Critics have taken to calling the music of New York MC Cage “horrorcore.” And the guy does kinda have a thing about death. His recent breakout album, Hell’s Winter, features the following upbeat ditties: “Teen Age Death,” “Gimme Some Death,” and “The Death of Chris Palko.” (Hint: Chris Palko is…
So now we find out just how cool Johnny Depp really is. Way back, young girls would pack local clubs to see a band called the Kids, fronted by a scraggly young man named Johnny. Now the Kids, along with other bands upon whose shoulders South Florida’s original rock scene…
Veteran Boston-area punk rockers the Queers aren’t just another melodic, Ramones-like speed-punk band looking to scrape up a few new fans; they’ve been a punk institution since the early Eighties. Frontman Joe King has been the sole constant of the group since its inception, and, moshers, beware: He’s never been…
The model of a patient player, Bill Frisell has for decades kept his jazz, country, and fusion guitar work to a minimum. You’ll hear plenty of riffs, swirls, swells, and slides, but nary a moment of noodling. In 1989, Frisell teamed with fellow guitarist Arto Lindsay, drummer Joey Baron, saxophonist…
This Denver quartet performs straight-ahead pop, heavy on the sing-alongs, with plenty of sweeping guitar riffs and intense piano ballads. Its debut, How to Save a Life, went platinum and led to opening gigs for big names like Ben Folds and the Rolling Stones. The Fray has since graduated to…
In 1987 the folk-rock Indigo Girls released their first full-length album, Strange Fire, without major-label assistance. It was a work of stripped-down melodies and raw emotions. The duo’s signature sound was the melding of Emily Saliers’s lullaby voice with Amy Ray’s harder edge; together they composed a honeycomb of sweet…
After a lengthy holiday hiatus, live music has returned to South Florida with a vengeance that can be described only as deeply disorienting. So disorienting that we’ve temporarily shelved our plan to firebomb Ticketmaster and instead would like someone to prepare us warm milk with brandy. Lots of brandy. This…
We all know by now that when it comes to Miami, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo doesn’t mince words. During a recent trip to South Florida, the Republican House member made national news — and inflamed locals — by portraying the Magic City as “a Third-World country.” Florida’s public officials reacted…
Every year a wide swath of the nation’s rock critics singles out one up-and-coming band as the greatest thing since reverb. Last year that distinction fell to a Montreal troupe coyly named the Dears. As the new year dawns, the superlatives have yet to subside. Fortunately the Dears’ ironically titled…
A year ago Paul McCartney opened the vaults to the Freelance Hellraiser, who smashed the back catalogue all to, well, hell by mashing up mediocre Macca till it sounded brighter than the solo Beatle ever did all by his lonesome. Now comes the old pro himself, Sir George Martin, attempting…
Jazz and hip-hop once constituted a popular combination thanks to the likes of Gang Starr and A Tribe Called Quest. And though the mainstream has seemingly lost its taste for the blend, there’s plenty of flavor left in it — at least when Future Jazz Project is plugged in. The…
Filled with invigorating takes on classic rock warhorses, 2002’s Sucking the 70’s just might be the best tribute compilation ever produced. And although its sequel, Sucking the 70’s, Back in the Saddle Again, returns many of the same stoner-rock all-stars, Empire Strikes Back it ain’t. Like the first Sucking, the…
Singer/songwriter Cayce Lindner sports a thick gray beard, calls Northern California home, and plucks an acoustic guitar. This means a lot of people will describe his new project, Flying Canyon, as a symptom of this whole freak-folk, indie-hippie fad. And although Glenn Donaldson’s production — transforming doom-metal grooves into woodland…
Juan’s Birthday Bash A perfect storm of birthdays takes place this Friday and Saturday at Laundry Bar. Not only will owner Juan (a.k.a. Burn, a.k.a. the brain behind Basshead Productions) be lying about his age to the babes, but also DJ fixtures Karakter, Burn, and Nicky Dee will face the…
It’s interesting how entire lives are often shaped by coincidence. For tenor sax player David Sanchez, chance brought him to his current station among Latin Grammy winners and jazz pros. At age fifteen, the native of Puerto Rico stumbled upon his sister’s Miles Davis music. Later, at Escuela Libre de…
This past week, Miami’s Peasants with Feathers abruptly announced (all in lowercase on their MySpace page, mind you) their intention to abandon the music business. That’s probably a huge bummer to the folks at Churchill’s, because PWF appears to have been eighty-sixed from Ramhaus Records’ January 19 mini band-a-thon. Fortunately…
The times they are a-changin’ for Irish music enthusiasts — and their feet too. When the Pogues emerged from the early-Eighties postpunk landscape, most of their fans wore Doc Martens. Some two decades later, though, California’s Gaelic Storm dropped its latest album, 2006’s Bring Yer Wellies, offering a spirited mix…
Michael Rucker got to play the Santa of Salsa this holiday season. As director of marketing for Miami-based Latin music label Emusica, Rucker spent much of his time delivering promo copies of the company’s remastered classics from Fania Records, the storied label that launched the careers of (among others) Rubén…
To the casual observer, this comment might seem self-effacing: “I was smiling during that last song because I saw such a big crowd in here. But then I realized maybe it was because this is the only tent with air conditioning.” Yet there is no denying that the speaker, Matthew…
The name Fetti Profoun is a horrible hip-hop handle, but the hooks here are hot as hell. The CD opens with audio clips from news stations, spliced together to sound like a big, controversial story about the Phoenix-based Fetti, and then busts into the title track with hydraulic-bumpin’ beats and…
“Hellektro” group Combichrist has long been a favorite of the fetish community. Led by Norwegian-born Andy LaPlegua, Combichrist blends dark techno, aggro beats, and synth noise to produce a wicked, hawkish soundscape that’s equally diabolical and danceable. The title track drowns in pulsating synths, while LaPlegua’s fuzzed-over voice floats to…
Since its inception back in the late Eighties, this series has embodied the state of dancehall reggae and launched emerging artists. Casual listeners learn about the year in dancehall while dedicated enthusiasts appreciate the CD-length collections of all the hot seven-inches in recent months. Core audiences in Kingston and Brooklyn…
