The Faint @ Crescent Ballroom| 11/23/12Dance rock favorites The Faint returned to Phoenix last night after a hiatus, armed with new songs, a Sonic Youth cover, and the band’s enduring synth-punk classic, Danse Macabre, in its entirety. Signs in the lounge warned about the band’s “heavy strobe lighting,” and in…
Curious what’s going on around town this weekend? Need some suggestions as to how to rock, dance, or krump in the Valley of the Sun? Don’t fret: These are our Five Shows to See This Weekend…
Soft Shoulder, The Pharmacy, JJCNV, Counterfeit Redcoats @ Trunk Space|11/20/12When I refer to a band as “bar rock,” I am not citing any definition of the term already established in musicological literature, but rather my own frame of reference. For me, bar rock can be defined in two separate waves,…
Young Prisms @ Rhythm Room|11/19/12The best shoegaze achieves what I think of as negative guitar momentum: distorted or whorled chord effects that, even when paired with hard and steady rhythms, are capable of washing out the meter to give the feeling of moving backwards. It’s related to the weird serenity…
Andrew Jackson Jihad @ Crescent Ballroom| 11/18/12Last night was what homecoming show is all about. Almost a year has passed since Andrew Jackson Jihad’s last hometown show, so there was plenty of anticipation. The show progressively got better and better, leading up to a very unexpected and excellent ending. I’m…
Curious about what’s going on around town during the Thanksgiving holiday music-wise? Plenty, to say the least, as local bands and DJs are gearing up for gigs on both the evening before Turkey Day on Wednesday and during Thanksgiving night on Thursday. Need some suggestions as to how to rock,…
The Deftones @ Marquee Theatre|11/17/12The Deftones rocked an absolutely packed house at The Marquee Theatre last night, treating Valley rock fans to one of the best shows of the year. From the opening notes of “Diamond Eyes” singer Chino Moreno took command of the room with one of his outstanding…
The Faint will makes its triumphant return to Phoenix next week, following a two-year hiatus. This isn’t just any show: The band is playing its landmark synth-punk record Danse Macabre in its entirety. The concert will include a few new songs as well as fan favorites, so you will get…
Witch Mountain @ Yucca Tap Room|11/12/12I’ve always felt troubled by the psychological exercise of word association, that each response would reveal some flawed abnormality about my character. If you were to say doom metal in such an exercise, my response would most likely be “relaxation” or “easy listening.” Doom, as…
Rusko @ Marquee Theatre| 11/11/12Last night marked the highly anticipated rescheduled date for English producer/dubstep DJ Christopher Mercer, who performs under the moniker of Rusko. Mercer was unable to perform in May due to illness, according to Steve Levine Entertainment’s Facebook event. The headlining DJ didn’t just show off his…
Jens Lekman @ Crescent Ballroom|11/9/12Jens Lekman calls his songs “stories.” Introducing “I Know What Love Isn’t,” the title track from his 2012 LP, Lekman described driving around in a friend’s crappy old car, listening to classic rock radio, and talking about “life, love, and things that that.” He’d become interested…
6 Rounds of Punk with The Misfits, The Vandals, Strung Out, and Guttermouth @ Celebrity Theatre| 11/9/126 Rounds of Punk is a dream come true for fans of good ol’ punk rock. Okay, so maybe not in 2012, but it would have been a dream lineup a decade or two…
Captain Squeegee with the ASU Concert Jazz Band @ Crescent Ballroom | 11/8/12Musicians and concertgoers were nearly indistinguishable at the Crescent Ballroom last night when sci-fi geek rockers Captain Squeegee and Arizona State University’s Concert Jazz Band crowded the stage. With so many people playing, it was hard to tell…
Minus the Bear, Cursive, and Girl In a Coma, Cursive @ Marquee Theatre|11/8/12The term “indie rock” is a convenient catchall, but last night at the Marquee Theatre, the term’s definition was stretched to the limit. Minus the Bear, Cursive, and Girl in a Coma utilize elements of a lot of…
Omaha indie rockers Cursive are no strangers to making concept albums. From Domestica’s tale of Sweetie and Pretty Baby to the religious town in Happy Hollow, each album has its own narrative thread. This is abundantly clear on the band’s seventh album, I Am Gemini. “I was writing really jerky…
Titus Andronicus and Ceremony @ Crescent Ballroom, 11/6/12″Good night, good luck, and four more years!” said Patrick Stickles as he high-fived fans from the stage as Titus Andronicus wrapped up a solid set that ran almost two hours. The night wasn’t as political as it could have been, both bands…
Retox and Regents @ Yucca Tap Room|11/6/12By Mike Bogumill While most people were at the Titus Andronicus and Ceremony show enjoying a bar rock act and a hardcore band, both of which escaped their respective niches to achieve crossover success among general indie audiences, two bands with similarly prefixed names,…
Seattle math rock-meets-electronic indie band Minus the Bear has been going strong for 12 years now, spending most of its time on the road or in the studio. As a testament to how much the band tours, take a look at how many times we’ve reviewed the band over the…
Eddie Vedder @ Comerica TheatreEddie Vedder lists his tools. In the booklet handed out to concertgoers at last night’s packed performance, the Pearl Jam frontman laid out a detailed list of gear he’d be using during the evening: guitars, ukuleles, amplifiers, a modified kick drum made from a Corona box,…
Alanis Morissette @ Comerica Theatre|11/1/12A lot has changed for Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette since the release of her 1995 breakthrough album, Jagged Little Pill. She no longer pens angry songs about the “Mr. Duplicity” who wronged her; she now focuses on her role as a wife and a mother on…
Earth @ Rhythm Room|10/31/12″The last time I was in Phoenix, I was opening for The Lemonheads,” Earth guitarist Dylan Carlson intoned with a chuckle last night at the Rhythm Room. “I was all by myself.” See also: Earth Drummer Adrienne Davies Discusses Cutting Loose (By Earth Standards) The contrast between…
PiL @ Marquee Theatre|10/30/12″You all look so fucking happy!” Public Image, Ltd. frontman John Lydon called out the crowd about halfway through the band’s Marquee Theatre performance. And he was right; the surprisingly small crowd was truly caught up in the moment because; well, simply because the music was so…
