Remember in 1997, when you’d had just about enough of bands that would step on the distortion pedal and yell at the top of their lungs for the choruses, then everything but the bass and drums would drop out for the verses and get all spooky like the Pixies? Sure…
The heirs to the Replacements are hip-deep — Lucero, Drive-By Truckers, and Bottle Rockets leading the heap — but that shouldn’t dissuade you from parking your ass in front of Two Cow Garage. The Columbus, Ohio, trio is just a step behind that illustrious company, led by frontman Micah Schnabel’s…
Second acts in rock are mostly tiresome, so it would seem Radio Birdman’s reunion is a completely unnecessary exercise by a band whose existence was nearly as obscure as it was brief. But nearly 30 years of mythologizing dictated the inevitable comeback. Such is the case of these Aussie proto-punks,…
When legendary producer Brian Eno heard Giorgio Moroder’s studio work on the Diana Ross classic “I Feel Love,” he said that it was the most perfect track he had ever heard, and it was the future of all music. Though that might have seemed revolutionarily impossible in 1977, he was…
Hailing from Denver, The Photo Atlas sputter and jerk with convulsive rhythms, dancing over jagged guitars and frontman Alan Andrews’ nervy, falsetto squeal. Though the formula may not be the most original, the execution on the quartet’s debut LP, No, Not Me, Never, is so terrific, and the hooks dig…
Musicians shouldn’t be allowed to use the word “raw” to describe their own work. But the terrible twosome known as the Black Diamond Heavies is hereby awarded carte blanche. From the distorted “whoo!” that opens the song “Guess You Gonna,” it’s clear that the Heavies like to keep things as…
All right, you metal maniacs! Here’s a hard-hitting album that’ll give you a sore throat just from listening to it. 3 Inches of Blood takes all the melodic sensibilities of ’80s metal monsters like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and serves them with a heavy dose of modern thrash madness…
With the numerous lightsaber-wielding chicks adorning the promotional flier for female-focused rave She Wars, it’s likely a few nebbishy nerds or sci-fi freaks will show up at the Icehouse, 429 West Jackson Street, looking for their own personal Padmé. Unfortunately, the dozens of DJ dames from around the globe who’ll…
Thursday 21 Andersons: S.W.A.G. Thursdays with DJ Essence, DJ Astonish, & Bryce Breeze (hip-hop, reggae, R&B) Bikini Lounge: Sophisticated Boom Boom with DJ HFE (rockabilly, surf, jazz, classic country, indie, obscuro, R&B) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Club Mardi Gras: DJ Dana (country) Crown Room: Naughty Thursdays with DJ Gable, &…
It’s Saturday at 2 p.m. I’m hung over from a mammoth drinking session in Apache Junction, but I woke up early this morning and started driving. I’m on a mission. See, I found this industrial ladder on Craigslist, but scribbled the address and now I’m lost in north Phoenix. How…
By Brendan Joel Kelley Last night our intrepid photographer friend Luke Holwerda hit up the Police’s reunion tour stop at US Airways Arena, and snapped some awesome shots (more after the jump). Here’s Luke’s report on the gig: The crowd was really truly excited when the boys walked on stage…
By Brendan Joel Kelley As I was reminded by my music editor, Niki D’Andrea, this morning, this weekend is packed with good music, some of it New Times related. First of all, tonight is the jazz/blues/swing installment of New Times’ Summer of Sound Series, featuring DJ Seduce, Sonorous, Calumet, Paris…
By Brendan Joel Kelley Recently I wrote a column about the use of certain pejorative words – “ho’s,” “bitches,” and “niggers” – in hip-hop and the controversy that’s sprung up over them recently. Luckily, it’s not just the media that’s concerned. Here in town, there’s a group called Make Hip-Hop…
A couple of weekends ago, I traveled down to Sonoita, near the Mexican border, to hit up my cowboy buddy Andy Hersey’s release party for his new CD, Between God and Country. The first song on the disc is called “Roughshod Range,” and I’d been sitting at his ranch with…
There’s a certain, what I call, celebration of summer in our culture. I don’t care who you are. If you live in New York City in a tenement or in Arizona on a ranch, there’s something about the freedom of summertime [that harks back to our childhoods]. You wake up…
One of the most volatile and acclaimed bands to rise out of the Washington, D.C., hardcore punk scene in the early ’80s, Bad Brains overcame novelty status (four men of color playing punk) by mixing blazing speed and virtuosity with reggae riddims and social consciousness. Fronted by the often unpredictable…
When industrial rock gods Skinny Puppy play the Marquee Theatre on Tuesday, there is only one thing that audience members can truly count on: fucking insanity. The band, which has regularly reinvented itself since its formation in the early ’80s, built its reputation by bringing nightmares to reality. Using elaborate…
Now is as good a time as ever to redefine “desert rock.” For most people, it means expansive country rock with a couple of cacti in the background. But now, thanks to urban sprawl, it often means expansive country rock music surrounded by lots of sports bars and move-in-today apartments…
Seductive jazz singer Wensday made her first Phoenix appearance at Alice Cooper’s 2006 “Christmas Pudding” concert, where she performed a soulful version of Cooper’s power ballad “Only Women Bleed.” That track is included on Torch Rock, with ad-libbed lines like “Just kick that jackass out of town.” The other 12…
What is Ozzy now, a hundred or something? You’d think the old coot would call it a career rather than further tarnish his legacy. Like most icons past their prime, though, maybe he just doesn’t know when to say when. He’s clearly saddled by idiots. Why else would he choose…
Near the conclusion of Austin Powers (the first one), Dr. Evil taunts our hero, “There is nothing worse than an aging hipster.” Veteran femme rock icon Grace Slick has said “old people” look, uh, foolish playing rock ‘n’ roll. It is a nice trick if one can manage it —…
This Portland trio clearly doesn’t want people to know much about its background. Its latest album, Friend and Foe, though visually impressive with its cutout CD booklet and clever use of contrasting colors, contains almost nothing in the way of information about the band. The band also makes a concerted…
