Not so long ago, Kings of Leon and Built to Spill inhabited the same college radio territory, with Kings of Leon the plucky up-and-comers and Built to Spill the wily veterans. We all know what happened next — the youngsters got haircuts and became international megastars, and the senior band…
Kepi Ghoulie’s bottomless servings of sugary sweet musical candy make him the ultimate pop-punk confectioner. Though he hails from Sacramento, California — hours north of pop-punk’s ground zero — he shares a kinship with such SoCal progenitors as Descendents, Redd Kross, and The Vandals. He got his start in the…
A decade after O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the word “Americana” is about as specific as “beer.” Portland combo The Beautiful Train Wrecks take advantage of the loose boundaries, working from lonesome pedal steel and loping trad-country twang to heartland roots rock with a pop sensibility reminiscent of Counting Crows…
Drake has player written all over him.The 23-year-old rapper’s sexy as hell, he’s good friends with lady lover Lil Wayne, and he’s young and one of the brightest stars in the music industry today–the perfect formula for getting with as many ladies as he wants, whenever.But the second single off…
Artist: Mill’s EndTitle: Mill’s End, the band’s self-titled, debut EP.Basics: Billed as a band that “carries on a tradition of American Alt-Country that blends modern influences with folk/Americana songwriting,” Mill’s End’s sound is “firmly rooted in a style reflective of Drive By Truckers, Whiskeytown, the Jayhawks and the Old 97’s,…
Sometimes you get really lucky and stumble into a rowdy Sunday night, like Oakland synth-rock duo Wallpaper’s dance-tastic show at the Sail Inn over the weekend. Peep the slideshow to see all kinds of beautiful fools goin’ T-Rex big in Tempe…
You know your corner laundromat, where that one college kid always brings her books to study while her clothes are washing, and your neighbor from down the street asks you to borrow quarters every week? It’s become sort of an unofficial hang-out for people in the hood, always bustling with…
Zia Records in Phoenix always seems to attract the hip hop and metal crowds. While this week is no exception with Eminem’s The Recovery coming in at number 1, and both Ozzy Osbourne and Whitechapel making the list. Apparently the Phoenix kids still dig classic rock though, as Exile on…
Unless the weathermen on the boob tube are lying through their bleached white teeth, Independence Day weekend is surely gonna be a scorcher. But though most the Valley will be sweating their collective asses outdoors watching fireworks and whatnot, Markus Schulz and his fans will be kicking it within the…
M.C. Hammer is the Lady Gaga of 20 years ago. Dubious musical talent? Pretty much. Over-the-top fashion statements? You betcha: “Hammer Pants” are still bizarre. Loads of charisma, a knack for playing to the cameras, and first-rate showmanship? Undoubtedly. Chart-topping, mega-selling phenomenon? Without question. Hammer — born Stanley Kirk Burrell…
There’s something vaguely dark and mysterious about Fargo, North Dakota’s ambient, psychedelic, otherworldly-sounding trio Secret Cities. The term “secret city” refers to the towns in the former Soviet Union where weapons were manufactured and/or stored and weren’t entirely made public until 1992. Though the band’s sound may not be quite…
For nearly 30 years, pop-punk rascal Paul Caporino and M.O.T.O. (Masters of the Obvious) have been forging timeless sing-along punk with razor-sharp Buzzcocks- and Hüsker Dü-style riffs and an often-twisted wit that recalls Nick Lowe at his most mischievous. Whether he’s offering an ode to post-coital self-aggrandizement (“Well, I just…
There’s an indefinable, rough-around-the-edges quality that well-seasoned country, folk, and Americana musicians have. You can hear in their voices the life experiences that give the music authenticity and make them believable and relatable. Though this typically comes only with having lived a hard life, every once in a blue moon…
L.A.’s Radar Brothers (formerly Radar Bros. — a subtle difference, but important) have been doing their thing for a while, putting out six records in the past 14 years, the latest being this year’s The Illustrated Garden. Phoenix-based music blog So Much Silence hasn’t been around quite as long, but…
There was good reason to believe that Jordin Sparks would disappear right around now-ish. Her first album sold 2 million copies, but Battlefield, despite being a significant improvement over its predecessor, hasn’t even made it to a tenth of the sales. Then, her tour of midsize theaters was postponed. The…
Band: TugboatTitle: Patches of LandBasics: Tempe five-some Tugboat are quite an anomaly in today’s You Asked For It game — a rare effort from a band that, when I tell my peers about the record, I don’t have to be six beers deep, lamenting why it is I do these columns.Previous You Asked For…
Eminem is shaping up to become quite the softy.His first single off his current album, Recovery, was “Not Afraid,” where he sang, “Everybody come take my hand, we’ll walk this road together.” He’s also done collaborations with popster Pink and emo girl Hayley Williams of Paramore, whom in a past…
While Radio Phoenix keeps up on what’s new, and fresh, and hip, they don’t get so caught up on it that they can’t appreciate things that are a couple weeks, or months, or years old. This isn’t to say that retro hits will be charting, but if a good comp…
At first glance, this poster for the Sweetbleeders show at Long Wong’s in Tempe Saturday, June 26 looks like a crime scene–there is what appears to be a bloody hand print and some eerie red substance dripping down the walls.But a closer look reveals there’s nothing sinister at all about…
Dave McGraw and Crow Wing’s rambling, folksy, old-style country sounds like the desert. It’s that stripped-down, no-frills approach that Arizonans cling to, even more than the big, glitzy sound that dominates the FM country airwaves. This aesthetic is often likened to the landscape that occupies southern Arizona, filled with jagged…
Though he currently resides in much greener pastures, singer-songwriter Damien Jurado seems to have a pretty solid connection to the Grand Canyon State, specifically a few of our dustiest locales. He sang about an Arizona gal on his 1997 debut St. Waters Ave, in a song called “Yuma, AZ,” and…
Tricky T has been part of some pretty potent P-town dance parties over the past 15 years. From his days ripping it up with Z-Trip in the late ’90s at the old Green Room in Tempe to his most-recent gig at Pinky Ring Wednesdays, the Trickster most definitely knows how…
