Music

It’s been a minute since we’ve mentioned Cypress Hill and Arizona in the same sentence. The last time we were on talking terms was back on April 22, 2010, the day before SB1070 passed. The puff, puff, pass rappers performed at the Martini Ranch in Scottsdale that night, but no…

We knew the daunting (impossible, really) task of picking 100 songs that define the sound of Arizona was going to be tough, but lucky for us, we had a lot of help, from you, our readers. We opened up a Gmail account and took submissions from you, reading through liner…

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. How does Sweetbleeders handle performing PJ Harvey songs? Will Noel Gallagher play any Oasis songs at…

“Not alone for gold and silver / Is Arizona great / But with graves of heroes sleeping / All the land is consecrate!” — “Arizona March Song” The goal of finding Arizona’s 100 greatest songs was hardly easy. We asked our readers to tell us what songs have defined Arizona…

Does any label evoke doubt more than “white rapper?” For every Eminem, there are a dozen Vanilla Ices. “I agree there are authenticity issues with white rappers, and I think just rappers in general have some authenticity issues,” says Phoenix’s Moe’Z Art. Good thing Morley Simon Gordon, a.k.a. Moe’Z Art,…

Wordplay is essential for a rapper. Without it, what more is he than a dude who talks with music in the background? A love of language suggests a lot, and those who stayed awake through high school English class should be familiar with the rapper’s bag of tricks: simile, metaphor,…

By the time this issue hits stands, it will have been just over a week since Soul Train impresario Don Cornelius was found dead by a self-inflicted gunshot in his Encino, California, home. The legendary host of Soul Train was instrumental in bringing black music into prime time, and though…

“The Fool,” Sanford Clark (single, 1956, MCI/Dot) In March 1956, KTYL disc jockey, producer, and songwriter Lee Hazlewood was out of money — to pay for more recording sessions and record-pressings, that is. After more than a year of trying for a hit on his Viv Records imprint, his closets…

“One Man Crusade” (1994), “The Inner Flame” (1997), and “The Farm” (2002) by Rainer Blues guitarist Rainer Ptacek was born in East Berlin and spent his childhood in Chicago but rose to prominence in Tucson. Though he never achieved mainstream success, his work is widely admired, with ZZ Top’s Billy…

“We Got Cactus,” Bloodspasm (1985) Bloodspasm tore up a series of now-closed Tucson clubs and house parties with blistering hardcore punk starting in the mid-1980s. But the band’s lasting mark is surely “We Got Cactus,” a song that exemplifies life as a desert rat, a local classic that’s endured for…

“Found Out About You,” Gin Blossoms, Dusted, (1989, San Jacinto) Having spent close to 15 years booking the old Long Wong’s on Mill Avenue, Sara Cina played a huge role in Tempe’s vibrant music heyday of the ’90s. She was as much a part of the venerated Mill Avenue dive…

“Out of Here,” Sleepwalker, Man on the Moon (1998, Hayden’s Ferry) “There’s just something in the vocal delivery of Jamal Ruhe. It was just Jamal singing and playing guitar, and Jon Rauhouse on pedal steel, bass, and drums. It’s not complex; it’s super-stripped down and pretty. Jon Rauhouse has played…

It turns out that he hasn’t dropped off the face of the earth after all. In fact, he’s been writing some pretty interesting blogs.This week we’re bringing you Holmes’ blog, American Aquarium Drinker (not to be confused with the equally awesome Aquarium Drunkard), so you can read up on what…

When we last checked in with Shawn Foree, the man behind synth punk band Digital Leather, he was touring in support of his Fat Possum LP Warm Brother. He’s been busy since then, releasing a mini-LP, Infinite Sun on Volar Records (which featured a song “co-written postmortem” by Foree’s friend…