Since the Bo$$ of the city has a new album out today, it’s only right to show Rick Ross some love on CrossFade. His long-awaited album, Trilla, is in stores now so go get it if supporting local artists is important to you. Sure, that’s a mixed bag cause Ross…
By Andy Vihstadt Jenna Bush loves R.E.M. If you’re bummed about having to sit this year’s SXSW out, NPR’s got you covered. At midnight on Wednesday, you can stream R.E.M.’s performance at Stubbs and on Thursday, tune into Yeasayer at 2:30 pm and Vampire Weekend at 4 p.m. Later that…
R.E.M. March, 8, 2008 Langerado Better Than:Realizing that your $50 bag of mushrooms failed to induce any hallucinations This morning we read an effusive article about REM’s performance at Langerado. The writer, Leslie Gray Streeter, described the show as “energetic,” and declared that their performance was “the lovely, light-hearted, serious-minded…
Ani DiFranco Sunday, March 9, 2008 Langerado Better Than: A Chocolate Seven-Layer Birthday Cake It’s a funny thing when you feel the “obsession” link with a musician kick in, especially when it’s been a few years since you felt so in love with the music. Such was the case at…
Part psycho, part Jane’s Addiction Blitzen Trapper March 8, 2008 Langerado Better than: A wake-up call from the hippie jam band tenting next door After a night of blustery winds and torrential rain ruined any chance for restful sleep at Langerado, day 3 of the fest kicked off with a…
Tuba Gooding Jr. at work. So the Roots showed hip-hop crews why they always reign supreme this past Friday night at Langerado. The talented Philly-based band was tight, crazy, fun, and definitely experimental as they worked out a few songs from their upcoming album, Rising Down, which is dropping April…
Ben Folds March 8, 2008 Langerado Better than: Whatever and Ever Amen on constant rotation I missed Ben Folds last time he came to town with John Mayer. I figured I couldn’t stomach the fans of pasty folk hipster Mayer any more than I could stomach his music. But I’m…
Alright, Langerado is in it’s first full day and early reports are indicating that the music is rocking, the crowds are thick, and the drug busts have already started. Watch your ass people. Cops are on the lookout so be safe and stay out of jail. There’s a couple of…
Nile As is so often the case with metal shows, there are too many bands on this bill. While there’s a certain bang-for-the-buck factor, in all honesty – and with no offense to the other three bands – this show could easily be whittled down to Nile and Warbringer and…
Why is Janice Turner grinning so widely? It’s just after 7 p.m., 10 days before Christmas 2007, and she’s backstage at the Y-100 Jingle Ball show at the BankAtlantic Center. There’s a bunch of performances due to kick off in about a half-hour, but right now, folks are squeezed into…
Contemporary R&B quite often seems like it’s become a victim of its own name. So it’s good to see a fresh face adding something different to the sound; the fact that she’s local makes it that much more enjoyable. Singer/songwriter Rachel Brown is keeping things grown-up and respectfully sexy on…
…And folks in Ohio, Texas,Vermont, and Rhode Island are headed to the polls, it only makes since to play some election music. Here’s some Obama love from the Lone Star state. — Jonathan Cunningham…
Ky-mani Marley rocking in front of thousands of fans. 15th Annual Caribbean Festival AKA The Bob Marley Festival Saturday, March 1, 2008 Bayfront Park Amphitheater Better than: Staying home and listening to Exodus on repeat. Over the weekend, one of Miami’s most treasured music festivals returned to the city for…
Austin’s mega music festival, South By Southwest (SXSW) is almost here and there’s a bunch of great bands from around the world that should be headed to Texas for it next week. Last year was a special treat as the Good, the Bad, and the Queen seemed to descend on…
By ANDY VIHSTADT Casino King For those of you holding out for the follow-up to LCD Soundsystem’s Sound of Silver, Stereogum’s got something to hold you over. The song, “Big Ideas,” will appear in 21, the film adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s Bringing Down the House. The O.S.T. hits stores March…
Three weeks ago, I spoke on the phone with the two women who will be starring in Florida Grand Opera’s upcoming production of Tosca, Giacomo Puccini’s great opera about a brave, doomed painter, a jealous, doomed singer, and a very-mean (and very-doomed) police chief. One of these interviews was published…
The Gipsy Kings didn’t set out to redefine world music. They didn’t intend to scandalize the world of traditional Flamenco music through their inclusion of pop instrumentation and rock song structures. They just wanted to make pretty girls dance, and they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. The history of the…
The Really, Really Good Looking Tour: Cobra Starship, Metro Station, We the Kings, the Cab Wednesday, February 27, 2008 Culture Room Better Than: The programmed sounds coming from your 1985 Casio keyboard. The bands on this tour could have held an open casting call, but they wouldn’t have found a…
This weekend marks the impressive 15th anniversary of the local annual event known colloquially as the Bob Marley festival. Which is more or less accurate; meant to honor the legend’s memory, it’s sponsored by his estate’s official organization, Bob Marley Movement, and each year’s headliners represent various configurations of his…
In case you didn’t already know, Erykah Badu’s long-awaited album, New Amerykah, Part One: 4th World War is in stores now. The album came out yesterday on Erykah’s birthday and it’s tight. Yesterday was also Ky-mani Marley’s birthday…and it seems that a musical lovechild between the two artists must be…
This one takes me back to the last year that Slum Village was still together as a group and promoting videos for Fantastic Vol 2. Jay Dee was already working on Common’s Like Water For Chocolate album and doing beats for a slew of other hip-hop heavyweights but Slum as…
By ANDY VIHSTADT DangerKeys Photo by Melanie Pullen for Fat Possum Records Akron, Ohio’s Black Keys called on Danger Mouse and a handful of guests to flesh out their two-piece sound for LP5. Stream the first single, “Strange Times,” at the duo’s MySpace page. Attack & Release hits stores April…
