The first batch of bands for SXSW, the large music industry trade show, conference and festival every year in Austin Texas, have been announced. Unlike my Coachella post earlier this week, the list comes straight form SXSW.com so we know it is right (but subject to change). This year’s line…
So last week we solicited your advice on what websites we should link to, and now we’ve updated the blogroll to reflect the suggestions we got through comments and e-mail. Check it out below (to the right, below the categories).A few highlights:The Dish by Jess Harter… Yes, we’re still feuding…
The world already has its share of ridiculous ring tones, but now, thanks to a company called FunMobility, you can hear the voice of famed physicist Stephen Hawkings rapping “Baby Got Back” whenever that special someone calls your cell phone.
A great week for show announcements, as we’ve got indie faves The Black Lips, Cursive, Gaslight Anthem, and The Little Ones coming.Oh, and Fall Out Boy. You know, for kids.The Black Lips (above) have a druggy, melodic sound they call “psych-punk,” which strikes me as something like The Stooges playing…
The Phoenix Metro Light Rail has been the talk of the town since voters approved the $1.4 billion project in 2000. The public transit system opened on December 27, and Valley denizens have both praised and bemoaned the rail. The most common complaint is that Light Rail service stops at midnight, but should run later.
So you’ve read this week’s music feature on Back Ted N-Ted’s Ryan Breen and you’re asking yourself, “where can I see more of these guys?” We’ve got two words for you: slide show. That’s right, if you haven’t seen it already, peep these shots from Back Ted N-Ted’s show at The…
Car collectors with discerning eyes and deep wallets cruised the Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction in Scottsdale. Their prey: hundreds of glistening vehicles waiting to go home with the highest bidder. And we mean high. Consider this slide show of car porn NSFW (not safe for wallets)…
In anticipation of the upcoming live comedy show this Sunday at the Marquee Theatre featuring Adult Swim goofballs Tim & Eric, I feel I must bring to light the magnificent music video directing skills of Eric Wareheim (the nice young fellow on the right). Wareheim is the more musically inclined…
Mid-’90s hitmakers Sponge are scheduled to perform tonight at the Edge 103.9’s Third Thursday in Scottsdale.Is it just me, or does it feel like the ’90s never ended at The Edge 103.9? Not only does it seem as if every time I flip on the local alt-rock radio station they’re…
It’s still a bit of a deadzone, show-wise, but things really start pickup up next week and by the end of the month we’ve got Willie and Weezy in a three day span. In the meantime, we’re digging Stone Foxes, who come to The Ruby Room Saturday. Their brawny San…
Does a show featuring Bad Religion, The Used, and Slightly Stoopid scream St. Patrick’s Day to you? Yeah, us neither. Tempe Beach Park will have the three bands perform as part of its annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration, which fittingly featured the Irish punk-rock band Flogging Molly in years past…
A Rocket to the Moon is scheduled to perform Friday night at the Clubhouse Music Venue in Tempe. With Monday being Martin Luther King Day, chances are most of you are gonna get three whole days of relaxation and recreation this weekend (that is, unless “the man” is making you…
Remember when the big fat Mother Superior in The Sound of Music told Sister Maria that every time the Lord closes a door somewhere, He opens a window? Well, Ryan Breen’s career trajectory has been something like that, except, perhaps, without the divine intervention part. No matter how benevolent a…
THURSDAY 15 Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Cherry Lounge: Scandalous Nights with DJ Juan Rocha (various) Club Red: The Blunt Club with The Gaslamp Killer, DJ Issa, Pickster Uno, DJ Element, Emerg McVay, & more (hip-hop) Crabby Don’s: DJ Johnny Knuckles (mash-ups, Top 40, ’80s) J-Heads: Thursday Night Artist Spotlight with…
As one of contemporary R&B’s brightest stars, John Legend possesses Grammys and hits galore. But could he be any blander? His twinkling tunes about love and relationships are serviceable and inoffensive, nothing more. And lyrically he treads the same ground as a hundred others. Sure, he’s not annoying — we’re…
I Set My Friends on Fire are coming to Phoenix next month, and we can’t help wondering how these sociopaths aren’t incarcerated yet. They’re murderous arsonists, for crying out loud. Of course, the name isn’t serious (or at least we hope it isn’t), but it is demonstrative of an inexplicable…
The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule is the same. Axioms aside, it’s hard not to spread the word about this Saturday’s fifth annual Fight Club-themed Sadisco*, the only dance party in town where ear-splitting industrial music and bare-knuckle fistfights…
In terms of originality, there’s nothing brave about what these citizens are up to. Sonically, they worship at the un-nuanced, widescreen altars of U2, Angels & Airwaves, and the Killers; vocally, frontman/guitarist Andrew Capra seems to regard Patrick Stump as a mentor, aping the Fall Out Boy singer’s tendency for…
Despite a productive 15-year career in the music industry, first as the frontman of San Diego indie rockers The Rugburns and most recently as a solo performer, Steve Poltz’s biggest claim to fame may ultimately be his co-writing credit on the ubiquitous and annoying 1996 Jewel mega-hit “You Were Meant…
We probably should’ve seen it coming. After The White Stripes hit the big time earlier this decade, a host of other two-piece acts followed in their footsteps, from the bluesy rock of the Black Keys to the bass-driven dance-punk of Death from Above 1979 to the sludgy doom metal of…
Heaped in the late ’60s and early ’70s blues, rock, and folk scene of their native San Francisco, Stone Foxes have established their sound as a force to be reckoned with. A clear contender for one of 2009’s early buzz bands, the Foxes have been riding a wave of publicity…
If manufacturing sick-ass mixes and phat sounds were a crime, then The Gaslamp Killer undoubtedly would have fried in the electric chair by now. The 25-year-old turntablist genius is a certifiable freak, whether he’s sporting kinky hairstyles or molesting the wheels of steel to spit out his filthy-sounding experimental flows…
