By Troy Farah, on May 3rd, 2012% Reviving the Volta and a good kick to the Shins
Published on 04/26/2012 in Flag Live!
The Mars Volta
Noctourniquet
Rating: 4/5
The Mars Volta, infamous for their cryptic lyrics, songs often exceeding 10 minutes and experimental, dissonant riffs, thoroughly define modern prog-rock. Fans of the group want music that’s challenging to understand or appreciate. And, because the group does everything against the rules, they even threatened to break their own and release a pop album.
That threat was realized in 2009 with the band’s fifth album, Octahedron, which was so lukewarm, it felt curdled. It sucked in the same way catfish feed, . . . → Read More: In Rotation: The Mars Volta and Broken Bells… er, The Shins…
By Troy Farah, on March 27th, 2012% Dark conceptual weirdness and a dulled duo’s edge By Troy Farah Published on 03/22/2012 in Flag Live
Cursive
I Am Gemini
Rating: 4/5
When Cursive played at the Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix, frontman Tim Kasher described the band’s seventh album, I Am Gemini, as “pretty weird.” Kasher’s lyrics have always evoked characters somewhere between Mark David Chapman and Willard, but now he’s gone full-blown schizophrenic.
Now, anyone with a brief knowledge of pop psychology understands the term schizophrenic is thrown around all too often, but it works here pretty well. Or maybe I Am Gemini just falls into dissociative identity disorder; the point here . . . → Read More: In Rotation: Cursive and Sleigh Bells
By Troy Farah, on December 28th, 2011%
In Rotation
The very best of the 2011’s musical offerings
By Troy Farah Published on 12/22/2011
Well, now that he’s almost gone, I can talk all I want about 2011 behind his back. What a long year. I can’t really say it was good or bad, but just somewhere in between. Pretty neutral. The Arab Spring led to some pretty neutral results. Occupy Wall Street, also pretty neutral. The Iraq Invasion is wrapping up, but the War on Terror gets more and more frightening over here. So, pretty neutral.
Although, in the long run we should choose to . . . → Read More: In Rotation: Best of 2011
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: In Rotation: MellowHype / Portugal. The Man
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 . . . → Read More: In Rotation: Bon Iver and Arctic Monkeys
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: In Rotation: Serious sample masking and Kanye’s lament
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Specialty Gunk Runner
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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
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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!
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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
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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
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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
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