You may not be familiar with the name “Wynter Gordon,” but you’ve heard her work. Wynter’s first success came when she wrote a hit for for Mary J Blige at only 19-years-old. Shes’s since collaborated with EDM artists like Steve Aoki, Laidback Luke, and David Guetta, and hip-hop artists like…
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 are our five favorite Jonathan Richman songs? Does heavy metal make you more sane? Follow…
Michelle Blades can’t sit still. Her latest solo record, Mariana, is still fresh off the press, but along with her bandmates in North Dakota (Emily Hobeheidar and Mo Neuharth), she’s ready to release yet another new record this week. Aside from Blades’ signature vocal flutters, North Dakota is an entirely…
Arizona’s wacky political landscape is prime fodder for any comedian, but local one-man band Page the Village Idiot manages to make his subversion both funny and catchy. His hilarious commentary on Joe Arpaio’s policies (“Thank You Joe Arpaio”) may have been topped in his so-called love letter to Jan Brewer…
Singer/songwriter Marcos Martins hails from São Paulo, Brazil, and his four backing musicians have the unwieldy task of encompassing the music of one of the world’s largest and most diverse nations. Though Brazil blends cultures and traditions, there’s an easiness to the sounds that provides a cohesive feel. Bossa nova…
If you’ve seen the recent documentary Re:Generation, you’re probably aware of the current trend of reconfiguring rock, pop, and other music forms by spicing ’em up with various electronica elements. But as any chef will tell you, sometimes the whole doesn’t wind up tastier than the sum of its ingredients…
To paraphrase the common axiom: In show business, it’s not who you know, it’s who knows you. Phoenix-based hip-hop crew Weird Is the New Cool counts Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash, radio DJs Johnjay and Rich, and MTV favorite Gym Class Heroes among its admirers, achieving recognition for its…
Over the past few years, Blake Ludera (a.k.a. Ill-legal?), Mary Mahan, and the other bassheads behind the scenes at UK Thursdays have worked their collective asses off to make the dance night famous among EDM fans as the best place in the Valley to hear dubstep. Thing is, the weekly…
You probably knew a kid like Randy Randall in high school — a skateboarder and crate-digger with his own sense of fashion, generally seen plugged into a Walkman. (These were pre-iPod days.) One day, a girl at school asked him what he was jamming out to, and Rogers answered, “Scratch…
To clear her mind after a lengthy stretch of touring, songwriter Erika Wennerstrom hit the road again, this time alone, finding both solace and inspiration in the wide-open spaces of West Texas rangeland. What came from Wennerstrom’s peaceful isolation is the Heartless Bastards’ fourth and best album, Arrow, a stout…
Thursday 29 16th Street Bar & Grill: Kickback Thursdays with DJ Cedric Ceballos (hip-hop, classics, neo-soul, reggae, R&B, Top 40, old school) Afterlife: Beat the Scene Thursdays (electronica, dance, remixes) Bar Smith: Double Vision Thursday with DJ Kyko, DJ Idenaty, & DJ Dario (Latin, hip-hop) Bobby Q’s: DJ Phlava, MC…
Things were most definitely loco inside Loco Patron in Scottsdale this past Sunday evening. The Mexican-themed Old Town drinkery was filled with an upbeat and goofy aura as energetic and inebriated patrons populated the place, each with their own reasons for partying it up on a school night.See the full…
Twitter has proven to be a fascinating look into the head-spaces of many of our favorite celebrities and musicians. While plenty of rappers have taken to the micro-blogging site, few have managed to be as consistently entertaining and ridiculous (and occasionally controversial) as Curtis Jackson, better known by his moniker…
See also: Pontiak Makes an Album About Driving from Phoenix to Texas The last time we blogged about the brothers Pontiak –Van, Lain, and Jennings Carney — we discussed their EP, Comecrudos, a concept record designed for a drive through the American Southwest. It garnered an interesting comment from one…
I was on the fence about seeing Polyphonic Spree, the pysch pop, one-time MTV 2 darlings, this week at Crescent Ballroom, so I sat myself down to watch some videos in preparation. The band is entirely clad in white choir robes, and the of members grows from twelve to thirty…
Valley pop-punk rockers Dogbreth have big things planned for 2012. Aside from helping Trunk Space celebrate their 8th birthday next month, the band has two 7″ records in the works, a split cassette and a two-month US/Canada tour coming up. The new recordings mark a departure from the band’s first…
As expected, kids are going ga-ga over The Hunger Games. The $155 million opening weekend was good enough to rank third in revenue behind only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, and The Dark Knight. The movie, based on the novel by Suzanne Collins, has already spawned everything…
Despite its name, School of Rock on Mill Avenue caters less to the local music-minded than Top 40 listeners in ass-baring dresses that come from the suburbs to make a purchase at the meat market. And that’s cool. Every district has its scene, but knowing that just 20 years ago…
I’ll readily admit to being a Neil Young fan boy, and I’m crazy excited for his reunion with Crazy Horse and the band’s upcoming album of “old-timey Americana standards” despite the fact that I know full well I’ll probably listen to it a few times and toss it in the…
You’ve still got a couple of days to win tickets to 11th Annual Cowtown’s Phx AM After Party, scheduled to go down on Saturday, March 31 at Yucca Tap Room. The party features No Age, The Growlers, Radio Moscow, The Goat, The Father Figures, Scorpion Vs Tarantula, Earthmen & Strangers,…
Future Loves Past released a new single yesterday and it’s gorgeous. “Seekers” came out just in time for the summer, and its effervescent percussion and melodic vocals are a pleasant reminder that pool season is just around the corner. But the meaning of the song isn’t as carefree as the…
Born Loser and The Hangers Onput together a Pixies set after a fan said BLATHO reminded him of The Pixies. Initially, some band members thought it was a bad idea thanks to odd timing, but it turned out well. “[We decided] we’ll just do whatever ‘Where is my Mind?’ is…
