When rap was coming into the national consciousness in the ’80s, there was a pretty lame joke going around that went something like “Did you hear about the guy who crossed country with rap? They call it crap.” It may have taken almost 30 years, but a former professional golfer…
Timothy B. Schmit always felt like “the new kid in town” in The Eagles, but that’s because he pretty much is. Schmit played on only one pre-reunion Eagles record, The Long Run, but he made his presence known with the stellar, blue-eyed soul number, “I Can’t Tell You Why.” He’s…
David Taylor, better known by his dance-floor-packing name Switch, comes to Phoenix packing serious credentials. He’s worked with M.I.A., Santigold, Christina Aguilera, and Beyoncé, not to mention crafting the dancehall/electro project Major Lazer with Diplo. The production duo’s debut, Guns Don’t Kill People . . . Lazers Do, indulged their…
Alt-country hero Dale Watson has a tune called “Nashville Rash,” in which he bemoans the pop crossover changes in Music City and sings “I’m too country now for country, just like Johnny Cash / Help me, Merle, I’m breakin’ out in a Nashville rash.” The condition has begun to afflict…
Meet Jon Tate. He’s from the future. Jon is a genius infatuated with robotics and a blond, buxom beauty named Sandy. He’s building an army of robots in hopes of ending a war that is gripping the world. It’s an army that eventually will turn on him, culminating in an…
Christmas music is weird stuff. Sure, grandmas like it, but for poor souls folks manning the boards at 99.9 KEZ FM, it’s less the music of holly jollies and more a nightmare of tunes played long before (and even a little after) Christmas. DJ Fresh, who’s spinning funky breaks as…
For a while, Eric Bachmann decided he was done with music. No matter that he’d made a name for himself as frontman of ’90s indie icons Archers of Loaf. No matter that he’d gotten acclaim for Crooked Fingers, his moody, Americana-influenced second act. No matter that he still had yet…
Thursday 24 Afterlife: Thumpin’ Thursdays (various) Bar Smith: Thanksgiving Night with DJ Idenaty, DJ EC Rock, & DJ Oh-Jezus (various) Capitol Sports Lounge: DJ Danny Peru (old school, Latin, Top 40) Crescent Ballroom: Tortured Soul, Pete “SuperMix” Salaz, Aaron F., Riot Earp, & more (various) Dollhouse Cocktail Lounge: DJ Jon…
There ain’t many things the Valley that pack as much old school cool as the Furious Styles Crew, as the renowned b-boy troupe has been kickin’ around town since the heyday of gangsta rap back in the early ’90s. Ditto for Pete “Supermix” Salaz and Senbad, who are both widely…
The cynical among us (ahem) might view Sting’s “Back to Bass” tour as a way to cash in on The Police experience without having to deal with the other two guys who make The Police so awesome. But we’re the critics? What did you, the loyal reader have to say…
Here at Up On The Sun, we advocate all feelings of inner warmth and fuzziness felt on Thanksgiving.Since we want you to make the best of your Turkey Day this year, we’ve put together a brief musical guide to help you through the do’s and don’t’s of the season of…
Ah, the holidays. It’s a month-long period when spending “quality time” with your extended family is mandatory, children get spoiled to no end, and, of course, getting shitty-drunk at the company Christmas party is expected. It just gives you warm fuzzies thinking about it. The holidays wouldn’t be complete without the…
Creative noisemakers Former Friends Of Young Americans are sprinting to the end of the year. They’ve been gigging extensively, with shows lined up this week and next month in the midst of their latest album, estas diluculo. You can stream the full album from the band’s website or download it…
Part 1: Crashdïet LIVE at the Waffle House America is ready for Crashdïet! That’s right, we’ve got Sweden’s prime exporters of “sleaze hard rock” in their first American vidcast appearance. Makes ol’ Serene Dominic feel a bit like Ed Sullivan to be able to introduce to you for the first…
The death of the CD may be neigh, but as Serene Dominic tells us, the format’s demise probably won’t impact punk trios like Rumspringer much. The band acts a lot like it doesn’t care much, but the poetic melodic punk rock on records like Empty Towers betrays otherwise. Of course,…
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 your 100 favorite Arizona songs? What bands names might you find on your Thanksgiving…
It’s a sad day when we have to comment on the passing of two Valley musicians, but over the weekend Phoenix lost two members of its music community. Tony Richey, who played in heavy bands like Nihil, Grum, and most recently sludge-rock favorites ZiRoh, was killed on Saturday, November 19…
Welcome to the latest installment of our weekly feature, Sound Off, in which Jason P. Woodbury is joined by a different guest each week to listen to and discuss three tracks from local Phoenix artists. If you would like your songs to be considered for future Sound Off columns, please…
The Devil Wears Prada Marquee Theatre Monday, November 21, 2011 I found myself at The Devil Wears Prada show in large part due to my kid brother. He’s been high on openers Enter Shikari for a couple of years now and asked me to accompany him to the show. While…
Marks Sultan, The Wrong Ones, Andrew and His Feisty Felines, and The Cosmeticators Trunk Space Monday, November 21 Mark Sultan: Someone has offered me a Xanax and an enema tonight. Audience member: Welcome to Phoenix! Such was the tone last night at Mark Sultan’s Phoenix stop. He seemed perturbed at…
Black Friday. One of those days when people like me hole up for one more day of food-coma bliss, fearing the heightened level of commercialism that turns consumers into zombified shopping maniacs, out for blood over $30 plasma televisions. But the upside to Black Friday is when the words Record…
It’s all about giving thanks for local music, which means local music lovers and Sail Inn regulars should definitely get in on this.What Laura Says, Gospel Claws, Banana Gun, The Smith Family Band, and Sister Cities will be performing. Get stoked!It’s all going down on Wednesday, November 23. Doors open…
