​Doesn't matter if you're like me and have been mostly indifferent to fun. in the past, the band's new single, "We are Young (featuring Janelle Monáe)" has been inescapable over the past few weeks. The song's huge, and sounds like it was custom built for a car commercial (and yeah -- that's why you've heard it so much).

The song is hardly alone in its "epicness" on Some Nights, the forthcoming record from the band (featuring Format-member Nate Ruess). Due in stores and online on Tuesday, February 21, Fueled by Ramen has launched a SoundCloud profile, allowing listeners a chance to stream the whole thing in advance of the record's upcoming release and Wednesday, February 22 stop at Zia Records in Chandler.

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B-Real of Cypress Hill

​It's been a minute since we've mentioned Cypress Hill and Arizona in the same sentence. The last time we were on talking terms was back on April 22, 2010, the day before SB1070 passed. The puff, puff, pass rappers performed at the Martini Ranch in Scottsdale that night, but no sooner had the ink dried from Jan Brewer's pen that the group canceled a May 21 Tucson date in response to the controversial law.

It looks like, at least for the time being, the Hill are ready to back off of their tough stance against Arizona.

Mathmadix rapper Jacob Cruz, otherwise known as Knawledg, unveiled a brown and green flier on his Facebook page yesterday, announcing a March 30 date headlined by none other than Cypress Hill's B-Real.

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​Over the past year Jeff Rose and Dustin Chaffin have endured their fair share of problems in establishing Jivemind, a cooperative music lab geared towards facilitating local musicians with a central resource center and musical hub.

Rose and Chaffin initially tried to set up shop in downtown Phoenix, but the location never panned out. Along with struggles to get the building up to code, the pair say ultimately it was a lack of support from the city of Phoenix that doomed the project there. Last month the Glendale City Council approved a lease agreement of the former Bead Museum in downtown Glendale.

Now that Jivemind has a place to call home, the duo have begun work on preparing the nearly 8,000 square foot building. They hope it will eventually become the music community's dream work environment with plenty of rehearsal space, a "small but well-designed" recording studio, and small venue gig site.

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All American Rejects

​It's no "Dirty Little Secret" : Pop-punk band All American Rejects will be performing on ASU campus this Friday, February 10.

Last time I saw All American Rejects live, the were warming up for Blink-182's in 2009, along with Fall Out Boy. The band is back with a brand new album, Kid's in the Street, set for release on March 26, 2012 .

Listening to the the album's first single, "Beekeeper's Daughters," I don't hear much change in the band's trademark pop-rock sound. That's a good thing. It gets annoying when bands don't stick to their original roots, because that's usually what the band is best at, and often what their audience wants to hear. The All American Rejects style is still the same -- only they look just a little older than what most screaming middle school and high school girls remember.

The band is performing as part of Devilpalooza, a yearly concert put on by ASU's Programming and Activities Board. This year All American Rejects will perform with special guest, Wallpaper, and Campus Rail Jam Wakeboarding will be going down as well.

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​Of all the articles concerning Madonna's Half Time show/M.I.A.'s on air fingerbird (Finger-Gate 2: Electric Boogaloo), none was quite as hilarious as this one, from Vigilant Citizen, which alleged that the entire performance was an indicator of Madonna's allegiance to the Illuminati (you know, that secret world order):

"Laced with profound imagery, Madonna's halftime performance was a massive Illuminati ritual, one that was witnessed by billions of viewers. On this Superbowl "Day of Atonement", Madonna, the High Priestess of the Illuminati industry, entered the Holy of Holies of America and delivered a 13 minutes sermon that was heard by all...but understood by few."

Well, good news -- Madge is bringing her devious plot to US Airways Center on Tuesday, October 16, 2012. It's one stop on her Illuminati-financed world tour, with stops in 26 European cities including London, Paris, Milan and Berlin, North America, and dates promised to be announced for South America and Australia soon.

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​Even more Coachella runoff? That's fine by me.

Noel Gallagher of Oasis will be making his way to Phoenix on April 18. Apparently he has been playing some Oasis songs at his High Flying Birds gigs, so there's a chance you'll hear some material from the Gallagher boys' good old days in addition to Noel's new jams.

And if you like your noise a whole lot scuzzier, legendary underground garage punk band Guitar Wolf is coming to town, too. Not too sure, but it seems like the band's last stop in the Phoenix metro was a lonnnggg time ago. Get stoked!

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Puddle of Mudd, and other artists will be working crowds of music fans like nobody's business over the next few weeks.

The rest of this week's shows after the jump...

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​You know, if Coachella didn't sell out in record time, I'd argue that a lot of Phoenicians wouldn't really need to head out to Indio to catch some big-time shows.

M.Ward and fIREHOSE? Coming to Phoenix. Florence and the Machine? Coming to Phoenix. At the Drive In, Refused, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Buzzcocks? Coming to -- Well, okay. None of those bands have announced gigs in the Valley of the Sun yet.

But Feist has! The Canadian songstress made sure to keep everyone on their toes yesterday, announcing not only a U.S. tour, which finds her visiting Phoenix's Orpheum Theatre on Sunday, April 22, the day after her second performance at Coachella, but also releasing a new video for Metals' single "The Bad In Each Other."

Directed by Martin De Thurah, the video opens with a man burying in his dead dog in the desert -- pretty much the saddest thing I can imagine -- and only gets more emotionally charged from there. There are sleeping daughters, awkward sexual encounters, and fireworks. I might find the song a little snoozy removed from the arresting visuals, but the two work well together.

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​The term "punk festival" conjures up images of bratty tweens with asymmetrical haircuts crowd surfing at Warped Tour. Remember when Warped Tour actually had punk bands and was, you know, good? It may seem like a bygone era, but the annual Punk Rock Bowling Music Festival in Las Vegas caters to the punk bands that made the '90s a little more bearable. Last year, the festival boasted big names like Descendents, Stiff Little Fingers, and Manic Hispanic.

BYO Records has released the names of the first five bands slated to be on the bill.

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ROAR and Andrew Jackson Jihad

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Wasn't it cool to see Andrew Jackson Jihad play as a full band last month? Oh, you didn't make it, and like Brad Dwyer you're bummed you missed it?

Lucky for you, you get another chance because AJJ is hitting the road with ROAR and Laura Stevenson and the Cans, and the tour stops by Crescent Ballroom on Saturday, March 24.

On Monday, Andrew Jackson Jihad announced a three-week March tour that starts in San Francisco, ventures to Canada, snakes through the Midwest, and ends in Los Angeles. The Andrew Jerkson Jerkwad blog also indicated that an upcoming second leg of the tour that will span across "the South, East Coast, some more Midwest, and MORE CANADA!!" will be announced soon, because after all, who doesn't love more Canada, eh?

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