"I am unpredictable," Danny Brown says. "That's why I call myself the hybrid. I never do the same shit." Danny's high-pitched speedy delivery attracts listeners and hip-hop heads alike to his Adderall-influenced songs. He's recognized for his idiosyncratic rhymes and jokes (who else can reference Janis Joplin and GG Allin in the same verse?), as much as for his hairdo and trademark smile, with a front tooth missing.

Danny Brown is scheduled to perform Monday, April 15, at Club Red in Tempe.

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Liz Flyntz

Beach House

Following the success of last year's Bloom, an album that landed on many year-end best lists, you could say that Baltimore's Beach House has outdone itself. Unlike many contemporary artists, however, vocalist Victoria Legrand and guitarist Alex Scally have avoided many genre tropes and firmly remained true to their dreamy, poppy sound. In essence, they've aimed to continually reinvent their ethereal disquietude, each attempt more haunting than the one before. But even if Beach House are going downhill, they don't care, they say.

We spoke to Alex Scally about crediting songs or just plain stealing them, Katy Perry, and the beautiful things you can discover when you don't make decisions. Part of the conversation made our print issue this week, but here is the full interview.

See also:

-Beach House Has Some Beef with Volkswagen

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Esther Martinez Photography

Where Are All the Buffalo

"I guess it's about me having things to say and then saying things with friends," Kristina Moore, vocalist and songwriter of Where Are All the Buffalo? says in regard to her band.

While this sounds like the mission statement of most bands, the collective and collaborative nature of Moore's project makes this statement seem pretty genuine. The band's performance at the Phoenix FMLY fest in December, for instance, featured an ensemble of musicians rotating in and out of the performing lineup every few songs, with Moore being the only constant. A basket filled with maracas and other thrift store idiophones were also present for any audience member willing to be part of the rhythm section. It even could be argued that the trance DJ across the street, who seemed to be drowning out the mostly acoustic performance with a completely unrelated set, also was part of the act.

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facebook.com/pages/Soulfly

Max Cavalera of Soulfly

Max Cavalera of Soulfly is a very mellow speaker. His Brazilian accent is thick, and there's a lilting quality to the way he punctuates his sentences with phrases like "You know?" or "It's killer, man." He's buzzing about a lake house in unincorporated Phoenix, a second home in addition to his other Phoenix abode: "It's great, man -- on the lake with the mountains and the trees. It's killer, man."

See also:

-Soulfly's Max Cavalera Discusses Upcoming D-Low Memorial Show and the Possibility of a Sepultura Reunion

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Tucson-based singer/songwriter Marianne Dissard didn't set out to make a dark album when she teamed with bandleader/arranger Sergio Mendoza to craft her new record, The Cat. Not Me, but looking back, she's not surprised. When she returned to Tucson after touring in Berlin last year, she was "spiritually and emotionally exhausted and lost."

Then her cat started piling up dead lizards, birds, and other assorted desert creatures in her home. It was un signe.

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It's not easy being beautiful. Just ask Zac Pennington, frontman of experimental pop group Parenthetical Girls, whose vocal strains fall halfway between Perfume Genius and Lightspeed Champion, complemented with the baroque pop stylings of Belle and Sebastian. Pennington, known for his gender-neutral lyrics and his Morrissey-borrowed wit, pens some brutally ambivalent lyrics focusing on lust, identity, and looking good.

We spoke to Pennington -- who's scheduled to stop by the Trunk Space on Saturday, March 9 -- on the phone for this week's issue but ended up with more good stuff than we could fit in print. Here are some choice Outtakes.

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Cory Morton

Anti-Flag

Punk bands have a tendency of burning out long before fading away. Pittsburgh's Anti-Flag has proved to be an exception to the rule. The band has been writing politically charged punk and touring relentlessly for the better part of 20 years.

"I really love the old records," says vocalist/guitarist Justin Sane, who's taking the band on tour and revisiting songs from its extensive discography. "They're a great representation of where we were at the time."

Before Anti-Flag embarks on its big anniversary tour, the band is scheduled to stop by Tempe as part of annual Flogging Molly's Green 17 tour. We spoke with Sane about politics and the band's plan to spend St. Patrick's Day partying in Tempe.

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Alessandro Simonetti

Luis Vazquez

The sound of San Francisco's Soft Moon is disorienting: A darkly hyperactive Neu! mixed with the dance-floor sensibility of Depeche Mode and the stark despair of Bauhaus makes The Soft Moon one cynically crafted machine. But the most disorientating tactic in frontman Luis Vazquez's arsenal is his muted vocals.

Listen to some '80s bubblegum pop again, like "Promises, Promises" by Naked Eyes or Soft Cell's version of "Tainted Love" -- it's the same thing, but without some exuberant pop singer pushed in front. You can really feel some sort of malice.

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Brad Dwyer

The colorful cast of Yo Gabba Gabba Live

Can you imagine how you would have turned out if The Flaming Lips -- the same Christmas on Mars/crazy/insane Flaming Lips you're thinking of -- had appeared on Sesame Street?

It's a question we'll soon be able to answer. The Lips have appeared on Yo Gabba Gabba!, arguably the hippest children's show of all time (no hate to Sesame Street or Electric Company). YGG! is centered on music, a natural fact considering co-creator Christian Jacobs' time as frontman of wacky O.C. ska-punk band The Aquabats and is a lifelong music fan. It's his time on the stage that also lends natural credibility to his live version of YGG!, featuring the show's cast of creatures, DJ Lance Rock, and Biz "You Got What I Need" Markie, which hits Comerica Theatre on Sunday, March 10.

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Kyle Johnson

Pickwick

The debut album from Seattle's Pickwick is a shot of gritty, soulful rock 'n' roll, with sharp guitar stabs, light organ fills and a groovin' rhythm section, all hung out on the line of Galen Disston's passionate vocals.

But it wasn't always so for the band.

Pickwick's first incarnation was as a mellow acoustic folk project, on the heels of Fleet Foxes' breakout success. But the music, with accordion and pedal steel, felt derivative, and Disston and his bandmates nearly gave up before jumping off in a different direction. It turned out that finding the band's true sound led to a creative explosion.

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