He has produced songs for — and become friends with — Afrika Bambaataa. He lives around the corner from Snoop Dogg. But Überzone’s Tim Wiles is not a hip-hop star by any stretch of the imagination. You won’t find him rocking the latest platinum chain. He has no entourage, unless…
When the hip-hop movement was born, it was the beat heard around the world. Apparently Stockholm caught the buzz and a young Swede, now known as Mad Mats (Mats Carlsson), was obsessively listening to the tunes and practicing his street dancing. “I was the king of windmills,” he says. Fast-forward…
David Guetta drew international attention as the impresario (along with his wife, Cathy) behind the glamorous, VIP-clogged Fuck Me I’m Famous. First launched at Pacha Ibiza, it is now an internationally recognized brand for hedonistic, Studio 54-style shenanigans. Guetta’s career as a producer and DJ spans more than two decades,…
New York’s Def Mix is the dynamic production company helmed by Judy Weinstein, Frankie Knuckles, David Morales, Satoshi Tomiie, and Hector Romero. An anchor of the entire house music scene, Def Mix celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2007, kicking off a year of parties with Def Mix 20 at Shine…
Philadelphia rapper/producer Omar “Jneiro Jarel” Gilyard first gained attention after collaborations with future soul powerhouse Rich Medina. On Jarel’s 2005 album, Three Piece Puzzle, his first to receive widescale distribution, he evolved into an avatar of the electronic/hip-hop/soul style, an emerging trend expounded by artists such as the late J…
Berlin-based DJ/producer Dixon (born Steffen Berkhahn and occasionally also known under the alias Wahoo) is best known for working with that city’s renowned record label Sonar Kollektiv, for which he compiled several singles and mix CDs (including the acclaimed Off Limits series). He will soon release the eclectic mix Body…
Give Heidi a break and let her DJ set at the Get Physical party speak for itself. Don’t judge her for being from Richie Hawtin’s hometown of Windsor, Canada, or for being the latest girl to give the German techno scene the gift of a hot track (though Vejer is…
Most years it’s New York DJ Danny Tenaglia who performs marathon DJ sets at WMC. But this time around it’s going to be another Danny — Howells, from Hastings, England — who will rock the party for the long haul when he plays a nine-hour set at Pawn Shop Lounge…
Polish-born, Detroit-reared, and Berlin-residing DJ/producer Magda (ne Magda Hojnacka) is quite often found spinning at the same events as mentor Richie Hawtin and is signed to his M_Nus (pronounced minus) label. She is also quite possibly the only DJ to have ever had both a tea mug and a T-shirt…
King Britt’s fifteen-year-plus musical career is an astonishingly diverse one. The Philly producer’s career began with a partnership with Josh Wink, cranking out hits for Strictly Rhythm and Wink’s Ovum imprint. It peaked as a neo-soul pioneer who DJed for Digable Planets and issued a well-received 1997 debut, When the…
Snow Patrol The boys from Snow Patrol have come a long way from the days when they posed as members of the band Belle & Sebastian to infiltrate the student union club at the Glasgow School of Art. In fact, the indie darlings (from Glasgow by way of Dundee) are…
The city of Miami boasts plenty of local architectural gems. The three-month-old Umoja Shantytown is not one of them. Located in a dilapidated section of Liberty City, the makeshift camp constitutes the only known address of some 40 homeless residents, who are currently protesting Miami-Dade County’s lack of low-income housing…
For the guys in Maná, taking it on the chin from music critics isn’t just an occupational hazard — it’s a way of life. The band has been called everything from “overly earnest” to “heavily varnished” to plain old “fake.” Ouch. But much of the Maná-bashing can be diffused if…
Malecón. Just the word makes Lazaro Perez — a.k.a. Lashy — homesick. “Malecón, Malecón, Malecón. What a special place, especially at night, woooow,” says reggaeton artist Lashy, in a lilting accent. The Arizona-based Cuban transplant is performing at the Calle Ocho Festival this Sunday, and spoke with New Times on…
Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour The Used, Senses Fail and 30 Seconds to Mars head up a marathon nu-metal/emo show this Friday, sponsored (somewhat insipidly) by Rockstar Energy Drink. Although headline act The Used has historically written hard rock songs with poppy elements, its new LP Berth leans toward an…
Mari Rosa There is something inherently retro about a bossa nova/jazz make-out album. Mari Rosa’s debut disc, Honeyspot, feels like the sonic progeny of Martin Denny’s Afro-Desia (1959) and Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz’s Getz Au Go-Go (1964). Like those two classics, songwriter/vocalist Rosa’s disc resists blushing at its own…
Plain Jane Automobile Major radio stations are not exactly a goldmine of local indie talent. Ruthlessly focused on the bottom line, most stick to Top 40 acts supported by major labels — as if Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake don’t get enough exposure already. It is a wonder, then, that…
Green Lemon Question: How many white-boy rastafarian jam band members does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Answer: six. One to screw in the lightbulb and five to apologize to the rest of humanity for all the racket. Kidding! Just a little harmless jam band humor in honor of…
Elsten “Fulano” Torres flashed an impetuous grin last month as he gazed at the crowd grooving to his galactic Latin pop at Little Havana’s Kimbaracumbara nightclub. He and his band were delivering a funkified version of “Dando vueltas” (“Going in Circles”), with Torres supplying the playful refrain: “I may be…
Singer/songwriter Jorge Drexler was virtually unknown in the U.S. before an Oscar win in 2005, for his song “Al otro lado del río,” from Walter Salles’s film The Motorcycle Diaries. And what viewers saw of him on Oscar night might have been misleading. Those who saw the telecast remember that…
Because jazz sitarist and guitarist Rez Abbasi was born in Pakistan, studied in India, grew up in Los Angeles, and paid his dues in New York, it’s safe to say he’s the prime example of what it takes to have a genuinely global sound. Trying to hang a rudimentary genre…
Jamaican singer Richie Spice approaches dancehall music from a vastly different angle than most of his peers. Despite growing up in the rough parish of St. Andrews, Spice’s smooth vocals and delicate songwriting stand in stark contrast to most of the soundbwoy fi dead shit-talk now proliferating throughout the reggae…
