In a time when drops are celebrated over lyrics, pop is high art, and Migos is compared to the Beatles, rock ‘n’ roll sits perched on the edge of its death bed complaining of achy bones. It often seems the great guitar poets of bygone days spent their lives partying instead of procreating, especially in Miami, where most live musical entertainment plugs into Serato.
The political upheaval of the ’60s and ’70s begat some of the greatest and most enlightened rock ‘n’ roll ever recorded. Now, as the United States finds itself at its most divisive and politically charged moment since the great civil rights movement, many are looking to musicians to step up to the plate.
Right now, 168 million children are working, and 85 million of them are slaves. They might be toiling on farms or in factories. They might be hidden hands of hospitality. Three things are certain: They’re being robbed of their childhood, they need your help, and some of them are here in Miami.
Over the course of nearly 13 years of careful construction, fine-tuning, and experimentation, Doctor P has developed a sound immediately recognizable in the dubstep world. It is forceful yet playful, like dancing in a thunderstorm. That sound made him one of the world’s premier dubstep producers from the moment he…
Move over, South Beach. Miami has a new tourist destination, and it’s not yet universally despised by locals. Just five years ago, Wynwood was the kind of place you wanted to be too long after dark. Then artists began moving in, opening galleries, and putting up murals. Soon the relatively small area became a much desired locale for real-estate developer Tony Goldman, the same man who helped turn South Beach and New York City’s SoHo into hoppin’, shoppin’ centers of cultural interest.
Step aside, Taylor Swift. Look out, Drake. Adele, go ahead and get out of the way. You’re some of the biggest names in pop music the Western world has ever heard, but there’s a right sugary fierceness coming from the East, and American tweens are looking for love in all-new…
Another year has come and gone, and what’ve you got to show for it? A pocketful of unused drink tickets and an addiction to Tylenol? Oh, Miami, you party so hard. Look, 2017 will be different. You’ll be all about living that #FitLyfe, going to bed at a decent hour,…
While many Miamians complain they have to leave home to make it in the music business, Steven A. Clark landed a track on Pitbull’s latest album, Climate Change after moving here from North Carolina. “I was seeking culture,” the sensual singer-songwriter says. “I just wanted to live. I just wanted…
For all the awful stuff that happened this year, rest assured of one thing: Miami’s music scene is alive and well. Whether it’s dance, hip-hop, rock, metal, or everything in between, 305’s artists made themselves heard with an amazing body of work that had listeners in awe. If your knowledge of Miami music goes only as far as Pitbull and Rick Ross, now is the time to get to know the acts who actually made the most of 2016.
Imagine coming to Club Space on a Tuesday to catch a live act. The show ends around midnight, and if you’re feeling frisky, you stop at Libertine for a well-crafted nightcap. You get home around 1 a.m. and wake up the next day to find your phone hasn’t been stolen, your jaw doesn’t ache, and you — shockingly — don’t feel the urge to dive headfirst into a bag of McDonald’s breakfast and take a 48-hour nap.
Courtney Love is a feminist icon. Courtney Love is a bitch. She’s a powerful force of raw emotion, or an evil nymph who slept her way to fame. She’s a mournful widow thrust in the harsh spotlight of shame and accusation, a frazzled single mother struggling to raise a girl-child…
Jake Jefferson has always put music first. In the eighth grade, he snuck out to a Cypress Hill concert, made his way backstage, smoked weed with rapper B-Real, and helped DJ Muggs pack his turntables. In college, when he was just 12 credits short of a Florida International University degree,…
It’s a rough climb from the gutters of Carol City to the top of the Billboard charts. You’ve got to take your hatchet and clear the path of snakes and weeds. Good thing Rick Ross is on his fitness tip. “It’s just like hiking for the first time,” the Teflon…
I’m guilty of wishing bad things on good people. When I hear a beautiful album full of frustration and pain, I fall totally in love with the sound of the artist’s struggle. When that artist inevitably finds success and happiness, I feel a little cheated. The music is never quite so…
It’s Halloween season, and while the rest of the country is carving pumpkins and sippin’ spiced lattes, Miami is doing spooky the only way it knows how: really, really weird partying. A lot of scariness and strangeness happens around these parts, so it’s only natural that the oddballs who make…
Day three is always a royal bitch. With blistered feet and damaged ear drums (seriously — where were you earplugs this year, people?), many were on autopilot at the final day of III Points 2016, a year marked by both adversity and triumph. Luckily, there is a cure for such…
While Hurricane Matthew threw an obvious speed bump into Friday night’s festivities, there would be no excuse for not pulling things off on day two. Luckily, that’s exactly what III Points did. With ever stage up and operational — and with only slightly amended set times — Saturday night showcased…
Down its biggest headliner and plagued by last-minute hiccups, III Points limped into day one, badly wounded. The forces of god, nature, and misfortune had seemingly unloaded their entire arsenal on the Wynwood festival this year in the form of wind, mosquitoes, and cancelled flights. Year four would be the…
Miami suffers from a severe lack of live music. That’s not an opinion, that’s a well-known and discussed fact. The 305 leads in electronic music and even benefits from a worldwide reputation in rap, but when a Miamian wants to leave his or her house and hear a full band…
The undeniable king of future bass has officially been crowned. Flume’s latest LP, Skin, broke the top ten in five countries and topped the charts in his native Australia as well as the dance charts in the United States. He also just nabbed his first certified-platinum plaque in the U.S. for…
Fuck the leopards. Jungle Island’s never seen anything as wild as what Rick Ross, Maybach Music Group, and Tidal unleashed on Miami Monday night. The Teflon Don didn’t just take the stage. He stole it, broke it into pieces, and shared the loot with his friends. Rozay, the Bawse —…
Pink Floyd’s The Wall. The Who’s Tommy. Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d. city. These are some of the greatest concept albums of all time. They draw us in with music and keep us rapt in attention. They tell a story so painfully human, we can’t help but be moved. Any…
