Brian Smith, onetime member of Gentlemen Afterdark and Beat Angels (and onetime New Times staff writer) reminisces about his late great bandmate, Kevin Pate. My old band Gentlemen Afterdark once had a demo deal with A&M Records. We were very, very young, and living in L.A, and recording at A&M…
Of all the things Merle Haggard and Sigur Rós have in common, this is perhaps the most important: They’re both playing in Arizona on Friday. But that doesn’t guarantee they’ll end up in today’s Top Five Must-See Shows in Phoenix This Weekend. Of course, if you’re at Country Thunder this…
The surprisingly rural Arizona tour Jimmy Eat World announced on Wednesday left a lot of Phoenix-based fans planning a trip to Wickenburg, but as it turns out, there’s one chance left this month to not only see lead singer Jim Adkins at Crescent Ballroom but also feel good about yourself…
Guitarists and singers get more than all their share of worship. People even give the drummer some from time to time–if they’re generous they’ll even let him solo interminably. But for whatever reasons no one ever coined the phrase “bass hero,” a handle that suited Arizona bassist Kevin Lee Pate…
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Justin Vernon, the reclusive mind behind Bon Iver, said Poliça is the best band he’s ever heard. If that doesn’t get your indie sensibilities all hot and bothered, nothing will. (We’re assuming that Vernon, crowned King of Indie by the Grammy committee in 2012, has heard…
Minimalist R&B-inspired music is riding a wave of popularity right now, but not all makers of breathy, sexytime music are created equal. The sensuality in the music of The xx — comprising Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, and Jamie Smith — is one that The Weeknd and James Blake can’t…
In an recent interview with New Times’ music blog, Up on the Sun, eccentric bassist Les Claypool confessed: “Primus was never supposed to be on the radio, never supposed to be on MTV, never supposed to sell platinum records.” One imagines that Isaac Brock, the singer/songwriter behind Modest Mouse, must…
There’s no getting around it: Icelandic band Sigur Rós is utterly ridiculous. First, there’s the language singer Jonsi often sings in: Vonlenska, or Hopelandic, a gibberish dialect consisting of mewls and coos. And then there’s the blasted pretentiousness: The band named an album ( ), for Pete’s sake. Looking like…
We’re living in the golden age of musical fetishism. Call it the byproduct of Jack White’s obsessively vinyl/analog warpath or call it resistance to the way digital distribution has dehumanized the musical process. Whatever the cause, it’s never been more fashionable to covet “old school” objects: records, hi-fi equipment, cassettes…
The DJ/producer duo of Adolfo “Dolphz” Salazar and Logic Ali, better known as TrapZillas, has an absolute monster of a weekend planned. The pimped-out trap specialists — who hail from Phoenix and L.A., respectively — will spend the night of Friday, April 12, pulling off back-to-back gigs at two EDM…
Yellow Minute should never be confused with a New York minute. The atmospheric, psychedelic indie-pop band moves at a much slower pace. With dreamy atmospherics, gentle rhythms and drifting vocals, Yellow Minute is perhaps better for that late-night chill session than the shimmering club scene. At least, explains band founder…
They don’t make ’em like Merle Haggard anymore, but what the hell would they do with ’em if they did? Everything about Haggard is rough: his Bakersfield voice, a scratchy, gnarled thing even in his youth; his trademark accompaniment, the twangy, stinging barbs of Telecaster snaking out of tweed-covered amplifiers;…
Thursday 11 Afterlife: Touch Thursdays (Top 40, EDM) AZ/88: Black Out Thursdays with Josh 1 (soulful house, lounge) Barney’s Boathouse: Thirsty Thursdays with DJ Pulse (Top 40) Cadillac Ranch: Thirsty Thursdays (Top 40, hip-hop, house) Dos Gringos (Scottsdale): DJ Switch (rock, Top 40, remixes) Firehouse Scottsdale: Weekly College Rager (Top…
Jimmy Eat World’s new album is due out this June, and the Arizona natives announced today that they’ll be touring the state in May. If you’re in Phoenix or Tucson, though, you might have a drive ahead of you — they’re eschewing the usual venues for dates in Yuma, Flagstaff,…
Arizona’s leg of Country Thunder 2013 begins Thursday in Florence, and if you haven’t decided whether to go already, you have some ticket-buying decisions to make in a hurry. It’s with that in mind that we at Up on the Sun are providing the following public service: a complete schedule…
“I am unpredictable,” Danny Brown says. “That’s why I call myself the hybrid. I never do the same shit.” Danny’s high-pitched speedy delivery attracts listeners and hip-hop heads alike to his Adderall-influenced songs. He’s recognized for his idiosyncratic rhymes and jokes (who else can reference Janis Joplin and GG Allin…
Although we’re loath to admit it, the full force of summertime’s fury is a few weeks hence, if not (gulp) sooner. And thanks to that whole climate-change nightmare that the right-wing nutters seem to be in unapologetic denial over, it’s gonna be more uncomfortable than ever ’round these parts. Some…
So I finally listened to “Accidental Racist,” and the upshot is that now I kind of want to write some Brad Paisley-LL Cool J fanfiction. Nothing weird — that would be Brad Paisley/LL Cool J fanfiction, and there’s a huge and scary difference — just Brad Paisley and LL Cool…
Monday’s news of former English prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s death elicited mixed responses. Some sites praised the Iron Lady’s leadership tactics, while others celebrated her death. Pushing to get “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead” in the Top 40 charts hours after Thatcher’s death is pretty tacky, but not completely…
Every so often, some group of well-meaning progressive bowdlerizers forces the ACLU to explain why it defends the right of the Ku Klux Klan (et al) to say ridiculous and offensive things, and the result is usually an argument that neither party enjoys having. Robin Thicke’s new video, “Blurred Lines”…
Mike MezeulLil Wayne has just released his 10th studio album, I Am Not a Human Being II. It’s been 18 years since his first album, True Story, as one half of The B.G.’z. In that time, he’s been a lesser-known member of an embattled Southern hip-hop group, a scrawny kid,…
Credit: Nanette Gonzales “Love Is Strange”By Katie Bain Ladies travel site Misstravel.com recently named named Coachella the number one music festival at which to go on a first date. For so many reasons, this is a terrible idea. Issue number one is that unless you have a day-pass scenario worked…
