There’s one thing certain about Dick Taut and The Ripcords, a whatever-they-feel-like-playing ensemble with members culled from various parts of the Midwest: You never know what goofball lyrics will come out of the piehole of lead singer Dick Taut, a.k.a. Elijah Billington. The group’s latest release, with 15 tracks of…
In a recent interview, Wyclef Jean managed to sum up, in just a few words, the very thing fans both admire and abhor about the former Fugee. Bubbling over with understandable enthusiasm for Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant, the star-studded sequel (of sorts) to his 1997 solo debut,…
Guitarist Ben Chasny is the primary member of Six Organs of Admittance, a traditional indie-rock group with an ever-changing lineup. He’s pinned down a sound by blending his intricate guitar playing with Old World chimes, drones, and chanted vocals, and has created ethereal, peaceful tunes that bring about a Zen-like…
After spending years in the studio and onstage with some of rock’s biggest names, The Section Quartet is out to see just how far novelty can take them by hitting the road in support of their debut album, Fuzzbox. Released earlier this year, Fuzzbox features this traditional string quartet performing…
Phoenix-based metal band The Iris seems to thrive on exploring and adapting electronic sounds to its format — with no bass player, it relies heavily on the programming of guitarist Kasey Kautenburger and drummer Tim Klever, while Marilyn Manson-inspired vocalist Brandon Dooley moans and screams into the mic, taking encouragement…
The DJ scene around the ’Nix is quite tumultuous. Turntablists have a habit of changing up their weekly nights more often than Lindsay Lohan changes boyfriends. You know the drill: Your favorite jocks will be working the stage at a chic Scottsdale danceteria one week, only to replace it with…
I don’t know about you, but I’m happy as hell to get 2007 behind me. Maybe it’s my age (38), or the fact that I hang out with other Booze Pigs, but it seems as though this has been a rough year for everyone (especially my liver). Good friends moving…
We were super-nervous about Chez Nous’ big move from Seventh Avenue to Grand Avenue. Change is scary, especially when it revolves around a Valley staple of nightlife. So when we heard they pulled it off and that they were having a kickass New Year’s party, we decided to check it…
Until recently, the dance floor at the opulent-yet-ookie nightspot Palazzo, 710 North Central Avenue, was solely the domain of the gothy boys and ghouls who turned out on Fridays in droves for Tranzylvania, where they’d thrash about until the wee hours to murky darkwave and nihilistic anthems. But now these…
The holidays are a time for comforting surroundings and family. Since we made Faux Show Fridays at Glam our second home in 2007, we decided to spend some of our holiday cheer there on Friday, December 21, for its black-tie holiday party. (Click here for more photos.) It’s been more…
It’s not uncommon for a rock group to feature guest spots, rotating personnel, or additional instruments. Add a guitarist here, substitute a vocalist there, mic that kit a bit differently, and the textures change. Usually, the band retains their foundational elements. Not so when the Andrew Jackson Jihad includes a…
This East Valley quartet labels its music as “rock/funk/jazz,” but it’s easy enough to file their self-titled debut under just good ol’ “rock.” Many of the songs feature piano alongside precise rock guitar hooks and funky bass lines, along with memorable lyrics like “Revolving doors of whores and deadbeat guys”…
It’s a bloody shame that many folks outside of Chicago have never heard of Down Beat Magazine award-winning flautist Nicole Mitchell. Black Unstoppable, the first Delmark record by a woman in the label’s 54-year history, should help her achieve some much-deserved mainstream cred. Much like Bobbi Humphrey, who, in the…
The ’70s fell to Pink Floyd — and so the Zeroes have fallen to Daft Punk. The French duo started churning out techno/house/electronica music in the ’90s. Now, they’re globally dilated and definers of that diffuse genre. Alive 2007, their new album, is a live recording from a June concert…
If sleaze rock is the tongue-kissing cousin of heavy metal, then Nashville Pussy is Gene Simmons’ hillbilly stunt double. Led by the twin-guitar attack of husband and wife duo Blaine Cartwright and Ruyter Suys, the Atlanta-based act got its start glorifying Southern rock’s excesses in the late ’90s with songs…
There was a time when blues and R&B/black popular music were not so very far apart. Performers such as Etta James, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and Little Johnny Taylor merged the gritty, down-home aspects of the former with the polished, up-market style of the latter for a combination that could wow…
“There’s plenty of races on God’s green planet, that doesn’t mean you have to breed with them, goddammit,” rap unrepentant wiseacres Grand Buffet on “Americus (Religious Right Rock),” whose chorus mockingly lauds the child labor that produced its T-shirts. Mounted on cheesy, rudimentary, ’80s-style synth samples and sputtering drum beats,…
Though she gained plenty of attention for participating in Kyle MacDonald’s One Red Paper Clip trade project and her 24-hour lifestreams on the Internet, the music remains the best thing about this Phoenix-based indie musician. Her soulful mezzo-soprano voice fits the bluesy, funk-inflected material she writes. Her influences seem to…
The turntablists are definitely gonna be out in force on Monday, December 31 (a.k.a. New Year’s Eve), as nearly every DJ worth his or her weight in used vinyl has some sort of wax-working session planned for Auld Lang Syne. But if you can’t get into any of the bigger…
The Arcadia neighborhood is known for stellar real estate and early mornings at La Grande Orange. So the nightlife is most likely to take place safely at home with a nice bottle of wine in a setting fit for a Pottery Barn catalog. But we had our suspicion that there…
Imagine a coffee shop gig. There’s dude or dudette strumming away on stage, pouring his or her heart into the mic in between sips of complimentary joe (the musician’s payment for performing). It’s a nice change from the sounds of grinding beans and your mate’s babble about post-apocalyptic literature. But,…
Many have defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” which explains why Ben Franklin flew his kite in lightning only once. In pop music, you want that kind of insanity — plus repetition and reiteration on a theme, which, if done properly, can…
