By Troy Farah, on October 21st, 2011% 
Mediocre musical salvation and the empty message of the Chili Peppers
By Troy Farah
Published on 10/13/2011
Switchfoot
Vice Verses
Rating: 3/5
Reviewing Christian rock is somewhat like analyzing Justin Bieber or the “High School Musical” soundtrack—of course it sucks, because it isn’t marketed to you. In a way, Christian rockers are kind of punk rock, because they don’t answer to anyone and they seem to care far less about money, but the majority of it that isn’t boring is merely imitating something else.
Read More
By Troy Farah, on October 10th, 2011% 
A hipster yawn and N.W.A’s heirs apparent
By Troy Farah
Published on 09/15/2011
MellowHype
BlackenedWhite
Rating: 4/5
Self-descriptions like, “This album is packed with gun sounds, grams of coke and dead cops—the perfect soundtrack for mobbing on a dark Halloween night” is what makes the whole Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA) collective so enjoyable. Half the group ain’t even old enough to drink and they’re dropping albums more creative, ballsy and fun than almost anything hitting the airwaves.
Read More
By Troy Farah, on September 1st, 2011% 
Arctic Monkeys
Suck It And See
Rating: 2/5
Subpar Monkeys and more spaciness from Bon Iver
By Troy Farah
Published on 08/11/2011
With their fourth LP, the Arctic Monkeys seem to be continuing this bizarre descent into bleakness. Coming from their post-punk debut to Suck It And See, 12 heavy-hearted tunes, obscure with meaning, with frontman Alex Turner’s vocals leaning toward something gothic, this doesn’t offer much. And unfortunately this descent leads to utter nonsense.
Arctic Monkeys used to be a band rife with clever metaphor (equally matched with groan-worthy puns) or fresh perspective on some oddly chosen fairy tale, but somewhere along the line, Turner’s lyrics became muddled analogies trying too hard. Read More
By Troy Farah, on July 25th, 2011% 
In Rotation: Spaghetti western homage and the declining fame monster
By Troy Farah
Published on 07/14/2011
Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi
Rome
4.5/5
It’s getting nearly impossible to count the heartfelt pet projects of mega-producer Brian Burton, better known as Danger Mouse. His latest collaboration, Rome, includes Jack White, Norah Jones and most notably, Italian composer Daniele Luppi, not to mention a reunited Cantori Moderni (the choir from “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”).
The music, a mix of bluesy guitars and dramatic operatic pop, was directly inspired by the soundtrack work of the brilliant Ennio Morricone, famous for his score on “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” and other Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns.
Read More
By M. Tekel, on February 15th, 2011%  Award shows, like the Academy Awards and the Emmys, are dead in the water. Most people pay more attention to their Netflix ratings or Pandora suggestions than the opinions of some media-saturated, pseudo-Illuminati panel. From the beginning, events like the Academy Awards have been all about insider politics, less so the merit of whatever particular art form under question. In an ideal world, award shows would base their selections on the perceived length of influence. Whether anyone would still care is up to debate.
Read More
By Troy Farah, on January 21st, 2011% In Rotation
Serious sample masking and Kanye’s lament
By Troy Farah
Published on 01/13/2011 in Flag Live!
Artist: Girl Talk
Album: All Day
Rating: 5/5
These days, many people fancy themselves a DJ. While most can mix a decent set, many are just wrangling an iPod, which may degrade the credibility of such tunesmiths.
But if you can turn a song upside down, tear it apart until it’s barely recognizable and provide fresh interpretations of the original, you might just earn some credibility. That’s where Girl Talk comes in.
Read More
By Troy Farah, on January 8th, 2011% In Rotation
Brilliant noise, conceptual nostalgia and the best records of 2010
By Troy Farah
Published on 12/23/2010
Anyone who says new music sucks is either getting old or have blown out their eardrums on their iPod. Have a little faith—human beings are incredibly innovative in the way they create new noises. The majority of new tunes have been done some way before and sure, there’s no great music revolution going on—despite what Anton Newcombe thought—but that’s no reason to ignore some true innovation. In light of that, let’s celebrate some of the best new albums 2010 had to offer, based on perceived impact on the glorious future of music. Hooray!
Read More
By M. Tekel, on September 29th, 2010% Machete – Rating: 9/10
Forget The Expendables. This year’s cult classic action film will surely be Robert Rodriguez’s latest, Machete, a B movie that originated from a fake trailer in Tarantino and Rodriguez’s Grindhouse. Read More
By Troy Farah, on September 5th, 2010% In Rotation
Embrace the ambivalence of summer with indie rock
By Troy Farah
Published on 08/26/2010
Artist: Best Coast
Album: Crazy For You
Rating: 4/5
The charming California dreamers behind Best Coast bottled all the warm feelings of summer into their debut album, Crazy For You, which is all about weed, talking to cats and being really lazy. Out of boredom, frontwoman Bethany Cosentino joined up with her former babysitter Bobb Bruno and formed Best Coast early last year.
Read More
By Troy Farah, on August 18th, 2010%
In Rotation
Bizarre rants and insecure R&B ballads
By T. Farah
Published on 08/12/2010
Artist: M.I.A.
Album: MAYA
Rating: 5/5
Maya Arulpragasam, better known as M.I.A., is the whole package. She’s got enough fashion sense to match Lady Gaga without looking trashy and bends more genres into one song than some can fit into an entire discography. M.I.A.’s latest mishmash album, MAYA, is a step up from 2007’s Kala, with 53 minutes of irritating, catchy samples and hooks that will either infect the mind or aggravate the senses.
Read More
|
Specialty Gunk Runner
-
Last Night: The Donkeys at Yucca Tap Room 5/14/12
Originally published in Phoenix New Times’ Up On The Sun
It’s hard to tell your friends “I’m going to the Donkeys show” with a straight face. No, not some perverted freak-show in Mexico. I mean the psychedelic San Diegan blues rockers The Donkeys, who tore the Yucca Tap Room apart with their ’60s-inspired pop and ’70s-era jams, a blend that’s earned praise from indie contemporaries like The Mountain Goats and The Hold Steady. The Donkeys treated the bar and lounge like they were regulars, which is pretty close to the truth — this is hardly their first rodeo in Tempe. . . . → Read More: Last Night: The Donkeys at Yucca Tap Room 5/14/12
-
Tekel’s Book of the Month Club Returns!
This isn’t some Oprah bullshit. We read kickass books and at the end of it, have a swag party with cocktails, cigars and coke. Most of all, we talk all posh about literature. It’s an incentive to read and discuss ideas rather than what’s on TV or who’s sleeping with who.
Tekel’s Book of the Month Club existed in some form as a weird Facebook group, but now it’s public. Anyone can (and should) join!
. . . → Read More: Tekel’s Book of the Month Club Returns!
-
The Filthfiller Interview: Jerking-off, spider dongs and BDSM photographer Natacha Merritt
San Francisco-based photographer, Natacha Merritt, made waves in 2000 with her book Digital-Diaries, an erotic exploration of her excellent sex life as she toured the underground S&M and slut-sex scenes. The book moved over 300,000 copies, featured in everything from The Wall Street Journal to Playboy to Rolling Stone.
So what do you after your pornographic diary becomes a best-seller? Well, for Merritt, she went back to school to study biology. Perhaps that’s an odd choice, but between photographing Cirque du Soleil performers and amateur models, she was getting close and personal with arachnid genitalia. Her passion for sex . . . → Read More: The Filthfiller Interview: Jerking-off, spider dongs and BDSM photographer Natacha Merritt
-
Rock Monster: Flagstaff’s Tonsil Yeti gets by (and triumphs) with a little help from their friends
Published on 03/22/2012 in Flag Live
(Author’s note: This article was the blood and sweat of over eight months, where it was post-poned and delayed repeatedly. I feel like I became really close with the band in that time and I’m finally glad to see it in print. Enjoy it uncensored after the break.)
It took a number of beer-pounding sessions before settling on the offbeat name Tonsil Yeti. Other suggestions thrown about were Bronson Johnson, Six Year Old Girls, Konkey Dong, Vagiant (taken, as it turns out), and Bloody Sex. But what exactly is a Tonsil Yeti? To . . . → Read More: Rock Monster: Flagstaff’s Tonsil Yeti gets by (and triumphs) with a little help from their friends
-
Phoenix Indie-Rock Band Knesset Is Big in Japan
By Troy Farah Mon., Mar. 19 2012 at 7:00 AM in Phoenix New Times
Released last year, Coming of Age is an appropriate title for Knesset’s first album, as the band is only now starting to step up locally. Pronounced KA-NESS-ET and named after the legislative branch of the Israeli government, these locals have played in the background of Phoenix since 2007.
. . . → Read More: Phoenix Indie-Rock Band Knesset Is Big in Japan
|
|
