After more than 30 years as a reggae musician, Cocoa Tea should be either a cutting-edge groundbreaker or a standard-bearing legend. As Biological Warfare disappointingly makes clear, he’s neither. The dancehall vibe he’s worked with for most of his career has seen him occasionally flirting with progressive electronic sounds that…
Contrary to what its name implies, Miami’s 2005 Grammy-nominated Cuban son ensemble Conjunto Progreso is anything but forward-thinking. Not that the band members mind: They proudly claim to be the only local Latin act not trying to create experimental fusion. “We’re strictly a roots-oriented band. We haven’t gotten past the…
Café Tacuba Sunday, December 16 the Gusman Theater, Miami There are very few bands around that can continue to garner new, younger fans almost two decades into their careers. Mexico’s Café Tacuba, however, stands as one of those select few. Downtown’s Miami old and marvelous Gusman Theater was brimming with…
Pregnant chicks are cool, I guess, because they eat like stoners and can hold your beer on their stomach while you play Halo. But I still feel mildly weird about these pictures of Xtina trying to look all uber-slutty with a small human inside her stomach, I guess because a…
Café Tacuba Gusman Center Dec 16, 2007 Media: Check out a slideshow from the concert. Between the art deco splendor of the Gusman Center and the flock of Mexican hipsters making their way through the nipply cold wind tunnels downtown last night – it felt like we were in Chilangolandia…
By ANDY VIHSTADT Led On Those of you waiting on a full-scale reunion tour from Led Zeppelin should find something else to obsess about in 2008. According to Robert Plant’s site , he and Alison Krauss are launching a European tour in May with US dates to follow. In the…
The Y100 Jingle Ball December 15, 2007 The Bank Atlantic Center School will soon be coming to a brief respite as youngsters gear up for the holiday break. In celebration, every teen and tween in South Florida seemed to have congregated at the Y100 Jingle Ball with parents in tow…
Guess what her favorite band is. Big Bang Radio Swampgrass Willy’s December 15, 2007 Saturday seemed like it was a day of Big Bangs. South Florida’s hard rock juggernaut, Big Bang Radio, played three shows within a 10-hour span to celebrate the release of their debut album, To Mars from…
Chad “Pimp C” Butler 12/29/73-12/4/07 By John Nova Lomax I came late to the UGK party. I was out of the country for much of their rise from 1992-1995, and then I lived in Nashville, where their legend had not yet spread, until the end of 1997. Even after moving…
Stephen C. Foster, composer of Florida’s current state song There’s been talk of getting rid of Florida’s state song for years. “The Swanee River (Old Folks at Home)” by Stephen C. Foster was officially adopted in 1935 — less enlightened times, shall we say. At the end of 2007, it…
Jethro Tull at Hard Rock Live Thursday, December 13, 2007 They may belong to an elite group of Sixties survivors, but unlike others of that ilk, Jethro Tull have never attained the special stature accorded others of that ilk. Sure, “Aqualung” remains a perennial classic, and the band’s brainy synthesis…
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Andrea Bocelli’s concert at the Hard Rock Live Wednesday night. I knew he had sung a duet at one point with Celine Dion, and I was worried that the entire concert would be in that vein: cheesy, easy listening pop. I was pleasantly…
Duran Duran had two options when it set out to make Red Carpet Massacre, its first album in four years: Try to reclaim New Wave disco from contemporary disciples like the Killers, or go for the commercial gusto by teaming with a red-hot producer. And there are plenty of reasons…
Hvarf/Heim, Heima
Pop-punk arguably wore out its welcome yesterday. But the lads in Good Charlotte have at least had the good sense and decency to spice up their sound on their last two albums, especially the latest, Good Morning Revival, released in March. New Times recently caught up with the band’s almost…
From one stylistic perch or another, Northern Ireland’s pop stalwarts have examined the violence between the region’s Nationalist and Unionist communities: the Divine Comedy with “Sunrise,” the Undertones (“It’s Going to Happen”), Stiff Little Fingers (Inflammable Material), Phil Coulter (“The Town I Loved So Well”). But Belfast’s other great export,…
Local indie rock fans have long since considered soft-toned rocker John Ralston as a hometown hero. As a native of Lake Worth, he has rocked out around South Florida for years, opening for, and occasionally headlining with, other local-but-then-exploded acts like Dashboard Confessional and Legends of Rodeo. But now Ralston…
There are certain riffs that are forever emblazoned in the soundtrack of rock and roll: the Beatles’ “Day Tripper,” the Stones’ “Satisfaction,” the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me,” Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love,” Hendrix’s “Purple Haze.” Then there’s the opening guitar lick to “Locomotive Breath,” the inevitable showstopper at any…
Canadian-born techno veteran Richie Hawtin makes his home in Berlin these days and seldom performs in the States, so we’re lucky that local techno clique Future Mob has brought him to Pawn Shop this weekend. Since moving to Deutschland a couple of years ago, he has immersed himself in consulting…
For nearly two decades, the Mexican alt-rock stars of Café Tacuba have systematically dissolved the language barrier. Hailed by the New York Times as “one of the most important bands in the hemisphere,” the quartet (flanked live by Alejandro Flores on violin) has a distinctly arty sound. The band’s most…
You shoulda been with me last Saturday. I was at Diddy’s house for his birthday out on Star Island,” says local music impresario Bigg D. He leans back in the leather seat of his new Bentley as he drives south on I-95. “You ever eat lunch at Tootsies?” he asks…
Forget boy bands and Barry Manilow; Christmas music might be the ultimate guilty pleasure. It’s inherently corny, unrepentantly joyful, and the tiniest bit reverent — which are all qualities largely reviled by rock and roll purists. And although you would be forgiven for never wanting to hear “Jingle Bells” ever…
