Countless rock docs and tell-alls have confirmed it: Lead singers/songwriters are dictators. Call it an ego thing, but there’s no denying that those dudes know what they want, and if that doesn’t jibe with a band’s established democracy, well . . . tough. Don’t agree with the lead singer? You’ll…
Waka Flocka Flame has said he writes his lyrics as a way to express the emotions he’s feeling at a given time and that they’re usually tapped out on the fly on his BlackBerry, rather than in a meticulously curated notebook, as is the case with many rappers. Well, express…
“Fuck It, You Win” has to be one of the greatest, most hate-filled song titles ever penned to an ex who’s taken things too far. Add stinging guitars, ripped-from-the-gut vocals, and a driving, in-the-gutter beat (and captivatingly dark video imagery), and it’s not just a catchy title but a fucking…
How to measure loyalty, commitment, devotion? In the case of David Jensen, of Sunset Alliance Records and guiding light behind Before Braille, Art for Starters, and now Loyal Wife, his dedication to music can be physically measured in the form of actual compact disc inventory, shrink-wrapped and stacked up, in…
Although it usually takes an hourlong drive to drag your ass all the way up to the Cowtown Event Venue in the Northwest Valley, EDM fans from across PHX will want to make the lengthy trek this weekend. That’s only because DJ Sam Groove and the members of Hades Entertainment…
With Arizona politics an ever-increasing mix of insanity and idiocy, it’s nice to know that some folks are still out there fighting the good fight. Alicia Porter, 24, is busy enough with her full-time job as outreach specialist at the Arizona Science Center and pursuing her master’s in museum studies…
Since the emergence of the term, “emo rap” has been a pejorative shunned by any artist to whom the tag was applied. But it’s a useful label nonetheless, aptly encompassing a particular brand of emotive, borderline-sensitive hip-hop that emerged full-force after Kanye West’s flawed but important 808s and Heartbreaks. Canadian…
Thursday 10 16th Street Bar & Grill: Kickback Thursdays with DJ Cedric Ceballos (hip-hop, classics, neo-soul, reggae, R&B, Top 40, old school) Azucar Cuban Lounge: Latin Night with DJ Los & DJ Yoshi (cumbia, reggaeton, bachata, rock en Español, old school, funk) Bar Smith: Double Vision Thursday with DJ Kyko,…
Body-modification superstar Dani Danger is moving to Hollywood, but in gregarious fashion, freaky folks gathered to wish her well with a huge party. Tempe Mediterranean restaurant Olive Branch was transformed on Saturday, May 5, morphing into a sight-to-see circus. Pink-haired gals dressed as flappers and puffed on long, elegant cigarette…
Florida punk-rockers Against Me! have always made honesty a policy, discussing scene politics, social politics, and issues of justice and hypocrisy with an insight and power. But who saw this one coming: After a long battle with gender dysphoria, Tom Gabel of Against Me! has decided to start living his…
Anything you can do I can do better. Of course, that isn’t the case if you can actually do it better. Just to be clear, this list isn’t about girl power. No doubt, there are dudes who rock harder than some girls and girls who rock harder than some dudes…
Mouse Powell’s latest video plays like a real-time tour around some of the Valley’s unofficial historic landmarks. From sunshine, palm trees, and his “first show at the Modified,” “Holding Home” off of his debut album, Where It’s Cloudy, chronicles the young MC’s time growing up in the Copper State. Set…
Mother’s Day — the day we set aside of reflect on what our mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, and other types of mothers have done for us over the years — is on its way. They were there when we first smoked marijuana (though they weren’t aware what we were up to)…
Bet you didn’t expect to look at The Atlantic’s site yesterday and read an article about how LOLcats are making you smarter, did you?If the Internet is good for anything other than spyware and porn, it’s most certainly really funny pictures of cats doing . . . well, anything. The…
The Big Red Radio, known by its longtime call-letters 98 KUPD, is known for putting on big productions, like UFest, the End of Summer Scorcher, and the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. Concert events and heavy music are the station’s bread and butter, but the unique and hilarious contests they…
By now, your Facebook feed is swelling with posts with posts from brand-new hockey fans, folks saying “Go ‘Yotes” when they didn’t give the slightest damn two weeks ago. But that’s an awful cynical way to look at it, isn’t it? On Tuesday night, the Phoenix Coyotes beat the Predators…
It still feels hard to believe. Friday’s news about the passing of MCA (Adam Yauch) of The Beastie Boys shocked nearly everyone, forcing us to confront mortality and look back on the group’s lasting legacy. “At first, I didn’t want to believe it, then came shock and, lastly, my heart…
It felt like kind of a big deal when indie soft-rocker Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) won a Grammy Award. But that’s nothing compared to his status as the world’s unlikeliest sex symbol. I mean, have you ever fantasized about Justin Vernon?Perhaps you’ve envisioned yourself in a romantic scenario with him,…
See also: Record Heat: The Hangover by Brad Dwyer If you’ve ever purchased a vinyl record in Arizona, you’ve got at least one sob story about leaving a record in your car and having the brutal, unrelenting sun turning the thing into black vinyl bowl. The thing is, Arizona is…
See also: OFF!’s Dimitri Coats Talks Phoenix Oil Theft Charges Years ago, I saw Nick Lowe (probably my favorite songwriter) at the Rhythm Room. Right before he played a devastating new song called “I Read a Lot,” he prefaced it with a warning, saying something like “This is a new…
Beloved record store The Ghost of Eastside Records will be exorcised from its current location less than two weeks from now. A post on the store’s Facebook page this afternoon stated that the Tempe vinyl emporium and music shop, which was a pop-up reincarnation of the defunct Eastside Records, will…
The tough-looking circuit-bent instruments crafted by Phoenix’s Corey Busboom are able to survive getting accidentally dropped by clumsy musicians. However, these curious creations (which are made from broken electronics and household appliances) won’t survive an attack by ginormous kaiju monsters. This fact is demonstrated in the latest music video by…
