More often than not, a band’s hometown or adopted place of residence heavily influences its music. Bands love to sing about what they know, and the city where they grew up or have lived much of their lives is a perfect muse for their inspired songwriting. Unfortunately, sometimes a hometown…
It’s been six years, but the wait is over for die-hard Third Eye Blind fans — all 10 of them. TEB is set to release Ursa Major, their first studio album in six years, in August. The disc’s release date has been pushed back repeatedly, which rarely bodes well for…
It seems everyone wants a piece of the Johnny Cash legacy these days. In 2005, Walk the Line chronicled the country music legend’s life, scoring Reese Witherspoon an Oscar for her role as June Carter Cash and Joaquin Phoenix a Best Actor nod for his portrayal of the Man in…
Dude OfflineMonkey BabyRamper RecordsGRADE: BWe’ve been doing You Asked For It for just over a year now and it’s about time we had our first repeat customer. Dude Offline got his first record, Nerd Love, reviewed by Niki D’Andrea last year, and now he’s waited long enough for his seven…
If you’re in the arts, good luck trying to make a dollar. With any experience, you’ll learn the real currency of the creative world is relevancy. But without dollars or bank accounts, how can one tell their net worth?One indicator is having enough demand for your goods (whatever that may…
I actually have no idea what to expect from a bake sale run by roller derby girls, but I aim to find out tomorrow at First Friday…
In these fallow economic times, many a local bar owner has turned to DJ dance nights to draw crowds and their drinking dollars. Case in point: Hail Mary’s, 1402 South Priest Drive in Tempe (a place known more for serving Philly’s than phat beats) has hosting Groove Corps’ Spun Thursdays…
America hasn’t been particularly good to ska. Indeed, reggae’s dancier, spazzier cousin may have met its Waterloo here back in the late ’90s, when No Doubt started channeling Miami Sound Machine and fellow domestic acts like Reel Big Fish proved incapable of sustaining modern ska as a relevant alt-music lifeform…
In the self-descriptive sense, Youth Brigade is no longer a credible name for an iconic punk band that formed in 1980 and toured with Social Distortion during the early Reagan era. Then again, Middle Age Brigade seems a little neurotic, no? So what to do? Claim philosophical privilege, that’s what…
The jury is still out on this Fairfax, Virginia-based foursome: Legitimate heirs to Jimmy Eat World and other power-pop chart-toppers, or just another reason to hate the Internet? Because, yes, it was on iTunes that The Friday Night Boys first found appreciative teeny-bopper ears, leading to a one-off gig on…
Ladies and gentleman, presenting tonight’s performers: In one corner, we have the pride of Houston’s Jersey Village High School, “The People’s Champ,” the king of grills — Paul Wall. In the other corner, we have Houston’s own “Boss of All Bosses,” one half of the Boyz N Blue, the Boss…
Fresh on the release of their fourth studio album, New Again, Long Island rockers Taking Back Sunday will roll through the Valley to showcase their eclectic brand of rock, emo, and happy hardcore. There’s no denying the emo-ness of lead singer Adam Lazarra’s vocals — yet that same emo-ness helped…
Chad Krystal$ Superconscious (Self-released) GRADE: B-I generally try to make our weekly You Asked For It review more about music than career counseling, but there’s no way to avoid it with this week’s pick, Phoenix rapper Chad Krystals.Krystal$ has some things going for him. His white boy flow isn’t bad,…
Just when we thought our weekend was going to be boring, we got a last minute text from DJ Anthony Hart about an art show downtown. God bless technology. And what a relief it was to see an open gallery on a night other that a First or Third Friday…
I selected this week’s flier(s) of the week not only because they’re awesome (they are) but because they’re apparently for the same show at The Ruby Room Tuesday, one with a clear band hierarchy, the other pure anarchy. Both are very impressive though. Must be a bunch of art students…
It’s often difficult to easily describe just what makes a St. Vincent album such a special work of art. Annie Clark, the brains behind indie-rock act St. Vincent, gloriously stands out in the sea of female singer/songwriters. For one thing, her albums sound like nothing else released that year. She…
A slew of marquee-level mixmasters will be guest-starring at Valley clubs over the next seven nights. It all starts on Friday, May 29, with an appearance by Jay Tripwire. The Canadian-born house/soul DJ will be at Incognito, 2424 East Thomas Road, along with such locals as Steve Edwards, RMC, and…
Seeking a mellow, down-to-earth sound that’s completely soul-rocking? New York’s The Rosewood Thieves have it down to a science. These five folks exemplify modern folk rock while incorporating retro resonance. With their classic aura, and ability to tell a whole story in five minutes or less, the group has a…
Miles Davis is often credited with reinventing jazz five different times in such a way that his never-heard-before re-imaginings influenced music as a whole. Arguably, the same case can be said of contemporary soul songstress Erykah Badu. True, her relatively short recording career spans only 12 years, but it’s an…
Does Pennywise represent punk rock’s “second wave,” as described in the promoter’s official literature, or pop-punk’s first wave, as described by most critics? Or is it neo-gospel-rock’s fourth wave? Or who gives a shit? Whatever wave we’re talking about, all three of the band’s Jägermeister Music Tour tour-mates have surfed…
One could write a Roots-style epic about Wu-Tang Clan and its countless affiliates, familiars, confederates, and collaborators. If memory serves, didn’t Ashley Judd drop a few bars for the Wu in the early ’90s, right before Ruby in Paradise? The point is, it’s hard to keep track of them all…
Lucinda Williams can get very personal on her recordings, for better or for worse. Last year’s West was a melancholy collection about the loss of her mother. The downtrodden disc was also buzzkill if you weren’t in the mood for it. With Little Honey, Williams lightens up, dishing about her…
