Hear me now, Miami. Big ups to Red Bull for putting on one of the livest parties we’ve ever attended. We’ll drink our vodka and rum with nothing but your sweet rage juice if you promise to bring more Culture Clashes to the 305. The chance to see Slow Roast,…
Arcade Fire as the Reflektors Little Haiti Cultural Center, Miami Presented by Rhythm Foundation Thursday, October 24, 2013 Better Than: A Reflektor-less existence. “We couldn’t have made this record without Haiti.” On two consecutive nights, Arcade Fire’s Win Butler confided this same thing to Miami crowds. His band’s new album,…
The term singer-songwriter conjures images of musicians in coffee houses with classically tuned acoustic guitars, strumming open chords to overly earnest lyrics. But since leaving his former band War on Drugs to go solo, Kurt Vile has consistently subverted the stereotype with experimental atmospherics. This signature sonic approach can be…
Arcade Fire as the Reflektors Mekka, Miami Wednesday, October 23, 2013 Better Than: Catching your favorite indie-band-made-big in some giant auditorium. Arcade Fire first hit the scene, changing the sound of indie music forever, back in the early 2000s. Musical force Régine Chassagne is a first-generation Haitian emigrant, and apparently,…
Draco Rosa was born to make music. The former Menudo idol grew up listening to a mix of classic rock tunes from the Beatles and Led Zeppelin and the fast-paced descargas of salsa. And for over two decades now, the Grammy and Latin Grammy Award-winning singer, artist, writer, and producer…
Ever thought, Bro, these EDM shows just couldn’t get any more intense, with, like, all these lasers and LED screens and pyrotechnics and confetti cannons and robots on stilts and naked people? If you’ve answered “Yes!” then your imagination obviously sucks and you’ve never fantasized about electronic dance music in…
Everyone wants to talk about Drake and how the guy is sooo sad. But don’t worry about bruh. He is not sad. He’s livin’ the life, and he knows the key to livin’ the life is not being afraid to open up about your feelings. Drizzy also knows that you…
“A DJ nowadays brings their laptop and shows up at the club and they’re ready to go,” says Miami bass veteran Juan Basshead. “But back in the day, DJs had to have everything — all the gear, all the decks, all the way down to the sound.” The rise of…
Basslights 2.0, Day One With Pretty Lights, Bassnectar, Panty Raid, and SuperVision Kliptsch Ampitheater at Bayfront Park Friday, October 18, 2013 Better Than: Pretty Lights without full live percussion, a horn section, and keys, duh. Walking south on Biscayne Boulevard toward thumping bass and flashing lights at Bayfront Park was…
Mondays always get in the way of the weekend, but if you live in the Magic City, the first day of the work week always brings a new set of concerts to check out. And if you were one of the lucky ones who snagged a pair of tickets to…
Want to raise hell for Halloween? Negative Approach and the Casualties are coming to Churchill’s Pub with their Destruction Campaign Tour: Coming to Ruin Your Town. These are two bands that have inspired more wild, reckless rockin’ than Johnny Cash shooting crank with Elvis at a Motörhead show. We here…
R. Kelly James L. Knight Center, Miami Thursday, October 17, 2013 Hotter Than: “Sex in the Kitchen” … Uh huh. A night with Robert Sylvester Kelly is just as sexy as we’d always fantasized. But it was also weird, hilarious, filthy, absurd, and heartfelt. As Kells told Crossfade when he…
Pretty Lights is launching his new live show in Miami, as part of this weekend’s two-night Basslights stand, featuring the kind of set that has never before been attempted in the history of live music production. The Colorado buddha head will be bringing, along with his five-piece band, an analog…
Have you ever been to a party that went so HAM, the hosts got effing evicted? We have, but it wasn’t just any damn Wynwood loft party. It was a beat-freaking Boiler Room, the locals-only III Points edition that went down after James Murphy’s Point Blank set. After a week…
Spanish producer Henry Saiz first came to international prominence at the tail-end of the 2000s via releases on John Digweed’s Bedrock Records, the global touchstone for progressive house. And Saiz would also go on to mix the 2011 installment of Balance, the prestigious mix series known for its prog house…
Laidback Luke is an international EDM superstar. And yes, he’s also a world champion kung-fu fighter. But even famous DJs and (almost) master martial artists can’t avoid from the same kind of worries that plague average folk like us. Just check the cut for Luke’s take on learning your electronic…
The Basslights minifestival is a two-night downtown throwdown by EDM speaker-knockers Bassnectar and Pretty Lights. These Friday and Saturday shows at Klipsch Amphitheater will also feature Koan Sound from Australia and the Fools Gold electronic dance rap of Run the Jewels’ El-P and Killer Mike. Bassnectar is currently rushing down…
Draco Rosa is sitting in a cafe, just a few blocks down the road from his L.A. studio, Phantom Vox. “I’m sorry I’m being so rude, but I’m eating this delicious gluten-free cookie. It’s so good. I wish I could give you half,” the ex-Menudo heartthrob laughs. Having been in…
Your great-grandma thinks DJs work at radio stations. The rest of the world believes that disc jockeys have replaced rock stars, living to rule the pop charts, make multi-millions, and play the biggest festival stages on Earth. Oddly enough, neither great-grams, nor the rest of the world is entirely wrong…
When alligators want to fuck or fight, they roar. Females initiate the call, males follow, and they sometimes gang up by the thousands to throw tones so deep that the entire Everglades shakes. Some of these extreme rumbles occur at the level of infrasound, low-frequency oscillations that you feel more…
Claude VonStroke, the Claudefather of Dirtybird records, the big guy behind the ghetto-booty-tech madness that defies genre limitations, is enjoying some highly-deserved time in the spotlight. He’s built his empire from the ground up for years, and 2013 has seen him reap serious benefits. But it wasn’t always that way…
Laidback Luke isn’t just some international EDM superstar. He’s also a kung-fu master. But like all truly dangerous martial artists (and genuinely famous DJ-producers), he prefers to undersell his neck-snapping and ass-kicking skills. “I’m not really a master yet,” Luke insists, modestly. “But I am practicing at a high level,…
