One Thursday last spring, Ted Myers was stuck in a cubicle, trying to figure out his future. He’d graduated from ASU with a degree in communications the year before, and got a job selling ads for a local newspaper (coincidentally, the one you’re reading), where he dressed business casual and…
One basic characteristic of Bollywood films is the fact that actors generally do not use their own singing voices during the musical numbers — that task goes to playback singers like Asha Bhosle, who has participated in almost 1,000 such flicks during the past six decades. In the meantime, she…
Kieran Hebden is an electronica performer better known as Four Tet; drummer Steve Reid is a veteran of 1960s and ’70s R&B and free jazz scenes. They initially seem like an unlikely pairing, but not when one considers the cross-pollination between jazz, electronica, and indie-rock scenes over the past couple…
For a band not too far removed from high school, you’d think Ministry of Love might have paid more attention in English class. In George Orwell’s 1984, the Ministry of Love was the building where Winston Smith was interrogated, tortured, and brainwashed. Not exactly the epitome of “love.” Considering the…
Before embarking on a national tour with Valley darlings Dear and The Headlights — one that ends with a swanky SxSW showcase — Phoenix’s own Miniature Tigers will hone their craft at Modified Arts. A spot at SxSW seems like the natural progression for the band, fresh off their performance…
Ladies and gentleman, start your SoCal punk and rap-rock engines. Orange County punk rockers (hed) p.e. are kicking off their 2009 tour in Tempe a day after their new album, New World Orphans, hits the shelves. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “What does the ‘p.e.’ stand for?” Perhaps it’s…
We sincerely hope the walls of the Draw 10 Lounge, 5444 East Washington Street, are earthquake-proof because they definitely will be shaking, thanks to all the bass-heavy beats that will be blasted Saturday, January 10, during Jumpdown Sessions Vol. II. A throbbing selection of dubstep, jungle, and other booming genres…
Da REAList is not Plies’ meditation on Platonic realism; it’s mostly just demonstrably false braggadocio and sentimental hooey. The main problem with this record is that a July Hip Hop DX report showed that despite Plies’ claims to be a lifelong thug, he’s actually been arrested only twice — fairly…
Heading into their full-length debut with a full head of steam — thanks in part to a series of infectious singles — British four-piece Late of the Pier crashes the party, ready to unleash an unflinching electronic sound upon the masses. Most of the album consists of bizarre sounds that…
Hot Chip’s “Ready For The Floor” is my favorite song of the moment, so I was interested to learn that the band’s next project, an EP with Robert Wyatt and Geese is scheduled to come out on Jan. 27. If you want it, though, you’re gonna have to go in…
The Jury may still be out on whether Merriweather Post Pavilion is the best album of 2009, but the band has best album art of the year, or the past few years for that matter, locked up in some people’s eyes, including mine.As Domino Records gets ready to release the…
Phoenix teems with guitar players, and some of them are actually pretty good. A handful of them are exceptional.
When I was little, my dad would take my brother and I to see amateur boxing matches. I would spend pretty much the entirety of the bouts watching through my fingers, praying that the boxers didn’t kill each other. While I still blame having to sit through those matches for…
Did you miss Back Ted N-Ted’s performance at Trunk Space last night? No worries. They’re playing Trunk Space again on January 20 with Chronic Future and DJ Ben Collins. Until then, check out our Back Ted N-Ted slide show from the gig last night…
Daniel Rossen (left) and Fred Nicolaus of indie outfit Department of Eagles. Brooklyn folktronica duo Department of Eagles found themselves — or, more specifically, their October release In Ear Park — landing on a number of requisite year-end top 10 lists. Critics from Filter and NPR gave the disc its…
Few bands are anywhere near as funny as they think they are — The Dag Nabbit Stubbs is an exception. I mean, they’re not, like hilarious, but they play their hand for all it’s worth, backing up their redneck rock posturing with a sound like what the dead and zombified…
Mill Avenue Vexations is an ongoing literary project of Kyt Dotson, a former anthropology major at ASU who hangs out on the busy Tempe strip every weekend. The novel revolves around the character of Vex Harrow, a goth hottie who drives a cab for a living. Many of the stories revolve around Vex’s fares, friends, and family conflicts, and include details of familiar Mill hangouts like the Graffiti Shop and the Coffee Plantation.
The Internet age has finally done what Eddie Vedder couldn’t: Break Ticketmaster’s stranglehold on concert ticket sales.Starting now, tickets to Dodge Theatre will be available only through Livenation.com. Sarita Ray, public relations coordinator, says Cricket Wireless Pavillion, the mega-promoter’s other big Valley venue, will have its own system sometime soon,…
The International Pop Overthrow is coming to Phoenix.What’s that? You haven’t heard of International Pop Overthrow before this? Don’t worry, neither had I and I’m a) a music critic and b) someone with a softspot for indie pop.Still, this plucky little multi-city indie festival seems pretty cool, and will be…
Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel both enjoy wearing a silly hat, a basic freedom most Americans sadly don’t take advantage of.Well it finally happened. Indie rock icon and dorky eyeglasses connoisseur Ben Gibbard – better known to those few grandmothers and Buddhist monks (who actually don’t know who he is)…
Reel Big Fish’s trombone player Dan Regan (left) and vocalist Aaron Barrett. See more shots in our Reel Big Fish slide show. Dear Reel Big Fish, I never thought it would end like this, but I think we’re gonna have to call it quits. After more than a decade, I…
Much more of this in the slideshow.So we were basically feeling like poo-poo during this entire holiday season. We got the crud and it refused to go away. So it wasn’t until way after New Year’s Eve that we could even consider getting back to our partying ways.We were feeling…
