I think everyone has a “forbidden song.” What’s that? It’s like, whenever I hear the tune “Freebird,” whether in the car or at some party or whatever, I have to turn it off. It’s like an obsessive-compulsive decision and I will be forever agitated until that song is no longer…
Not everyone has the luxury of having an auxiliary jack in their car stereo. With the amount of leaks, holes, and weird noises coming from my engine, I’m lucky my beat-up truck still runs period. I can’t be asking for a decent stereo. So my commuting music consists entirely of…
Psych fans and math-rock devotees both enjoy technical drum feats and guitar pyrotechnics, but each group has its preferred flavors of jam. Mathletes tend to like riffs that show the science at work, geometric patterns that confound in exciting ways. Psych rockers like their technical proficiency to offer an escape,…
There is a Nashville-style knock-knock joke going around that lets you make any what-the-hell-ever-happened-to country singer of the past the punchline. Because Clint Black is hitting town, we’ll use him. It goes like this: “Knock knock. Who’s there? Clint Black. Clint Black who? Hmmmph, tough town.” Nashville radio is known…
In our cyclical pop culture, fads give way to other fads — which often recycle looks and vibes of the past — every couple of years. Rockabilly has bubbled up to the pop culture mainstream over and over again since the 1950s, but for Phoenix-based rockabilly aces Voodoo Swing, the…
Aging well is remarkably difficult in the world of punk rock. Can you imagine Sid Vicious in his 50s? But Mike Ness of Social Distortion still has it going on. Ness continues to win the hearts of pompadour-sporting gals because he is a textbook example of the sensitive bad boy…
It’s less than an hour before last call at a recent session of The Blunt Club in Tempe, and resident DJ Pickster One is cuing up the Beastie Boys’ “Get It Together.” Girls in booty shorts shake it on the checkered tiled floor and PBR-toting patrons bellow to be heard…
Be forewarned: The grim reaper shall cometh to the East Valley forthwith, and when thine angel of death heaves the mighty blade of the scythe, it shall collect the life of Monsterland. The hybrid haunted house, eatery, and nightclub at 18 West Main Street in Mesa will head for the…
Brilliant counterculture magazine Arthur roared back to life this month, dedicating glorious inky newsprint to the psychedelic pop art of Rick Veitch, record reviews by Thurston Moore and Byron Coley, a fevered mediation on Waylon Jennings’ Dreaming My Dreams, and much more magical esoterica. The cornerstone of the rebirth issue…
Punk rockers don’t die, they just go acoustic. While that’s not exactly a great T-shirt slogan (and certainly would elicit some scowls from old-school punkers still plying their trade), it is something of a recent trend within the bluegrass realm, with bands like Split Lip Rayfield, Yonder Mountain String Band,…
On Tuesday we announced the details of New Times’ Carnaval Eléctrico at Crescent Ballroom, the festival which unites garage rocker Hanni El Khatib, psychedelic indie band Mergence, In the Valley Below, and headliners Cold War Kids on Friday, March 8, at Crescent Ballroom. We promised there’d be more — and…
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s child is bound to be the most narcisstic tot to walk the face of the earth. Let’s just hope that Baby Kimye ends up innocent and adorable and doesn’t go the way of his or her sex tape-making parents. The media is already critical of…
West Phoenix gets too much flack. Really, it’s not so bad: housing is cheap, movie theaters are everywhere, and sporting events are actually well planned and executed. Case in point– think about how much easier it is to leave a Coyotes game than a Suns game. See also: Club Candids:…
So this one time, my college roommate was gonna buy this album. It came in two formats: CD and MP3. The CD version was a few bucks cheaper. I argued with my roommate that a CD was a better deal because you also got a physical copy of something, but…
Six years is a long time for a musician to be absent from the field. Unless you’ve reach “legendary” status, making a comeback after such a long period of dormancy is nearly impossible. With that said, Justin Timberlake’s last album, FutureSex/ LoveSounds, is one of the greatest R&B albums of…
Our sister paper, the Village Voice’s annual Pazz & Jop music critic’s poll is live, and the results are in: Frank Ocean’s neo-neo-soul record channel ORANGE is the album of the year, and Carly Rae Jepsen’s infectious (and impossible to escape) “Call Me Maybe” is the single of the year…
Down and Warbeast @ Marquee Theatre|1/14/13So, it turns out there’s a reason it’s called “stoner metal.” I’ve been to several Down shows before, but two things stuck out to me during Monday night’s Down/Warbeast concert at Marquee Theatre. My friend (who goes by “Iron Maiden,” thank you very much) and…
Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop…
We once asked local turntablism guru Logan Howard to approximate how many gigs he’s performed over the course of his 16-year stint as DJ Element. While he wasn’t able to answer the question exactly — which you can’t fault him for, considering the staggering length of his career — but…
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, Skky Brown, The Insects, Crusher Sound System, and more — was a serious task. See also: -The Love…
Musicians traditionally get all of the glory, but what about the venues that house them? Arizona hip-hop artists are regularly lauded for their lyrical lexicon and dazzling deliveries, but they couldn’t be heard if popping music houses didn’t provide the dark digs, microphones, stages, and booming sound systems. See also:…
As a metal head, I often face lots of people who assume I don’t listen to anything else. Of course, I’m guilty of it too. It’s the first agitated thought I have when douche bags roll up next to my car blasting Soulja Boy and all I want to do…
