C. Stiles Some of the hottest roller skating tracks of all time are booty, bass, and freestyle songs that were wildly popular a few decades back in South Florida. That’s because many of the jams were produced locally by outfits like Luke Records, as in the label of 2 Live…
World-renowned Argentine electro-fusion outfit Bajofondo has always dug deep into its cultural roots to create a modern mystical ambiance. While the group still retains much of its original electro-dub-tango essence, its latest album, Mar Dulce, dredges even deeper. The new sound traverses a sea of mixed-up musical genres including Andalusian…
Turn your TVs on/Bet ya all you see is me!” DJ Khaled raps/sings on “Standing on the Mountain Top,” his only tangible musical contribution to his third album, We Global (We the Best/Koch/Terror Squad). This boast is not exactly true. When I turn on the TV, I see mostly Sarah…
Thank the dark lord, or whoever is responsible, for getting the infamous Glenn Danzig off his ass and on a long-awaited national tour. This Thursday he kicks off his Blackest of the Black tour in the least dark place ever — South Beach. Hordes of Jay and Silent Bob look-alikes…
Common is eager to discuss the future of his burgeoning acting career. “I want you to be able to say, ‘Common’s one of the great actors of our time,'” he says earnestly. But the two-time Grammy winner (and 11-time nominee) is still best known for his socially conscious rhymes on…
It is little wonder why Dutch-born Eric Vloeimans is considered one of the most influential trumpet players of his generation. An accomplished storyteller, Vloeimans refuses to restrict himself to any particular melodic format or sonic texture. Take, for instance, his version of “Prince of Darkness,” a Miles Davis composition included…
Since the last time New Times gave you a behind-the-scenes read about ¡Mayday!, the fellas have still been stretching capacity limits and adding to their brand of Girls Gone Wild-style madness at their second-Friday jam sessions at Jazid. Notable tracks such as “Watching Me” and “Nothin'” are giving way to…
British beat-juggler Lee Burridge is sort of a freak. Sure, turntablists are known to be an eccentric lot, but it’s a safe bet that your average record spinner has never claimed to have done the nasty in a DJ booth, fallen in love with a vodou woman, and bombed around…
Better watch your girlfriend around Benny Benassi. Not only is he a suave-looking Italian guy, but also he’s a rising star on the dance-music scene who specializes in sexed-up, electro-fueled house sleazefests such as “Who’s Your Daddy?” and “I Love My Sex” — you know, just the sort of thing…
In the video for “Ce Jeu,” a recent song by the French trio Yelle, singer Julie Budet shifts through hyper-color wardrobe changes like a snake shedding skin. One minute she’s wearing Nerf sculpture sunglasses; the next, grinding in a bold-stripe duo-chromatic body suit. Minimalism this ain’t. But it is keenly…
It’s a sure sign that an album is nasty when it takes a strong stomach just to review it. Miami-bred rapper Blowfly’s latest release, Live at the Platypussery, is just that type of hilariously crass disc. It was recorded live in Melbourne, Australia, and it’s full of funny yet crude…
Are you embarrassed around your closest friends? Suffer from unsightly outcroppings of polo shirts and pastels? Every so often do you unintentionally leak enthusiasm for Vampire Weekend? It’s all right — Abe Vigoda is here to help. The tropical punk quartet is the next in line, after No Age, to…
Brass Knuckles is Nelly’s Thriller. Seriously. Brass Knuckles is not a perfect album, but neither was Thriller. It jumped styles and was not particularly cohesive; similarly, Nelly’s fifth CD skips haphazardly from dirty South jams (“Hold Up,” featuring T.I.) to G-funk throwbacks (“L.A.,” featuring Doggs Snoop and Nate) to would-be…
Although the Radio crew’s talent is well established, the band’s music has always raised user-friendliness questions: Sure, 2006’s Return to Cookie Mountain was excellent, but did anyone other than rock critics listen to it? Dear Science tackles this conundrum head-on, upping the accessibility quotient without smacking of sell-out desperation. “Crying,”…
It’s hard to beat a dame whose name not only has its roots in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, but also conjures images of a certain Hollywood bombshell and her amnesia-soaked hit TV show. Then again, it seems that few chicks even try to penetrate the DJ circuit. Whether that’s…
Miguel Carver looks devilishly happy as he rounds a corner of the roller rink. Bent slightly forward, lost in his own world, he skates close to the inside of the oval. The DJ spins a freestyle classic from 1988 — Stevie B’s “Spring Love.” It’s one of Miguel’s favorite songs…
For those who can’t get enough of this pseudo-scandal, it seems that Rick Ross has finally copped (lol) to his past as a corrections officer. After photos leaked recently of his academy graduation, he first flat-out denied it was him, claiming someone had Photoshopped his face onto someone else’s body…
No event that ends with “–con” is complete without highly specialized musical guests. (Just check out, for example, this long list of wizard-centric bands that just rocked the huge Harry Potter convention in Chicago earlier this year. Anime Supercon, South Florida’s biggest anime/comic/manga/etc. convention, which takes place Oct. 31 through…
Antoine Asseraf Je suis fashionable. Ze French iz always at ze forefront of — how do you say? — ze fashion. This iz why French chanteuse Yelle wants you to, eh, wear ze mask she gives online. Silly Americans can hide their fat faces they stuff with ze McDonald and…
You know a band from your city is awesome when one of my favorite people in music, Greg Puciato of the Dillinger Escape Plan, has to ask about them or shout them out every time he’s in town. So it goes with Miami’s own Poison the Well, the decade-plus-running metal-ish,…
Charlie Pickett Bar Band Americanus – The Best of Charlie Picket And (Bloodshot) Both as a music addict and “critic,” I hear lots of music that slips into cult following-status and/or obscurity while less talented musicians reap the big rewards. Take South Floridian Charlie Pickett for example. Throughout the1980’s he…
(Via Steve Huff, via Fark) The VP debate was Rickrolled! Check out the signs in the back. Incidentally, Rick Astley is up for “Best Act Ever” at the MTV Europe Music Awards — twenty years after he was a chart-topper with “Never Gonna Give You Up” and “Together Forever.” (No,…
