We told you it was on the way and here it is: X-Men Origins: Wolverine reviewed by none other than our Music Editor Martin Cizmar. Did he want to give the film an adamantium hug or rip it apart with his metallic claws? See for yourself. And if you didn’t…
Not every rock, pop, or rap tune sounds good jazzified. If you tune your radio dial to that yucky thing called smooth jazz, you’d better have a barf bag handy. But Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine, the LOL cover band from the nation’s capital of jazz corniness, Los…
Alt-country poster boy Ryan Adams might get the lion’s share of accolades, but Jason Molina, the driving force behind Magnolia Electric Co., seems more than capable of giving Adams a run for his money. The similarities between the two artists don’t end with their penchant for brooding, alt-country balladry. Both…
We know what you’re thinking: Napalm Death, the founders of grindcore, circa 1982, are still around? What can they offer the metal world after nearly three decades of sonic brutality and numerous changes in sound and personnel? Well, listen to the group’s newest, Time Waits for No Slaves, and try…
Though San Diego quartet Dredg has toured with Taste of Chaos and major-label metal acts like Hoobastank and Deftones, their atmospheric, undulating sound defies easy categorization. Their willowy guitar drones are melodic enough for post-grunge radio rock, though the arrangements waver, dip, and swerve like a spacey prog act, and…
The intersection of Washington and Second streets in downtown Phoenix is an absolute hip-hop hotspot, as places such as PHX Nightclub and Silver pump out the bumps and beats for thousands of crazed club-goers every weekend. It’s precisely why Sol Martinez and the rest of the peeps behind FUSE Fridays…
It’s impossible to mention William Elliott Whitmore without talking about his voice. Its deep, weathered ache sounds as though it was rescued from a well four score ago, only to wander the Earth in muddy boots with a banjo strapped to its back. Raised on gospel and schooled in the…
THURSDAY 30 Bomberos: DJ Rani “g,” dk.strickler, & guests (house, global soul) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Cherry Lounge: Scandalous Thursday with DJ Juan Rocha (house, electronica) Club Red: The Blunt Club with Pickster Uno, DJ Element, Emerg McVay, & more (hip-hop) Copper State Tavern: The Copper Club with DJ Kavi,…
As a card-carrying Dave Matthews hater, you should know something about yourself: You don’t really hate Dave Matthews. Oh, you beg to differ, but it’s true. One cannot genuinely loathe the mellow South African and his eponymous, Grammy-winning light-rock foursome, The Dave Matthews Band, any more than one can genuinely…
A Trekkie from Compton. An Iraqi war veteran who majored in physics. An intellectual alt-rapper who idolizes Canibus but beat down his former manager over money. Without a doubt, Greydon Square is as contradictory and complex a figure as you’ll find making music in Phoenix. Not that most people know…
PrehabOne is Too Many (A Thousand Is Never Enough)Self-ReleasedIf Prehab’s One is Too Many (A Thousand Is Never Enough) sounds a little too polished to be a debut, there’s good reason. The guys spent five years as The Bedspins in the mid-90s, racking up 500 shows and serving as songwriters…
Fresh off a multi-city tour that took them to both coasts and lots of places in between, as well as a stint at last week’s McDowell Mountain Music Festival, local indie rockers What Laura Says Thinks and Feels are bringing their act to the newly-opened Phoenix Civic Space Park in…
Remember drawing crayon superheroes on long strips of butcher paper, or doodling X-Men in your spiral bound notebook? Even non-geek kids do that. But sending intern applications to Marvel with hand drawn images of Iron Man, Rogue and She-Hulk crawling around the envelope? Oh, yeah, that was all us. So…
Think she’s got one more week left in her?So before we review last night’s episode, can we please discuss the guest judges or the celebrity mentors or whatever they’re calling them this season? They started out making sense, with Randy Travis and Smokey Robinson. But for the past couple of…
We usually like the Sun Sessions to be (a) filmed at our office (b) not released several days after the band being covered has played. But we made an exception for Kinch’s cover of Britney Spears “Toxic,” which we filmed Saturday at McDowell Mountain Music Festival. Frontman Andrew Junker did…
Former Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch, who moved to Phoenix after his conversion to Christianity, is going back on the road in support of his debut album, Save Me From Myself. The heavily-tattooed former member of one of nu-metal’s biggest bands released his new record, which clawed it’s way to…
Good causes always hold a special place in our hearts. That’s why we figured we’d check out the third annual Band Wagon Benefit Show on Saturday, April 25th at Modified Arts.The roster was packed with bands Courtney Marie Andrews, Underscore Orkestra, Dry River Yacht Club, Gospel Claws, In Symmetry, Sister…
The lineup for the 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival has been announced and it is teeming with top-notch talent. The Beastie Boys, Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews Band round out the top slots of Outside Lands Lollapalooza this year’s edition of the ACL, adding Kings of Leon, Theivery Corporation…
While I usually write about music for Under the Sun, I wouldn’t be doing my part if I didn’t mention Chippendales.The long-running male revue will return to the Celebrity Theatre Saturday, May 2 for some strip show fun. Chippendales (named the “Best Male Strip Show in Last Vegas” by the…
Loads of people were biding a fond farewell to Last Exit Bar & Grill in Tempe this past Saturday night at its sixth anniversary party. As I reported last week, the affair was ostensibly the music venue’s last hurrah before closing for good due to its co-owners Devin Schulte and…
Before the Unwigged & Unplugged show even started last night, the official Spinal Tap moment had already happened. When the announcer came onstage at Dodge Theatre to do the customary plugging of upcoming shows, he looked over the half-full house and noted that the guys backstage had asked him if…
Did you know that Third Eye Blind is still around? Yeah, me either, but the “Semi-Charmed Life” guys (they were crystal meth before crystal meth was cool!) are still a band and still touring, apparently at venues as large as the Marquee. Go figure. What other bands you used to…
