Thirty-five years ago Winston Rodney, adopting the name Burning Spear from the late president of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, recorded his seminal debut single “Door Peep,” delivering the song’s spiritual yet defiant lyrics with hypnotic repetition. Since then Spear has remained a cultural standard-bearer, championing African history, Rastafari culture, and the…
It’s always a daunting task for a singer to tackle the classic American songbook, and standard tunes such as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” or “Fly Me to the Moon,” that everyone from Anita O’Day to Jackie Wilson has covered. But to do it for a first album, as local jazz…
Shaquille O’Neal was not at Amika’s grand opening this past Friday. I searched and searched for the seven-feet-one NBA superstar, expecting him to be there and hoping to corner him, but the closest thing I found was an Amazonian drag queen who plopped herself on one of the “loft lounge’s”…
“You get, you get, you get what you put in.” Those are the impassioned first words that pour out of vocalist Keeley Davis’s mouth on “Rogue,” leading off Engine Down’s upcoming self-titled disc — the Richmond, Virginia quartet’s fourth full-length since forming in 1996 — and neatly epitomizing the group’s…
Among mainstream hip-hop acts, few are known for albums that resonate beyond the genre’s own idiosyncrasies. But critical acclaim is little reward when rap domination is defined by the number of platinum plaques one collects. For the Roots, a band with notoriously outsized ambitions, the piddling two gold discs they…
The pop smorgasbord on Beenie Man’s previous major-label releases, 2000’s Art and Life and 2002’s Tropical Storm, disguised the vocal vigor of one of dancehall reggae’s most charismatic artists. But on his first authentic dancehall album in years, Back to Basics, he displays an impressive, at times astonishing deejay flow,…
Omara Portuondo has been called the Lady Day of Cuba, and on the surface, the comparison makes sense — Portuondo has spent time in small Cuban clubs, as Billie Holiday once did here in the U.S., and over a five-decade career she has achieved a stature in Cuban music similar…
The German collective Jazzanova tends to focus on original music and remixes instead of mix compilations. Nevertheless, the DJ/production sextet is also known for weaving together wildly diverse styles without a hitch in its DJ sets. Musically broad and well informed, the group often guides its listeners through an open…
Say adiós to any kitsch or retro notions you may have about tango. Sandra Luna, a 38-year-old chanteuse and mother from Buenos Aires, will make sure you never think of this most beloved Argentine art form the same way again. As part of a brief U.S. tour, Luna, accompanied by…
Let’s face it: Jimmy Buffett was Florida’s favorite son until fame and fortune stole him away. So which singer/songwriter best reflects our state these days? Local folkies will likely tell you it’s Grant Livingston. Dubbed Best Acoustic Performer in last year’s New Times Best of Miami poll, Livingston has recorded…
There are a handful of names that scream out sexy, smooth lounge, such as the Hed Kandi and Naked Music imprints, Thievery Corporation, and Stephane Pompougnac. The French producer has achieved a kind of fame among discerning adults for his Hotel Costes series, which amazingly manages to blend cool chillout…
Venues such as Flavour, which usually stick to DJ nights, have slowly begun to invite their midweek patrons to choose between the dance floor and the mosh pit. It’s a good sign that indicates the live music scene is being rejuvenated, and it allows bands to get their music in…
In the three years since the release of his first album, 2001’s Out of the Anonymous, Ulysses Perez has had a lot of time to reflect on the philosophies that guide him: attention, intention, and focus. The result is a well-crafted and highly refined followup, Masked Media. Creating a template…
A Latin pop singer fronting an underground dance DJ? At Party 93.1’s (WPYM-FM) Fourth of July Blast 3.0, Grammy Award-winning crooner Jon Secada belted one of his best-known tunes, “Just Another Day,” as George Acosta manned the decks behind him. Yes, the producer who brought us freestyle classics such as…
Gabriel Fain Sundays, Jade Last year Gabriel Fain was making waves on the Miami dance scene, producing club hits such as Push the Bass and holding down gigs at Blue, Nerve, and Space. After a brief hiatus, he has returned to host an afternoon of tribal, progressive, tech-house, and breaks…
Every week I get several phone calls from publicists eager to promote some hot new artist or band in the hopes that I’ll write about them. They usually try to pitch me by trumpeting the client’s achievements — an appearance on Mun2’s The Roof, perhaps, or a couple of spins…
Icelandic trio Múm collages memories, the more indistinct the better. Whether it’s detritus of digitally accosted acoustic sources, or the impressions of sailors drowned off the coast of Iceland hundreds of years ago, as permeate the mood of the band’s third full-length, Summer Make Good, Múm constructs songs out of…
Hip-hop producer Jazze Pha is supposed to be working hard on his solo album. For the past hour or so, he’s been ensconced in a vocal booth at one of Circle House’s three recording studios, rhyming the same verse over and over again. “Accounts with no amounts/No, that can’t happen,”…
Thirty-eight-year-old Jersey City, New Jersey native George Van Orsdel likes to think that he has learned a thing or two. At first glance George seems like a dip-chewing, cantankerous drunk. Appearances, of course, can be deceiving. He smiles at jokes that he could be twenty-year-old guitarist Todd Van Orsdel’s dad…
Although I slept through my freshman microeconomics course far more than I attended it, and thus am hardly an expert in such matters, I believe a band may safely be deemed “efficient” if it can make an entire album for six dollars (no matter how long it takes) or in…
Interviews with overexposed, platinum-certified stars such as D12 can sound a bit scripted. Check out this chestnut posed to group member Swift: What makes you stand out from Kuniva, Bizarre, Kon Artis, Proof, and Eminem? “I’m a hardcore MC. I’m a lyrical assassin,” says Ondre “Swift” Moore during a phone…
Can you imagine a city ordinance prohibiting sports jerseys and baseball caps on South Beach? What if the Florida state legislature banned Ladies’ Night at Mr. Moe’s in Coconut Grove? I, for one, would have a shit fit. But thanks to asinine politicians, who should be ridding society of crime…
