You can be thankful that members of Awesome Cool Dudes don’t think their band name is that great, either. “We just got really drunk and tried to pick the worst possible name that we could come up with,” says singer and guitarist Cory Plump. The band kicked off in Indiana…
Although the issue of selling souls tends to come up in church and in movies like O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the act of marrying a soul is difficult to come across, making Jaguar Wright’s latest album, Divorcing Neo to Marry Soul, even more labor-intensive. Compared to Aretha Franklin and…
Naeem Juwan, better known as Spank Rock, has a debut album called YoYoYoYoYo, and his hit single is about an “ass-shaking competition champ.” It’s pretty clear that Spank Rock is absolutely insane. And considering other songs on the album deal with everything from the abilities of his tongue to the…
With an album titled Stars Invited Me to Fly Through Time, it isn’t surprising that Dyslexic Postcards are a tie-dye rock band. “The basis of all of our sound just comes from psychedelic rock,” says singer and guitarist Ely Bacoy. “But there’s also a bit of a punk rock edge…
Few musicians create such universal music as does Kenny Garrett. Throughout a nearly 30-year career, multi-Grammy nominee and alto saxophonist Garrett has performed with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Art Blakey, as well as rockers Sting and Peter Gabriel. Garrett’s spin on jazz has allowed him to work in…
You can imagine how seriously Demonic Domain’s songwriter/guitarist takes his death-metal band when you find out his name is D. Mon. But maybe, as a member of a barely two-year-old group with street teams in most major cities, he has the right to. “We’re kind of amazed at the attention…
Bandleader, singer, composer, trombonist, Grammy winner, political activist, and living legend Willie Colón has done it all. He cut his first album, El Malo, at the age of seventeen with vocalist Hector Lavoe, another man with a now-legendary resumé. El Malo helped define the “New York Sound” — known today…
RBD’s bandmates began as stars on the Mexican teen soap opera Rebelde before releasing their debut of the same title. The album went platinum, with more than 500,000 sales in the country. Nuestro Amor, their second album, sold 127,000 units in seven hours. Suffice it to say, these guys are…
Frontman J.D. Wilkes has always thought of fiery Pentecostal preachers as true Southern punks, what with their charismatic showmanship and fear-for-your-lives ranting. Manifest that philosophy in a rail-thin body weighing in at, oh, about a buck ten, leaping about stage as he baptizes the crowd with his sweat and some…
Few bands bridge the divide between instrumental proficiency and sharply crafted songwriting as deftly as the Samples. Long before the term jam band was coined — way back in the mid-Eighties, in fact — this Colorado combo funneled its freewheeling melodies into odes etched with inspiration — reflective, evocative songs…
On its first major tour, Chicago’s Mirror Mirror will be bringing some mellower metal to Miami. “We call it melodic metal core,” says singer Brandon Butler of his band’s style, which combines moments of slower, softer singing backed by more soothing guitar chords with harder and heavier musical breaks. “We…
When the Berlin Wall came down, Paul Van Dyk wasted no time launching his musical career. Named “America’s Favorite DJ” in 2004 by BPM Magazine, Van Dyk grew up in East Germany listening to the Smiths and New Order on the radio before hearing techno at home after Germany’s reunification…
When you describe your music as belonging to the genre “hybrid electronics,” it should come as no surprise that people won’t know what the hell you’re talking about. But that hasn’t stopped Lacedmilk label founder and electronic artist Rudy Gonzalez from compiling an extensive list of artists from all over…
Hailing from the music factory of Omaha, Nebraska (Bright Eyes, the Faint, Cursive, Elliott Smith), Tilly and the Wall delivers warm, rich layers with delicious harmonies via three vocalists, and succulent beats from a nondrumming tap-dancing percussionist. (Yes, that’s correct. No drums in this band — just a tap dancer.)…
If the name’s the game, then Q-Burns Abstract Message is the right play. Taken from the DJ term for the scars a record gets from too much cueing or scratching, it’s the kinda tag only a divining vinyl enthusiast would devise — the mark that spells all, the read between…
Once a band has had a song featured on a Mexican soap opera, it’s fair to say the group has accomplished all it could ever hope for. Which is why it’s nice that Latin pop duo Sin Bandera is still touring. Performing at the Jackie Gleason Theater on its Mañana…
Before 2005, not many people knew who Bebe was, possibly because her creative, flamenco-pop-punk debut Pafuera Telarañas hadn’t yet been released in America, but most likely because she hadn’t yet received five Latin Grammy nominations. Winning for Best New Artist, this Latin singer has come a long way since she…
Sunshine Blues Fest? The words sunshine and blues may seem strange together, but the juxtaposition will hardly matter when gold recording artist Clarence Carter performs. Renowned for songs like “Sixty Minute Man” and “Strokin’,” Carter, who was born blind in Alabama, has fused traditional blues style with his Southern upbringing…
The second annual Mambo and Salsa Project is a three-day event revolving around energetic performances, dance workshops, and late-night partying. The InterContinental Hotel will host the salsa smorgasbord from June 16 to 18. Friday, June 16, marks the kick-off party at Rendezvous on the Lakes, with DJs Joey G and…
Jack White is a huge supporter of the Michigan three-piece Whirlwind Heat. High compliment, for sure. But even a thumbs-up from a rock god can reveal his tastes to be flawed. Since 1996, singer and keyboardist David Swanson, bassist Steve Damstra II, and drummer Brad Holland have been churning out…
Jamie Lidell is, as he sang on last year’s Multiply, a “walking, talking question mark,” and Multiply Additions only makes him seem dottier and loopier. The ten-track album of redos and remixes finds Lidell straddling his most pronounced personas — the electronic enthusiast of his 2000 IDM-slanted album Muddlin Gear…
When it’s this hot outside, you really can’t ask for more than a free indoor music festival, even if it has a name you can’t actually pronounce. Fête de la Musique returns to downtown Miami to celebrate the summer solstice with another day filled with exotic music. This year’s festival…
