Rampage Fest, ft. Dune Rats, Wax Idols, Nü Sensae, Allah-Las, and More @ Sail Inn|3/8/13The platter of varying delights that is Rampage Fest, a collection of SxSW-bound bands passing through the desert, offered a taste of beach-crashed pop-punk, sonically loyal garage rock, and blistering hardcore. Under normal circumstances, bills like…
Carnaval Eléctrico ft. Cold War Kids, Hanni El Khatib, Mergence, Stan Devereaux & The Funky Suns, Diners, and More @ Crescent Ballroom|3/8/13It’s awesome when everything goes right at a show: great lineup, great venue, and great concept. But, as the crowd at Friday night’s sold-out Carnaval Eléctrico festival proved, sometimes…
Soft Moon @ Crescent Ballroom|3/7/13Funny what stray pills you can uncover in a fit of spring cleaning. This 20 milligram of Adderall. A dented Xanax bar. Where did all these Percocet come from? And what’s this red-brown gelcap floating in my desk drawer? So down it goes. It could be…
What exactly is going on with Rips’ monthly Britpop/’80s/new wave event, Obscura Dance Night? The party’s official Facebook page has vanished, followed by a flurry of subsequent “new” Obscura Facebook pages, which have all since been taken down. An event page for this month’s dance party, which features a live…
Dfactor is always writing new songs and like all pop-infected minds, he’s a sucker for self-deprecation and introspective topics. He’s also highly sensitive to the world around him. So if his new single, “Yes & No Girl,” is any indicator, it looks like Dave is in a pretty good place…
It is a recurring event in my life that whenever I hear a new song by former Tempe, currently Los Angeles-based songwriter Tom Filardo, it becomes my favorite song for a week. The last time this happened was when I saw the music video for “I Don’t Getcha Kid” at…
Chad HorstmanHorstman is the CEO of Yandy.com, an online lingerie and costume retailer.When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? The radio is pretty bad. I usually stream Pandora.What’s the first album you bought? Bon Jovi.What’s the first concert…
We’re just a little bit biased about the best way to spend your weekend here in Phoenix. New Times’ Carnaval Electrico with Cold War Kids, Mergence, Hanni El Khatib, and more, is clearly awesome, but get this: There are other cool things going on around town. No joke. Rampage Fest…
We have the unfortunate task of reporting some tragic news today that’s bound to sadden many. Local DJ and musician Thom Gabaldon, who performed off and on over the years as darksouldealer, passed away early this morning after succumbing to cancer. He was 44 years old. As many of his…
Whirr @ Trunk Space | 3/6/13I don’t want to be a shallow critic, but there’s no denying the Whirr’s firm place in the shoegaze section of the record store. They are knee-deep in the genre tropes: the excessive delay and reverb, the lead guitar doing some twinkly thing while the…
It’s not easy being beautiful. Just ask Zac Pennington, frontman of experimental pop group Parenthetical Girls, whose vocal strains fall halfway between Perfume Genius and Lightspeed Champion, complemented with the baroque pop stylings of Belle and Sebastian. Pennington, known for his gender-neutral lyrics and his Morrissey-borrowed wit, pens some brutally…
When March rolls around, the bum rush of SxSW season is a boon for Phoenix: All the West Coasters streaking toward beer-soaked Austin need gas money to brave the barren west Texas stretch, often resulting in mass pit stops in the desert. Rampage Fest, organized on a spotty year-to-year basis…
Ryan McPhun of The Ruby Suns describes the tour for his latest album as “a live rock band approach to not-live-band rock music.” His fourth Ruby Suns album, Christopher (released in January on Sub Pop), is indeed a synth-laden futuristic pop album, highly polished and danceable. But McPhun made the…
There’s plenty to suggest Larry “Mud” Morganfield is the second coming of legendary bluesman Muddy Waters. First, there’s the look: that contorted expression when he sings, eyes closed and face scrunched up like a wrinkled Shar Pei. There’s the perfectly balanced mustache riding on top of his upper lip. Then…
Fadil El Ghoul — better known to dance floor princes and princesses as R3hab — is relatively new to the EDM game, breaking out in 2008, right as the genre began to experience a seismic shift in popularity. A proponent of “Dutch house” style, there’s a distinct menace to R3hab’s…
Following up last year’s New Times Soundcheck, a two-day festival at Club Red in Tempe — which featured performances by The Love Me Nots, Sugar Thieves, 2 Tone Lizard Kings, Jason Devore, The Insects, Crusher Sound System, and more — was a serious task. But challenges are cool, right? Up…
With apologies to the Paul Oakenfolds and John Digweeds of the world, the realm of electronic dance music has become more a domain for the young in recent years. So much so that it if your average bedroom producer wunderkinds haven’t conquered Beatport or Hypem with their remixes, inked a…
Thom Yorke of Radiohead isn’t into doing interviews. He prefers to be the shadowed cock-eyed intellect behind the Radiohead machine or to spout spastic lines and moan over the twitchy glitch-pop of his Atoms for Peace project. He doesn’t have much time for promotional rigmarole. But Yorke has kids, and…
It’s not easy being beautiful. Just ask Zac Pennington, frontman of experimental pop group Parenthetical Girls, whose vocal strains fall halfway between those of Perfume Genius and Lightspeed Champion, complemented with the baroque pop stylings of Belle and Sebastian. Pennington, known for his gender-neutral lyrics and his Morrissey-borrowed wit, pens…
Thursday 7 Afterlife: Touch Thursdays with DJ Tsunami, DJ Michael Ryan, & DJ Matt Fox (Top 40, EDM) AZ/88: Black Out Thursdays with Josh 1 (soulful house, lounge) Bikini Lounge: DJ Shane Kennedy (juke joint, R&B, French pop) Bobby Q’s: All Star Thursdays with DJ Dark Vader, DJ Skoolboi, &…
Following up last year’s New Times Soundcheck, a two-day festival at Club Red in Tempe — which featured performances by The Love Me Nots, Sugar Thieves, 2 Tone Lizard Kings, Jason Devore, The Insects, Crusher Sound System, and more — was a serious task. But challenges are cool, right? Up…
Punk bands have a tendency of burning out long before fading away. Pittsburgh’s Anti-Flag has proved to be an exception to the rule. The band has been writing politically charged punk and touring relentlessly for the better part of 20 years. “I really love the old records,” says vocalist/guitarist Justin…
