What started in Portland, Oregon, as a 2003 Fat Tuesday party has evolved into the must-see national act. MarchFourth Marching Band’s music brings to light the deepest grooves of funk, swing, rock, and jazz, and their style pulls from an array of influences, like Sergeant Pepper leading a freaky Cirque…
Austin metal quartet The Sword is keeping it simple. In 2010, the band had its greatest commercial success to date with the dazzling Warp Riders, a high-concept album that was the metal equivalent to a sci-fi novel. For Apocryphon, the band’s newest release for indie label Razor and Tie, singer/guitarist…
Boots, big buckles, tight jeans, and 10-gallon Stetsons is the non-official dress code (but garb of choice for most attendees) for the annual KMLE Acoustic Christmas, benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. There will be plenty of good tidings and twang in the air as rising country stars Randy Houser,…
Ed Masley is the poet laureate of romantically challenged, over-educated, ne’er-do-wells, channeling the clever knock-kneed misanthropy of Elvis Costello. The Breakup Society frontman formed the band from the ashes of his old outfit, The Frampton Brothers, who broke up while recording the songs that would comprise TBS’ 2004 debut, James…
If DJ Phlava were penning a Christmas wish list to Santa this year, the local hip-hop selector would likely ask jolly ol’ Saint Nick for a new iPad, as well as a slick 60-inch HDTV for his living room wall, and a fancy ride for his son. In the meantime,…
Thursday 13 Afterlife: Touch Thursdays (Top 40, electronica, dance) AZ/88: Black Out Thursdays with Josh 1 (soulful house, lounge) Bar Smith: International Thursdays with DJ EC, DJ StarMarz, & DJ Clavo El Parientito (hip-hop, Latin) Bobby Q’s: All-Star Thursdays with DJ Phlava, DJ Dark Vader, & DJ Skoolboi (hip-hop, reggae,…
It’s peculiarly fitting that these two punk trailblazers should arrive in town on the same night, because they’ve been inextricably bound together for more than 35 years since the beginnings of Los Angeles’ punk underground. For one thing, they’ve endured, even though (or perhaps because) their members have solo careers…
It seems the record store world is in a constant state of shuffle in Phoenix. Recent months have seen Zia Records move up the road to its biggest location yet, Eastside Records reborn on Forest Ave., and the birth of Scottsdale’s The Record Room, which joins wax shack stalwarts like…
There are two things the peeps behind the Fitted Misfits know well: Hawking t-shirts and raging pretty effin’ hard. They did both this past Monday night at Zuma Grill in Tempe during their takeover of the Mill Avenue bar. And the Club Candids camera was there to capture all the…
Taylor Swift is coming to town on Tuesday, May 28, at Jobing.com Arena. And…never has the thought of the pending apocalypse been so appealing. Sure, Swift has her vocal detractors (like me), but her new album, Red was released in October and quickly sold a whole bunch of copies, which…
Watch any video from local pop rockers Halocene, and it’s clear that this band loves to have fun. The go completely over the top in the band’s new video for “Sometimes,” which focuses on the “What People Think I Do” meme. Even though the band has a blast trashing TVs…
This time of year is fun-slash-maddening for us goofy music critic types. It’s a time for poring over notes, for obsessively analyzing what made the records we loved so great. Of course, they can’t all be winners, can they? As we dug into our Best of Lists, we turned up…
Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop…
I initially conceived this list as a starting point to further explore of one of the biggest albums of the year: “Ayo, if you liked that Grimes record, this shit is pretty good, too.” The Korean and Japanese pop influence on Visions made it easy to like, but it was…
The United States was was knee deep in the Vietnam conflict when John Lennon and Yoko Ono penned the words to the 1971 single, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).” But while it’s been more than 30 years since the infamous twosome led the cries for an end to violence and…
Austin metal quartet The Sword has gone through some significant changes since the release of 2010’s Warp Riders, a high-concept album taking place on the halves of a fictional planet each locked in eternal day and nighttime. They replaced their drummer, signed to a new label, and toned their earlier…
Let’s face it, the Mayan Calendar thing is kind of silly, but I’m still obsessed with it because I often ruminate on The End. It’s an important scenario to consider, no matter how unlikely, because it makes us ask the Big Questions and wonder how meaningful/meaningless our lives truly are…
Bloc Party @ Marquee Theatre|12/9/12Bloc Party brought a night full of surprises to Tempe — chiefly one that all attendees would be able to get a good night of sleep. Singer Kele Okereke had a bit of a cold, and the show ended at the very un-rock ‘n’ roll hour…
Sometimes it can be difficult to get pumped up for the holidays, especially nowadays, when the sacred dates are saturated with commercialism, consumer greed, and an importance on tradition that, unfortunately for many, lost its spiritual meaning a long time ago. See also: Your Holiday Heavy Metal Gift Guide Korn…
Once a week Up on the Sun features a new comic strip from punk rocker, cartoonist, and full-time dad Brad Dwyer. See the New Times print edition to check out the strip in glorious, inky newsprint each Thursday. See also: 10 Most Ridiculous Claims Made By Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine Dave…
When it comes to bar traditions, karaoke is on par with happy hour specials, bar nuts, and forgetting to close out your tab after a long night of partying. Whether you have the talent to audition for American Idol or The Voice, or you just think you’re the best singer…
The Cabbage Patch. The Running Man. The Dougie. There was no shortage of slick dance moves that the folks who attended the La La Land Music Festival at the Phoenix Convention Center on Friday pulled out of their collective repertoires as such EDM superstars as Bl3nd, Cosmic Gate, and Datsik…
