The Train Tracks has been going for over a year now with Arizona bands. The idea, however, has always been to be like a localized Black Cab Sessions, with bands coming through town to hop on the Phoenix light rail and sing a song or two.Charlotte, North Carolina’s Paper Tongues…
Song: Arcade Fire, “Ready To Start”Context: As Michael Lopez mentioned earlier, you may or may not have heard that Arcade Fire has a new record out today. Ready to Start by Arcade Fire…
Local uber-producer Bob Hoag is owed a lot of favors in this town. The Atari-turned-knob-twister-turned-Love Me Nots Drummer has had half the bands in town come through his well-regarded Flying Blanket Studio in Mesa (even if the Black Cactus guys want no part of it) and routinely gets out-of-towners through.What,…
Oh, a new Arcade Fire album is being released today? I had no idea — aside from the fact that most everyone has been looking forward to The Suburbs, the band’s third album, ever since they first finished listening to their previous album Neon Bible.It’s hard for the Montreal rockers…
Artist: WavvesTitle: King of the BeachRelease date: August 3Label: Fat PossumRemember Wavves? They (well, it was more or less one guy, Nathan Williams, and whoever would back him) were huge in Indieland last summer, the ultimate buzz band of 2009. Then they played some high-profile festivals, totally sucked at those…
Dated enough for you? 1994, then, was the perfect time for a song like “Regulate” to peak in popularity. Why, then, has it taken until now for a synopsis of the song to materialize?…
Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball Tour at US Airways Center on 7/31/2010 There’s no doubt that Lady Gaga’s sold-out Phoenix show was the most hotly- anticipated concert on a lackluster summer schedule that’s been hard hit by the Great Recession and the Soundstrike. Actually, tickets to The Monster Ball Tour sold…
Hell yes the Lady Gaga show was crazy, but the after party at Crotch Rockitt with guest DJs Lady Starlight and Semi Precious Weapons was Monster Balls-to-the-walls. Peep our slideshow to see drinking, dancing, debauchery and outrageous club fashion at its Phoenix finest. Crotch Rockitt takes over Club Forbidden, 6820…
Here’s a fun fact about seminal 80’s band The Tubes — their origins are in Phoenix. Tubes’ founders Bill “Sputnick” Spooner and late keyboardist Vince Welnick were born and raised in Phoenix, playing in early high school bands before packing up shop, moving to San Francisco in the late 60’s…
Marquee Theatre had one of the most interesting crowds it has probably seen in awhile when Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta came to town last night. The sold-out audience was a mix of glitter-covered cougars, teenage girls and gay men, and the eyeliner was out in full force. After the…
Song: Turn Back, O Man! “French Wife”Context: Is this band breaking up or not? “New project in the works” + hype = ??? Either way, this is a fun story song. French Wife by turnbackoman…
Lady Gaga may have recycled some material from her previous club tour at her sold-out arena show at US Airways Center Saturday night. She used some of the same imagery and even in-between-song banter as she did at her previous smaller shows. And the sound quality may have been horrible,…
How could someone who’s been dead for over a year release a new record? The simple answer would likely be that the people who have control over any remaining recorded material are hungry for the money that accompanies anything involving Michael Jackson’s name.Rolling Stone reports that the King of Pop…
Lady GagaUS Airways CenterJuly 31, 2010There’s no doubt that Lady Gaga’s sold-out Phoenix show was the most hotly- anticipated concert on a lackluster summer schedule that’s been hard hit by the Great Recession and the Soundstrike.Actually, tickets to The Monster Ball Tour sold out months ago (sell-outs are usually a…
Landmine MarathonYucca Tap RoomJuly 31, 2010Fresh off a month-long U.S. tour, Landmine Marathon looked anything but tired last night at the Yucca Tap Room in Tempe. In their first ever gig at the Yucca, the band tore through a brief-yet-ferocious set that spanned all three of their albums and left…
I’ve had The Specials’ 1981 hit “Ghost Town” bouncing around in my brain pan lately, particularly the bit about “all the clubs have been closed down.” Although the legendary ska song is about the horrors of Tory-era England in the 1980s, that particular lyrical bit seems especially apt after I…
This week we decided to report on a record store in the deep south. While typically our charts go to the indie shops rooted in CenPho and Tempe, we thought it important to note that people in Chandler buy records too. This week the folks that shop at Zia Records…
Maybe it’s the weather (or something in the water), but it seems like the most of the dang Valley has gone goo-goo for Lady Gaga. By our count, there are three different after-parties following tomorrow night’s sold out concert at US Airways Center, and the organizers behind each event are…
Song: Lady Gaga, “Starstruck”Context: When Lady Gaga updated her Facebook status to say she was hanging out in the Arizona desert. 37,291people (and counting!) “liked” it. The fame, indeed. Lady Gaga – Starstruck…
T.I. hasn’t just give up the guns since he’s been out of prison. The rapper has also come out with an uplifting single, “I Got Your Back,” featuring Miss Keri Hilson.The duet is a sweet love song about a couple who has weathered tough times and come out stronger because…
T-Model FordThe Rhythm RoomJuly 29th, 2010There’s a scene in the 2003 documentary on the early Fat Possum Records roster, You See Me Laughin’: The Last of the Hill County Bluesmen, where James “T-Model” Ford recounts to director Mandy Stern about a when he was 11 and his father savagely beat…
Darn those gypsy women, with their ability to create fire within men’s chests and their voodoo ways. See the evil in action as Phoenix pop rock band Anarbor shows off their latest video for their single, “Gypsy Woman,” on mtvU today.The song, off their current album, The Words You Don’t…
