We present yet again, the Throwback Thursday edition of Heritage Hump Day. This week we ruminate shoulda coulda with local contenders Big Blue Couch. No less of an authority on rocking hooliganism than onetime New Times music editor and future Replacements biographer Bob Mehr called it back in June 2000…
Mitchell Hillman listens to more local music than just about anyone in the Valley. He presents his picks for best new music in his column, Right Hear, Right Now. Futuristic Ft. Small Leaks Sink Ships – “Love: A Poem” I never thought I would hear Small Leak Sink Ships provide…
Doll Skin offers up striking parallels to The Runaways. Both bands feature a young, all-female lineup. Both bands play a gritty, hard-charging, punk-ish brand of rock ‘n’ roll. Both bands were “discovered” by a rock ‘n’ roll impresario instrumental in guiding their development. The biggest difference is that when The…
If you frequented the Mason Jar in the mid- to late-’90s, you probably saw one of the three bands reuniting for Onus Records’ Night of a 1,000 Reunions (slight exaggeration) on Saturday, December 19. There were three things you could always count on at the Jar: The bands were always…
Judith Hill sure knows how to turn a phrase. Her debut album, Back in Time, begins with a track that harks back to the ’70s-era soul albums of Stevie Wonder. With the line “Might as well be famous/Since I ain’t gonna be white,” “As Trains Go By” recalls a time…
2015 was the first full year I lived in Phoenix, and this year, my music habits tended toward extremes. I made an effort to attend as many arena shows as possible, while the albums I listened to most were either from local artists or small indie acts. Here are the…
This is part two of our best songs written by local artists this year. Find part one here. Huckleberry – “Trouble Is Real” “The Trouble Is Real” has a much more indie pop/rock feel than the heavily American vibe found on their debut. As with the standout song from Fine…
Mitchell Hillman listens to more local music than just about anyone in the Valley. He presents his picks for best new music in his column, Right Hear, Right Now. This list is arranged chronologically based on release of the song or if it belonged to an album, when it was…
We live in Arizona and honestly, much of the population starts to feel a chill at 65 degrees, and it was 20 degrees lower than that at the ALT AZ Ugly Sweater Party Sunday night at Mesa Amphitheatre. I’ve seen Bob Dylan in the rain in early spring in the rain…
Up for seeing a concert this week? There are plenty to choose from that will be happening at Valley venues over the next few nights. Here are our picks for your best bets for live music in Metro Phoenix this week. For more options, check out our comprehensive concert calendar…
They’ve never let a journalist into an Internet Folk Heroes meeting before, and I can tell they’re nervous. It’s noon; a couple of hours ago some reporters figured out that Martin Shkreli, the price-gouging pharmaceutical CEO, bought the Wu-Tang Clan’s $2 million album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. But…
Up for seeing a concert this weekend? There are plenty to choose from that will be happening at venues throughout the Valley over the next 72 hours (give or take). Here are our picks for your best bets for live music in Metro Phoenix. For more options, check out our…
Japhy’s Descent – “Bite Your Lip” Japhy’s Descent just released a five track monster rock ‘n’ roll EP called Senseless last weekend, and “Bite Your Lip” is the first searing single. After two back-to-back albums that were fairly concept-heavy, Japhy’s Descent has gotten back to basics. Everyone I know that…
An ugly Christmas sweater can be a thing of beauty. Just ask any of the increasing number of people who have donned the charmingly atrocious knitted creations adorned with felt, jingling bells, or tinsel during the holidays for the kitsch or irony value. Ugly Christmas sweaters have grown from a…
Back in 2009, Postmodern Jukebox founder Scott Bradlee was broke and living in a basement apartment in Queens. He began to post experimental music videos on YouTube that, unbeknownst to him, would ultimately help converge audiences of all genres and ages. One of the 100 people who watched the video…
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was a 15-year-old sophomore and couldn’t drive yet, so I convinced my neighbor to drop my buddy and I off to catch our new favorite band, Stone Temple Pilots. The band was opening for an act we’d never heard of called The…
Music videos are more important now than they ever were. As the music market has saturated with bands, anything that makes an artist stand out from the crowd becomes vital, and music videos are a great way for artists to distinguish themselves from the masses. Luckily, video technology is so…
Less than a year after playing Summer Ends Music Festival in Tempe, Big Sean has snagged another headlining slot in the Valley. Organizer Lucky Man Concerts announced last night that Big Sean would headline Pot of Gold Music Festival at Rawhide in Chandler on Saturday, March 19. Lucky Man is…
In 1968, the Byrds released Sweetheart of the Rodeo, an LP built on the band’s new commitment to traditional American country music. The record was spearheaded by a new Byrd, Gram Parsons, a trust fund dropout who’d fallen for Merle Haggard while studying theology at Harvard, and its devotion to…
When Don Diego de la Vega, better known by his masked nom de guerre, Zorro, invented his alter ego in a pueblo in Los Angeles, he did so “to avenge the helpless, to punish cruel politicians” and “to aid the oppressed.” It can be said that Chicano Batman, a four-piece…
Electronic dance music, or EDM as it’s somewhat controversially called these days, has existed in one form or another since the advent of the first drum machine. Of the millions of electronic tracks produced since, these 20 represent the best of the best, as determined by L.A. Weekly’s meticulous but…
Proper spelling of “death” aside, Megadeth has accomplished much in its 30-plus years as a band. Middle age hasn’t stopped Dave Mustaine and company from making new music, and the band now has a new album, Dystopia, coming out on January 22. The subsequent album tour will stop in Phoenix…
