A.K.A. PS 14 August 22, 2007 Better Than: Getting jumped, robbed and stabbed by a group of raging women. The Review: A.K.A., the all lady trio voted 2007’s best female band by the Miami New Times, held one of their last shows at PS 14’s, Spider Pussy, on Tuesday before…
What do you get when you grab the Au Pairs, ´80s-era King Crimson, Mungo Jerry, and the guy who mixes the harmonies for The Scissor Sisters, stick them in a blender, and hit “frappe”? Goo. You get goo. It’s disgusting. Never try it. But! If you take those same ingredients,…
At a venue like Churchill’s, where hardcore, punk, and death metal bands dominate most nights, the best way to attract attention is by making less noise. At least that seems to be the tactic Raffajo Harris and Rainer Davies are taking with their new Wednesday-night happening, Can You Rock a…
From Christmas Day 1986 through January 17, 1987, Mötley Crüe founder and songwriter Nikki Sixx kept a daily diary that chronicled his exploits as an unraveling cocaine and heroin addict. He’s not the first, and won’t be the last, to do this, but goddamn if this isn’t one of the…
Nas’s Hip Hop Is Dead has inspired a level of fear and introspection not recently seen in the discipline. Doomsayers cite record plummeting cultural influence in their arguments, but for proof that hip-hop lives, they need look no further than the rapper Hip Hop Harry, who single-handedly demonstrates the genre’s…
Some bands try for crossover hits, and some throw Hail Marys from 60 yards out. Purple Popcorn would fall into the latter category. The Miami-based hard-rock/rap act is headed up by Danny “Styles” Schofield and Winston “Blackout” Thomas, the same pair who produced 10 of the songs on Shawn Mims’s…
If the drum ‘n’ bass genre were ever to eat itself, Ed Rush wouldn’t be to blame. In the early Nineties, Rush was just another way-too-serious breakdancer searching for meaning beyond his electro/hip-hop universe. As it happened, the key to his artistic salvation was the rave scene, or one aspect…
Give Orlando-based DJ/producer Baby Anne a gold star on two counts. One, for still carrying a torch for Florida breaks, our state’s woozy, psyched-out spin on electro that reached its heyday in the late Nineties. Two, for being one of the few females to do so in a scene ruled…
Apparently some talented people can literally make art just by taking a dump. Wait, don’t go yet. “I’ve written several songs on the toilet,” Latin superstar Marco Antonio Solis reveals. “One of them is ‘La Venia Bendita,’ which came about while I was traveling from Mexico City to Cancun.” The…
Being Jesse Jackson may not be easy, but it sure seems fun. Chicks come out of the woodwork, cats hang thick by your side, and songs slide straight out of the sky. Sure, sometimes you gotta hit up a scribbler for a ride to the gig, maybe even a meal…
Finally it’s here in all its two-disc, 29-track, guest-star-studded glory: Underground Kingz, the most anticipated album out of the South this year and the most eagerly awaited Texas rap release since Scarface’s The Fix in 2002. Not since 2001 have we heard a whole album’s worth of “country rap tunes”…
Unlike many of his rap contemporaries, Rashid “Common” Lynn has matured artistically — but he had a head start. In 1992, when he released his debut CD, Can I Borrow a Dollar?, under the name Common Sense, he was already sage beyond his age, and since then, his work has…
Rapper/chatter/singer M.I.A., Sri Lankan by way of the UK, continues on Kala to explore the combination of her Eastern roots and Western upbringing that she began on her splashy entry, Arular. Traveling to southern India for inspiration and a collection of indigenous sounds, she has taken, say, a 2000-year-old Tamil…
The heavy hitters celebrated on Kompakt’s Total 8 don’t eclipse bright entries from the underexposed. Winners from a lesser-discussed bunch, along with Rex the Dog, Jürgen Paape, and DJ Koze, compile another worthwhile collection of techno from the revered German label. Two discs dutifully serve a handful of purposes. There’s…
This self-labeled “Cuban surf-rock” band has a curious history. A few years ago, Miami-born founder Jorge Navarro conducted academic research on how to use music as an educational tool for teachers who work with Hispanic students. While he was at it, he came up with the concept for his band,…
Jah Jerry It’s come to the attention of Crossfade that Jerry Hines, founding member of legendary Jamaican group, the Skatalites, has died. The guitarist, who passed away last Monday in a Jamaican hospital, was 80-years-old. Better known as Jah Jerry, Hines helped push the sound of ska forward long before…
Wherever his musical endeavors take him from this point forward, Marco Antonio Solis will forever be credited for greatly influencing norteno and tejano music all over Mexico and southwestern parts of the United States. Just 12 years old when he started improvising on an array of instruments and developing a…
“I said it’s here, it’s here, it’s here, it’s here.” The dude seems to release new material every 6 months and today, Mr. Talib Kweli BK MC, has another LP for hip-hop lovers to consume. Eardrum is in record stores today and while I haven’t heard it yet, I’d love…
London’s favorite rock’n’roll screwball, Pete Doherty, of Babyshambles is escaping jail time despite being arrested for suspicion of drug use recently. Apparently the cops didn’t get him to court within 24 hours of his arrest. Not quite sure how that happened. Maybe a few extra quids in the cops pockets…
The “World” section at your local music retailer is just a way to pile together all the stuff that isn’t from America or the UK. It really isn’t fair that Bossanova joints can be found right next to some Riverdance jams, but English-born Sri Lankan M.I.A.’s latest, Kala, truly deserves…
Rachel Brown Jazziz Lounge August 15, 2007 Better Than: Listening to pillow-talk R&B on the radio Last Wednesday night, sultry singer, Rachel Brown showcased her long awaited debut CD, Love, Life & Relationships at Jazziz Lounge in front of a packed audience of fans and industry-types. The locally based R&B…
Peter Frampton And The Doobie Brothers Hard Rock Live August 19, 2007 Better Than: The usual recycled vintage radio rock acts. In a night that gave classic rock fans a double shot of live and loud, the question hovered over the crowd like a waft of pot smoke. Should Peter…
