Welcome to another installment of Up on the Sun’s 2011 Review. Over the next week, we’ll be counting down our favorite songs, shows, national and local releases of 2011. Enjoy! Okay. I’m done. Spent. No more lists. The reissues list was hard. The show list was hard. The songs and…
In spite of limited commercial success, The Quakes are one of the most influential bands in the tatted up, creepers-and-pompadour subgenre psychobilly. The band formed in Buffalo, New York in 1986 and relocated to London shortly thereafter, where they established a reputation as a fearsome live combo. “There was no…
Alright, slacker. There’s no more denying it: the holidays are here, and you need to get on that shopping list. Luckily, Up on the Sun has caught gift guide-fever, and over the course of this week we’ll be offering you suggestions for the entire family. Yo yo yiggity yo, son…
Tommy Stinson can’t slow down. The guy stays busy — playing bass in Guns N’ Roses (clocking nearly 14 years in the band, only Axl Rose and keyboardist Dizzy Reed have been in the band longer), releasing solo records (like this year’s excellent One Man Mutiny), and playing in Soul…
Welcome to another installment of Up on the Sun’s 2011 Review. Over the next couple days we’ll be counting down our favorite songs, shows, national and local releases of 2011. This entry comes from Chase Kamp, a Phoenix musician and writer. Kamp began writing for Up on the Sun with…
Fa la la la la, and all that jazz. Getting tired of holiday music? We’re not. Well, that’s not entirely true. We’re well tired of the lousy, saccharine, abominable Christmas music that clogs the airwaves. Is it worse when a radio station switches over to all-Xmas-all-the-time, or when a radio…
David Bickford Bickford writes two prominent local blogs, PHX Rail Food and PHX Trail Dude. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? I listen to KJZZ for news by day and jazz by night. I grew up listening…
As reported by our sister blog Jackalope Ranch, Tempe’s Open Source Project is scheduled to close at the end of the month, making it another entry is a sad string of venues closures. But the doors won’t be shut before local prog-rockers The Oxford Coma have their way with the…
Welcome to another installment of Up on the Sun’s 2011 Review. Over the next week, we’ll be counting down our favorite songs, shows, national and local releases of 2011. Enjoy! Is it just me, or was 2011 weird? Like, really weird? Lou Reed and Metallica made an album together. It…
Alright, slacker. There’s no more denying it: the holidays are here, and you need to get on that shopping list. Luckily, Up on the Sun has caught gift guide-fever, and over the course of this week we’ll be offering you suggestions for the entire family. Even if your hipster sibling…
Welcome to another installment of Up on the Sun’s 2011 Review. This week, we’ve been counting down our favorite songs, shows, national and local releases of 2011. This installment takes a different approach, turning our gaze to the worst of 2011’s worst. Enjoy! Another year has come and gone. The…
Nobody does TV specials like this for Christmas anymore, and after reading this yuleblog you’ll know why. It’s a lot of head-snapping work, flashing back and then flashing ahead forward to the present again, then flashing back, each time having to remember to bring the holiday magic and the vidcam…
This time of year is normally characterized by holiday cheer and good tidings but there’s one more thing December brings; finals. While sharpened number two pencils scratch feverishly on Scantron’s across the Valley, the students of Music Maker Workshops will be taking a different kind of exam this weekend. On…
Editor’s Note: As we continue our observations of 2011, Up on the Sun contributor Christina Caldwell looks at the state of venues around town, and speculates about what the Phoenix music scene has and what it lacks. Answering “what makes a perfect music venue” is a tall order; here’s…
Here’s a Christmas story that’s bound to warm your heart: Local hip-hop cipher Benjamin Walker (better known by his stage name Mr. Puma MC) is at the tail end of a battle with cancer, partly due to the efforts of plenty of Valley DJs.The 39-year-old emcee, who’s been working the…
Remember the ’90s? Those were the days — back when a bro could have frosted hair and not look like a brosef, when women could show nothing but their midriff without looking like a gypsy hooker, alternative rock reigned supreme, and the term “indie” was mostly used to describe race…
Have you lost your soul? Is your step missing its rhythm? Could your swagger use an injection of funk? Phoenix natives Cold Shott and The Hurricane Horns are more than happy to help put a little rhythm and blues in your life. The band doesn’t have to sweat its authenticity…
The recent hiatus of Virginia rap duo Clipse — which comprises brothers Pusha T and Malice, whose Neptunes-produced 2002 debut, Lord Willin’, earned acclaim on the pop charts and Pitchfork alike — has resulted in very different paths for its two members. Pusha T appeared on Kanye West’s My Dark…
You know what I love? I love when an upbeat rock ‘n’ roll song manages to sound sad without staring at its shoes. It’s hard to explain exactly how it works, how a tune packed with brisk snare pops, chugging distortion, and a plucky bass line can still toss in…
Oh, to be the highway patrolman who pulls over this band’s Econoline! “What’s with all the sinister masks, fellas? You’re not one of those 99 percenters, are ya?” He’d most certainly demand to see their registration, and in the course of his interrogation, he’d come to learn that they are…
Pandrogynous industrial icon and Psychic TV frontma . . . uh, frontperson Genesis P-Orridge hasn’t had the warmest of receptions in the Valley. In 2007, the British-born transgender artist — who founded landmark act Throbbing Gristle and helped influence early industrial and other nascent EDM genres — was scheduled to…
In the 1970s, Alice Cooper was the poster child of “the devil’s music,” a sexually ambiguous, mascara-smeared heavy metal demon with subversive lyrics and mock-drama stage theatrics. In 2011? Well, this year marks his 11th Christmas Pudding, an annual variety show-style bash featuring rock stars, magicians, and comedians that has…
