Chances are, if you worked at a record store during the ’90s (remember those places you used to be able to sell your used CDs for actual cash money?) you probably had a discussion with a fellow music geek about which Lou Barlow band was better: Dinosaur Jr. or Sebadoh…
Lucero’s bio reads like one of those feel-good rock ‘n’ roll stories that seem too good to be true. Start with the modest beginnings: A punk-infused alt-country band forms in 1998 in Memphis and puts out a pair of albums on the little-known Madjack Records label, eventually signing with the…
Although they might be loath to admit it, the members of the Valley’s current hipster DJ scene owe a ginormous debt of gratitude to William Fucking Reed (pictured). His highly popular indie dance weekly Shake!, which rocked The Rogue Bar in Scottsdale for five years straight, also proved to be…
If Christopher Walken’s memorable turn on Saturday Night Live as The Continental taught us anything, it’s that there’s nothing better than a fine bottle of cham-pahn-ya. Said lesson was perfectly illustrated when we visited brand new North Scottsdale nightspot Narcisse recently. Valentine’s Day weekend was filled with plenty of action,…
Title: Lesson Number OneBasics: The Father Figures are appropriately named — I don’t know the exact ages of member Tom Reardon, Michael Cornelius and Bobby Lerma, but this photo I saw upon opening the CD case let me know roughly just how old they might be. Usually I cringe at…
When tomorrow’s pop culture writers look back at the meteoric career of dreamy teen pop sensation Justin Bieber it’ll be easy to pinpoint the exact moment his star started to fall.That’d be February 13, 2011 — the night of the Grammy Awards — when the mop-topped Canadian scamp was passed…
Arcade Fire It’s been less than twenty-four hours since Arcade Fire’s amazingly good album The Suburbs won ‘Album of the Year’ at this year’s Grammy Awards. Frankly, I’m still a little shocked that the Grammys got it right for once. When I first heard that the band was nominated I…
The 2011 Grammy Awards kept things classy this year: There wasn’t even a single mention of Ke$ha during the entire show!Good job, Grammy people! Thanks for taking out the trash this year. Aside from the lack of slutwave music, here’s a rundown of last night’s show.Martina McBride, Jennifer Hudson, Yolanda…
Artist: Lisa SavidgeTitle: Lisa SavidgeBasics. Lisa Savidge. Nah, I’m just messing with you. Phoenix shoegaze/post rock/post punk quintet Lisa Savidge marks a first for YAFI — an album that comes out within a day of getting the YAFI treatment. There’s been plenty of healthy hype surrounding Lisa Savidge — five guys…
We’ve all heard of concert tickets that sold out in record time. Last year Garth Brooks sold more than 140,000 tickets in a day to a benefit show. Lady Antebellum sold out an arena in Georgia in seven minutes last year as well. Most recently, Coachella sold all of its…
Artist: Liam’s ProblemTitle: Liam’s Problem EPBasics: Liam’s Problem describes themselves as a “musical journey through rock, soul, funk and blues” and “as likely to be influenced by The Allman Brothers or Parliament Funkadelic as they are Led Zeppelin or Pear Jam.”There is definitely a Pearl Jam/Soundgarden influence mixed with some…
Drea Doll of the Venomous Pinks put together this flier for a wild and crazy punk rock show that’s going down this Saturday night.”Any music from Evil Beaver and the Venomous Pinks could be considered airborne toxic material,” Drea said, explaining the sea of people wearing gas masks in the…
Plain White T’s have come a long way since their first studio album was released 11 years ago. Ten albums further, to start with. The T’s — whom, yes, you know from That Song, which I’ll remind you about in a few lines — are currently touring in support of…
There’s something to be said for consistency — at least that’s what you take away from Scott H. Biram’s song “Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Blue,” off his 2009 record Something’s Wrong/Lost Forever. The character falls within Biram’s general specialty of wandering wastrels, truck-driving whiskey-drinkers, and lost souls rootless as…
With country music’s “New Traditionalist” movement of the ’90s officially pushing up daisies in the wake of the current Taylor Swift/Lady Antebellum/Sugarland country/pop movement, unabashed country singers like John Michael Montgomery have been shut out of the major-city arena-tour circuit and are now playing gigs in places like Wickenburg, where…
Whether we chalk it up to SB 1070 outrage or the economy or the moldy reflexive feminism of the event itself, one thing is certain about the 2010 “revival” version of Lilith Fair: It didn’t come here. The all-distaff music festival was forced to scrap 13 dates last year, including…
The King of Pop. His Royal Badness. Collectively, Michael Jackson and Prince helped define the early-’80s era of MTV, revolutionized both R&B and popular music, sold an eff-load of albums, and influenced thousands of musicians worldwide. Head-to-head, however, it’s hard to say who was better. This pop-star smackdown is at…
The saucy cowgirls at Shotgun Betty’s Rock & Roll Salloon serve their shots with a side of attitude. These gals dance on tabletops while classics from Def Leppard, Journey and Guns N’ Roses blast through the well-stocked bar, which is complete with a motorcycle. Check out this week’s Club Candids…
Why is it that bands — and people in general — seem to be appreciated so much more once they’re gone?After they’re out of reach, suddenly a person somehow becomes even more important than before. You’ve seen it when someone dies, of course, and also when a band like The…
called it from the very beginning of the football game: The Super Bowl halftime show would be 10 minutes of the Black Eyed Peas shouting. And indeed it was.Between the bad pickup on the microphones and the complete lack of nip-slips, this year’s Super Bowl halftime show downright sucked.The whole…
Am I the only one who really, really hates Nicki Minaj? You’d think so based on only a smattering of anti-Nicki talk on ye ole interwebz, compared to a torrent of anti Ke-dollarsign-ha fury and all the hate of other comparable slutwave artists.For example: There are a mere 1,500 members…
Title: Touch My Beer and I’ll Kill Ya Basics: Let’s start with what Catfish Mustache isn’t (thank God): Countrified rock, emo, pop-punk. What we do have — in lieu of all those super fun genres — is some funk rock with some hip-hop sprinkled in for good measure. Warning –…
