Sayre BermanAC/DCSaturday, December 20, 2008BankAtlantic Center, SunriseBetter Than: Volume itself.To say that AC/DC were loud Saturday night is kinda like saying the sun set and the sky turned dark; a statement of fact, perhaps, but pretty much unnecessary. To say that AC/DC were louder than any show I’ve seen since…
So I am a sucker for Christmas, and the Seraphic Fire’s Friday night concert at the Arsht Center made the season for me. Messiah — particularly the hallelujah chorus, was sublime. The small orchestra and beautiful voices organized by Notre Dame professor Patrick Quigley and partially funded by the Knight…
Here’s something for minimal techno lovers (perhaps it’ll cool down enough this weekend for a scarf?). This Saturday at everybody’s favorite micro-dance-club, Blue, Pornograph Events presents a live P.A. by the Berlin-based producer Touane. Born Marco Tonni in Rimini, Italy, he escaped his commercial-house-ridden home country for the techno promised…
And now it’s time for the “I love you like a fat kid loves cake” memorial Worst Lyrics of 2008, March Madness-style tournament, this year a terrifying mélange of appalling oral-sex requests, bargain-bin philosophies, grammatical atrocities, and cringe-inducing pillow talk. To elevate the drama, I provided a trusted colleague with…
For hardcore Morrissey fans, especially those of us in South Florida, 2007 was somewhat emotionally tumultuous. First, he played an amazing summer show here, in support of Ringleader of the Tormenters — good (in spite of the cruel heat). Except the show was at the Mizner Park Amphitheatre in Boca…
In 2008, independent rock returned to the underground, where it belongs. Given the grand catastrophe that is today’s record industry, most major-label executives don’t have the time or energy to convince music fans they might like something a little out of the ordinary. They’re too busy recycling variations on what…
Photo by Jonas Grabarnick/The Opium GroupSomeone whispered “Common’s around the corner” into my ear and disappeared into the winsome mob at Louis. I had been so thrown off by the sensation of an 18th century soldier sweeping party debris across my feet, I hadn’t even realized that I had wandered…
The Italoboyz’s moniker is slightly misleading on a couple levels. First, it’s slightly so, because although Marco Donato and Frederico Marton hails from Italy, the twosome have been based in London since about the turn of the millennium. Neither do they play, as one would assume, Italo disco, or even…
Slip-N-Slide’s 15th Anniversary Party at Hotel Victor in Miami Beach was definitely the best party of 2008. Baby tigers, porn stars, open bars, and lots of millionaire thugs showing off their jewelry. Trina was posing for photos as Keith Sweat performed. I got to sit and talk to Slip-N-Slide’s founder…
A few weeks ago, when Mr. Vegas was in town for the International Caribbean Music Fest debacle — a show where most of the headliners didn’t perform because they never got paid — Vegas was one of the few bright spots of the night. Anyone who was there remembers the…
As the name of this event, and the fact that it’s followed by a numeral, might suggest, the epic December party Candyland started out in the golden age of the Florida rave scene. In the Nineties, it was a guaranteed good-time on the party calendar, one of several large-scale annual…
Any knucklehead with DSL and a laptop can now make an electronic track. With a half hour of clicking and fiddling, you can sample enough cheesy beats and mashups to clog arteries from here to Berlin. Simple dropdown mouse maneuvers can transform electro tracks into progressive house tracks (from dry…
In a year worthy of your rage, metal delivered in spades. What with the economy circling the drain and Sarah Palin coming down from the tundra and then refusing to go back, 2008’s been the kind of year that really makes you want to smash your head into walls or…
AC/DC doesn’t really need anyone to defend it. The Aussie quintet has sold more than 200 million albums in its three-decade-plus career. Back in Black is the second-best-selling album of all time, behind only Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The band’s latest disc, Black Ice — sold exclusively at Wal-Mart — debuted…
Coffee House Gypsies The Artist (Tenement Hall Productions/Damian’s Dream) www.myspace.com/coffeehousegypsies Coffee House Gypsies are a pop-rock-tinged acoustic folksy coffeehouse band. Boasting a live set with covers to cover the ages, they also craft original compositions that fall into that Joan Baez/Jewel kind of feel. I like bookstores for books, and…
Nope. He didn’t nick his name from James Brown’s classic “Hot Pants (She Got to Use What She Got to Get What She Wants).” He didn’t nab it from former Famous Flame Bobby Byrd’s “Hot Pants — I’m Coming, I’m Coming, I’m Coming” either. And he most certainly wasn’t thinking…
The Miami indie scene might be in the midst of a renaissance, with quirky local acts garnering the attention of the New York Times. But long before new local acts were making national news, an incensed band known as the Holy Terrors was trashing the city with an inimitable art-punk…
Some music fans will insist the art form of the Christmas album achieved perfection with Vince Guaraldi’s score to A Charlie Brown Christmas; others will argue for the supremacy of A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. Either way, each year artists mine the rich cache of holiday songs…
Most music lovers who enjoy Miami’s multicultural sound know about the jam masters of Locos por Juana, because their abounding soulful mix of Latin jazz is the talk of the town. And at this very moment, we can also add the Grammys to their long list of admirers. The local…
Fresh — well, as fresh as one could be after doing an eight-hour set in New York City — from Pacha, hometown house DJ Oscar G is in charge of the Main Room at Space for the club’s Christmas party this Saturday. If you’ve bothered to read even this far,…
Like fellow Frenchman Laurent Garnier, house DJ Joachim Garraud cut his teeth at Paris nightclub Boy, ground zero for the country’s techno scene. Unlike most DJs, however, he came in with a fully rounded musical background, having spent seven years training at the French Academy of Music Percussion and Piano…
‘Tis the season, ya’ll! And the Opium Group wants you to open your wallets, er, for charity of course! It goes without saying, we are all hurting a bit financially this season, but there still are a lot people worse off than you. So if aren’t aware already of all…
