Say you’re playing the 1983 Atari console game Crystal Castles, in which Bentley Bear must collect gems to advance. Bentley accidentally ingests a jewel and falls through a hallucinogenic tunnel that spirals into a secret level filled with panicky confusion, abrasive synths, and warbled voices that morph into machine-distorted screeches…
The last time Crossfade caught up with Pretty Lights, AKA Derek Vincent Smith, he was preparing for his Magic City debut at the Vagabond. Since then, the versatile electro producer has acquired a new drummer, killed Ultra 2010’s live stage, and released a couple of albums that are downloadable to…
If you’re a bloated, bender-prone slob (like, um, Crossfade) who spends almost every waking hour swilling booze and stinking it up in the dive-iest of dive bars, maybe it’s time for a rejuvenating yoga- and music-filled weekend detox with the Wanderlust Festival. Don’t worry, though … It’s not like you’re…
Twenty years in the game and the Slackers are still sharper than a stepping razor. On Sunday night, hundreds of people came out for the NYC ska rockers, the Duppies, and Miami’s own Askultura at Churchill’s Pub.The sound man was on point, the room was full, the booze was flowing,…
You won’t find wabi-sabi at your local sushi bar. Though it sounds like a spicy condiment, it’s actually a Japanese worldview centered on acceptance of transience, and it’s the way New York-based singer-songwriter, producer, and DJ Moby determines the aesthetic value of his recordings. “When things are kind of broken…
If you’re a regular of Miami’s EDM scene, then you’ve surely attended a SAFE party. They’ve been responsible for many of the top international house and techno bookings of the last several years, hosting memorable recurrent performances by the likes of Matthew Dear, Radio Slave, Damian Lazarus, M.A.N.D.Y., and Matt…
From all the way back in the day when street-level party music label Nervous Records was first founded in 1991, the master plan was always straight-up support for the deepest and grittiest parts of the house and hip-hop subcultures. “The true underground is the guy who sleeps until 1 in…
After 13 years, Ultra Music Festival has managed to push aside the week that helped create it. Ballsy as the move may have been, we all knew Ultra had long overshadowed Winter Music Conference. With the conference’s attendance at just 3,763 last year, the festival managed to sell out two…
This week, Churchill’s Pub hosts a pair of Drugged Conscience-sponsored concerts seething with heterogenous brutality. While the label and booking agency fits under the comfortably broad punk/hardcore banner, its showcases exemplify the manifoldness inherent in the operation’s extreme music dealings. And tonight, leftover Winter Music Conference zombies still combing the…
Like most of Dade County, Crossfade spent Sunday among the million-strong throng at Calle Ocho. We got sunburned, stupid drunk, and totally soaked in the sweat of random strangers. It was awesome. But today, we’re kinda bummed. As we said in our earlier missive to the Ocho nation: “Perfectly greasy…
Right now, if we were to play a game of pop-culture free association beginning with the ever-infamous name Bobby Brown, our minds would probably wander off in the following direction: Whitney Houston, cocaine, reality TV. However, there was a time, circa 1989 (an era of Brown’s life also known as…
Little Havana throws one hell of a party. Yesterday’s Calle Ocho festival gave a million people the best food, drink, and music on the streets of Miami. We fucking love this city.The Power 96 stage was jam-packed all day. And SW 17th Avenue was so thick with bodies, it felt…
A packed club on Miami Beach is nothing new. That’s actually why many residents of the 305 avoid la playa like the plague. But if you are an inhabitant of SoBe, you know there are places that you can avoid all the nonsense and have a good time. The Florida…
Hard is ready to take over Miami’s party scene. Since 2007, Hard has been giving dance music fans in the West Coast their fix with regular events that consistently feature a killer lineup. It isn’t hard for, er, Hard to sell out a 30,000-person event. And with Los Angeles, New…
See the full 33-photo Nine Mile Music Festival slideshow. The 18th Annual Nine Mile Music Festival (Formerly Bob Marley Movement Caribbean Festival) Featuring Damian Marley, Stephen Marley, Julian Marley, Ky-Mani Marley, Slightly Stoopid, Inner Circle, Major Lazer, Thievery Corporation, and Others Bayfront Park, MiamiSaturday, March 12, 2011 Better Than:…
See the full 35-photo Paul Van Dyk WMC 2011 slideshow at Clubchaser.com. Paul Van Dyk’s orchestration of sound and light last night at Mansion was true to the title of his upcoming album: Evolution. At the outset of the show, Mansion’s main dance floor was a barely lit cave. The…
ver since that “Calle Ocho” track, people around the world who don’t even speak English are saying shit like “Pit’s got it locked from the Goulds to the Locks.” Now that is some amazing shit. We are proud that Mr. 305 is Mr. Worldwide, and if we had the opportunity…
Apparently, Sweat Records isn’t only using that bitchin’ Knights Art Challenge grant it received in 2009 to throw killer parties. It’s also helping spread the love to local bands through latest venture, SweatShopMiami.com.Lauren Reskin, owner of Sweat Records, says the e-commerce site isn’t meant to compete with megaretailers like Amazon…
So it wouldn’t be entirely accurate to say that everyone who matters in dance music attended the International Dance Music Awards at Dolce last night. But even if Armin Van Buuren and Deadmau5 couldn’t make the event, a few high-class yet earth-bound performers made the brief awards show and the…
Australia’s Cut Copy began as the solo production extension of Dan Whitford, a DJ in Melbourne. The project then expanded to a trio concurrent with the release of 2004’s Bright Like Neon Love, which cemented the group’s presence in the blogosphere as a premiere “dance-rock” band. Now the group –…
Over the past couple of years, tribute shows have kind of become a staple of Churchill’s programming. And I’ll admit that at first I thought of them as a kitschy attempt to fill slots. But more and more, the whole tribute show thing seems to be a better and better…
The biggest awards in dance music took place at Dolce last night. The International Dance Music Awards’ producers seemed to have their short-attention-spanned audience in mind when they designed the event, keeping the awards-presentation time to a minimum, and focusing instead on the performances and afterparty. Still, 56 awards were…
