One way or another, our worst fears demand confrontation. Dawson faces her mother’s illness armed with a precociously childlike, I-can-stare-down-death sing-song, fumbling at an acoustic guitar as bells chime like comforting pixies, screwing up her courage and holding tears in check. “There’s something in her blood/And there’s something in her…
If the Rub ‘n’ Tug dudes (Thomas Bullock and Eric Duncan) can jerk a happy ending out of Coldplay’s limp “Square One,” then why can’t they get this one off? While their DJ mixes are sloppy drunk, all bleary-eyed on the EQs, when saddling up alongside New York’s cowbell kings,…
The four blokes in Hot Chip may look like colorblind football hooligans, but their R&Bedroom pop reveals them to be softies at heart. Such a sad center gives the DFA team the raw materials necessary to craft one of the most heart-rending dance-floor tracks of recent memory. The kick throbs…
This German quartet traffics in traditionally Canadian maneuvers, tunneling Godspeed You Black Emperor!-style poli-sci post-rockout. “Warmachine” tumbles the standard-issue dominoes via cement-mixer bass rumble spiced with sinister movie dialogue, phantasmic guitar slime, and anxious drumming building in foreshadowed intensity — the balls-out, full-bore amps-to-eleven money shot elongated — with an…
People talk about Conference — no modifier — as if it is a holiday on par with, say, Christmas or Halloween. Indeed the event, now in its 21st year, is just that monolithic in the minds of electronic music aficionados and the DJs, nightclub owners, liquor purveyors, electronics providers, and…
The Winter Music Conference and M3 Summit are a dance-music lover’s yearly dream, a paradise of sound for even the most jaded ex-clubbers. It almost takes extra resolve to not be completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of creativity that splashes over the city as artists from throughout the U.S…
WMC is about three things: the actual conference (meaning WMC and M3), partying to the sounds of your favorite DJs, and discovering artists you’ve never heard before. The last goal can be an elusive one, especially when it comes to sifting through party lineups packed with dozens of turntable jocks…
“Global Gathering Miami is a test vessel,” says Nick McCabe, coproducer of the event. “This first year, we may not even make a profit; we just want to put on such a great show, create such a great experience, that it will spread nationwide.” Indeed this event is a very…
The New Times New Talent Stage is where Miami-Dade and Broward’s most amazing up-and-coming musicians will be showcased. Let’s take some time to meet these rising stars. The Waterford Landing uses Miami’s suburban landscape as the inspiration for its beautiful, melodic experimentation. The group came together after Alex Caso (synths,…
It is impossible to begin this story without mentioning Jay Dee. Born James Yancey, the influential hip-hop producer also known as J Dilla passed away February 7 in a Los Angeles hospital after years spent battling a rare blood disease. Three days before he died at the age of 32,…
Picture the following on one of the enormous Ultra Music Festival stages: 500 human-size Buddha statues from an ancient temple in Indonesia, some beheaded, some intact. It will happen, at least in two dimensions. In her Aventura studio, Marina Reno, a.k.a. VJ Psyberpixie, double-clicks on one of the frames shot…
Genesis 4:15 — “But the Lord said to him, öNot so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.’ Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.” Excuse me if I err — those catechism classes were…
Princess Superstar is the DJ and the rapper. In the live arena, the New York-based smart-ass splits her time between spinning alongside Alexander Technique (as the duo DJs Are Not Rockstars) and rocking the mike in front of a full band. Her latest album, My Machine, is a dense conceptual…
We empathize with tourists: If you don’t live in Miami, it is lovely to sit poolside outside a hotel and drink complimentary cocktails from one liquor sponsor or another; to look up at the palms; to wade in the vanishing-edge pool to a throbbing soundtrack of house music. But if…
If you have ever dreamed of crab-scratching a twelve-inch, Remix magazine’s Remix Hotel Miami 2006 may be the ultimate WMC venue for you. For three days, beginning March 22, some of world’s leading music and technology pioneers will turn South Beach’s National Hotel into the largest music technology showcase of…
The thing that might be so attractive about Hot Chip is its perfect mix of diverse styles of music, compounding dance and experimental electronic with soft, tender vocals and well-written lyrics, all providing a wonderful contrast to the recurring hip-hop themes. But Hot Chip possesses not only a unique sound…
It’s practically becoming an annual tradition. A British rapper with dope skills is ushered across the pond. His albums are well reviewed by critics at Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and Spin. His songs gain popularity with college radio DJs and podcasters. His is touted to be the new face of hip-hop…
The name says it all: Masters at Work. Since 1991, Little Louie Vega has dropped gem after gem like a careless jewelry thief at Magic Sessions, the Miami Music Conference’s longest-running event. “Sixteen years later we’re still here. What does that tell you?” quips Vega. “It’s a party that has…
For young ravers, Richie Hawtin is a great DJ for supplying rhythms to roll to. With arms spread and glowsticks twirling, the world is lost in his smooth and tripnotic techno beats. But true fans of Hawtin — and his alter ego Plastikman — know his brilliant compositions of ambient…
Twenty years ago, DJ Pierre (real name: Nathaniel Pierre Jones) made the squelch heard ’round the round. Pierre, along with Spanky and Herb J (as Phuture), created the sound called acid by tinkering with a Roland TB-303 bass line machine and placing the high-pitched result atop humid Chicago house. But…
James Holden’s spanking-new album, At the Controls (Resist), is an amalgamation of various genres from the electronic music spectrum. Tracks by the likes of Plastikman and Fennesz flow with complete disregard to their differences in style. Holden’s original productions and remixes have been tinged with almost every type of sound,…
The chronicles of Murk are as eclectic as the duo’s home city. After fifteen years together, several different aliases, countless remixes, international residencies, and hit records, Ralph Falcon and Oscar G hold a Sunday-night residency at Mansion — Made in Miami — a salute to the origin of their success…
