Pocket of Lollipops press photo.
Audio By Carbonatix
Escape the streaming algorithm and find out what’s really going on in Miami this week. From rap, R&B, and rock to ethereal soul, industrial noise, and AM gold, the eclectic and magnetic Miami music scene remains undefeated.
So, forget what the algorithm told you and check out the ten amazing artists right in your own backyard below.
Got a bead on something new we should be listening to? Hit this button right here.
- Dez Stackz — “Don’t Mind If I Do”
Only a few days before her appearance as a special guest at the massive “Who Run It?” female hip-hop showcase in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, Dez Stackz offers up this spicy video for her rap by way of pop ‘n R&B track “Don’t Mind If I Do” — a song which is not lacking in either great hooks and “leader not follower” vibes. Pairs well with/expands upon last year’s epic “Opps.” See Dez Stackz perform live alongside SavageXPrincess, Soul Relevant, Myna Tha One, and many others on Saturday, October 4, at Club Nu Vibes, 1745 NW 38th Ave, Fort Lauderdale.
- Leitvox — “Ghosts”
More cinematic, immersive than earlier Leitvox releases, “Ghosts” is a stunning and affecting elegy for a flawed species and world that is nevertheless surrendering its most redeeming attributes to, as the press release accompanying this track puts it, “invisible digital forces, [which] like ghosts, have become embedded, almost inextricable from our daily lives, literally guiding us via GPS, monitoring our health through smart devices, and subtly influencing our decisions through targeted advertising or political messaging. While they may offer us a level of convenience and efficiency that we have come to rely upon, they also raise questions about surveillance, autonomy, and control.”
Will the forthcoming Post-Era EP help jog us back into some collective cultural reclamation or simply document the decline? With its bypassing of the autopilot analytical mind, Leitvox’ work here seems capable of either, to be honest, but whether it inspires human creativity or gets laughed at by a post-civilizational sentient algorithm is up to the listener.
- N.G.Y. — “M2S”
“I do fear for the generations of people who came of age thinking that pop-punk is what punk is, and that all the rebellion you need is just to stick your tongue out in the mirror every once in a while,” legendary Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra told the Guardian in 2013. “A lot of that stuff is just the Eagles with loud guitars.” Well, here’s your antidote to the anodyne, courtesy N.G.Y., a self-described “hardcore grunge” trio from Miami Gardens that — as the video above inspired by the 1993 directorial debut of the Hughes Brothers, Menace II Society ably demonstrates — is here to bring some much-needed volatility, ferality, and if not actual danger then dangerous thinking back to the wider punk world. That release is, however, directed toward a positive end. “Our message is the death of ignorance and self-hate,” N.G.Y. declares on its official Bandcamp. Check out N.G.Y tonight, Friday, October 3, at Gramps in Wynwood, opening for Nuclear Monkey and Big Child.
- Neptune Muse — “Verde”
Eden has got itself a new soundtrack — and it is about as lovely, liberating, and empowering as one could hope. Perhaps the most transportive and magical videos from the incredible recent FilmGate Music Video Festival at the Miami Beach Bandshell, this lilting, ethereal modern take on ’70s soul and jazz falls somewhere between indie pop and Sade. Beguiling is a good descriptor, while Neptune Muse (Gabrielle Tola) herself aptly calls the song her “surrealist, ethereal, dreamy, Pisces-rising baby.” That works, too.
- Paiige — “Ring Me Up”
“Don’t make me write a song about you,” Paiige warns via her Instagram bio, which, okay, we’ll take her word for it while also secretly hoping others fail to heed because the world could use a thousand more variations on the musical and lyrical themes explored on “Ring Me Up.” Existing somewhere in the space between Lady Lamb the Beekeeper and Rilo Kiley, Paiige has brought the fire in recent performances at Sweat Records and Las Rosas and appears poised for big moves and anthems.
- Pocket of Lollipops — “Time Traveler”
Pocket of Lollipops returns with another fantastic single from their yet-untitled full-length slated for December. This time out the duo mines a vein of experimental musical ore that feels equal parts Angelo Badalamenti and early Modest Mouse. Pair this with “Slingshot” — the previous single written up in this space back in July — and it’s looking like a very merry, noise-festooned Christmas this year, indeed.
- Ryan Bauta — “Lucky Guy”
“Music brings a smile to my face, tears to my eyes,” Ryan Bauta writes, “but joy to my soul.” Not for nothing is the singer-songwriter part of the worship bands at Renew Miami — you could describe his beautiful, often intricate acoustic guitarwork as heavenly and be firmly within the right neighborhood. Kind of a throwback to that AM Gold era. And if you want to see Bauta rock out, he also has an alt-rock band, Xander & Bauta, that has been gigging around town.
- Snowbros — “Swing Spell”
To paraphrase the tagline of the landmark 1979 horror film Phantasm, “If this one doesn’t move you…you’re already dead!” This ecstatic, churning maelstrom of dark industrial rock and dark revival vocals from Danny Ae and Howard Melnick of alt-darkwavers Astari Nite is almost absurdly great — relentless, vivifying, enlivening, moving in a strange way. I feel like we haven’t heard anything remotely like this since the Wax Trax! Records, heyday that built up to the post-Pretty Hate Machine gold rush. The band tells New Times the album “Swing Spell” is drawn from — set for a December release — “genre hops unleashing the true sourness of our existential dread, leaning on painful screaming guitars, modular synths, vocals, and plenty of noise.” Hell, yes. Count us in.
- SolyMar — “Outside My Door”
This electrifying collaborative album by Miami-born trans Cuban-American singer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer gen.wav and Ecuadorian-American artist KHR!S João not only deftly melds the duo’s reggaeton, alt-Latin, hip-hop, and electronic influences into a fresh, bold tapestry but is also brave enough to grapple with bigger philosophical and political issues in a smart-yet-straightforward way. “SolyMar isn’t just a name — it’s a symbol,” the duo advises. “Sol (Sun) and Mar (Sea) are two opposing elements that meet on the horizon, forever reflecting each other. SolyMar invites listeners to do the same — to see their own inner contrasts not as conflict but as the raw material for growth and self-discovery.”
- Tess Grey — “Man or War”
Tess Grey writes stadium-sized songs about human-sized vulnerabilities — and that is a powerful, cathartic combination. Grey will make you feel it and, if her lyrics resonate, will also help you pull through it. Because of the modern metal-y heaviness and big choruses of this and her June single “The Day She Stole God” (official video here) it seems like Evanescence is likely to be mentioned here, but there is a nuance and diversity to these songs which, to me, puts Grey as an potential, aspirational heir to the extra-generational, less-niche artists like the Pretenders, Florence and the Machine, Garbage, even maybe the best, most realized moments of Hole. Amazing to think she’s really only a few singles in — sky’s the limit.
