If you hear similarities between the Afro-Peruvian music performed by New Jersey resident Eva Ayllon and the rhythms brought from Cuba by the late Celia Cruz and Tito Puente, you are on the right track. Peruvians have borrowed a lot from Africans taken to South America as slaves during the…
In the three years since the release of his eponymous debut EP, big-room-house DJ/producer Dirty South (a.k.a. Dragan Roganovic) has impressed the who’s-who-complex of international DJs, producers, media, and music lovers with his otherworldly knack for dishing out high-energy dance-floor bombs. Born in Eastern Europe and relocated to Australia at…
Even in 2008, Tommy Lee embraces the road warrior lifestyle with an energy that would make rockers half his age collapse, panting. About a year ago, he hit the road with DJ Aero to spread the word of their electro-sleaze DJ/production project. They criss-crossed the country, hit the Winter Music…
Here are some more bands whose live shows were among the highlights of this year’s CMJ Music Marathon. The Bronx: This confusingly named L.A. band is hardly new, having played a major stage on the length of this past summer’s Warped Tour. But they continue to retain the obsessive devotion…
This year’s CMJ Music Marathon, held last week in New York, delivered yet again another onslaught of new, now bands trying to be next year’s big thing. This year’s edition of the marathon, featured no, as it has in recent years past, real megawatt reunions or U.S. debuts. Much of…
Gloria Estefan Friday, October 24, 2008 Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood Better Than: The Santiago de Cuba Carnival Who can pack a crowd of Gringos and Latinos equally in one South Florida concert arena? If you guessed Gloria Estefan, you are right. Step to the head of the…
The biggest concert to hit Nassau, Bahamas all year is right around the corner and anticipation is building up for it. The Millennium Concert 2008 is scheduled for Oct 30-Nov 2nd and features three nights of top notch music acts plus a night of fashion and partying. The line up…
I just got the good word that Cape Verdean singer Anané and her husband, New York house legend, Louie Vega, are playing a show together in Miami two weeks from now. The show is set for November 6 at the Florida Room inside of the Delano Hotel, and sounds like…
Named for the sacred, otherworldly power of the jaguar in Mayan lore, this Mexican four-piece inadvertently proves that commercial forces have completely co-opted indie-rock vocabulary. After years of indie bands flirting with pop here in the States, it was only a matter of time before someone took it to another…
Cut Copy and Hercules & Love Affair have been burning up dorm-room dance floors. Then there’s the rise of the more richly histrionic LCD Soundsystem, not to mention the textured Burial and grotesquely distorted Justice. It all makes Omaha quintet The Faint’s simpler mind-meld of angst and beats seem more…
Although this 78-year-old Chicago transplant has not made many recordings under his own name for more than a decade, eclectic multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan needs little introduction. A legendary figure in his hometown up North, he made a name for himself there in the mid-Fifties as he performed with the likes…
No jam band worth its salt ever repeats a set list, and this is a rule that these Georgia Music Hall of Famers take close to their hearts. Never in the 22 years since Widespread Panic’s inception have the bandmates performed a duplicate concert, painstakingly going through their canon of…
The title of Gloria Estefan’s latest album, 90 Millas (90 Miles), alludes to the physical distance between her native Cuba and the United States. It’s no surprise, then, that lyrically she continues her peaceful activism in favor of democracy on the island nation. These include beautiful ballads such as “Cuando…
At this very moment, in a dorm room far, far away, the MGM lion is roaring for the third time just as some guy named Alec presses play on his Panasonic CD boombox, ushering in the confusing opening silence of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon over the black-and-white…
Tiffany Rainey MIA Skatepark’s Matt Cantor quizzing some kids on their multiplication tables (seriously). DJ Z-Trip at the Habitat Skateboard Demo Saturday, October 8, 2008 MIA Skatepark, Doral Better Than: Lurking on Lincoln Road Z-Trip who? Though sponsor Fuji Film probably shelled out a pretty penny to get the King…
Sayre Berman Meat Loaf and the Neverland Express rocked the Pompano Beach Amphitheatre Saturday night. Click here to view the full slideshow. Meat Loaf Saturday, October 18, 2008 Pompano Beach Amphitheatre, Pompano Beach Better Than: Mashed Potatoes If you believe rocker Meat Loaf’s songs and his stage antics, the guy…
Dolly Parton October 17, 2008 Mizner Park Amphitheatre, Boca Raton Better Than: Any faith healer I’ve ever met. There’s a very simple reason why Dolly Parton’s something of a phenomena, and that has to do with the fact that she’s absolutely phenomenal! Think about it. The great dame’s “highly extraordinary,…
Dwayne Nelson The Hip-Hop Live Tour Featuring: B.O.B., David Banner, Talib Kweli Thursday, October 16, 2008 Revolution, Fort Lauderdale Better than: MP3s, CD’s and DAT Machines Last night’s hip-hop buffet at Revolution offered fans a lot of quality “elements” to enjoy. There was b-boying, beatboxing, MCing, DJing, and if only…
Something About Dolly One Man’s Appreciation for All Things Parton –John Hood When I first got word that Dolly Parton would be coming to South Florida I got giddy; then I got on the phone. I called my editor. I called her publicist. I called my mom. If Dolly was…
On her latest project, On the Other Side (Telarc), Los Angeles-based jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton has put together a selection of standards based on the theme of the Founding Fathers’ “pursuit of happiness.” She has emerged with a collection of tunes that examine topics from both a more positive and…
Miguel Migs knows his history. His soulful, song-oriented deep house draws heavily on the style’s disco roots, tinting it with soul, funk, hip-hop, and reggae influences. In the studio, Migs employs live musicians and soulful vocalists, skillfully blending organic elements with electronic textures and programmed beats to create ultra-slick yet…
Regarded by many as “The Sinatra of Rancheras,” Vicente Fernandez is arguably the best-known singer of his genre, and is one of the first to reach international iconic status without having to resort to any other musical style. The comparison to Sinatra is not difficult to understand: The former gave…
