To many people, open mics are nothing but the last-ditch effort of a bar, coffee shop, art space, or music venue to draw customers. Some might say they’re bottom-scrapers, providing the least-talented and least-experienced musicians a stage they wouldn’t get otherwise. We asked those in the music scene about open…
I had some technical difficulties on Monday night, so let me start with the fact that Matt and Kim, which performed at Marquee Theatre in Tempe, are spectacular in concert. I spent some time listening to the duo’s latest album, Lightning, before heading out to the show, and there is…
The first thing you absolutely need to know about Cinco de Mayo is that — despite what your inebriated friends might claim — it isn’t a celebration of Mexico’s secession from Spain. And that’s a fact. (That particular holiday is in September, gringo.) You’ll have plenty of opportunities to set…
For as long as there’s been rock ‘n’ roll, there have been chicks who rock. They’re not as plentiful as their male counterparts, but they can have just as much impact. Here are 10 of our favorite lady rockers…
Veterans of the Riot Grrrl scene know that sustained success is not always easily defined or found. Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney knows a thing or two about the peaks and valleys of achievement. Tucker, who plays a fantastic rhythm guitar and sings with a powerful yet lovely voice, was one…
Sadly, I didn’t get my wish. I really wanted to see someone push their friend (or maybe date) into the pool at Talking Stick Resort on Sunday night while ZZ Top was playing and it didn’t happen. The other thing that didn’t happen was a good concert. At best, the…
Clutch has always been a prime example of “slow and steady win the race.” After meeting in high school and forming the band in Maryland in 1991, the members — vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Neil Fallon, lead guitarist Tim Sult, bassist Dan Maines, and drummer Jean-Paul Gaster — have never faltered. It’s probably…
Jason Kron vividly remembers his first close encounter with the entity known as Space-Alien Donald. It’s understandable, since getting asked if you were a fellow extraterrestrial is something you don’t soon forget. As the local musician and frontman for Hug of War recalls the otherworldly experience, it happened in late…
You submitted nominations for the best and brightest emerging Valley creatives, and the results are in. Presenting the 2015 Big Brain finalists. Leading up to the announcement of winners at Artopia on May 9, Jackalope Ranch, Chow Bella, and Up on the Sun will introduce the finalists. Up today is…
Space Is Still the Place, the sophomore album from Austin psych-rockers Bright Light Social Hour, smashes past, present, and future together into a golden age of the band’s own design. From the lyrics to the sound, from the recording techniques to what the band drew as inspiration from meeting down-and-out…
You can practically hear the artistry over the phone as Daniel Benjamin, one of the creative forces behind the Toronto-based band Moon King, tries to find a quiet place to talk as he walks down the snowy streets of Montreal, Quebec. He’s trying to put the finishing touches on the…
Socially-conscious hip-hop has been an important theme since the genre’s infant years, but actor/poet/rapper Saul William’s industrial slam poet’s approach to social injustice has the ability to rise above mere proselytizing. His third full-length, 2007’s The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! (produced by NIN’s Trent Reznor) was a messianic…
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. Gospel Claws – “‘Til My Baby Calls” It’s always a treat to get new music from Gospel Claws, especially since it’s…
After two records of inward-looking DIY folk-punk, Katie Crutchfield took a more observational route to her third Waxahatchee album. For her debut on Merge Records, Crutchfield shifted her songwriting toward the people around her and the world she saw touring the country. “Even the fact that the songs are observational…
Wet Electric, Arizona’s annual EDM-tastic water park festival, returns to Tempe this weekend. A long list of producers, including Tiesto and Dillon Francis, will hit Big Surf Waterpark on Saturday, April 25, and Sunday, April 26. To those who have attended the event in the past, this year promises major…
Every Wednesday is Heritage Hump Day! That’s because every Wednesday from now to the end of the year or before someone really big stops us, Heritage Hump Records (a temporary subsidiary of Onus Records) and New Times will be bringing you a limited edition collector’s item of a much beloved…
It’s hard to have a song in a Verizon commercial but still come off to the public as down-to-earth, but Brooklyn-based indie-pop duo Matt and Kim finds a way. Naturally, part of it is carefully crafted public image, forged at the cost of thousands of dollars and hours of meetings…
What else can be said about Roger Clyne of Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers? The guy is basically the Bruce Springsteen of Arizona. Legions of fans, packed in shows at every venue around, roots in the local scene that go deeper than the Grand Canyon — Clyne really has all…
Even with all the great gifts the internet blesses us with (gag me), booking shows can still be a frustrating chore. For musicians, knowing which venues are ideal or which promoter might actually, you know, promote you can involve a lot of who-knows-who and nepotism. For promoters, it can be…
David James SwansonIkey Owens on October 11 in Mexico City, performing with Jack White.[Editor’s Note: This is not really a Coachella post. I’m not speaking to you as a music journalist. Or as a fan. Just as a guy remembering a friend.] Had he been alive to see it, last…
We love you, Coachella, but sometimes you bring us down. Here were the biggest bummers of weekend two. The Lack of Enthusiasm at the Entrance Walking into the venue around 2 p.m. on Friday, Coachella staffers were attempting to engage with the strings of attendees filtering through the security gates…
Damn, Coachella. How do you do it? Every time us weekend two folks start to feel discouraged by the barrage of snark and dissatisfaction on social media from the wealthy one-percenters of weekend one, you come along and prove that the second round of the festival really does belong to…
