By Mary Carreon Big news! There’s an album called 50 Shades of Dubstep. It’s got — you guessed it — 50 songs of goddamn dubstep. Amazon says it came out in August, but it just arrived in our mailbox this month. And so, we did what any logical person would…
The Used @ Marquee Theatre | 2/24/13 On Sunday night, the Marquee Theatre reverberated with the sound of cheering fans and hardcore screamo tunes on the Take Action Tour, which aims to raise awareness about such issues as teen suicide, bullying, and more (super-badass). The tour this year consists of…
Music has been recognized as one of the higher art forms for centuries. In modern pop music, its most recognizable tool has been the guitar. I find the guitar fascinating. I could spend hours poring over photos of guitars and learning about the intricate construction process behind how to make…
Once a week, Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See New Times’ print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday…
Timothy NorrisBy Brett Koshkin As the corpses of corporate music retail chains like Tower Records and Blockbuster Music litter dying strip malls, Amoeba Music thrives as an independent juggernaut with three California-based stores the size of supermarkets. Amoeba has been a celebrated shopping destination for West Coast music aficionados for…
It’s only the end of February, but I’m convinced I’ve already heard one of the best albums of 2013. Destruction Unit’s new LP, the six-song mind eraser Void, debuts locally on Monday, February 25, when the band takes the stage at the Yucca Tap Room. The band’s been getting some…
Over the past seven years, Scottsdale selector DJ Six 4 has scored plenty of experience dropping vibrant mixes for a slew of cartoonish characters in the always-colorful local club scene. Besides earning the cat, known to his mama and papa as Scott Lane, some serious paydays, it’s also helped prepared…
Bassist Victor Wooten has always been musical innovator, challenging the limitations of the electric bass and, in the process, developing new sounds and ways to play the instrument. His songwriting follows the same pattern. Whether composing as a founding member of the genre-bending bluegrass/psycho-space outfit Bela Fleck and the Flecktones,…
Listen, I’m a sore loser and a sore winner. I used to cry after losing my elementary school chess matches, which thankfully directed me away from competitive pawn-pushing and into the soothing subjectivity of the arts. However, I also love to gloat when proved right: I put my chips down…
Sara McClellan McClellan is the freelance writer, creative mentor, and brand consultant behind Intuitive Horizon. She is also author of The World Needs Hope and is an inspirational speaker on hope, grief, and empathy. Learn more here. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio,…
By David Thorpe While perusing Insane Clown Posse’s Twitter timeline, like a person does, I came across something interesting: Our favorite rap clowns announced a new update to their official smartphone app, which I didn’t even know existed. For the advancement of pop journalism and human knowledge in general, I…
Kelly Clarkson may have slept on his phenomenal Kaleidoscope Dream, but that didn’t stop Los Angeles-based crooner Miguel from having one hell of a 2012. He tops our list of must-see shows this weekend in Phoenix, stopping by the historic Celebrity Theatre to showcase sultry jams like “Adorn.” We can’t…
Nothing beats creativity — especially if it makes a difference in our community. Since 2010, we’ve been on the hunt for emerging creatives in the Valley who are working on cool projects. Call them designers, performers, chefs, singers, dancers, painters, sculptors … We’re sticking to Big Brains. This year, we’re…
Rakim @ Celebrity Theatre|2/20/13The word “legend” is something that shouldn’t be tossed around lightly, especially when it applies to hip-hop. During hip-hop’s 30-year run, we have seen numerous careers rise and fall. Hell, some artists have straight up vanished from existence. Many would argue that hip-hop is the most unforgiving…
For the pasty-faced, pleather-clad members of the Valley’s goth and industrial scene, 2013 already has been a year of tumult and turmoil. First, longtime venue Sanctum, which hosted freaky-deaky fetishistic adventures during numerous nights like TekNOIR and Black Mass for years, decided to kill off its dance events in late…
In 1983, an unknown songwriter named Edwin Bankston decided that if no labels were interested in putting out his record — a nine-song country-boogie album called Over There…and Over Here, credited to “The Red Rippers” — he was going to put it out himself. Featuring stream-of-consciousness lyrics, psychedelic lead guitar,…
Since 2001, Claudio Sanchez — the huge-haired and highly conceptual frontman of prog-tinged emo outfit Coheed and Cambria — has devoted every moment to building an immersive science fiction storyline known as The Amory Wars. Thus far, the interplanetary narrative has spanned seven albums and a parallel series of comic…
Somewhere between Dwight Yoakam’s honky-tonking cover of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me” and Terry Manning’s power-pop take on “Guess Things Happen That Way,” the Jack Clement-penned single made famous by Johnny Cash, lies Reckless Kelly’s “She Likes Money, He Likes Love.” The standout track from the Austin-via-Bend,…
Anberlin has never been the band to drop copious amounts of J-bombs in its songs, but the band’s music often has served as a musical metaphor for how people maintain their faith during troubled times. Anberlin’s latest, Vital, combines aggressive modern rock and New Wave beats with stories of people…
Victor Wooten loves his bass so much that he may as well have it welded to his body. Though that might prove awkward when getting on the bus or in an elevator, it virtually is the reality of his situation. For Wooten, who can rightly be considered one of today’s…
It takes some bands months of playing shows to find an identity, but Tempe dance-punk act Doctor Bones skipped those awkward on-stage moments “feeling it out.” Though the band has honed its skills with each passing performance, Doctor Bones’ sound — New Wave sensibilities, pop arrangements, dance-ready beats, and manic,…
Blues guitarist Keb’ Mo’ is something of a household name at this stage in his career. He’s got a pocketful of Grammys and assorted other music awards and was a central character in Martin Scorsese’s miniseries The Blues. His most recent album, The Reflection, was a deviation from form, dabbling…
