Former emo boy Sonny Moore is bringing dubstep to the masses as Skrillex. Benjamin Leatherman examines the roots of the bass-heavy genre and examines its rise in popularity. Meanwhile, indie rock supergroup Wild Flag brings their show to Phoenix for Halloween, and Das Racist puts the smart in smart ass.We’ve…
Just in time for Halloween, Tugboat has managed to creep the internet like it has never been creeped before. (That’s counting “Two Girls, One Cup,” by the way.)Just last week we told you about the series of creeptastic videos Tugboat released to promote their October residency at Long Wong’s. But…
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. What’s the scoop on Up on the Sun’s new webcomic Record Heat? What songs best fit…
Plenty of things will be going bump in the night this weekend inside the Valley’s bars and clubs, as local DJs and turntablists host hyped-up Halloween parties aplenty over the next few nights. A variety of EDM all-stars are scheduled to make appearances, and we ain’t referring to a certain…
Toubab Krewe are neo-griot-funk from Southern freak zone Asheville, North Carolina. Their name admits they’re tourists (“Toubab” = white dude) and their sound can be described as “Jampire Weekend.” Blending Mali soul and Afrobeat with bluesy desert surf-twang, Caribbean scratch, and zydeco bounce, Toubab Krewe surround it all with occasional…
Child stars get a bad rap. Sure, many become damaged, ruined by mothers like those on Toddlers and Tiaras, but Nikka Costa’s father, Don Costa, didn’t exactly thrust his daughter into the spotlight. Don, a record producer best known for his work with Frank Sinatra, knew music was in her…
Package nostalgia concerts are predictable affairs: Artists perform a few of their hits, attempt to plug their latest endeavor, then give up the stage to the next old-timer trying to make a few bucks off your fond memories of their glory days. It’s all very calculated, but that doesn’t mean…
Bane’s fan base is a bit like Matthew McConaughey’s philosophy in Dazed and Confused: They get older; the moshers stay the same age. “When you’re young, you get that feeling that you can take on the world and that music can drive a revolution,” says vocalist Aaron Bedard. “Once you…
Former Tucsonan Justin Champlin has roots in area bands like The Okmoniks, Sneaky Pinks, and Golden Boots, but since 2001, he’s occasionally donned a rabbit mask, stripped down to his skivvies, and blasted out barebones rock ‘n’ roll as Nobunny. The songs play like a sloppy mixtape from a boozy…
It’s a good thing there aren’t many residences near Big Surf Waterpark in Tempe. It’s creeping toward midnight on a Friday night in October, and the Sound Wave Music Festival is in full swing, causing a maelstrom of electronic beats to echo across the pools and slides. While Phoenix expat…
The knock on underground hip-hop has always been that it’s not sufficiently “fun.” Hip-hop radio stations routinely light up with requests for crass, chorus-driven ditties (often of the Southern variety), while alternative rappers are too often dismissed as humorless and boring. Sure, most people can agree that Mos Def and…
In 2010, former Sleater-Kinney guitarist and NPR blogger Carrie Brownstein announced she was starting a new band. A MySpace page went up. No music, only a cryptic message: “What is the sound of an avalanche taking out a dolphin? What do get when you cross a hamburger with a hot…
Thursday 27 27th Avenue Bar: DJ Manage (Top 40) Afterlife: Thumpin’ Thursdays (various) AZ 88: Josh One (various) Bar Smith: Ladies Night with DJ iDenaty, DJ EC Rock, & DJ Oh-Jezus (various) Blue Martini: Rewind Thursday with DJ Mendez (hip-hop, dance) Bobby Q’s: DJ Deuce (hip-hop) BS West: Intravenous Thursdays…
Beavis & Butt-Head makes its triumphant return to MTV on Thursday, October 27 at 10/9c, and quite frankly, we can’t wait. This preview of “Holy Cornholio” looks promising, but one thing is missing–music videos! Half the fun of watching Beavis & Butt-Head was listening to the duo’s commentary on popular…
As its name portends, there were plenty of dolls on hand for the opening weekend at Dollhouse Cocktail Lounge in Scottsdale. Dime pieces were on the walls of Old Town’s newest nightlife playground in the form of stylish magazine covers arranged above VIP seating while dames, dolls, and divas populated the…
When you look up the definition of “viral video” in the internet dictionary, The Black Keys new video for “Lonely Boy,” the first single off the highly anticipated El Camino, would be the prime example, complete with links to other articles awkward hand claps and hip gyrations. The new video features…
It’s a pretty common complaint around town that awesome acts often skip Phoenix on tour. Well, here’s a story that argues the opposite. New Orleans-based rap duo The Knux are kicking of their tour here in the Phoenix Metro, at Scottsdale’s Rogue Bar on Tuesday, November 8. The band often…
At some point recently I found myself trudging along the westbound 10 freeway, scanning through the FM dial, when I heard a familiar snare sequence followed by the chorus: “That girl is poison/Never trust a big butt and a smile/That girl is poison.” Oh, yeah. A little Bell Biv Devoe…
Clanging acoustic guitars, pitched somewhere between Led Zeppelin’s ballads and John Fahey’s American Primitivism, and then, a voice, singular and unmistakable. It is the voice of Lou Reed: “I would cut my legs and tits off when I think of Boris Karloff and Kinski / In the dark of the…
Bane hasn’t issued a full-length album since 2005, but that doesn’t keep the band from hitting the road. The latter comes natural, but regarding the former? “We have to be under insane pressure to get a song done, and if we’re under that pressure, we get it done,” says frontman…
Catching the band at the Marquee will be an entirely different beast than getting sloppy at the Birds Nest at the Phoenix Open, where the band has played during the past two tournaments, but the Marquee show should definitely be sufficient for all of the local hippie chicks and jam…
I don’t want to get too hyperbolic here, but this year Jay-Z and Kanye teamed up for one of the year’s biggest albums, and I can’t help but make the comparison when I think about Phoenix emcees Mr. Miranda and Mega Ran hooking up for a combo album. Titled The…
