Antibalas’s latest album, Who Is This America?, finds this seventeen-piece ensemble from Brooklyn making lemonade out of the bitterest lemons, whether it’s misogynistic urban culture or stilted U.S. foreign policy. While a bit more overtly political than 2002’s Talkatif, Antibalas offers a bright, danceable sound, even at its most impassioned…
To be later identified as the elusive missing link connecting the primordial water themes of its first full-length, the maddeningly soothing Beaches and Canyons, with some as-yet-unrealized career-defining mutation, Black Dice’s Creature Comforts instinctively wanders off onto a small patch of adventure island dominated by the mating calls of overly…
Ozomatli kicks off its latest multicultural party with “Believe,” an energetic track that takes flight with the soaring sound of the Prague Symphony, a flurry of Arab percussion courtesy of sintir (a bass/lute hybrid) player Hassan Hakmoun, and a sizzling wah-wah guitar line from Raul Pacheco that would fit neatly…
There is a place on South Beach where you can go once you’ve had enough of the other clubs’ hassles, attitude, and twelve-dollar drinks. It’s a charming little joint, half dive bar, half hot spot, and entirely predicated on giving you a big buzz. Here, playing all kinds of tunes…
Three pretty little Latin girls growing up in the United States watch all the variety shows on Spanish-language television and dream of appearing on Sabado Gigante like Gloria Estefan, or on Siempre en Domingo like Paulina Rubio and Thalia in their Timbiriche days. The message is clear: Go to Miami,…
It’s kind of hard to get through the shield Nuyorican pop superstar Robi Dräco Rosa uses to protect himself from questions about his shifting public persona over the past two decades. “Who knows? Who cares?” spits Rosa. Using “perception” as a key word, he methodically disses all kinds of speculations…
Take a visit to just about anywhere in the English-speaking Caribbean, from the Bahamas in the north to the Virgin Islands in the south, and you’ll hear it blasting from tinny speakers on public buses and in local shops. Its lilt is unmistakably calypso, but the pulsing, rabbit-paced, drumbeat-manic sound…
When former President Ronald Reagan passed away on early Saturday afternoon, June 5, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease, his death meant more than the demise of one of America’s staunchest cold warriors, a conservative who polarized the country with his views even as he won many liberal-thinking citizens…
After a six-year hiatus, the Beastie Boys return with To the Five Boroughs and position themselves alternately as pop-culture bottom feeders and political pedants. While anti-Bush screeds “That’s It That’s All” and “Time to Build” come across as heavy-handed, the terse “Open Letter to NYC” does manage to channel that…
There are tons of great DJ Shadow concert bootlegs floating around out there on disc and vinyl, but the stunning clarity and seamlessly mixed content of the official Live! In Tune and On Time puts all the rest to shame. This 20-track, 78-minute CD (packaged together with a 24-track DVD)…
Though best known for his collaborations with German electronic jazz outfit Trüby Trio (“High Jazz,” “Bad Luck”), Nigerian/Scottish soul singer Joseph Malik has been recording his own music for ten years now, heading up various projects (as MF Outa’ National and Blacka’nized, among many others) before issuing a proper debut,…
Using different languages and musical styles as vehicles, Lila Downs’s new album, Una Sangre (One Blood), is an emotional journey undertaken to show us our similarities. While cultural exploration is undoubtedly her focus, poetic social commentary and themes of empowerment lie under the rich tapestry of music. On “Dignificada,” subtle…
On her last album, Black Ivory Soul, Angélique Kidjo sang a duet with Dave Matthews, who later invited her to open for him on his 2001 American tour and introduced her to a whole new, mainstream audience. Most artists would have followed up that coup with something a bit more…
Bonga Kuenda, the politically outspoken Angolan athlete turned pop star, hasn’t changed much since his music career began in the Seventies. His voice is still endearingly raspy, his lyrics still speak of the heartbreak his country continues to endure, and his music is still a gorgeous mix of styles culled…
Modernage Sure, when you hear the name Modernage, you may think of pricey white leather sofas with matching ottomans and not necessarily rock and roll. But that’s where you’re dead wrong. The band that bears the same name will have you bopping and swaying in that La-Z-Boy. Modernage plays semidark,…
On a recent Friday night I began my weekend follies walking down Lincoln Road with no itinerary in mind. I was thirsty for my new favorite drink: guava margaritas. The place to get the delicious cocktail is the hangout flavor of the month, Cafeteria. The restaurant/lounge, which features great-tasting portions…
Induce Thursdays, the District; Saturdays I/O; Sundays, Purdy Lounge When promoters need a DJ to hold down their side rooms with cool chillout music, they turn to this producer who, in addition to his weekly residencies, frequently pops up at Revolver and other Miami hot spots. Best known for his…
Okay, so Corey Harris isn’t the easiest guy to pin down. Never mind that an attempt at an 8:00 a.m. phone interview — one that was admittedly scheduled unreasonably early by musician standards — was circumvented with a message left on his answering machine. “I’m not a morning person,” he…
Dear Chris Carrabba: Hi, this is Annie. Um, I feel kind of weird writing this letter to you. I interviewed you a few weeks ago, and I don’t normally do this kind of thing — violating the whole journalist/ subject, objective/distance thing, you know. However, I couldn’t help but scribble…
Brian Vander Ark If one looked at it from the record industry’s point of view, it could certainly be argued that the Nineties were a more successful period for Brian Vander Ark than the new millennium has been so far. Once upon a time, the Verve Pipe frontman and his…
Four years after her last album, PJ Harvey has abandoned the elegant, Mercury Prize-winning slickness that made Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea such an anomaly in her edgy and provocative oeuvre and frightened long-time fans who remembered the raw, poisonous wit of her striking 1992 debut, Dry…
Midlake comprises five guys from Denton, Texas who sound like they’ve been shipwrecked on a deserted island for a couple of years with only a steamer trunk full of Victorian English novels, Flaming Lips and Sparklehorse CDs, and some really dodgy acid tabs to keep them entertained. That is, until…
