Almost all of us are waiting for some special night, some particular time slot, set on some specific channel. Some of us worship our favorite TV shows more fervently than others, but everybody I know seems to have at least one show they love so much it’s become an experience…
The B-52s’ funky, flirty and groovalicious party sound is as unmistakable today as it was when the band formed unexpectedly in 1976 after founding members Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, and Cindy and Ricky Wilson downed a flaming volcano drink at an Athens, Georgia restaurant. “We never planned on…
If you’ve been following the hugely popular video-game music scene over the past few years, you’ve no doubt known what a chiptune is. If you have, and you have any self-respect, you won’t admit it. If you’re a normal adult, meanwhile, you have no idea what I’m talking about. Allow…
Since 1983, the Melvins have influenced countless bands and carved out a path that is all their own. They constantly explore unexpected paths, even relative to their own work — with every album they wind up even further away from what people have finally pegged as a their “sound.” Over…
The B-52s’ funky, flirty, and groovalicious party sound is as unmistakable today as it was when the band formed unexpectedly in 1976, after the founding members downed a flaming volcano drink at an Athens, Georgia, restaurant. “We never planned on having a band. We were friends and crashed parties together…
Certain records seem to appear, somehow, at virtually every yard sale: Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, Foreigner 4, Carole King’s Tapestry . . . and Psychedelic Furs’ Talk Talk Talk. The first three make sense, given how ubiquitous they were, but the latter is harder to explain. Released in 1981, Talk Talk Talk,…
Rodrigo y Gabriela are known for taking plenty of extra guitars with them on tour, and for good reason: The force with which they play the instruments usually leads them to a grisly end. The duo tends to wield their guitars as though the only thing standing between the virtuoso…
June was an incredible month for hip-hop releases, with new records by Kanye West, Mac Miller, J. Cole, and Quasimoto, among others, hitting the market. The downside to the deluge of hype was the failure to acknowledge the world-class work of Dessa. The Minneapolis-based MC (and slam poet and author),…
High in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Widespread Panic takes the stage at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, as its done many times before. But the day is June 30, 2013, and this isn’t just another performance. With this show, Widespread Panic will leave holding another impressive attendance record: 42 sellouts,…
You’ll have to forgive The Crystal Method for taking a little longer than expected to unveil its latest studio album. Yes, the follow-up to 2009’s Grammy-nominated Divided by Night has been more than four years in the making, but the venerable electronica twosome of Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland have…
The Baptist Generals are coming, but we’re not talking Ulysses S. Grant or Robert E. Lee. Rather, July marks the return of a psychedelic folk band from Denton, Texas, last heard from circa 2003. Back then they were touring behind their debut release, No Silver/No Gold, a crash-bang-boom rush of…
Spend some time with the guys in Slightly Stoopid, and you’re bound to walk away with a fascination for the band’s business model and a new cologne — of the skunk variety. For almost 15 years, the members of Slightly Stoopid have made music together, and somehow they’ve perfected one…
Smashboxx:
At 43 years old, it seems safe to say that Jay-Z is on top of the world. Within the past year, he’s become the face of an NBA basketball franchise, had a beautiful child with his tremendously famous wife, and had a mega-collaboration with Justin Timberlake. Hell, he even picked…
Spend some time with the guys from Slightly Stoopid, and you’re bound to walk away with a fascination for the band’s business model and a new cologne — of the skunk variety. For almost 15 years the members of Slightly Stoopid have made music together, and somehow they’ve perfected one…
Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker frontman David Lowery is royally pissed. Make that royalty pissed for the lack of compensation he’s received for the use of his songs on online webcasts, most notably Pandora. On June 23, The Trichordist, a website for artists for an ethical and sustainable Internet, ran…
Lost in love? Your relationship too weird for Ann Landers to understand? Trying to discover what comes next in your life or your music? Bring your problems to Ask Magic, your chance to ask Arizona’s reigning slow-jam king for advice on whatever life throws at you. (Click here to ask…
Baseball and music have a storied history together, from the ballpark organs and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” sing-alongs of yesteryear to today’s increasing reliance on various components of the Cha Cha Slide. Not all music is for the fans, though: The Arizona Diamondbacks’ walk-up music is for and…
Currents, the latest from indie darlings Eisley, is the sound of a band that’s free at last. At least, that’s the subtext — not just a sense of freedom from Warner Bros., after a brief major-label stint, but also the freedom of having gotten 2011’s bitter, angst-ridden The Valley out…
Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail is–well, I haven’t listened to it yet. (iPhone 3GS users are actually barred from owning it until they upgrade to a newer device.) This isn’t a review of the album, except to say that I think “BBC,” with its bizarre, layered production and conciliatory Nas…
This is not man-bites-dog news, but it may still be exciting news: Pearl Jam is touring the United States this fall, and Phoenix is on its list of 24 North American dates. Our chance to see the last flannel-wearers standing comes on November 19, at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale. It…
I can’t really blame Yes for not thinking about this back in 1968, when they formed, but if I were their SEO consultant at the time I would have strongly suggested they go with something that was a little easier to Google. Like “Future Loves Past” or — even better…
