If the city’s got you stressed, what with traffic jamming up the palm-tree-lined urban sprawl, then wind down, reach for a cool caipirinha by the Miami River, and soak in the view as DJ Dalua’s bossa nova-tinged beats drop on the Miami tropics. A co-founder of Brazilian group Bossacucanova, Marcelinho…
From the first Latin funk stage at Coral Gables’s annual Sunday on the Mile jazz festival, a new generation of Hispanic musicians will boldly spin Latin rhythms into a realm of fusion where no jazz improviser has gone before. The stage hosts local favorites Spam Allstars, Xperimento, Suenalo Sound System,…
Popular myth dictates that everyone from Cape Breton, Newfoundland, on Canada’s rugged Atlantic coastline, is born with either a fiddle or a fishing net in hand. That’s not true, of course, but then again Natalie MacMaster has wielded the former since age nine and currently boasts a reputation as one…
Colombian-American pop diva Soraya is gaining momentum. El Otro Lado de Mi (The Other Side of Me), her second album since overcoming breast cancer, is more upbeat than her previous, self-titled album, a philosophically breathless effort that won a Latin Grammy last year for Best Singer-Songwriter Album. “It’s more aggressive,”…
DJ Vertigo Thursdays, Rumi; Fridays, State; Saturdays, Space; Mondays and Wednesdays, Oxygen Lounge DJ Vertigo is all over the place: bubbling in the Grove at Oxygen Lounge; spinning hip-hop for trance-weary heads at Space; and throwing his own jam, The Main Event, at State. You can also hear him on…
Even after all these years, Puerto Rican salsero/crooner Gilberto Santa Rosa still finds himself fighting off a bevy of critics. Okay, so those extra pounds around Santa Rosa’s midsection may not be ideal for the always popular magazine photo shoots or steamy CD covers. That weight hasn’t proven to be…
What can you learn about John Legend in fifteen minutes? In a short interview with the R&B star, not much. But there’s a lot to be gleaned from the first fifteen minutes of Legend’s Get Lifted, which is currently lodged in the Billboard Top 10 albums chart. In classic soul…
In one Miami International Film Festival documentary, The Supreme Uneasiness: Incessant Portrait of Fernando Vallejo, the titular Colombian polemic urged his young compatriots to refrain from the cruel act of reproducing in a nation infested with guerrillas, paramilitaries, soldiers, and drug traffickers. But born out of that cruelty are some…
Politics and music have always been uneasy bedfellows. On one hand, there is something to be said for musicians who only provide entertainment and, in the process, an escape from the anxiety of politics. On the other hand, it is admirable when musicians use their platform as popular artists to…
Okay, who hijacked France’s most successful techno DJ/producer and replaced him with a brooding film composer who created a beatless electronic soundtrack to a nonexistent movie? This might make Garnier sound like he’s up his own conceptual ass, but The Cloud Making Machine is surprisingly fun, especially during the brief…
Hernán Cattáneo’s second mix CD, 2004’s Renaissance: The Masters Series, was a sublime progressive house effort that catapulted the Argentine DJ to international stardom. For the most part, his sequel offers more of the same. The first disc maintains a strong, even keel between the two styles, balancing light yet…
Using its dubby, bass-heavy template as a backdrop, Thievery Corporation’s fourth album, The Cosmic Game, introduces toasting in its gentlest incarnation through guests such as Sleepy Wonder (“Warning Shots”), Notch (“Amerimacka”), and others. These vocalists are set off by Thievery’s signature blueprint of Caribbean inspired beats and bass, which sit…
An ex-member of skewered folk duo Moldy Peaches, Adam Green creates naughty narratives filled with guilty pleasures, fueled by a vibrant croon that recalls both Morrissey and Jim Morrison and skittishly engaging melodies that reference Bacharach, Brel, and Berry (Chuck, that is). Like fellow indie idol Conor Oberst, the 23-year…
By calling themselves Robbers on High Street, this Brooklyn band dares you to guess their influences, and many of them are fairly obvious. There’s snarling guitar reminiscent of the Kinks, vocal harmonies inspired by the Beatles, and a lead singer who could double for the Zombies’ crooner Colin Blunstone. What’s…
Tennessee’s Kings of Leon emerged in 2003 wholly and hotly embraced by the Brits, who touted the band as “Southern Strokes,” postpunk without the detachment. And judging by the quartet’s horny panting on Aha Shake Heartbreak, it’s clear Kings of Leon are still crazy from the heat, but that’s more…
During the seventh annual Afro Roots World Music Festival, local artists will showcase Mama Africa’s life-giving reach into the community through vibrant performances. Latin funk group Buya and cumbia-fueled jam band Xperimento get into the groove on February 19 at Tobacco Road. A cappella Haitian gospel ensembles The Heavenly Brothers…
People’s Instinctive Travels & The Paths of Rhythm sounds more like the title of a doctoral dissertation than a hip-hop album by A Tribe Called Quest — that is, if you don’t know about hip-hop’s origins in black intellectualism and grassroots activism. The second annual Organic Hip-Hop Conference Panel will…
The 60th anniversary of Bob Marley’s birthday February 6 led people around the world to think about the influence the reggae legend has had on world culture. Here in South Florida, that legacy is most visibly represented by the venerable festival held in his name. Now in its twelfth year,…
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…
This one’s dedicated to the ladies, but you’ll never confuse bearded folk bard Sam Beam (a.k.a. Iron & Wine) for, say, R. Kelly or Usher. On this lovely six-song EP, which arrives nearly a year after his terrific sophomore full-length Our Endless Numbered Days, the former Miami International University of…
Sundays, Marlin Bar Husband and wife tag-team Humble Lion and Empress Surrender have been holding down the turntables at the Marlin on Sundays for the past 26 months. It’s one of the few spots in town to hear roots reggae (with just a touch of dancehall). The pair also hosts…
Earlier this month, John Stirratt, bassist for Chicago indie rock darlings Wilco, did it for the first time. It was his civil duty, really. Unlike most “firsts,” people usually hope for rejection during this particular rite of passage. When it came to being selected for jury duty, however, Stirratt got…
