Music

As we at last rejoin Billy Corgan, he seems pretty much where we left him when the Pumpkins smashed their last corroded power chord against pop culture’s uncaring cliffs. The chrome-domed, dark guitar deity is standing at the lip of New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom stage — feet together, arms outstretched…

“I earned it. After 30 years in the desert, you deserve something, man.” Hans Olson sat in the spotlight Sunday, an iconic lonesome bluesman. He had come to Hayden Square in Tempe to play a song and collect our new Big Chihuahua award for lifetime achievement as part of the…

If Lucinda Williams is such a genius, then how come she keeps making the same album? Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, her 1998 breakthrough after years of obscurity, defined and perfected her earthy songwriting, filled with lust, longing, and exacting character detail. Its acclaim deserved, the record also painted…

The last several releases by former Spacemen 3 guitarist Jason Pierce’s psychedelic-gospel outfit Spiritualized — Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, Royal Albert Hall October 10 1997 Live and 2001’s Let It Come Down — have been as much about Pierce’s tendency toward staggering production costs as his…

From the left-field blues that Shara Nelson crooned for Massive Attack to the thumping turbo-sex rhythms that Timbaland’s plastered behind Tweet and Missy, modern soul vocals and minimal electronic beats have been fitfully flirting with each other since Prince first asked for some extra time in your kiss. Since the…

With riffs as thick as their skulls, Godsmack is a band of unabashed metal meatheads, which doesn’t necessarily invalidate their music; like Jean-Claude Van Damme films, there’s something to be said for mindless kicks. But after three albums of crushing, monster-truck rock, Godsmack’s Dirt-simple approach is growing exceedingly monotonous. Initially…

The reaction to Steve Malkmus’ eponymous 2001 debut was astonishingly consistent. “Whew,” sighed hard-core Pavement fans: Malkmus was a little poppier, a little more straightforward than any Pavement recording, but it still sounded like Pavement. Non-fans seemed likewise relieved: The word play made actual sense (hey, we know who Yul…

is, at the Marquee Theatre, 730 North Mill in Tempe. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $36.25. Call 480-829-0607.

The music industry may want to eulogize Marilyn Manson, Slipknot and Nine Inch Nails, but the alchemy of industrial, metal and theatrics still strikes a chord with teens who just can’t find it in them to link to Linkin Park. Think songs that question the need for religion; vocalists who…

Like a five-headed Joe Millionaire, Ticker Tape Parade, an average-guy amalgam of pizza deliverer, construction worker, data entry clerk, tee shirt printer and “between jobs”slacker have been doing their best to put together their own million-dollar sound in preparation for attracting the most eligible suitor. For most of the past…

“If you get any four guys into a room, it doesn’t matter if they do market research or accounting or whatever — they fuck around all the time,” contends Sum 41 drummer Steve Jocz (pronounce it yatch). “That’s what guys do. That’s what we do, and people tape it and…

John Calleo, former roadie for Megadeth and ZZ Top, a concert producer, all-around rock ‘n’ roll guy and a storied prankster, died two weeks ago after a long, slow demise partially related to congenital heart disease. The response from local musicians has been overwhelming. At a benefit gathering held at…

The White Stripes’ Elephant is not a five-star album. In fact, Elephant’s not even the fashionable two-piece garage band’s best record. That’s still 2000’s De Stijl, which years from now may be seen as essential, the blueprint that got this whole burgeoning march toward a renewed simplicity and joy rolling…

One of the weird things about the ill ’80s musical revival spreading through the Western world is the symbiosis between said revival and the global political climate. Then, as now, fear grips. The nervy retro-futurist flavors of this nü New Wave seem to mirror the renewed sense of free-fallin’ civil…

There’s little arguing electronica’s link to ’60s psychedelic practice, especially when you think of peace, drugs ‘n’ noise-filled raves to paraphrase Austin Powers as latter-day “happenings” that’ll freak you out. But most well-known electronic artists who’ve tried to integrate early psychedelia into their music have wound up stumbling about in…

Back in the early ’90s, dance-hall toaster Buju Banton found himself deep in controversy over the lyrics to a song called “Boom Bye Bye,” which advocated violence against homosexuals. That meant a virtual crib death. “Through my travels I’ve seen certain things that I don’t believe in and don’t agree…

A more inspired side project than you might have expected from this motley bunch, Transplants features Tim Armstrong of Rancid, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, and Rob Aston, an Armstrong pal and aspiring rapper. When Armstrong’s gutter-punk-accented, mushmouthed voice appears on Transplants’ self-titled 2002 debut, the band manages to sound more…

It’s been a month to forget for the Dixie Chicks and for everyone else involved in country music radio. Owners of a No. 1 country single heading into March, the Chicks now find themselves in a shit storm thanks to that well-covered offhand comment about President Bush at a concert…

Countdown 8:00 p.m. EST, Monday, March 17 In the lobby of Miami Beach’s Radisson Deauville, on the eve of the Winter Music Conference, the music stops. President Buzzkill addresses the world. The face of George W. Bush replaces a Dirty Vegas video. The bright chatter among DJs, promoters, record label…

Singer Chester Bennington remembers his 10 years of musical obscurity and near-poverty in Phoenix, which explains why he’s so hungry now to enjoy Linkin Park’s rocky ride. “There were a lot of great bands in Phoenix I watched disappear,” says Bennington, 27, a former Maricopa County map-making employee who moved…

Kindred the Family Soul is a 10-piece band out of Philly that makes the kind of soul music you never hear on the radio. It’s not kiddy R&B or hip-hop. It’s not even the standard template of neo-soul, although that is how the band has been marketed as a neo-soul…

Sigur Rós makes beautiful but utterly confounding music. The Reykjavik, Iceland, band’s songs often snake through eight to 12 minutes of near-orchestral prog-rock. Lead singer Jon Thor Birgisson has a startlingly high, feminine voice; he also prefers to make an instrument out of his voice, forgoing lyrics in either English…