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(08/22/15 5:32pm)
Hot and humid nights are built for rock concerts – a decree
that local Tempe band “Something Like December” clearly adheres too after performing
its crash course in tight shows at the outdoor Fall Madness Concert in downtown
Phoenix’s Civic Space Park.
(04/30/15 3:23am)
The second wave of Britpop was a product of its time. Bands
like Pulp and The Verve may have dominated the '90s with catchy singles, but
they faded away. The genre’s inability to strike itself as one that produced
great albums has kept it from reaching new generations effectively.
(04/17/15 3:59am)
Today’s music industry needs a radical change. It’s become stagnant, frustrating and repetitive, and there seems to be no end in sight for bands and “artists” depleting old sounds for a modern audience too lazy to just listen to the originators.
(04/24/15 2:44am)
To call one of Bob Dylan’s albums one of the best is the same as
ranking it amongst the best in music history. Few will debate his importance
and stature as an American treasure. With five decades of relevance under his
belt, Dylan is an anomaly of songwriting talent — few, if any, can compete.
(04/23/15 1:58am)
Modern music’s focus on vocal performances isn’t a recent development. For nearly a decade, instrumentation and prowess has taken a back
seat to front men and women with unique singing talent. The four-piece rock band
Alabama Shakes fits well into that category.
(04/14/15 3:06am)
With "Game of Thrones" continuing HBO’s conquest of high-quality content, a quasi-ritual has carved its way into American TV culture.
(04/03/15 2:20am)
Few bands have harnessed the essence and power of rhythm as
well as Carlos Santana. His Latin rock and jazz fusion created a fury of
percussive force about which the world seems to have forgotten.
(04/02/15 3:31am)
Listening to a man as jovial and uplifting as Sufjan Stevens tackle his depression is gut wrenching.
(04/08/15 2:31am)
The grunge movement of the early '90s is overly attributed to
Nirvana. Sure, Kurt Cobain and his band of long-haired miscreants
shattered the fiasco that is most '80s music with a song about smelling
teenagers' spirit, but the group had help.
(03/28/15 10:45pm)
With lights flashing, music bumping and feet shuffling, crowds
gathered in front of the Memorial Union North Stage at ASU’s Tempe
campus for a Friday night of raucous dancing – all without making a
sound.
(03/26/15 3:18pm)
It’s common form for bands to focus their first two albums assigning
themselves to a specific sound. With a successful debut, fan bases grow
accustomed to a band’s style. Naturally, that style is usually emulated
with a sophomore album so fans aren’t alienated or disappointed.
(03/26/15 3:26am)
It’s
no secret that women are saving rock ‘n’ roll. Whether it’s the pop
infused Haim and Sharon Van Etten, the folk inspired Angel Olsen and
Waxahatchee, the punk rockers Savages and Sleater-Kinney or genre
benders like tUnE-yArDs and St. Vincent, women are at the forefront of
this generation’s louder side of music.
(03/22/15 9:30pm)
Every picture-perfect family has its issues. What might look like an advertisement for the “American Dream” is typically a façade. The Rayburns, a well-off Florida family who operates a scenic Florida Keys inn, are no exception to the rule.
(03/19/15 10:21pm)
Believe it or not, there actually was a time when Rod Stewart wasn’t all washed out and corny. He once fronted rock 'n' roll’s premiere ragtag gang of miscreants, the Faces.
(03/06/15 2:11am)
As heavy hitters of the rock n’ roll roster grow older, retire or pass away, troves of budding authors and documentarians scramble to tell the long lost stories of music’s greatest.
(03/04/15 1:06am)
Nothing breaks the heart like watching someone waste their talent. Even worse is witnessing a giant of past prestige dissipate their creative edge into a monument of what was once a lauded career. Noel Gallagher, Britpop guru and Oasis alum, falls somewhere in between.
(02/27/15 2:16am)
Debut albums are a tricky endeavor. Many bands botch first releases entirely, others play it safe and use the debut as a stepping stone for finding the right sound.
(02/27/15 1:54am)
Imagine you are at a store to shop for groceries. But this isn’t your everyday supermarket — this place is called Microtransactions, and they specialize in selling partial products at lower costs. For example, a normal store sells a gallon of milk for $3, but here you can only buy half a gallon for $2. Don’t fret though, Microtransactions can sell you that full gallon for an extra $1. The only caveat is that you have to wait until you get home, enter your credit card information into their online store, and buy the other half there.Sound confusing? Microtransactions offers plenty of milk upgrade options to those looking for a more complete experience. Want that milk to be chocolate flavored? $1 please. Tired of your dairy being warm? That will be 50 cents extra for cold milk. Hey, maybe you want that expiration date to extend a week. There's an option for that, but it’ll cost you $3 extra. I know you're thinking, “Who in their right mind would shop at Microtransactions?"Turns out, bundles of people are willing to shop within that business model. Millions of gamers fall prey to the shady practice of purchasing their entertainment piecemeal. It’s a practice almost exclusive to the gaming industry and has irked its core audience for years now. Every week seems to bring with it a new game littered with microtransactions that gamers almost have to buy if they want a complete experience. Developers build entire marketplaces with made up in-game currencies that allow players to save their winnings from the game and spend it on new characters, costumes and ways to jump ahead of your competition. Using in-game currencies earned by actually playing the game may not seem nefarious, but developers artificially inflate the prices of the microtransactions so that anyone looking to go that route would have to spend dozens of hours to accumulate that kind of savings account.Luckily, gamers can convert their real-life money into in-game money with the press of a button. Troves of players do this every day, while developers reap the benefits. Ever heard of “Clash of Clans?” Television ads for this “free-to-play” mobile game have sprung up everywhere. Maybe you’ve seen the scantily clad supermodel Kate Upton riding on her trusty steed as soldiers die in battle around her? That ad is for a game called “Game of War” and was even played during the Superbowl several times in 2015. These high-profile commercials cost millions of dollars, meaning the profit these microtransaction-infected mobile games are making is incalculable. Naturally, corporate publishing companies like Electronic Arts and Activision are now pushing the studios they fund to implement microtransactions. These companies hire heavy-hitting marketing firms to target mostly young gamers. The hope is that these naive children will come running to mommy for her credit card the second his or her game starts asking for money to continue playing. It’s heinous manipulation, but it works — and that’s why it isn’t going away.The perpetual sales pitch these video game companies have gamers trapped in is abominable. The virus is now spreading to revered franchises like "Forza Motorsport" and "Call of Duty" — even games meant for mature audiences are afflicted with microtransactions. If action isn’t taken soon, publishing companies will soon require practically every game developer to implement a “free-to-play” model and completely alienate the entire hardcore community. People are being robbed of their hard earned money in exchange for instant gratification and incomplete products.Just remember, if buying milk with microtransactions comes off as crooked and questionable, why should gamers be subjected to that same dubious business model? We shouldn’t. But month after month, we play right into the ignominious wallet-fishing hands of corporate giants. It’s a terrible cycle that needs to stop, and only gamers themselves can halt its progress.Reach the reporter at nlatona@asu.edu or follow @Bigtonemeaty on Twitter.
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(02/24/15 12:10am)
Successful business partnerships often bloom from the strangest of places —sometimes even in pools of bad blood.
(02/20/15 1:49am)
Vinyl is back and in a big way. You no longer need to be middle aged or a “local coffee shop hero hipster” to indulge in audiophile debauchery. All that’s required is a decent record player, a stereo, some speakers and half of a brain to plug it all in.