The only thing music correspondents are concerning themselves with right now is what’s the song of the summer gonna be — that special confection that encapsulates in 3 1/2 minutes something that’s going to make life on a planet that’s cooking itself with Jiffy-Pop finality worth sticking around for. Well,…
By Jonathan McNamara In the ancient times before Rock had been drawn, quartered and separated into an unrecognizable mass of encyclopedic classification Britannica in proportion; before The Beatles ushered in the first British Invasion; before the very word “rock” was even uttered in a backwater pub by some guitarist who…
Perfect Timing Entertainment’s Grid City on Thursday, July 3rd. By Lilia Menconi It gets weirder. Check the slideshow for more. It’s really not that unusual for us to end up in some strange house downtown. Typically, we’re one of the stragglers at the alluring yet oft-disappointing after-party — scrounging for…
All of the *Sadisco events I’ve been to have been fun, but very few shows by the underground productions company/local rivethead collective that I’ve attended have featured full band instrumentation. Usually, there’s just a crew of DJs, spinning a sick mix of underground trance, psycho techno, industrial, and death rock.
By Benjamin Leatherman Here’s a list of what’s been selling at Circles Records & Tapes (800 North Central Avenue in Phoenix) for the Week of June 30 to June 6: 1. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (Cash Money) 2. Plies, Definition of Real (Atlantic) 3. The-Dream, Love Hate (Def Jam)…
This week’s “Flier of the Week” comes from local rockers Antique Scream. The band is currently on tour, and this flier is actually for a show in Las Vegas, but I chose it for two reasons: 1) the retro go-go chick art is really cool, and 2) notice how it says “from Phoenix, Arizona” beneath the band’s name. Hats off to Antique Scream for giving props to their hometown — I rarely see that from local bands who’re touring nationally.
This week, I’m reviewing the new album by Phoenix hip-hop artist Fetti Profoun. I reviewed his debut CD back in 2006, which I called “one of the most impressive local hip-hop debuts in years.”
So…sophomore slump for Fetti, or did he outdo himself? Read on.
Since it’s Monday, I was going to do a blog analyzing various songs about Mondays, from the usual suspects like the Boomtown Rats’ “I Don’t Like Mondays” to lesser-known odes like Fleetwood Mac’s “Monday Morning.” But then I got an e-mail from local experimental band Janis Joplin Crap N Vomit, who, in addition to having one of the most intriguing band names in the Valley, also possess some palatable-but-quirky pop skills.
By Joseph Golfen Better than: a sauna, but not by much. The little, wooden stage at the Modified Arts was sweltering. The air was still and thick with the type of humidity that rolls in with the monsoons every summer. “I know you guys probably get tired of bands coming…
In the spirit of the Fourth of July, and to show appreciation for all those who served and sacrificed for the freedom we celebrate today, here’s an assemblage of USO music performances for our troops.
By Jonathan McNamara While I’m sure all of you are planning to spend the weekend reading biographies on our founding fathers and saluting the flag, here are a few less patriotic suggestions you may wish to employ. Friday: First Friday Just because it’s Independence Day doesn’t mean the monthly spectacle…
By Benjamin Leatherman Folksy indie quirksters Polka Dot Dot are scheduled to visit the Trunk Space. Normally we’d be putting this up tomorrow, but since it’ll be a holiday (and in all likelihood y’all will be out feting freedom, fireworks, and frankfurters for three days straight) we thought we’d give…
By Steve Jansen A few weeks ago in a recent Noise Boy column, I wrote about Eric Graf and the fellows who front Carillons. Well, before they formed this epic electro-indie outfit, they had another just-as-epic group called Ecclesia. Here’s a song called “Screenery” from Ecclesia’s 2006 debut Birdsong Over…
I know what you’re thinking: The Booze Pig has finally drunk himself stupid — is this guy really going to review a sports bar? Well, let me start by saying that the hole in question used to be called the Copper Coin and, back in its day, it was my…
Rock ‘n’ roll has had a hefty impact on American pop culture and identity for the past 50 years or so, more often than not intersecting with our politics and whatever social unrest afflicts us at the time. With Independence Day right around the corner, we’re celebrating some of the…
Two-time Grammy winner Common, 36, is best known for his socially conscious rhymes on albums like Be and, more recently, Finding Forever, but that probably won’t be the case for long. Like so many rappers, he’s been bitten by the acting bug. Last year, he appeared in shoot-’em-up Smokin’ Aces…
THURSDAY 3 Axis/Radius: Divine Ladies Night with MCB & DJ Devine (various) Blooze Bar: DJ El Dedo (rockabilly) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Cherry Lounge: Greed Thursdays (hip-hop, electro) Club Forbidden: Lips Thursdays with DJs Domenica, Hill, & MJ (various) Club Red: The Blunt Club with Chip Fu, Bukue One, Pickster One, DJ Element,…
Underwater Getdown’s not real big on linear arrangement, with its various instruments intruding on choruses and bridges and taking the songs for wild swings around the meter. There’s some good, moody songwriting here, and some nice melodies, but stylistically, UG is all over the place. Some songs, like “Monrovia,” have…
Over the years, reviewers aplenty have wished for Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo to grow up. But when he’s occasionally tried to do so, the results have served as an argument for endless adolescence — at least until now. The group’s latest self-titled release is practically a novelty disc, albeit a notably…
The Beautiful Bodies’ debut, Touch Me, is an awkward and only occasionally rewarding combination of pale Yeah Yeah Yeahs mimickry and roaring classic rock. It’s as if Karen O hijacked Rush before either party was fully formed. Bodies frontwoman Alicia Solo, for all her stage appeal and self-promotional charisma, has only…
This politically and socially conscious hip-hop collective from Denver hit big in April with its song “Handlebars,” off its second album, Fight with Tools. The tune tackles topics like gas-guzzling SUVs, corporate greed, and nuclear holocausts within the framework of a melody that could’ve been cribbed from playground sing-alongs. The…
In 1991, 16volt founder Eric Powell had a vision: He wanted to merge the gritty, primal guitars of garage rock and punk with the relentless machinistic throttle and hum of industrial beats. The result was a barrage of “coldwave” songs brimming with blips and glitches on 16volt’s 1993 debut album,…
