Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn are the real-deal female country music singers; no one else comes close. But within the modern country realm, look no further than native Texan Miranda Lambert, who easily could kick Taylor Swift’s pretty pop-country ass. Just glance at the cover of Lambert’s latest album, Four…
With their hair teased to the max, black leather outfits, spikes, and caked-on makeup, Phoenix-by-way-of-Florida duo Blood on the Dance Floor (comprising Dahvie Vanity and Jayy Von Monroe) is clearly the face of modern goth. But what could the term — abused for years by confused parents and teachers, currently…
In 1973, Jonathan Richman, then the lead singer and songwriter of a group called The Modern Lovers, wrote a letter to rock rag Creem after a record review that cited a lack of “masculine arrogance” in the music of The Four Seasons. “I always sigh when I hear ‘Candy Girl’ and ‘Marlena,'” Richman wrote…
A decade ago, it wouldn’t have been difficult to imagine the Vans Warped Tour sputtering out long before the final year of the Mayan calendar. How could it even be possible to keep the freewheeling tour — uniting rock, punk, and everything-in-between bands — for 19 years? But it bears…
Although DJ Tranzo doesn’t own a sonic screwdriver or bomb around in a TARDIS, the local mixmaster and scratch king is just as adept as Doctor Who at taking people on a trip through history. To wit: Every weekend at Oaxaca Saturdays, his turntables become a time machine as he…
It’s a title match for the ages: dubstep versus bro-step. In one corner, we have dubstep, which draws its lineage from the various incarnations of dance music that squirreled around the U.K. (garage, two-step, drum ‘n’ bass) 10 or 15 years ago. Dubstep is accentuated by a creepy-crawling undercurrent. You…
Time marches on. And tours like Summerland — featuring ’90s pop heroes Everclear, Sugar Ray, Lit, Gin Blossoms, and Marcy Playground — are there to remind us that it’s doing so, to remind us that we’re getting older, to capitalize on our fading adolescent memories. I was born in 1987;…
See also: 10 Phoenix Bands You Need to Hear This Summer Electronic duo Being Cool Is Lonely get sex appeal. Their new single, “Bones and Boots,” is deliciously infectious and more than a little sinister. Along with the new song, the duo’s been updating their Soundcloud page with remixes by…
Mill Avenue is pretty weird regularly, but it gets even weirder on Friday nights. The one-man bands, homeless folks, and gutter punks continue to hit people up for money, though the atmosphere transforms from casually dressed college students to scandalous gals dressed to impress…
I know there’s a name for the keyboard sound that sounds like a cross between a dude belching and scat singing, but I can’t figure it out. No matter, I guess. The sound effect’s hardly the most notable thing about “Kanye,” the web-only exclusive MP3 advancing Phoenix duo Bogan Via’s…
There’s a great opportunity coming up to have one hell of a good time at the Trunk Space on Saturday, June 30. Skinny Shamans are gettin’ down at their CD release party for their new EP, Heartbreakers. Bogan Via, Boss Frog, Good Friends Great Enemies, MAN-CAT, and Mom Jeans will also be there to jam.”The…
It must be true that absence makes the heart grow fonder, at least it is in the case of Beachwood Sparks. The Los Angeles band’s perfect evocation of what the late, great Gram Parsons famously called “Cosmic American Music” — an inspired blend of country, soul, folk, blues and rock…
If the Skifcha cat has already messed with your perception of dubstep, prepare to have it once again shaken up with an a cappella cover of “Bangarang.” Dutch choir Dario Fo released the song last week and brought up important questions such as, “Is Skrillex really saying ‘salsa on my…
See also: Hoodlums Music Turns 13: Reflections From Owner Steve Wiley See also: Hoodlums to Host “Hoodstock” Festival to Benefit Tempe’s Broadmor Elementary Sad news out of Tempe today: Hoodlums Music and Movies is going into “hibernation” on Wednesday, August 15. It’s a curious term, hibernation, but according to the…
See also: Bad Lucy Covers Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay” Local psychedelic folksters Wooden Indian would be well suited to cover a band with a similar music style like Grizzly Bear or Animal Collective, so it was a little surprising to find out that they know a song by The…
El-P and Killer Mike Crescent Ballroom Monday, June 25 Brooklyn indie-rap linchpin El-P and Atlanta journeyman Killer Mike are kind of on top of the world right now. There’s nothing like seeing two dudes with critically acclaimed new albums on the same bill, popping in on each other’s tracks and…
See also: Vans Warped Tour 2011 See also: Hot Chicks at Wicked Tattoos at the Vans Warped Tour If you’re going to The Vans Warped Tour on Thursday, look around and try to spot the dinosaur. It won’t be a giant carnivorous lizard with huge teeth and disproportionately small arms…
See also: Packrat Ready to Bring the Noise to Rogue Bar Experimental prog-punk rockers Packrat might be going through a lineup shakeup at the moment, but that hasn’t derailed core members Brandon Wilson and Rodrigo Ibieta from making new music. Emmit Thatcher renounced his position as the band’s drummer earlier…
See also: What Are the Ten Most “Spotified” Songs in Phoenix Last week, NPR blogger Emily White got a whole bunch of discussion started about how musical artists are and aren’t getting paid. (We chimed in, too, discussing music-streaming service Spotify.) If White’s thought — that my peers and I…
There’s no diggity, no doubt that we’re oddly delighted to hear that Blackstreet’s hitting the road, and with Ginuwine, no less. These ’90s R&B crooners are going to tear up the stage at the Celebrity Theatre with some of your favorite hits from around 15 years ago. Blackstreet’s got us excited,…
What’s in a name? Well, maybe a lot, but surely not everything. Take the rapping white kid from San Francisco who goes by the name Watsky. A handle like that certainly doesn’t evoke images of a slick, fast-talking rapper who also has a penchant for spoken word poetry; but that’s…
There’s always been a connection between horror flicks and heavy metal, so it comes as sort of a surprise that it’s taken Corey Taylor and Shawn M. Crahan of Slipknot this long to start a Living Breathing Films, a film and television production company aimed at creating “psychological dramas.” The…
