RIP Max Roach

The Legendary Max Roach At work In sad news, great jazz percussionist Max Roach passed away yesterday at the age of 83. He’d been sick for some time according to reports and died on Wednesday in a Manhattan hospital. Roach was one of the well noted innovators of bebop jazz…

Marisela Verena Sends a Message

Marisela Verena Marisela Verena has never sat down to compose a song – or sing one for that matter – with the idea it’s going to climb the charts or end up getting regular airplay. It’s the message she’s trying to convey to the masses that concerns her most. “I…

Diego Jinkus and Electronic Miel

Argentine-born artist Diego Jinkus knows his way around his axe. Seriously — even when he’s rocking out, his fingers are fluttering up and down his guitar’s neck with hummingbird speed. His chops have even garnered him coveted sponsorships from both Godin and ESP guitars. But Jinkus is no long-haired metal…

Romancing the Tone

It was pitch-black. It was long and slick. It was hard and secure. It bounced in every direction yet never appeared out of place. It kindled enough swagger and confidence to ignite a copycat trend throughout the world’s salsa hubs, which is still evident to this day, among a horde…

Jah Cure

First off, this isn’t exactly a new project by the fresh-out-of-prison Jamaican singer Jah Cure. The recently released True Reflections is more of a greatest-hits compilation of tunes that Cure has cranked out over the past eight years — most of which he recorded while behind bars. True Jah Cure…

Junior Senior

As world events keep taking dark turns, Junior Senior continues to get happier. On its second long-player, humorously titled Hey Hey My My Yo Yo, the Danish duo is practically giddy in its effervescent good mood. Hey Hey fizzles and pops with all the ingredients necessary for a good time…

Let Her Bang

Melissa Young promises she doesn’t usually yawn this much. “I have a serious case of insomnia,” Young, more commonly known as hip-hop artist Kid Sister, says over the phone. The Chicago native has been up all night, working on outtakes for albums by hip artists like Chromeo and the Cool…

Suspicious Minds

Thursday marks 30 years since the King of Rock and Roll — Elvis Aron Presley to his mama and daddy — keeled over on his Graceland throne, dead at the love-me-tender age of 42. But he’s still with us in myriad, mysterious ways. The billion-plus albums sold worldwide, for starters…

Down to Earth Approach

The fresh-faced quartet Down to Earth Approach might look barely old enough to legally enter Studio A, where the band plays Thursday. But really, the guys have been at it now for the better part of a decade. Forming first in their native New York state, they decamped to California…

The Birthday Massacre

Rarely does a band’s name fit its music as decorously as with the Birthday Massacre. Similarly the Toronto-based quintet’s sound is color-coordinated with its black-and-purple art scheme. It is Eighties big-rock balladry reupholstered for the goth-rock vampire patrol, like Missing Persons lost in the House of Frankenstein, armed with only…

Dead Beat Dad and Music Is a Weapon

Joey Tiger doesn’t mince words. He shoves them into your ears in raw chunks. “We get the best crowd response out of all the bands we play with,” brags Tiger, lead guitarist of Hialeah-based hard rock act Dead Beat Dad. Together for a year, the bandmates have been writing songs…

Rollin’ with the Holy

If you are a Miami native and you love hip-hop from the 305, then you know Slip-N-Slide Records. Named Best Independent Record Label by Miami New Times earlier this year, the company has sold more than 15 million records since its inception in 1993. That number should grow exponentially: In…

John Doe

Adopting the guise of roots revisionist, musical journeyman, and trad troubadour, John Doe has taken an unexpected tangent since parting ways with X, the apocalyptic punk group he helmed in the Eighties. And with every twist of his trajectory and each succeeding album, Doe’s reputation has ratcheted up accordingly. So…

Got Vinyl?

For some, vinyl is like a daily Cuban coffee addiction or FIFA 2007 on PlayStation 3. For others, it’s a leftover relic from an older generation, like comic books and Cracker Jack. Luckily in South Florida, there are still a few shops that stock it, like the storied Blue Note…

Minnie Driver

Membership has its privileges. How else do we explain the cameos that stud Minnie Driver’s sophomore effort? Would Ryan Adams really chip in a guitar part if Driver weren’t a movie star? Would Liz Phair lend backing vocals? Sure they would. Right. In fairness, though, Driver isn’t pulling a Hasselhoff…

Review: Projekt Revolution, August 10

The Projekt Revolution Tour, featuring Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, Placebo, H.I.M., and others Sound Advice Ampitheatre August 10, 2007 View a slideshow of photos from the concert here. Gerard Way of My Chemical RomancePhoto by Jeffrey Delannoy Better Than: If you like rock and don’t mind…

Monday Night: OZONE Awards at the James L. Knight Center

Second Annual Ozone Awards James L. Knight Center, Downtown Miami August 13, 2007 Better Than: The over-hyped, over-rehearsed and just plain ol’ boring MTV Music Video Awards. OK, the Second Annual Ozone Awards are meant to honor the very best that Southern hip-hop has to offer, but judging by Monday’s…

Last Night: Macy Gray at Hard Rock Live

Macy Gray Hard Rock Live, Hollywood August 14, 2007 Better Than: A Sideshow Give Macy Gray her due. The woman’s not just a one hit wonder even though it’s her song “I Try” that brought most of the crowd out to the Hard Rock to see her. Part chanteuse, part…

CD Review: Against Me!

Against Me! New Wave Gainesville’s Against Me! shares a hometown with Lynyrd Skynyrd and, discounting the redneck caricature Skynyrd became after frontman/spiritual leader Ronnie Van Zant’s 1977 death, a lot more: a keen eye for the flaws of leaders and those being led alike, and songs with sentiments as potent…

Concert Review: Masters of Mayhem 3 at Thunderbird Resort

DJ Slip 187 Lucy Orozco Masters of Mayhem Thunderbird Beach Resort August 11, 2007 Better Than: Getting locked inside a tanning booth and blistering up to the sound of “Diamond Girl,” on your brand new iPod headphones. The review: The usual darkness and crowding of nightclubs can only do Miami…

Last Night: Gilberto Santa Rosa at Hard Rock Live

Gilberto Santa Rosa Hard Rock Live August 9, 2007 A stunning – and obviously health conscious – woman sensually swayed her hips and caressed her long black hair from the second level railing for most of Gilberto Santa Rosa’s performance last night at the Hard Rock Live. Despite going relatively…

Rick Ross Reaches Out to M-I-Yayo

Rick Ross Alexandra Quinones Rick Ross Charities, Inc. teamed up with Magic Johnson Burger King restaurants to kick off the 1st Annual “Rick Ross Be Out Day” Wednesday, at Miami Carol City Senior High. The concert was free, but it was incredibly hot. Luckily, Slip N Slide Records invited Miami…