Digital Leather

​When we last checked in with Shawn Foree, the man behind synth punk band Digital Leather, he was touring in support of his Fat Possum LP Warm Brother. He's been busy since then, releasing a mini-LP, Infinite Sun on Volar Records (which featured a song "co-written postmortem" by Foree's friend and frequent collaborator Jay Reatard), and the limited Sponge cassette on Crash Symbols, all the while working on Modern Problems, a new full length which sees release Tuesday, February 14 on FDH Records.

The Valentine's Day appropriate (kind of?) single "Young Doctors in Love" is a blast, featuring warbly synths, Reatard-inspired buzzsaw guitars, and a couple lines swiped from Ritchie Cordell's "I Think We're Alone Now," most famously performed by Tommy James and The Shondells.

Download "Young Doctors in Love" before catching Digital Leather live at The Rhythm Room on Thursday, February 16.

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The Sunset Rider and the Skeleton Army

​Local rock band The Sunset Rider and the Skeleton Army are sparing no expense at their show at Tempe's The Sail Inn this Friday, February 3. The band is hosting their 2nd Annual Rock n' Roll Circus, complete with a packed line-up full of music plus sideshow performances by The Strange Family Circus and Cirque du Freak. And, to top it off, the band will be dressed up in their finest circus attire -- quite the spectacle, to be sure.

"We like to party, and I love throwing ridiculous themed concerts," says singer Harper Lines. "The Sunset Rider and the Skeleton Army always comes in style, but we usually save the extravagant performances for special occasions like the Rock n' Roll Circus."

That's not the only extravagant aspect to the band. In addition to recording music (their 10-song album, The Curse, is available on iTunes beginning next week), the band also has a comic book and screenplay that covers the same story found on the album, starring a character named Sunset.

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​With the passing of Soul Train's Don Cornelius it seems only right that we should celebrate his life, with a little local funk.

On Friday, February 3, Martini Ranch is a place to find some when Catfish Mustache take the stage.

The East Valley band will be bringing their fusion of rock, hip-hop and ska music to Scottsdale, promising to make for a raging good time that will be, if nothing else, funky as hell.

To help get you in the mood, we're sampling the extraterestially-inspired "Take Me Away" and catching up with lead vocalist Tania Warfield for the low-down on the track.

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Jason Garcia Photos

​How's this for cred: Michael Cornelius, of JFA fame and current guitarist of The Father Figures, shouting out a cover of "Avon Lady" by famed PHX hardcore band The Feederz? That's pretty much punk-on-punk-punk action, but the results certainly don't sound like a history lesson. No, just like the songs on Lesson Number One (Father Figures' excellent 2011 release, which came in at number six on my year-end list), it's not lacking in the piss and vinegar department.

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Bruce Springsteen, "We Take Care of Our Own"

​Years and years of rock 'n' roll writers repeating it doesn't make it untrue: Bruce Springsteen's 1984 song "Born in the U.S.A." might be one of the most misunderstood tunes in pop history.

Though lyrically elegiac, the song's pumping synths and typically '80s snare hits (how they reverberate on forever) made the thing feel like an arena rock anthem, and it was quickly appropriated as one, and even more egregiously, as a political rallying tool for Ronald Reagan.

We could keep discussing how everyone failed to grasp the song's political message (listen to this Nebraska-era demo; it should clear it all up) but listening to "We Take Care of Our Own," the first single from Springsteen's new album, Wrecking Ball, due out on Tuesday, March 6, I'm reminded of a fact that often gets washed away in critical "Born in the U.S.A." apologetics: Bruce Springsteen's work is patriotic.

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​We've covered the disappearance of 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley over at Valley Fever, our news blog, for the past few months, and it is a story that has shifted from a missing person investigation to a homicide investigation, with Shockley's mother, Jerice Hunter, as the number one suspect.

The story has also sparked a dialog about media coverage of these kind of cases, prompting Phoenix-based rapper Trap House, to release a new track, "Jhessye," late last week. The song is dedicated to the missing girl, with Trap adding a message on his Facebook page: "Please listen to this and share it. Jhessye Shockley should never be forgotten."

Loaded with samples of local news reports, Trap takes aim at the media for not covering the story, stating that the two-day Amber Alert and subsequent search were not enough.

Trap raps:

"We knew about Kim Kardashian/And how Dick Cheney's shooting was an accident/And how America's become so passionate/Except when it come to young, black Africans."

While he's at it, Trap also has some tough words for Sheriff Joe Arpio, stating that the Sheriff "ain't saying shit."

Listen behind the break.

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Parker King performing in Tempe

​​Wisdom suggests that ASU students love pizza, and a little time spent on this blog proves that they love making videos.

Local rapper Parker King is looking to take advantage of both. He's shooting the video for his first single, "Pass the Parm" this weekend.

The song was inspired by a familiar scene from King's apartment: a bunch of dudes sitting glued to the couch, glazed eyes fixed on stack of Domino's Pizza boxes.

It could all come off as some stoner joke after all, it's just some dude rapping about chain-restaurant pizza, but seeing King rap live paints a more complete picture.

He's mellow, sure, but there's a certain kind of energy to his lounging hip-hop style that really sells the song.

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​Local mic controller Mr. Miranda isn't one to mince words.

If you don't believe us, check out this little trifling he recently laid down to the head-nodding beat of Nicolay's "Tight Eyes."

Tight Eyes ( Freestyle ) by MrMiranda

"You're not a man homeboy, you're a mannequin," Miranda quips. Sharp words that aren't meant for anyone specifically. "Nah, (it's not meant for) no one in particular, more like a warning shot to anyone who even thinks of coming at me in a negative way."

"I'm a huge fan of Nicolay and so this beat of his for his song, "Tight Eyes" has always been one of my favorites, and so it felt right to lay somethin' down to it," he says.

Mr. Miranda and fellow Phoenix emcee Random recently teamed up to drop The Memorandum last month and will be hitting the road later this month in support of the album. You can catch 'em next on January 15, at The Clubhouse in Tempe.

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​When What Laura Says released Talk last May, I tried to categorize the band as "neo-boogie rock," stating after their excellent gig at the Icehouse: "At its core, and perhaps at its best, the band gets down like something your weird-but-cool uncle might jam in his Astro Van."

My tag never quite stuck, but it looks like I'm not the only one who has a hard time pinpointing exactly what the Lauras do. In last week's KWSS' TMI Rock Local Awards, the band was labeled a "jam band," a term bassist Mitch Freedom took umbrage with on TMI's Facebook page.

Speaking with Freedom for this week's issue (on stands tomorrow), he seems to prefer the term "psychedelic soul," and "Weekend Habit," the B-side from the upcoming "Fire Ring" single bears that idea out. Riding a drum box groove borrowed from Sly and the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On (a band favorite), the song is all plucked bass, electric piano, bubbling organ, and hazy, slow jam vocals.

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Boys and Frogs Sorry for the Weight

​Peoria-based indie popsters Boys and Frogs have a flair for the dramatic: witness the bands excellent and creepy videos.

But the cover for the trio's new mixtape, Sorry For the Weight (a pun regarding the wait for the band's follow-up to their last LP, Rain Dance Snowed In) takes the cake, ripping off with loving detail The Beatles' classic record, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

And like that record's famous cover, Sorry For the Weight is a star-studded collage, replacing the likes of Marlene Dietrich, Aldous Huxley, Marilyn Monroe, and Aleister Crowley with the visages of Odd Future, Bon Iver, The Strokes, and of course Boys & Frogs themselves.

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