Sounds Around Town

  So I’m probably going to continue putting this out at the start of the week, but since I did I got invites to some pretty impressive shows, I’m not sure if these events had been planned for weeks or were just decided on Tuesday or Wednesday or I didn’t get invites until mid-week. It doesn’t matter, but I will say this–I depend almost totally on facebook invites for these “What’s Going Ahhhn…” bits, so if it’s not in my feed, I can’t talk about. It’s a little different when I do the JAVA Calendar, because I have time to…

As some of you may or may not know, I became freed of my day job on May 1st–the news of which I greeted with, at worst, ambivalence and at best a fair amount of happiness. Honestly, I’ve been missing out on a lot of killer shows during the week and the opportunity to spend a few weeks checking out what’s happening between Sunday and Friday, kind of thrilled me. This time has not gone wasted, though, I’ve not spent every night at a show–I’ve certainly tried to make the most of it. I would like to say that first…

I’m not going to lie, during the time that I’m not gainfully employed, these little bits will happen a lot more often and a little earlier in the week. The point is that while I have the time, I’m going to check out as many shows as possible and take advantage of my spare time to blister my eardrums with the joyful sonic wonderland found in our backyard even more so than I normally do. Additionally, I’ll have plenty of reviews to follow in the wake of these shows and there may be some overlap. Tonight, Tuesday, May 14, 2013…

I don’t ordinarily write about films here…okay, I’ve never written about films here before, but every now and then something happens and the rules of the game change. Last week I got a rare opportunity to attend the premiere of a locally made film called Stuck Outside Of Phoenix and after hearing about it for over a year I had to attend.  I have to preface this with an explanation concerning the trepidation and caution that I had in my mind upon attending the premiere. Somewhere in the last six months to a year ago, I ran into the producer…

Rising from the ashes of The Analog Society, The Echo Bombs appear to have emerged triumphant with an engaging sound that is both unique yet right in line with some growing local trends. In the last year or so there has been a wonderful emerging group of fierce, electrically charged pop/rock bands throughout this scene fronted  by amazing women of vision. In my mind The Echo Bombs join the ranks of Zero Zero, Russian Arms and Optics, Therapist, PALMS, The Madera Strand, Factories, Fairy Bones and a few others where a brilliant feminine vision is combined with amazing gutsy music…

Wow! That’s all I can say… …I can’t believe it’s been two years, today, since I launched soundsaroundtown.net. It’s been a hell of a ride in two years time. Statistically speaking, I’ve posted 165 articles in that time (two were not authored by me), 93 of them were in the last year, which is amazing since I pretty much took off May, June and July. My hope of hopes, is that in some way, this digital volume of local music adoration has contributed to the well being of the bands and the shows and all else featured here. This whole…

I wasn’t in Tempe or Phoenix or anywhere near here in the early 1990s, honestly, I wasn’t even aware that there was a scene here during that time until a few years ago. At that time I was thousands of miles away devouring records from Seattle, D.C., Chapel Hill and Manchester like mad. In researching this town fairly thoroughly there’s been a rollercoaster ride of scenes throughout the years since about 1926. One of these peaks was indeed the early 1990s and there is a new indie movie being released that pays homage to that space in time, based on…

Fayuca has become a legendary local band during the last decade—between the amazing music they make, which intricately weaves  the sounds of their Latin heritage into an obvious love of punk rock, reggae and ska and the way they present that music live, which is completely unhinged. I had seen them several times set the rabid crowds afire at many a venue with full on electric performances that made my mind reel—but when I saw them performing a few songs at an intimate Fervor Records party with the same intense ferocity, I was absolutely blown away. Here is a band…

Clearly, for a relatively light weekend in Phoenix/Tempe/Mesa/WhateverElse it was still jam packed with enough choices to  blow your mind. I almost didn’t go out this weekend. I thought a lot about letting my entire being decompress and just stay at home, get my drink on and watch cartoons. This didn’t happen. It never does. I start thinking about things, music starts to play in my head, I start pacing the room and the next thing I know I’m showered and dressed and ready to go. Each night this weekend I literally stalled to the last minute, vacillating between going…

I”ve been pretty clear about my adoration and affection for Zero Zero since the start. Actually, very nearly since before the start–I fell in love with a demo I heard over a cell phone at The Sail Inn. Granted, it was an easy sell, I’ve loved the Love Me Nots since the beginning and to hear the two founders of that band apply themselves to a completely different sound immediately caught my attention. It’s been well over half a year since I heard that demo of “Drug”, since then they released Mayday, three amazing videos, and continue to introduce new…