Q&A With T-Pain, Performing at AAA on Sunday

Many of today’s hip-hop personalities and R&B royalty would have fans believe they’ve got the genuine Midas touch, but few in recent years can truly back that claim up. The Tallahassee-born T-Pain, however, is one of these chosen few. It’s no wonder Akon snatched him up for his own imprint,…

Local Motion

Alfredo Naranjo Alfredo Naranjo y el Guajeo (Cacao Música) www.cacaomusica.com Venezuelan-born virtuoso vibraphonist Alfredo Naranjo explodes on this disc, backed by the band El Guajeo and a who’s-who of contemporary Venezuelan musicians: Pablo Gil, Luz Medina, Luis Toro, David Peña, et al. Here, he explores the Latin jazz arena, peppering…

Head Spins: Jenna Vicious

You’d never expect such a nice girl to have such a mean moniker. Then again, you’d never expect such a nice girl to slam such heavy tech-house either. According to Ms. Vicious, the name came from “old partner Andre Ramos. We produced experimental techno and house together under the name…

Ogre Needs Love

During the Eighties as half of Skinny Puppy, Nivek Ogre (or just Ogre, or Kevin Ogilvie) created a much-imitated, arresting blend of industrial and hard rock, belched forth amid bewildering onstage theatrics. A showman from the beginning, Ogre quickly used his theater of the horrifically absurd as a platform to…

David Byrne Plays The Fillmore Miami Beach

Nearly three decades ago — in 1981 to be exact — two inimitable forces of indie nature collided to create a concoction of modern disco spirituals entitled My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. There was no “indie” then, per se. But the two men responsible for the album, David…

Oscar Castro-Neves

There are quite lofty aspirations apparent in naming a concert Bossa Nova: Celebrating the First 50 Years. Anyone other than sensitive, crafty guitarist/bandleader/host Oscar Castro-Neves would be hard-pressed to pull it off. Castro-Neves, the breeze in this concert’s sails, is the type of veteran acoustic guitarist who draws beautiful sounds…

Lil Wayne

Writing about Lil Wayne this late into 2008 is a difficult challenge — mainly because there’s almost nothing left to say. The popular 26-year-old rapper grabbed the hip-hop world by its balls roughly a year ago with a series of free mixtapes that kept the blogosphere on fire with commentary…

Yes

For the first time since the 1980 Drama tour, British supergroup Yes is touring without frontman Jon Anderson, who fell ill after an asthma attack a few months back. In fact, because of this incident, the band’s original plans for a 40th anniversary tour with the “classic” formation (Anderson, Chris…

Switch

A Chromeo DJ set, Crookers, MSTRKRFT, and now Switch? Whoever is responsible for the string of bookings at Heathrow Lounge deserves a gold star, because it’s getting ridiculous. Switch, born Dave Taylor, is the U.K.-based whiz responsible for producing dance-floor staples for artists such as M.I.A. (“Boyz,” “Jimmy,” and “20…

Brand New Black Chiney Mix+ Willy Chin Birthday Bash

South Florida’s favorite reggae sound system, Black Chiney is at again. They just released a brand new free mix  project full of the hottest tracks coming out of Jamaica at the moment. But in typical Black Chiney fashion, the songs are mashed up with solid hip-hop tracks at just the…

Hercules & Love Affair Also to Play Ultra’s Second Day

Hah! Ultra is sounding better and better! Looks like the organizers have also flip-flopped their booking M.O. this year. Since the festival’s expansion into a two-day affair, things have generally gone more experimental the first night, with the classic dance music titans taking over the second day and night. Not…