either deceived or uninitiated. In contrast, Tempe’s Batter the Drag (a hip ’50s term for playing music on the street) oozes originality. BTD succeeds because it knows…
Tempe rockers The Heartless not only have hearts, but smarts as well. The heart beats throughout the band’s seminal release, This Could Take Some Getting Used To, as all six songs on the pop-punk opus seem to have their lyrical origin somewhere between Lonely Street and Nostalgia Drive (but thankfully,…
The only music genre less driven by social politics than modern country music is pop music, which isn’t so odd when you think about it — today’s country is just saccharine-sweet pop nothingness anyway, and that’s how Wal-Mart shoppers like it. That’s why Natalie Maines’ criticism of George W. received…
In December’s Vibe, Mary J. Blige said that even though she’s comfortable revealing her abs in photographs, “I ain’t giving you titty, nipple, pubic hair or damn near clitoris.” While that’s certainly the most colorful quote uttered by a public figure this year, Blige’s comment actually runs counter to the…
Ah, the Dealing With Fame record. The Strokes — biblically stylish NYC bar-rockers 4 life — mingle indifference (My feelings are more important than yours) with critical indignation (They love you or they hate you but they will never let you be) and apathy (I’ve got nothing to say) on…
Two guys are sitting in a pub knocking back shots. First guy turns to the second and says, “You see this bar? I built this bar with my own two hands, but do they call me Jimmy the Bar-Maker? No. And you know what else? That motel next door? I…
Soilent Green is angry, frustrated and a bit bitter, judging by its latest album, Confrontation. But this isn’t generic “aggressive” music; there are no frivolous lyrics from this band. Soilent Green has had real hardship. The band flipped its van on tour — twice. The second accident, back in 2002,…
It’s a bit of a throwback this Thursday, January 12, at the notorious Blunt Club’s second throwdown of the new year. Nineties NYC rappers Dres and Mista Lawnge, a.k.a. Black Sheep, are back together and bringing their silver tongues to Hollywood Alley in Mesa, on a bill with resident DJs…
Rocking for 25 years and still going strong, The Blasters began trailblazing in the surf-inspired, rootsy rockabilly genre long before the mid-’90s craze that made rockabilly radio-friendly. Singing of post-war suburbanism and California culture, The Blasters recently released their first studio CD in 19 years, 4-11-44, which flows with songs…
Transcript from Hannity and Colmes, on the Fox News Channel, 1/4/2006 Sean Hannity: More on the NSA surveillance issue later, but right now . . . for years, debate has raged over the Atlanta quintet Collective Soul — legendary rock band or complete crap? What’s your take, Alan? Alan Colmes:…
Thursday 12Acme Roadhouse: College Night with DJ J. Alan (Top 40) Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness: DJ Suzy (hip-hop, dance) Anderson’s Fifth Estate: Area 51 with DJ Jeremy (goth, industrial) AZ 88: DJ P-Body (jazz fusion, funk) Camus: Sparkle with DJ Pablo Gomez (electro, deep house, rock) Club Dwntwn: DJs Kirby and…
1. The Strokes, First Impressions of Earth (RCA) 2. Rogue Wave, Descended Like Vultures (Sub Pop) 3. Wolf Parade, Apologies to the Queen Mary (Sub Pop) 4. Wilco, Kicking Television (Nonesuch) 5. Silver Jews, Tanglewood Numbers (Drag City) 6. Animal Collective, Feels (Fat Cat) 7. Akron/Family & Angels of Light,…
Local indie-artsters Asleep in the Sea’s new untitled six-song EP would make a succulent cake — mouth-wateringly catchy choruses (“Butterflies”), a creamy filling of graduate-level wit (“U R What U Eat”), all spread over with post-mod art rock frosting (“Heartback”) and sprinkled with hooky harmonies (“Punk Girl”) for good measure…
As Curtis Armstrong’s Miles tells Tom Cruise’s Joel in the 1983 smash-hit comedy Risky Business, sometimes you just gotta say, “What the fuck.” In Joel’s case, this phrase is employed with a shrug of the shoulders and a sly smile: “What the fuck, let’s go for it.” In mine, as…
In 2005, pop music was rock music. Between Kelly Clarkson’s tarted-up “Since U Been Gone,” Ashlee Simpson’s raspy, Courtney Love-after-a-bender vocals and Hilary Duff’s collabs with her Good Charlotte boy toy Joel Madden, even the biggest Top 40 starlets liked their guitars cranked up to a sassy 11. Elsewhere, rockers…
If hip-hop had a theme song in 2005, it wasn’t “Gold Digger” or “Lose Control” or “Candy Shop,” or any tune that contained Mike Jones’ phone number. Instead, it was that old standard by the Original Rapper himself, Lou Reed: “I’m Waiting for the Man” — the man in this…
