Timmy Thomas is in a Hialeah warehouse slapping palms with a Cuban Santero named Oba Frank Lords. In the back room, there’s an altar with a straw-hatted guajiro sculpture set down beside a sacrificial blade. Up front, in a 12-by-12-foot production studio equipped with little more than a computer, keyboard,…
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Grand Central Miami Tuesday, October 8, 2013 Better Than: That old Marlon Brando biker movie, The Wild One, from which Black Rebel Motorcycle Club took its name. Interestingly the rival biker gang in that 1953 black and white flick were called The Beetles. This makes a…
City life is wild. After zigzagging through clogged streets, you spend all day crouched over some desk until your nerves are so frazzled you end up spitting hot coffee in the poor cleaning lady’s face. Unless, of course, you’re the cleaning lady. Face it — you’re an animal. You need…
Each music festival has its “highlights.” The reason we describe the best moments this way is to make you feel like you missed out. You can’t have it all, and we want you to know that life is cruel. This past weekend at Wynwood’s inaugural III Points Festival, YACHT mastered…
Imagine 10,000 people descending upon American Airlines Arena, every single one of them dressed entirely in white and ready to dance for hours. Inside, they find themselves transported into another world filled with pyrotechnics, giant plastic marine animals, and all manner of spectacular things. Now, add some of the best…
In Miami, the sun is always (mostly) shinin’, the parties are always rollin’, and the bottles are always flowin’. Maybe it’s the flashy vibe we’ve got going on or the renowned DJs who make the 305 their second home or the celebrities and models who are constantly spotted on the…
We here at Crossfade recently sat down for a chat with famed rap-groupie-turned-author Kat Stacks and learned that the woman born as Andrea has been taking control of her life and spreading her wings. She’s branching out and storming the world with her full, unbridled self. Of course, the next…
The creative process is one of the scariest things a person can endure. Opening yourself up, either alone or with a group of friends and fellow artists, it can blow up in your face. Or, you could make history. The Breeders were kind of lucky in that regard. Their third…
“This is the weirdest scenario.” That’s how DFA Records founder and former LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy half-laughingly reacted to Bardot Miami’s (almost claustrophobic) living room-like setting for his Red Bull Music Academy Couch Session at the inaugural III Points Festival. There were fans sprawled all over the low-lit hipster…
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is a band that remains a protector of the rock ‘n’ roll spirit. In an age when processed pop, phonetic folk, and hyped hip-hop rule the airwaves and bandwidth, BRMC has stayed true to its roots as a propagator of anthemic rock, creating albums as statements…
Who’s the newest member of the “LIC Nation”? Well, as Life in Color reps reveal: “We are pleased to announce Calvin Harris as your main headliner.” That’s right … The richest DJ of 2013 will be getting the paint-splattered t-shirt and designer jeans needed to prove his LIC citizenship when…
As much fun as we had banging hard at III Point’s Point Bass show with DJ Shadow and XXYYXX, that shit was, like, only half as fun as the Point Blank bash, presided over by James Murphy and the incomparable Jamie XX. The Sound Stage at Mana Wynwood was flooded…
Back in December, DJ Shadow had kind of a weird experience in Miami. He took the booth at Mansion, just to be kicked off for not playing enough big-room house music. It’s been this great thing for hipsters to lament and bitch over, but with the inaugural III Points Festival,…
After sweating out last night’s booze in the oppressive Saturday afternoon sun for about 30 minutes, Bardot opened its doors to let a few handfuls of III Points attendees in to see James Murphy speak. At first, there was a small crowd, but the room filled and anticipation built as…
Scotland has Belle and Sebastian. Mexico has Julieta Venegas. If ever there were a twee Latin rock artist, Venegas would be its reigning queen. In 15 years of recording, Venegas has evolved, but she has always remained true to a delicate yet strong sensibility rooted in Mexican ranchera music. Her…
Slimkid3 from the Pharcyde screamed, “We’re doin’ this for Reefa!” and the crowd went wild. Later, Jay Swift, the group’s first producer, jumped into the audience, and they completely lost their minds. It was a fitting hip-hop tribute at the old-school-style block party, where the four elements of rapping, DJing,…
Miami, we may not agree on a lot. But one thing we can all concur that the 305 is the place to be when autumn rolls ’round. It’s the perfect (and only) time of year to sit under a tree and sip on a Shipyard Pumpkinhead, stay out partying all…
Dude’s an OG. In fact, those are his initials. Born and bred in Miami, Oscar Gaetan started DJing at 12. And he became internationally famous in his 20s, making megahit house bangers as one half of Murk, alongside childhood friend Ralph Falcon. So yeah, Oscar G is undoubtedly a godfather…
Like his fellow Londoner, T. Williams — who we spoke with this summer and will be sharing Bardot’s DJ booth with him as part of the III Points Festival on Saturday — Mosca (AKA Tom Reid) is a quintessential UK rave kid, weaned on that local scene’s exorbitant diversity of…
You know that amazing dream where you’re, like, chillin’ on some supercomfy sofa in a swank hipster bar, and then former LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy just — poof! — magically appears outta nowhere, plops down beside you, and commences to shoot the shit while punctuating his sentences with wry…
You know that cliché that goes, “You can’t eat your cake and have it too”? It probably came from one of our broke friends up north who spend their weekends staring at the wall and watching reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond, because that’s all there’s to do since they don’t…
Does your wardrobe consist of parachute pants, shoulder pads, fingerless gloves, and huge earrings? Is your record collection dominated by bands like Flock of Seagulls, the Smiths, the Cure, Pet Shop Boys, the Psychedelic Furs, New Order, Run-D.M.C., Kool Moe Dee, Big Daddy Kane, and Boogie Down Productions, just to…
