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Please release me

The Big Hurt: The week in awful press releases
If you were looking for important, well-reported, or even marginally interesting music news, you probably wouldn’t be reading my column.

By: DAVID THORPE | June 24, 2008

Bigmouth strikes again

Immortal Technique goes on the offensive
The few college students who don’t watch The Daily Show get their news from Immortal Technique.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | June 24, 2008

Spray it, don’t say it

The cut of the Human Hairs’ gibberish
Saul Jacobowitz and Angela Sawyer love to spout garble.

By: SUSANNA BOLLE | June 24, 2008

Diminishing returns

The Hold Steady make it hard to Stay Positive
For a while, Hold Steady lead singer Craig Finn wrote terrific stories.

By: RICHARD BECK | July 09, 2008

Joe Nice returns; Pandai’a steps out
Every month for the past year, the folks at Bassic — a night devoted to the woofer-wobbling sounds of dubstep — have been shaking the bassbins proper downtown at the Good Life.

By: SUSANNA BOLLE | June 17, 2008

Talk the talk

A local hip-hop critic puts his money where his mouth is
Music critics can’t win.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | June 17, 2008

Preacher Jack gets it from on high

Boston rock legend and 66-year-old piano wrangler keeps hammering the keys
“I get my energy directly from Jesus,” says Preacher Jack Coughlin.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | July 02, 2008

We are Devo

The return of Akron’s finest
It’s been almost three decades since five guys in baggy yellow industrial clean-up suits sporting the letters D, E, V, and O took the Paradise stage, jerking about like robots, playing clipped, caustic art punk.

By: JIM SULLIVAN | June 17, 2008

Popular douches, hetero boyfriends, and softie gangstas

The Big Hurt tackles Tori Amos, Pete Wentz, and Ice Cube
I invite those of you who hate me to take a moment to delight in my pain.

By: DAVID THORPE | June 17, 2008

Polvo give it another go

After a decade-long hiatus, the progenitors of math rock find their chemistry still exists
The North Carolina quartet’s noisy sound was music to a select group of ears.

By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG | June 17, 2008

Sick leave

David Thorpe: The early writings
Because of an unforeseen medical emergency and resultant procedure, “Big Hurt” columnist David Thorpe was unable to furnish his regularly scheduled column to the Phoenix this week.

By: DAVID THORPE | June 10, 2008

Rush survive 40 years on rock’s very edge

‘Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone’
“When we started out, we were just kids playing the kind of music that we liked,” says bassist/singer Geddy Lee.

By: DANIEL BROCKMAN | June 09, 2008

Twin reverb

Centro-matic and South San Gabriel
For the better part of his prolific songwriting career, Texas singer/guitarist Will Johnson, when not releasing albums under his own name, has donned distinctive hats for his two bands.

By: MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG | June 09, 2008

Praising Arizona

Sun City Girls survey an unwieldy legacy
As a tribute to the man and a goodbye to the band he was a part of for more than 20 years, the Bishop brothers, as Brothers Unconnected, are touring the country, and playing an acoustic set of Sun City Girls songs.

By: DEVIN KING | June 10, 2008

Remasters of the universe

The ‘definitive’ Mission of Burma
The adage “All things come to those who wait” tends not to find too many useful applications in rock and roll.

By: MATT ASHARE | June 09, 2008

Keys to our hearts

Interview: Alicia Keys on first love, the White Stripes, and being a Bob Dylan muse
"I’ve never been someone that goes to the ‘it’ places and does the ‘it’ things and goes to the ‘it’ restaurant and go to the ‘it’ club. I like more off-the-beaten-path kind of things."

By: JASON O'BRYAN | June 06, 2008