As much as everyone might be sick of Carly Rae Jepsen’s smash hit “Call Me Maybe,” none of us can get the song out of our heads, much to our chagrin. Let’s admit it: We’re all secretly jamming out when we’re all alone in our car or bedroom. We’re not…
Scott Lucas has been the guitar-wielding and singing half of Chicago duo Local H since 1987, and while the band’s blend of grunge tone, classic songwriting smarts, and longevity has earned it plenty of recognition, it makes sense that a few steps to the side would be tempting to Lucas…
Against Me! and The Cult at the Marquee Theatre Last night’s lineup was strange, to say the least. Noise rockers The Icarus Line drew comparisons to Iggy Pop while Against Me! played its first Phoenix show after singer and guitarist Tom Gabel announced the decision to start living her life…
Every Monday morning Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday…
Phife Dawg Club Red Friday, June 22 If there was one point that was made clear in last year’s documentary Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, its that the members of the influential hip-hop group won’t be staging a reunion anytime soon. Although Q-Tip is…
The Cult and Against Me! Marquee Theatre Friday, June 22 See also: The Cult’s Ian Astbury Ain’t No Caveman (He’s the Wolf Child) See our full Against Me! and The Cult at Marquee Theatre slideshow. Last night’s lineup was strange, to say the least. Noise rockers The Icarus Line drew…
While most DJs are content with having only one slick-sound moniker, Matthew Hinman has almost a half-dozen nom de guerres at his disposal. Depending on the particular gig he’s working, the 39-year-old could be performing as Spyder, Franck Matthews, Cosmic Sea, or any of the other idenities he’s developed during…
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads; just a synthesizer, eyeliner, and a touch of androgyny. Welcome to Flashback Friday. The ’80s weren’t all bright chords and poppy dance songs. The emergence of new wave also ushered in the era of the slow, ghoulish drones of goth rock. Phoenix’s resident…
See also: Vintage Phoenix Shoegaze Band Half String Reissued by Brooklyn Label Captured Tracks The term “shoegazer” may have been birthed as a pejorative, but at this point, it’s practically a badge of honor. The shoegaze movement of the ’90s, which found British and American bands drenched in reverb, continues…
See also: Roll Acosta Teams With John Vanderslice For This Dreamt Existence We’re diggin’ the simple elegance of the rolling tape on this Roll Acosta flier…See what they did there? Like we’re digging the simplicity of this flier, we’re digging the band’s new record, This Dreamt Existence (we described the…
Jackie Morales Morales is the mid-day DJ for 101.5-FM Jamz. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? Of course, 101.5! What’s the first album you bought? I honestly don’t go out and buy very many albums, but when…
Curious what’s going on around town this weekend? Need some suggestions as to how to rock, dance, or krump in the Valley of the Sun? Don’t fret: These are our Five Shows to See This Weekend…
Seeing the Dead Kennedys without Jello Biafra is kind of like seeing the reformed Misfits — it’s just not quite the same when it’s only Jerry Only, but that’s better than nothing, right? Or is it? Jello hasn’t performed with the Kennedys since the band’s split in 1986, but the…
It’s estimated that around 345,000 EDM fanatics packed the recent Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas a few weekends ago, which was 100,000 more than attended the year prior. It’s an impressive figure to be sure, dwarfed only by an even bigger number: The millions of disappointed souls who didn’t…
Tucson indie poppers, Roll Acosta recruited John Vanderslice to produce its forthcoming debut full length album, This Dreamt Existence. Vanderslice’s touch can be heard in the album’s intricate instrumentation, which falls somewhere between fun.’s acrobatic melodies and Cold War Kids’ strained funk, giving these catchy songs have plenty of get-stuck-in-your-head…
Plenty of people visit the merch stand at concerts. Some people buy an item with the intent to wear it again and again, and it unexpectedly becomes destined to live on the top shelf of a closet where it won’t be seen again for years. Others sport their band merch…
See also: Joel Marquard Makes a Mess of Gospel With The Through and Through Gospel Review If history has shown us anything in the local music and arts scene, it’s that the community has a fierce love of its own champions. That love will be on full display on Saturday,…
Welcome to Radio Roundup, a new series in which we’ll occasionally check in with the ever-shifting world of the Phoenix radio (FM, AM, Internet). Read on for June’s news regarding changes at My Phoenix Music 1039 (goodbye, Dave Pratt; hello, Monti Carlo), Magic City Radio on Power 98.3, and why…
See also: Eclecticism is The Elephant in the Room by Banana Gun When I sat down over rounds of Stella Artois to talk about the new Banana Gun album The Elephant In the Room, with Kevin Loyd, Kyle Scarborough, Ian Breslin, Nic Dehaan, and Ross Troost, there were some stories…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up on the Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What five releases are we most excited for this summer? We ask: Are local band residencies…
In the realm of alternative rock, metal mostly had been regarded as a distant fascination, a weird, drunk cousin from a red state. Nineties bands like Testament and Melvins appealed to heshers and hipster slackers alike. Today, however, the genre is so expansive and unpredictable that it’s no longer solely…
There’s something to be said for going with what you know, but wouldn’t you rather watch artists take some risks? If your answer to that one is “yes,” attending a Quintron & Miss Pussycat show should be a no-brainer. The New Orleans duo consistently has been one of the more…
