I guess we usually forget about Miami Lakes and muddle it with neighboring Hialeah or think of it as that place we must make the Palmetto curve on our way to Joe Robbie Stadium (or whatever the hell it’s called this year). Turns out that Miami Lakes and its citizenry…
Luis Bofill got his start in Cuba’s Nueva Trova movement of the late ’70s with the group Cuba Nueva. From there, he would cut a mean rug as an exciting interpreter of standards and for generating an infectious blend of jazz, rumba, Latin, and Afro-beat. He’s been calling Miami his…
Okay, it wasn’t until my colleague Esther Park’s blog about Ms. Kat Stacks arrest and possible deportation that I learned hip-hop’s most hated bitch is Venezuelan. Needless to say, I was disappointed. Not only is the country presided over by one of history’s dumbest assholes, but now this “thing” continues…
Elastic Bond returns to our ears with the deliciously danceable “Frecuencia Natural” (“Natural Frequency”). Though sung in Spanish by the always alluring and inviting Sofy Encanto, this track certainly carries their signature Latin rhythm and groove, but the spacey touches of electronica and the quasi-salsa/cumbia breakdown there got me bopping…
Pool Party An Almost Nearly Complete Anthology (Livid Records) www.lividrecords.com In 2008, we saw the much-anticipated release of Pool Party’s 25 Pool Party Sensational Hits. And though it was a much needed artifact, fans were disappointed by the omission of a few signature tracks. It took two years, but Livid…
Belaxis Supreme Get It While It’s Hott. Brash is Beethoven. Belaxis is Buil. (Self-released) belaxisbuil.com This disc is another exciting incursion by visual artists into the arena of audio art. Now, while it might seem a little heavy-handed to refer to this as a genre (“audio art”), I only do…
RIP, Johnny Salton, one of South Florida’s greatest guitarists
Shores is one of the newer additions to the ever-expanding catalogue over at No Idea Records. Comprised of Brian Przybylski on guitars, vocals and bass, alongside John Massel on drums, this duo’s debut album, Coup de Grace, has been two years in the making and it will finally be released…
Read the Johnny Salton memorial piece from this week’s print edition of New Times. The Psycho Daisies Pushin’ Up Daisies (Sublapse Records) psychodaisies.com Arguably more of an EP than an LP, this vinyl-only release contains seven tracks of the finest blues-influenced psychedelic punk rock that you will ever come across…
Kris Huseby is a local musician, chef, syndicated sports columnist, and thong-sandal model. But he’s probably better known for having pounded the drums with Fireside Social and currently fronting Bulletproof Tiger. The latter band recently got back to South Florida from a small tour in support of its The Starving…
I’ve known Joe (or Joey as he was then) since the salad days of Cheers. Those were fun days that got even funner when we found out he frequented my friend’s mother’s liquor store in Kendall. For many years, there was a running joke that he owed me twenty bucks,…
The Basicks Basick RNR Party (Records of Rebellion) One of the cooler little records to come out in the spring of 1996 was this first effort by Miami’s the Basicks. Hearkening back to that youthful element of rock and roll, Basick RNR Party talked about fucking, drinking, and drugging with…
Over the last few years, Fox’s Sherron Inn has become a bastion for the neglected hipsterati and outside culturists who live way too far from the trendy downtown and South Beach strips. Clad in his signature black slacks and black button-down, Randy Franco was a good friend and always-smiling fixture…
The Axe and the Oak is rapidly becoming a musical entitiy of interest in South Florida with its excellent blend of American roots music, danceable gothic rockabilly, and indie rock knowhow. And after checking out the band’s latest offering, the Record Store Day 2010 EP, we recently had a chance…
The Psycho Daisies Snowflakes Falling on the International Dateline (Psycho Daisies Records) psychodaisies.com It was never my fingers on the neck of a killer guitar. I can read on bass if told properly. I can muster a heavy beat on drums if allowed. But I’ll never be the type of…
Frantik continues to impress with intelligent rhymes that draw on theology, positive thinking, introspection, and different types of consciousness. Not that there isn’t a rough streak in here. You can feel it the same way that you’ve felt the steady rise of ire in the face of extreme stupidity. Remember…
So far, 2010 has been a bad year for old-school South Florida musicians, from Lisa Hodapp to Dave Shibler to Norm “Sugarbone” Sloan, many of the people who set the groundwork for the musical awesomeness we enjoy nowadays are passing. It’s been bad. Some time ago, I had the pleasure…
The Axe and The Oak Record Store Day 2010 EP (Self-Released) myspace.com/axeandtheoak For all the moments I have personally felt agonized over this trio’s “eternal studio tinkering,” I’d like to first apologize for not jumping on this review as soon as I got the disc this past Record Store Day…
Blowfly Blowfly Does XXX-Mas (Pandisc Records) myspace.com/blowfly Christmas comes early this year with that thick, juicy, protein-filled wad of Blowfly love that you’ve tasted so many times over the last five decades. A true visionary, Clarence Reid, AKA Blowfly, decided to jump the holiday bandwagon with this delightful take on…
Blowfly Blowfly for President (Oops! Records) myspace.com/blowfly Well, it was about time that we reared our ugly, record-collecting, pretentious-asshole heads on the one and only Clarence Reid, otherwise known as Blowfly! Over the last eight years or so, Blowfly’s been enjoying a bit of a comeback with a whole new…
Buzzov*en …At a Loss (Off the Records) buzzoven.com For this week’s Blast From the Past we turn to North Carolina’s cleanest children, Buzzov*en, who in 1997 recorded a full-length album for former New Times scribe Tom Bowker’s Off the Records. Released in early 1998, …At a Loss is a tour…
Most people will remember Frankie Pointless from his old days in Miami rock with the outfit Splat, a pop-punk band that touted the best in excess that dear old Coconut Grove had to offer. They gave the hippies and Bahamians a run for their money when they held down at…
