Top Five Must-See Shows This Week

Yeah, yeah, yeah…we get it Mondays suck (we’ve read Garfield). But it means the start of a new week, which means a bunch of killer shows in and around Phoenix. And here are a few of the coolest, our top five must-see shows this week…

Record Heat: Warped by Brad Dwyer

Every Monday morning Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday. In this week’s Record Heat, Brad Dwyer finds that his record collection…

Tempe Band Vial of Sound Is Obsessed With Analog

Tempe’s Josh Gooday is obsessed: The 29-year-old collects and restores vintage analog synthesizers. “I started going to law school and spending all of my loan money on buying synthesizers, and it just started to get out of control,” Gooday says. The habit eventually gave Gooday and his friends an unlikely…

Five Interesting String Instruments Found Around Town

Sure, strings create intriguing sounds, but sometimes simply the sight of them are enough to induce awe. After coming across an out-of-place full-sized zither that looked like it belonged at the Musical Instrument Museum instead of the thrift store it landed in, we couldn’t help but wonder what other treasures…

Through and Through Gospel Review, Crescent Ballroom, 7/14/12

Through and Through Gospel Review Crescent Ballroom Saturday, July 14, 2012 See also: Download: Gospel Claws’ New Song, “Pale Horse Dry Cleaning” See also: Joel Marquard Fought Cancer and The Indie Community Chips in To Help Him Out Despite Joel Marquard’s adamant assertion that the Americana/roots sounds of his full-blooded…

JJCNV, Trunk Space, 7/14/12

JJCNV Trunk Space Saturday, July 14, 2012 See also: Seriously Joking: Local Punk Trio JJCNV Brings the Noise — And The Knee-length, Airbrushed Boob T-shirts Phoenix trio JJCNV — which used to stand for Janis Joplin Crap N Vomit until the deceased singer’s estate made them stop using her name…

Top Phoenix Music Stories of the Week

The news waits for no one — at least that’s what we read somewhere — so it’s perfectly understandable that you, the reader, might have missed out on a musical tidbit, breaking news about your favorite venue, or one of our rants. So enjoy this digest-style sampling of some of…

Download: New Gospel Claws Song, “Pale Horse Dry Cleaning”

See also: Joel Marquard Fought Cancer and The Indie Community Chips in To Help Him Out In this week’s issue, Anthony Sandoval brings us the story of Gospel Claws/Through and Through Gospel Review songwriter Joel Marquard’s battle with testicular cancer. We’re happy to report that he beat it, and proud…

Vive la France! Five Songs in Celebration of Bastille Day

Joyeux Le Quatorze Juillet, tout le monde! Pardon my Franglish, but it’s Bastille Day tomorrow, so feel free to eat some cake and go raid a prison or something– just leave your guillotine at home. La Fête Nationale celebrates the French Revolution on the anniversary of the storming of the…

Jill Bryan, What Are You Listening To?

Jill Bryan The comedian hosts Stand-Up Live’s Comedy Gold showcase and radio’s “What A Mouth.” Check out www.jillbryancomedy.com for upcoming shows and events! When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? KMLE Country, 107.9-FM. I’m a big fan of…

Why Operation Ivy Will Always Be Better Than Rancid

See also: Throwback Thursday: Green Day’s Dookie Ronald Reagan’s wars, both on drugs and against the “evil empire,” made the ’80s a prime time to be a punk band. The scene was ripe in California, notably in the Bay Area, as 924 Gilman Street opened and crossover genres exploded in…

Thee Gentlemen Ether Release Debut EP

When Benjamin Walker was enduring months of chemotherapy and other treatments last year to eradicate the softball-sized tumor growing on his aorta, a few things helped keep the renowned local emcee going: The desire to perform at least one more show with his new hip-hop act Thee Gentlemen Ether and…

Seven Nights of DJs & Dancing

Thursday 12 Afterlife: Throwback Thursdays (electronica, dance) Bobby Q’s: All-Star Thursdays with with DJ Phlava, MC Wolf Starr, DJ Dark Vader, & DJ Skoolboi (hip-hop, Top 40, R&B, reggae) Capitol Sports Lounge: DJ Danny Peru (old school, Latin, Top 40) Crescent Ballroom: Discothèque Thursdays Sean Watson, Hoodwink, & more (disco)…

Shearwater Steps Into the Now with Animal Joy

A truck is on fire in the desert, black smoke billowing in the sky. Two years ago, on tour through the desert west of Phoenix, Shearwater’s van came upon a tractor-trailer on fire in the middle of the road. . The band members saw the smoke long before its source. The…

Songwriter Simon Joyner Chases Ghosts on His Latest Album

If Simon Joyner weren’t already living the life of a world-weary singer/songwriter, he could probably find success as a fiction writer. Armed with a dozen releases and a dedicated cult following, Joyner’s songs flow like well-developed novellas, yet each is but a few minutes long. There’s a focused clarity found…