It’s a simple formula: The BluesHounds play upbeat dance blues, and that gets the people happy. The happy people start dancing, and the dancing makes them thirsty, and the thirsty people make club owners happy. Matty Spinelli, lead guitarist and bandleader for the BluesHounds, doesn’t mind the way things work;…
By Aaron Thompson For 20 years, Japan’s Melt-Banana has been one of those overseas acts that is nearly impossible to accurately label. With a scant discography, given their tenure, but an influential footprint on everything from grindcore and power violence to math rock, noise, and even space rock, Melt-Banana’s secret…
Donald Glover has been making the anti-rounds of press for Because the Internet, his latest Childish Gambino LP due out next month, bouncing from city to city and playing it in the open for anyone who reads his Twitter announcements. He’s declined most interview requests, save for a scant Noisey…
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’s soundtrack is the latest in a proud, increasingly long young-adult franchise movie tradition: Pitching their soundtracks at the college-rock types who actually buy compilation albums. It’s streaming now on iTunes, and that means it’s time for another set of strikingly competent tracks pointed at aging…
Courtesy of Columbia/SycoZayn and the crew[Editor’s Note: In his column Serrano Time, award-winning writer and goofball Shea Serrano writes about his life and times.] Song: One Direction’s “Story Of My Life” History: A long time ago, there were barbershop quartets. After that, there were the New Kids on the Block,…
An evening with Nik Turner on his “Space Ritual” tour promises to be both a learning and — according to Nik himself — a “healing” experience. In fact, Turner told Up on the Sun, “The energy that we’re putting into [this tour] sort of transcends what the thing is about…
Beloved local metal quartet St. Madness has been stirring the pot of metal insanity for about 20 years, and you usually won’t know what to expect from them, especially at a live show. But anyone who has met lead vocalist Prophet — a.k.a. Patrick Flannery — knows that the band…
“Somehow I guess Lou Reed was my evil mother.” In the wake of Lou Reed’s death, Arish Ahmad Khan couldn’t help but shade his stories – that span from his juvenile delinquency to the years that went into making his latest record – with memories of the rock poet who…
Ten years ago, Songs: Ohia released its 10th and final album, Magnolia Electric Co., marking the end of that band and the beginning of another, which would take its name from Songs: Ohia’s final effort. Eight months ago, Jason Molina, the genius behind the record, died from organ failure in…
Audacity’s third album finds the band pushing in opposite directions at the same time. The Fullerton, California, garage-punk quartet plays with a homemade, youthful, and defiant style that makes the most out of its chaotic and unpredictable twists, all served up with an endless stream of hooks. Butter Knife, released…
Easy mode is making a Boris Yeltsin joke when Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin comes to town. Hard mode is not making a Boris Yeltsin joke. Really hard mode is not making a Boris Yeltsin joke even though you think you’ve got a great one. Because it’s probably not…
If you’ve read any of my prior ramblings, then you know that I explore the topic of musical credibility a lot. It’s in my nature. Should you and I like what we like, regardless of critical stature, or should we concentrate on artists with a certain level of critical credibility?…
Bill Callahan picks his words carefully. If one thing defines his recent work – pastoral, grooving, and far removed from his noisier days recording under the name Smog – it’s the way he selects his words. “The only words I’ve said today are beer and thank you,” he croons on…
By Brad Cohan “I wanted to name the album using a word that was cute and started with ‘F,'” says screeching vocalist Yako about the impetus behind fetch, the first album in six years from legendary Japanese noise-makers Melt-Banana. That happy-go-lucky vernacular is no shocker considering Yako and guitarist/partner-in-crime Agata…
There’s no more sun in Cults’ eyes. The Manhattan-based indie-pop act best known for the cloyingly sweet singles “Go Outside” and “Oh My God” have returned with Static, a departure from what set sights on them in the first place. The only familiar part of their aesthetic is the album cover itself, placing vocalist Madeline Follin and vocalist/guitarist Brian Oblivion’s silhouettes at the forefront. Most everything else, however, is different.
There are few places in the world where Touaregs-Malian Bedouin nomads can feel at home, but the Arizona desert is one of them. “This caravan started in the desert of Mali, but we ended up in the United States,” bandleader Liya Ag Ablil told the small but enthusiastic Rhythm Room…
Diehard fans of Southern mathcore outfit The Chariot know what’s happening. They know that after a 10-year run the band is finally going its separate ways. The Chariot is a little over two weeks out from their last show ever, taking place in vocalist and founding member Josh Scogin’s hometown…
Portland’s Quasi will be visiting the Rhythm Room on Monday in support of their excellent new double-album, Mole City. The band, which turned 20, features two accomplished vets of the Northwest scene, Sam Coomes (guitar/vox/keyboards) and Janet Weiss (drums/vox); when they aren’t devoting their time to Quasi, both have played…
You’ve got less than a month of shopping days until you think about doing Black Friday for a minute and then just decide to go closer to Christmas instead. In the meantime, consider giving yourself the gift of any of these five must-see Phoenix shows…
It can be easy to miss unless you’re looking for it, but there’s a lot of metal in the Valley, locals and touring acts alike. That’s why we’re looking for it. Here’s a list of nine shows–the 10th was Thursday’s Testament/Killswitch Engage/Lamb of God/Huntress bonanza–you must see this month, as…
Chances are, whatever you’re listening to right now isn’t as heavy as The Body’s Christs, Redeemers. The record, the latest from southern-born duo Chip King and Lee Buford, opens with a haunting drone, “I, The Mourner of Perished Days,” before “To Attempt Openness” kicks in, marrying Buford’s doomy drums and…
Cut Copy Marquee Theatre Wednesday, November 6, 2013 Australian synth-pop/new wave rockers Cut Copy made its long awaited return to Marquee Theatre last night in support of the band’s forth full-length album, Free Your Mind. Cut Copy played an energetic hour-and-a-half set that embraced what a dance party should be…
