From the opening harmonies on “Come On” to its reprise during First Against the Wall’s closing seconds, the Parlaphone aims for one goal: compositional mastery. This disc’s ten tracks are expertly built and realize the full potential of the band’s rhythm section, Peter Arzeno’s powerhouse drumming and the frenetic fretwork…

It’s 11:45 on a March evening, and Torche and I are standing on the third floor of an office building wedged between Miami International Airport’s warehouses and a cargo truck-parking depot. It’s cold and windy. Inside a modestly furnished office that doubles as Southern Noise studios, bass player Jonathan Nunez…

Why would some 30 bands from exotic places such as Gainesville; Bloomington and Grand Rapids, Michigan; Richmond, North Carolina; and Brooklyn come to the dynamic Allapattah/Wynwood district? 305 Fest, bitch! Not as glamorous as WMC, the second installment of this punk/hardcore/indie rock confab promises to be a classic (anyone remember…

Fronted by the creative guitar-slinging duo of Gustaf Norén and Björn Dixgård, Sweden’s Mando Diao offers a balanced and cohesive fourteen-track album as its second effort. Hurricane Bar, titled after the bar in the musicians’ hometown of Borlänge, where they saturated themselves with Britpop and eventually made their bones, is…

Antiseen’s destructo-punk racket has been going strong now for 22 years. In that time, they have made their mark in numerous outrageous ways. Mighty Joe Young even managed to run as a Libertarian candidate for North Carolina state representative in 2000. No shit. And they always manage to pay a…

If you grew up in Miami’s tight- knit hardcore scene of the late Eighties and early Nineties, you’ll remember the sense of unity and fun that permeated those salad days. Our hardcore scene bred incredible bands such as Bird of Ill Omen, Strongarm, Brethren, and Tension. Hell, this whole state…

This year opens with the deliciously blended harmonies of Baby Calendar. Jackie Biver and Tom Gorrio build a landscape of childlike innocence and wonderment with acoustic guitar, keyboard, and subtle percussion elements. The aural chiaroscuro of their vocals works well in this setting. Pop sensibilities are explored through stripped-down, midtempo…

Often compared to the great Koko Taylor, twentysomething Shemekia Copeland is a powerhouse singer who blends aspects of funk blues, R&B, and Memphis soul in the proud tradition of belted-from-the-gut vocalists. Reared by her father, the late Texas bluesman Johnny “Clyde” Copeland in his final performance days, she is no…

If 2004 proved anything to anyone, it is that this damn city can still rock. And we’re talking rock in its many forms. Some young kids picked up guitars, but it was the old guys who came out on top. Decade-plus-strong quartet The Crumbs opened the year with a pair…

Months after relocating to the Windy City and finalizing the details on her forthcoming EP, A Hot Hooray, local electro-pop/indie diva Oly, is returning in full force for a one-night stand in the city that bred her punkish, whimsical take on synth music. Her bright, deliciously vocalized landscapes are sure…

The winter season often makes everything better for Floridians who’ve had it with the nine months of summer. Welcome the cool weather with a little class and a little jazz at the Bass Museum with the Billy Sun Ray Trio. Pianist Billy Ray, drummer Howard Moss, and bassist Jim Kessler…

Tired of paying an $8 cover charge to get into a nightclub and drink $6 beers? One cool alternative is Jacques Chirock Fridays, a new party over at Paco’s Tavern in North Miami Beach. Operating on the principle of free parties and fairly priced drinks, this is rapidly becoming a…

Wrangler Brutes is a thrash supergroup that makes a racket reminiscent of Japanese hypercore/power violence acts such as Slight Slappers and Assfort. Their street cred is legit. Vocalist Sam McPheeters and drummer Brooks Headley made their bones in the great hardcore band Born Against; and bass player Cundo Si Murad…

Remember the seedy raunchiness of Coconut Grove’s Hungry Sailor and how cool it was to sit in its dark environs and guzzle ice-cold Red Stripes to the sounds of a live reggae band? It took a while, but someone has finally filled the void left by its absence: South Miami’s…

On September 21, 1996, I turned nineteen years old. The night was hot and muggy. The streets of Little Haiti still glowed from the light afternoon rain, and Churchill’s Pub was in full swing, packed with all kinds of people armed with alcoholic drinks. In those days, one could hang…

2004 continues to be an exhilarating year for local music. The Number 3 Pencils’s first EP, Delicate Subjects, is the newest entry to this growing list. This six-song, twenty-minute assault of mellifluent pop gems opens with a wall of sound crash and closes with a cappella harmonics. Driven by Beatles-minded…

It’s a humid September night at Dick Whiskey and Adam Cheef’s house, a two-story, three-bedroom rental in a Kendall townhouse complex. The two members of Miami’s newest/rawest rock and roll trio live here with another roommate who currently has some friends over, filling the living room to capacity. “I told…

The last presidential election convinced the nation that our fair state is populated by hanging-chad, clueless morons. We’ve fallen so out of favor that even P. Diddy mentioned during the VMAs that he’d work on getting electoral information to South Floridians. Thanks, we get the point. Now, the Punk Voter…

Churchill’s is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a monthlong series of concerts, and most nights this September feature all kinds of alcohol-fueled debauchery. One of the choice evenings stars Montreal’s ska devils, The Delegates. Hell, most American bands don’t make it this far south, so somebody buy these guys a…

Humbert’s follow-up to its 1999 self-titled disc is a pop gem. Mature and sensitive, the eleven tracks of Plant the Trees Closer Together qualify as some of the sweetest euphonic cuts to circulate South Florida. Elements of lounge, early alternative, and postpunk are treated through sprinkles of Fifties rock and…

Boston birthed some of the most influential groups of the hardcore scene. Gang Green, a founding father of East Coast hardcore, was one such band. But even in the trenches of anger and pubescence unrest lay an equally youthful need to have a good time. There were the Dogmatics, Stranglehold,…

The Young Jazz Giants is proof positive that community outreach programs do, in fact, pay funky dividends. Mentored by the legendary jazz drummer Billy Higgins at the World Stage in South Central L.A., the band has released its first effort, a delicate platter of mid-Sixties-style jazz tempered by hip-hop energy…