Zap Mama A Ma Zone (Luaka Bop/Virgin) Afro-European group Zap Mama has always refused to submit to the control of categorization: all the better to reimagine musical, as well as human, possibilities. A Ma Zone, Zap Mama’s fourth album, continues a progression that began with the group’s 1993 self-titled debut…
It is not every weekend that you can see an Austrian marching band and then walk a few blocks to hear a 70-year-old North Carolina bluesman. But on Sunday you can catch just such a combo by sauntering from the Oktoberfest block party in front of Mozart Stube restaurant (325…
The 1000 people in the audience last Thursday night at the Flynn Theater in Burlington, Vermont, didn’t know much about the Cuban band Los Van Van. “Everybody here who speaks Spanish raise your hand,” singer Roberto Hernandez called from the stage (in Spanish). “Uno, dos, tres, cuatro … uh, okay…
Both Brian Setzer and the Royal Crown Revue crow about sparking the swing craze that threatens to survive into the new millennium. Props, though, are more than overdue for Roomful of Blues, the little big band with the big horn section that got its start more than three decades ago…
Before launching into a serious discussion about body poppin’, his new album, Wireless, and why electro changed his life, British producer Luke Slater reveals one significant fact: He loves to roller-skate. “I’m not a ‘blader,’ mind you,” he says, stressing his old-school, four-wheel status. “But I was just in New…
Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers Spirit of Music (Elektra) Move over Ames Brothers, Kim Sisters, and Staple Singers. Another musical family has hit its stride. In past years Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers have been as long on talent as the Carter family, but as short on memorable…
Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers Spirit of Music (Elektra) Move over Ames Brothers, Kim Sisters, and Staple Singers. Another musical family has hit its stride. In past years Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers have been as long on talent as the Carter family, but as short on memorable…
Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow Brainfreeze (Sixty 7) Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow, two of the most innovative and influential turntablists around, performed a hotly anticipated live set at a San Francisco club this past February. Shadow is best known for his widely hailed album Endtroducing …, which combines samples,…
Rap on this weekend as South Beach houses the hip-hop conference “How Can I Be Down,” when homeboys and girls from across the land urbanize the million-dollar sandbar. Many events weren’t confirmed at press time, but among those that were: Rakim (see “Kulchur” ) on Friday night at Zen (1203…
Even in a city that is defined by its anomalies, Churchill’s Hideaway is one of Miami’s most logic-defying entities. Unless of course you’d expect to find a British pub in Little Haiti — a British pub that specializes in U.K. delicacies such as bangers and mash; boasts a satellite dish…
Just outside Atlanta in Roswell, Georgia, resides Richard Devine, 22-year-old experimental sound composer and electronic-music producer. Devine’s home sits on a blandly pleasant suburban street in what could be the homogenous heart of America — which seems appropriate. As Devine helps spearhead intelligent dance music’s (idm) path away from its…
Yat-Kha Dalai Beldiri (Wicklow Records) I think I can save George Lucas some pain when scoring his next Star Wars installment. Instead of continuing his steady diet of John Williams, he should look to Tuvan folk rockers Yat-Kha. For example, scenes of Darth Vader assembling his first legion of stormtroopers…
The Mission (637 Washington Ave., Miami Beach; 305-534-5420) turns tricks again when Chicago’s Bad Boy Bill celebrates the release of the fourth CD in his Bangin’ the Box series, at Friday night’s Tricks II. Besides Bill’s three turntables, he’ll be joined by fellow spinners Stew, Smiley, and six other DJs…
The evening Alex Gimeno attempted to nuzzle Chubby, his girlfriend Marissa’s dozing long-coat Chihuahua, and the usually amiable pooch savagely chomped the tip of his nose, a trip to the hospital and several stitches should have been in order. Gimeno, however, with the wonder of Neosporin ointment and a couple…
Ever since jazz saxophonist Stan Getz journeyed to Rio de Janeiro in 1963 to record with some then-little-known Brazilian musicians named Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto, the phrase “Brazilian music” has, to most American ears, conjured images of cool, sophisticated guitar strumming and delicately hushed vocals intoning the praises…
Shubha Mudgal may not have been dragged kicking and screaming into Indian pop-music stardom, but she is decidedly reticent about her newfound status as the diva of MTV India. “So far I have sung three albums of popular music, and on each occasion, the initiative to do so was not…
To white-bread America in 1970, the blues was an alien form of music. Ignored by the folks on Main Street, the genre was embraced mainly by record-store-hunting folkies, retro-minded rockers, and weed-smoking academics. That is until B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone” came bleeding through the nation’s quadraphonic speakers and…
“A DJ should do everything — body tricks, beat juggling, all that,” Miami’s own DJ Craze told Urb magazine in 1998. “You’ve gotta show that you’re a DJ in the full essence and have that total package.” Hmmm. Remember that guy in your high school? The one with the underdeveloped…
On paper at least, Onda Sonora — Red Hot + Lisbon, the latest Red Hot release to donate its proceeds to fund AIDS research, is a shaky concept at best. Gathering superstars from various nations who sing in Portuguese (such as Brazilians Caetano Veloso, Marisa Monte, and Carlinhos Brown; the…
Leo Casino is at it again. Nope, he’s not celebrating a new play or movie that he penned, and he didn’t land a big acting role. On Thursday at Satchmo (60 Merrick Way, Coral Gables; 305-774-1883), the saxophonist unveils his latest CD, Better Days, and shows the video premiere for…
Electronic dance music never completely conquered the United States, in part because the electronica revolution could not be televised. Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands, better known as the Chemical Brothers, are a case in point. Their music has plenty of personality and bravado, but the pair are hardly seen in…
Although he claims it has nothing to do with his bitter divorce a few years back, Tom Petty’s Echo is the rock veteran’s masterful chronicle of the hurt, betrayal, and confusion that inevitably follow a nasty split. Battle-scarred and weary, this is a different Petty from the guy who smirked…
