Phoenix Music Blog

Local boy Alice Cooper, the self-proclaimed "King of Halloween," is releasing a new single called "Keepin' Halloween Alive."

The iTunes exclusive track --which you can hear in the video above -- also comes with a "Cooperoke" vocal-free version which fans are encouraged to video themselves singing along to for a contest to be judges by the shock rocker himself. Three winners will have their videos posted on Cooper's web site and will be awarded up to $1,000 cash. All videos must be submitted no later than midnight on Halloween -- more details at here.

"At home my family all gathers around an old spooky tree decorated with skulls and bones in the living room, and we exchange gifts," says Cooper. "It's our holiday. We even all have matching black-and-orange Halloween sweaters! I wanted a theme song for people like me, and for us Halloween never ends. In the chorus I say, 'I'm keepin' Halloween alive, baby, 3-6-5'... and I mean it!"

In addition to releasing the new single, Cooper is busy hosting his "Nights with Alice Cooper" radio program on more than 100 stations worldwide, and staying on the road with his Theatre of Death world tour which goes to Slovakia, Idaho and four separate Florida cities but doesn't come through Arizona.

www.shinytoyguns.com

Shiny Toy Guns

​Leave it to Shiny Toy Guns to transform a Blue Oyster Cult classic track into an electro pop flavor of the week. This new track follows STG's cover of "Major Tom" by Peter Schilling a few months back. Both covers were recorded by the band for a current Lincoln Car television ad campaign. 

This week's cover story, "Rasta Redmon," explores the cultural and musical connections between the indigenous people of Arizona and Jamaican reggae artists, told through the story of Hopi reggae artist Casper Lomayesva. As a supplement to the feature, we've posted several of Lomayesva's songs below, along with a link to a song stream for Bob Marley's "Redemption Song," which is referenced in Lomayesva's tune, "Jealousy."

Redemption song - Bob Marley

Tracks by Casper Lomayesva:
Rez Cop

Hundred Years of Redemption

Jealousy feat. Tippa Irie

No Indian

Crossing the Borders

Why?

Sam Means (right) and the other half of the Format (left).

​ About a month after former Format singer Nate Ruess' new band fun. released their debut, Aim and Ignite (review here), the other half the the Phoenix indie duo is making music. Sam Means will do six songs for the soundtrack of the upcoming film The Sinking of Santa Isabel, reports Spin.

The first song, "Yeah Yeah," is below, and sounds fantastic: lo-fi folk with those gorgeous little piano parts that made Dog Problems such a treat. There are probably a few people who'll be offended by this, but, based on the mediocre Aim and Ignite and this, I'd say Means is better positioned for solo success. Lucky for us he's the half that stayed in Phoenix while his partner moved to Brooklyn.

fun.'s second tour won't come to Phoenix, but there is a little local flavor to be had when the new project by former Format mamber Nate Ruess hits the road later this month. Phoenix indie act Miniature Tigers, who recently opened for Ben Folds on his East Coast tour, has been tabbed to open (dates here). In other Mini T's news, the band also did a video interview with Seattle-based music blog Three Imaginary Girls.

Yes, that's Charlie Brand in the above video -- not a young Matthew Sweet.

Oh, and you can also download a free MP3 of the band's "Tell it to the Volcano" single here.

Yo La Tengo still has it. Don't believe us? Check out this new track "Here to Fall" from their upcoming album Popular Songs. 

As you might have picked up from my column last week, I think Wavves is one of the most interesting bands out at the moment. So I was pretty excited to read they've got a new song out, even if:

It's been a hectic couple of months for Scottsdale electro-hop duo Silver Medallion. Oren J has been flying back-and-forth to his home state of Hawaii for special DJ sessions at the Loft Lounge in Honolulu and their latest album will be hitting the streets sometime next month.

They've also been collaborating with local DJ/producer J. Paul of HavocNDeed on a new 30-minute mixtape entitled Paris is Burning. It blends bass-heavy dubstep with Silver Medallion's funky electro aesthetic, along with some stellar remix work by J. Paul.

You can download the 65.6 MB zip file containing the MP3 by clicking this here link.

In addition to opening for Hollywood party-rappers LMFAO at Martini Ranch on Saturday and holding their CD release shindig at the W Scottsdale on August 16, Oren J and Carnegie will also be a part of our upcoming Summer of Sound hip-hop showcase on Saturday, August 8, at Fat Tuesday in Tempe along with Souls of Mischief, Bear the Astronot, Zig Zag, and Golden Tung. Stay tuned to Up on the Sun for more details.

Fuck You Ups, an Arizona punk band, has posted a fun cover version of defunct Phoenix indie duo The Format's "The First Single" on it's MySpace. It's seriously good stuff. Hat tip to Jose Gonzalez for this one.
Listen here.

"Do The Joy," the new single from French electronic duo Air, carries the band's tradition of spacey, undeniably French electronic music

Those fine French folks that call themselves Air have offered their newest single, "Do the Joy," from their forthcoming album Love 2 (awesome title) on iTunes for free. All you have to do is go to the band's website at www.aircheology.com, wait for the little animation and sign up for your free iTunes download code. What are you waiting for? Go download and be merry. I will offer some thoughts on the tune after the jump.