Bastille With Wolf Gang Fillmore Miami Beach Thursday, May 15, 2014 Better Than: Standing out in the heavy rain. If you ever wondered what the long term effects of Coldplay might be, you need look no further than Bastille. The chart topping synth heavy four piece are led by singer/songwriter…
Modest Mouse Fillmore Miami Beach Wednesday, May 14, 2014 Better Than: Getting caught in an actual pit of rats. Scurrying like buzz-hungry rodents to the sugar nozzle, Modest Mouse fans cheerily clawed and crawled through the Fillmore Miami Beach, searching for the perfect spot in which to nest while waiting…
One hit is all it takes for an established musician to become an international star. For Bob Marley, it was “Judge Not.” For Shaggy, it was “Oh, Carolina.” For Trinidadian ragga soca artist Bunji “The Fireman” Garlin, that song is “Differentology.” “The purpose was to transcend beyond the season of…
“Nomen,” says Kompakt Records cofounder and DJ-producer Michael Mayer, “est omen.” Or in other, non-Latin words, one’s moniker is a sign of destiny. So while “Kompakt started out,” Mayer recently told us, “as a record store in 1993” by the name of Delirium, it was soon relaunched, relabeled, and began…
Take some life advice from Blackalicious’ Gift of Gab and Chief Excel: “Don’t let money free tickets change ya!” Just like fast women, faster cars, and famous friends, it’s crazy how quick comp tix for classic rap shows, like Gab and Excel’s joint at Grand Central, can gas a homie’s…
If Germany has dominated techno since the turn of the millennium, it’s thanks in no small part to the enduring influence of one label: the legendary Cologne-based Kompakt Records. Launched in 1998, Kompakt artists would marry ambient electronica’s abstract, hypnotic sound design with driving four-to-the-floor beats to spawn the minimal…
Maybe you woke up this morning to discover your body decorated in colorful bruises. Maybe you’ve taken three showers, but still don’t feel particularly clean. And maybe you have an aggressive ringing in your ears that won’t let up. Well, then you were probably at the Jacuzzi Boys’ last show…
As Ms. Lily Allen says: “It’s hard out here for a bitch.” But that doesn’t mean the Brit pop provocateur’s about to let herself be beat down by slimeball demands that every woman be some rich, size six that can cook and shake ass. Nope. She’s starting shit. She’s fighting…
As we slog ever nearer to the pending change of ownership that looms over Churchill’s Pub, it would appear patrons have splintered into two distinct camps. There are the deniers who believe the punk landmark can only flourish with its current patronage and practices intact, and that any alterations by…
“Iz u down? Iz u down? Uhh, uhh.” That’s just Kid Ink (government name Brian Todd Collins), the 28-year-old Cali rapper, runnin’ game ’cause he could tell “it’s something on yo expression lookin’ like you need a taste of that ass some free concert tickets.” Kicking off Miami’s annual weeklong…
Of Montreal With Boogarins Grand Central Miami Wednesday, May 7, 2014 Better Than: Of Montreal’s recorded material. Of Montreal is one of those critically acclaimed bands whose dozen-album deep catalog is impossible to dive into. That is, unless you see them live. Such an occurrence will baptize you into the…
The Head and the Heart With Lost in the Trees Fillmore Miami Beach Tuesday, May 6, 2014 Better Than: Worrying all night about whether we should’ve worn our Lil Bub tee. The whole folkie Americana indie fad of the moment (e.g. Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, Edward Sharpe and the…
Indie garage rockers Deaf Poets may have been born in Miami Beach, but the noise this sonic duo creates is anything but tropical. Featuring bombastic guitar strums and blaring snare-drum smashes, this powerful, bluesy two-piece emits sounds more fitting for a grimy hole in the wall in Memphis. Lots of…
A disc-jockeying virtuoso, a veritable scholar of the selector’s craft, Daniel Avery doesn’t subscribe much to dance-floor formulas as a producer. “I grew up listening to guitar music,” Avery tells Crossfade. “I loved anything with a psychedelic edge, whether that was My Bloody Valentine, Black Sabbath, Mogwai, Neu!, Death In…
What exactly lured Juggalos, happy drunks, and hot Miami mamis to a rager at the zoo? Well, all-you-can-drink beer. (Unfortunately, no spiked Faygo Red Pop.) But also, as New Times’ Brew at the Zoo master of ceremonies Notorious Nastie excitedly croaked: “You’ve seen him on TV! And you’ve seen him…
“Body to body,” as J.Lo coos, “working it out,” in the deeeeeep end. For the third straight year, Clear Channel’s digital streaming service, iHeartRadio, will be gettin’ wet ‘n’ wild at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach with its Ultimate Pool Party. In 2012, Flo Rida stripped down to take a dip…
Pints, football, and friends. That’s how the Irish and the English fete the birth of their favorite sons. So come Sunday, Miami’s Guinness- and soccer-loving masses will descend upon 5501 NE Second Avenue to honor the anniversary of Churchill’s Pub enforcer Nicky Bowe and his doorman buddy Mr. C’s emergence…
¡Ay, ay ay! Rise and shine for Cinco de Mayo! Even if you’re not Mexican, tonight you’re gonna rock your sombrero, pound shots of tequila, and pretend you are. Sure, you’ll wake up hungover, but at least you’ll have sweet music from indie rockers the Head and the Heart, rock…
What is “an ordinary day”? Sleep, eat a bowl of cereal, sit at a desk, sip some cheap white wine, sleep. And if St. Vincent’s new-ish song “Birth in Reverse” can be considered a fairly factual account of 24 hours in the life of Ms. Annie Clark … Well, she…
Tel Aviv, Israel, is a tourist-heavy beach and party town on the Mediterranean Sea whose concrete roadways are littered with hooker flyers. It’s a place full of Russian and Armenian gangsters, shadowy clubs, some of the purest MDMA in the world, and more guns than a fleet of U.S. war…
“Let me get Tamar on the phone for you. Don’t hang up,” says a man’s voice on the other end of the line. After a five second pause of silence, a call comes through. “This is Tamar right now!” laughs the singer, calling in just before soundcheck at the Times…
Floor’s Oblation Album Release Show Churchill’s Pub, Miami Wednesday, April 20, 2014 Reunions are so often stuck in the mire of underlying tension and unresolved drama, clouded by financial motivations, or just plain incapable of living up to the band’s own myth that they tend to do disservice to an…
