After yanking back a 16-ounce can of sugary, guarana-infused Rockstar, whatcha gonna listen to? Sufjan Stevens? The Decemberists? Negatory, bro-ham! You’ll want exactly what this energy-drink-sponsored alt-metal tour brings to the table: blast beats, screamo vocals, and high-decibel thrash showmanship. Now in its third year, Rockstar’s answer to Ozzfest (conceived…
Adriane GoetzLoving life at Bar Smith. Phoenicians finally have their choice of dance venues on Friday nights, but Bar Smith was among the first to do it right and its Fuse Fridays are still going strong. Check out our slideshow from last Friday, where special guest DJ Udachi lit up…
Music lovers at Zia Records Chandler demanded darkness this week.Stone Sour came out on top with their new album. Avenged Sevenfold and Disturbed’s albums were also near the top of the list, signifying that locals are getting excited about this weekend’s Rockstar Uproar Tour and Arizona Fall Frenzy Festival.1. Stone…
Sobering news from Arizona State University’s newspaper today: ASU students are starting Glee-inspired clubs in several area schools.It’s apparently not enough to watch the awful show, or to call yourself by the insufferable sobriquet “Gleek” anymore. Now, you’ve gotta actually inflict showtunes upon the masses to prove your undying dedication…
MTV’s annual Video Music Awards have been working their way steadily downhill for a few years now.This year’s show was pretty damn near the bottom of the slope, one would hope. The 2010 iteration included predictable performances, a lack of pans to stars in the crowd, and a lack of…
Title: Debut LP AlbatrossBasics: Wait, what? An album that isn’t countrified in any way? Someone arranging tracks with a synthesizer?Sakas is from Arizona, right?Indeed he is — which makes his debut album Albatross all the more intriguing. You may be thinking: Hey, jackass, not every band from Arizona plays country or…
In this Thursday’s issue writer Dan Gibson provided an excellent analysis of why Paramore’s singer is forever tethered to her rather boring band.”The Paramore Paradox: Why Hayley Williams Can’t Leave the Band That Made Her Famous” is here.The piece caught Ms. Williams eye, it seems. She’s since blogged it and…
Not to be confused with Wolf Parade, AIDS Wolf, Wolfmother, Patrick Wolf, Wolf Eyes, Peanut Butter Wolf, Steppenwolf, Howlin’ Wolf, and the approximately 13,947 other “wolf” bands, Sea Wolf is the nom de indie folk of Los Angeles singer-guitarist Alex Brown Church. It may also be the least “wolf-like” of…
If Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke had a less talented baby that grew up, went to Duke University, and joined a frat, the result would be Mike Posner. His music sounds as if it came from an episode of Jersey Shore and is inundated with name-branded shout-outs for such products…
The bank account of Pickster One is probably growing exponentially by the day, what with everything that the obscenely talented turntable artist has piled on his plate lately. Besides his longstanding Blunt Club residency and his Tuesday joint at the new Rocky Point Cantina in Tempe, the 33-year-old spends his…
Nothing says soft rock quite like Michael Bolton. This year marks the silver anniversary of the debut album from the notoriously cheesy adult-contemporary hunk. Yup, it’s been 25 years since Bolton started wooing the fairer sex with his vibrato-filled crooning. But the 57-year-old singer hasn’t always been into the smooth…
Nowhere is the phrase “out of sight, out of mind” more applicable than the music business. This is why you could probably use a refresher course on Los Angeles fuzz-rockers Autolux. Six years ago — that’s nearly two decades in blog time — Autolux had a lot going for them…
Even if you enjoy the music of Kings of Leon — and with the older stuff, that’s acceptable, but I’m warning you that now is the time to jump off the bandwagon — those shitting pigeons were a harbinger of doom. The Kings’ most recent album is the straw of…
The three-day Labor Day weekend was filled with all manner of wild wingdings throughout the Valley. Some party monsters kept it going strong for four straight nights, including the dudes, dames, and dimes that hit the Crown Room in Scottsdale on Monday, September 6. No one seemed to mind the…
Record store junkies at Hoodlums Music and Movies have a taste for alternative and blues funk sounds. This week, new records from folk men Ryan Bingham and Ray LaMontagne’s were highly sought after. Local boys What Laura Says were quite popular as well. 1. Ryan Bingham, Junky Star See the…
Getting chased by something can be fun, such as in a game of tag. It can also be terrifying–think of running away from a serial killer. But when it comes to being tailed by a gang of flying mustaches, it’s sort of difficult what to think. Do you run away,…
Every college has its super-seniors: those students whose post-secondary studies exceed the bounds of the classic four-year plan. For some, the designation comes from partying too hard. For others, it’s a result of pursuing their varied interests, credits toward a major be damned. For The Necronauts, super-seniors of the Valley’s…
Though a band’s description of themselves is not always the most accurate assessment to go by, East Valley rockers Red Letter Drive seem to have summed up their own sound pretty well. “Sounds like progressive rock meets alternative rock meets pop-hard rock meets you,” they say. And they nailed it…
Help from Alice Cooper, placement in People magazine’s “Stars of the Future” issue and a mountain of cocaine? It seemed Gentlemen Afterdark were headed for great things in the early ’80s Phoenix new wave scene. Nope. This Phoenix glam act, once referred to as the “West Coast answer to the…
By now, loyal readers are probably familiar with the hullabaloo surrounding local band You Hang Up, which prominently features child actor Frankie Muniz (best known for his starring role in Malcolm in the Middle) on drums. You undoubtedly remember how You Hang Up scheduled a show, canceled it, and then…
A Screaming Females CD was delivered to my desk when I worked at a local radio station. An unabashed riot grrrl fanatic, I hosted a weekly show that juxtaposed yelling, pissed-off variations on Kathleen Hanna with ’60s girl groups harmonizing about how much they wanted to get married. So maybe…
Slick swimming soirees proved to be both potent and plentiful again this summer, but one of the bigger bashes has been rather conspicuous by its absence. Namely, Adult Swim, which arguably helped popularize the hipster hotel pool party trend two years ago but couldn’t quite get off the ground this…
