While absorbing the Blueshammer ersatz and pheromone-scented metallurgy of Icky Thump, the White Stripes’ sixth record, it’s hard not to long for the candy-striped sibs who once sat in that little room, working on something good. Remember them? Way back before the supermodel weddings, Nashville mansions, and sundry side projects?…
The men of Linkin Park seem awfully insecure. Minutes to Midnight is stuffed with take-us-seriously gestures, including the presence of producer Rick Rubin and liner notes that couldn’t be needier if they’d been written by Sally Field. For instance, the Parkers reveal in a footnote to “What I’ve Done” that…
It’s been four years since Fountains of Wayne’s last studio album, but the wait has been more than worth it, because FOW produces incredibly well-constructed pop. Besides a gift for hummable melodies, the group’s bite-size vignettes of middle-class angst (think John Updike’s Rabbit Angstrom) reveal a novelist’s eye for detail…
W.O.M.B. has always been difficult to define. Ever since the Valley band’s debut LP, 1999’s Warriors of Make Believe, the group has been producing thematically diverse music that ranges from the playful and poppy to the haunting and experimental. Now that singer/guitarist Marta Wiley and drummer Cristiana Cole have parted…
There’s nothing “alt” about the country music played by Phoenix resident Nick Nicholson. The Tennessee transplant plays straight up, rockin’ country, a combination of twang and bang influenced by the likes of Conway Twitty and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Nicholson’s opened for such kindred acts as Travis Tritt and Neal McCoy, and…
Music that bears the most repeated listenings hits you on an abstract, moth-to-a-naked-light bulb level. The attraction may be lyrical ambiguity, sonic submersion, a spirited count-off or just the decibel ring of a voice around the circumference of your skull. All we know is, we’ve been repeatedly playing the two…
By all accounts, the live shtick of this experienced Austin roots rock veteran is designed to astound and flatten. A qualified, working Joe-type Renaissance man, Guy Forsyth sings, dances, slings an ax, waxes deadly with a harp, and even wields the occasional musical saw as he roams around the spacious…
Backwards baseball cap-wearing white boys of Phoenix, rejoice! Kottonmouth Kings and Tech N9ne have teamed up for a summer tour and they are coming to town for back-to-back dates and they’re bringing their friends. Fans of Kottonmouth Kings will have the opportunity to hear live versions of some of their…
Rusted Root is the type of band you take shit for liking from people who’ve never seen them — simply because of the associations. Though they do frequently appear at jam-band festivals, there’s a lot more nuance, synthesis, and creativity here than you’ll find in your standard, 12-bar blues wankers…
Turns out that not everything stays in Vegas after all. To wit: DJ Larry Mac, who ditched the PHX in 2005 for a radio gig in Sin City but pulled a prodigal son. He recently returned to the city where he made a name for himself running legendary (and now-defunct)…
Let me start out by saying this: I love the Silver Pony. In fact, everyone I know that drinks at the Pony loves the Pony. I guess one of the positive consequences of urban sprawl (okay, the only positive) is discovering places that once were considered “out of town.” My…
A hot, fat bucket of garage, ’60s soul, and rock rock rock ‘n’ roll that tantalizes the jaded tongue with potent drops of the Kinks, the Detroit Cobras, and the Sonics — that’s right, the Sonics (why yes, it is a strangely similar name). The suavo-seductive attack formation of intense…
I’m a bad lesbian. I rarely go to gay pride events, I’ve only seen one episode of The L Word, you couldn’t get me anywhere near Lilith Fair. And I hardly ever hit the Valley’s gay and lesbian clubs anymore. There are a few reasons for this: There’s too much…
Most people know Johnette Napolitano as the singer and bassist of Concrete Blonde, but throughout her career, she’s had a hand in several side projects, including The Heads (with Talking Head Tina Weymouth), a duo called Vowel Movement, and the bands Pretty & Twisted and Catfish Scar. Amazingly, she’s been…
If the members of The Neoprimitive have a defining strength, it’s their ability to prioritize the unique quality of their music above the expectations of listeners or the limitations of genre. Each of the six tracks on the Tempe jam band’s self-titled EP embraces a different blend of world music…
After releasing a number of adventurous jazz albums, the Miami-based trumpeter goes back to his roots on this disc, delivering a straightforward collection of original songs that bear an Afro-Cuban feel not far from Buena Vista Social Club turf. Sandoval’s trademark high-register playing is not very prominent this time around,…
Recorded in an old war bunker, the twitchy rhythms and hard synths that drive Digitalism’s full-length debut are only part of the picture. Idealism is also shaped by its punk rock theatrics — shrill sampled guitar riffs bounce off both channels as keyboard blasts lap against drum loops. The German…
Fans of dirty country punk ‘n’ roll will love Big Tex and the Blazin’ Pintos. With raunchy, twangy tunes like “Young and Filthy” and “We Miss Your Chili,” this band may be Phoenix’s answer to Hank III. The cowboy-hat wearin’ quintet’s debut album, Round Up, is basically 16 tracks of…
This seven-piece eclectic entourage is no stranger to those of us here in the United States. The band hails from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and you won’t find any Mounties, hockey players or hosers here. Canada is no more Canadian than Toronto native Neil Young trying to pass as an American,…
No calendar year is complete without at least a handful of insurgent, crit-consensus staples that can’t quite win over the populace. M.I.A, Strokes, Liz Phair — we’re waving sadly back at you from a future where even Maroon 5’s label status is uncertain. Among 2007’s more deserving memes is Battles,…
Following in the footsteps of Latina crossover artists like Shakira and Aterciopelados, this Mexican pop singer takes her music into directions from pop-flavored rancheras and rock to reggaeton-inspired moments. Critics may dislike this lack of focus, but that is precisely the point. Though born in Mexico, Rubio was raised in…
Scottsdale’s debaucherous nightclub scene has gotten a bit dirtier in recent weeks, courtesy of new hot spot Dirty Pretty Rockbar, 7443 East Sixth Avenue. The swanky hangout, operated by the peeps behind the equally chic Pussycat Lounge, has been clogged with A-listers and other booful collar-poppin’ types ever since it…
