When he was a teen, Varick Smith walked home from school one day to find an ambulance and a throng of police in front of his neighbor’s house. The neighbor — a friend of Smith’s who was known to have dabbled in drugs — had been shot to death. “To…
When Black Rebel Motorcycle Club released its sophomore album, Take Them On, On Your Own, in late 2003, not even the band itself could have known how prophetic the title would prove to be. In the year that followed, the group ignited a bitter battle with its record company, Virgin…
Eighteen years is a long time for anything — or anyone — to stick around in Miami. Artists come and go; structures are built and torn down; businesses launch and then go bankrupt. But for something as awkward and funky as teenage dramanoid, the Subtropics Experimental Music and Sound Arts…
Damian Marley is carrying his father’s torch admirably. The title track on his latest album, “Welcome to Jamrock,” became the rarest of things, a politically astute urban hit that set the charts ablaze in late 2005. He recently scooped up two Grammys for his efforts, for Best Reggae Album and…
Scott Herren’s recent work has drawn criticism for sounding too similar to his early breakthrough recordings (particularly Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives). He often uses the same melodies — a soft, melodic arpeggio of keys — on all of his recordings, a tendency that frequently appears on Security Screenings, his…
Let’s go for a simple explanation of Bebo de Cuba. It is a double album that should be distributed for free in music schools, because it works perfectly as a delicate lesson on how to play most of the music genres that have Afro-Caribbean blood, be they mambo, danzón, son,…
Teddy Thompson hails from impressive lineage; his parents, Richard and Linda Thompson, are influential alums in high standing among Britain’s folk-rock elite. However, with this sophomore set, Thompson proves there’s no need to depend on pedigree; at this point in a still-fledgling career, he carves out his own credentials. Though…
With two highly acclaimed albums to their credit, Hem bandmates take the unusual step of turning their third effort into a retrospective of sorts, with reworked versions of their early catalogue combined with a heavy infusion of outtakes, rarities, and live tracks. For most bands, this would be a premature…
In this latest episode of Dave Grohl’s Love Life, Dave begs you to make him a better person, to force him to become a better lover. He’s been trying to pass the buck for about ten years, and I doubt the problem was that he needed to slow the tempo…
The “Laffy Taffy” minimalism isn’t novel anymore (novel isn’t really Jermaine Dupri’s thing), but it still swings. And when the vocal energy rises at minute three, Dem Generic Rappaz (who aren’t D4L because they don’t yell “Bankhead”) earn the right to hang at the club for a few more months…
With the assistance of space-rockers Landing, indie superproducer/collaborative gadabout Adam Forkner’s latest nom de plume nestles and sighs in a pile of Neu!-ly fluffed down. Mildly psychedelic and divertingly mellow the way a lava lamp can be under the proper conditions — dig those fluttering rabbit-hole guitars; in-a-trance one-note keyboard…
Ben Vida is great at keeping out of his own way. Talk-singing softly in enjoined, run-on couplets more impressionistic than cerebral, he leaves plenty of space for swooping, mewling keyboard brushstrokes, hints of sloping violin, and brittle acoustic strum, all eventually usurped by a fascinatingly intricate mélange of tight, tribal…
In a smoky, dimly lit room filled with a waiting audience bundled up in winter gear because of the seemingly frigid Miami air, two musicians took the stage at Churchill’s for the last time for a long time. Awesome New Republic — affectionately known as ANR — celebrated its going-away…
Hey, Jared: Ryan Brown from Burner here. I recently received a press packet from Virgin Records for your band, 30 Seconds to Mars. Now, Jared, when I got your CD in the mail, I was so excited. I was all “I’m going to make fun of Jared Leto. This is…
All hail R.E.M.! They were the jingle-jangle morning of indie rock, and their latest albums are … not bad for a bunch of old farts. For all the great tunes, we have held our tongues with regard to goofy frontman Michael Stipe. But no longer. For releasing yet another of…
Ted Lucas, CEO of Slip-N-Slide Records, must be asking himself why he let slip away the artist who caused a bidding war between Def Jam Records president Jay-Z and other label execs. DJs from Miami’s top urban radio stations know exactly why there was a fight for a piece of…
Remember back in 2002, around the time Rolling Stone magazine famously and lamely declared that rock was finally back, we were hit by an avalanche of bands trying to sound like the White Stripes or look exactly like the Strokes? Now we can all safely say that the Hives are…
What is it about California that causes its young to thrash out on Les Pauls and Fender Strats in such large (and high-quality) numbers? From Agent Orange to Rancid, each new generation of Golden Staters seems to take up the punk rock cause, with Bay Area band No Use for…
When Bob Marley died in 1981, a seismic shift in reggae was set into motion. Island New Wave shook Kingston clubs in the form of dancehall. The man credited as the pioneer called himself Yellowman. His beats attracted legions — at one point he had 40 singles charting the island…
Rock critics can’t resist calling Of Montreal “sunny,” and there’s plenty of truth to that description. Since 1997, the Athens, Georgia-based band has put out seven albums of whimsical pop psychedelia that play with shimmering, sophisticated layers of guitar and keyboard melody, over-the-top vocal harmonies, surreal lyrics, and unpredictable arrangements,…
Willie Clarke seems always to be taking a quick breather from work or walking the stairs back into the studio. He’s either at Domingo, Chocolate, or Roach T-Bone, the three Miami studios he splits his time between these days, some three years into his teacher retirement pension. Heading toward another…
When the Wu rolls into South Florida this week, we’ll witness what is arguably the greatest hip-hop group ever in a rare live appearance. The key to Wu’s success lies not in the compatibility of its members but in their aesthetic and thematic differences from one another. If Meth is…
