Not unlike Richard Jordan’s Sandman character in Logan’s Run, there is something sexy about Miami’s long-running New Wave/postpunk luminaries that creeps out from around the corners of well-crafted songs. Multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer Omar Cuellar has been around for God knows how long with the on-again, off-again Francis 7 project…
Queen without Freddie Mercury? Isn’t that like the Doors without Jim Morrison (the laughable Doors of the 21st Century notwithstanding)? Or INXS without Michael Hutchence, especially after the band anointed his would-be successor on a TV talent show? After all, when Paul McCartney recycles the Beatles catalogue in concert, he…
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…
Talented singer-songwriter Aimee Mann first appeared on the scene back in the mid-Eighties with post-New Wave group ‘Til Tuesday and its one-hit catapult and corresponding video “Voices Carry.” Who knew the statuesque lead singer would craft such biting yet tender and slyly humorous songs, dripping with juicy pop hooks, on…
Indie rock works in discordance to popular music, that much we know. But let’s be honest; without pop there is no indie, and without indie there is no reason to shred the whole thing in a blender. The albums released by Elephant 6 Collective offshoot Of Montreal sound like a…
If this blurb about the much-anticipated Wu-Tang reunion show were written in Wu-Song Format, it’d go something like this: First a clip from Scarface would play. Next we would hear some people get into an argument about how someone is trying to “rob their gate.” Then there’d be gunshots for…
Torche has been cutting mighty swaths with its down-tuned scythe for some time now; its full-length debut on Robotic Empire Records last year has garnered praise from both indie and major press camps. These veterans of the local scene are rumored to have most of a second album completed, and…
Miami will remain on the cutting edge of music for at least another year after it kicks off the fourth annual Heineken TransAtlantic Festival with Bajofondo Remixed. Over eighteen long seasons, the Rhythm Foundation has presented acts that blend traditional indigenous music with the latest electro flavors. Call it techno…
Ed Artigas is restless and relentless. When the Miami musician isn’t hunting down beautiful women to rep power-pop bands, he’s working on his record label, Spy-Fi Records. And after beloved indie rockers Bling-Bling split up last year, Artigas wasted no time in moving on to the next project, the shoegazing…
Planeside has been slowly picking up momentum and accolades from peers and fans, and it’s easy to see why. The rhythm section of Craig Sala (drums) and Ken Hirasaki (bass) has been at it since the boys’ teenage years with Joni’s Butterfly, a New England band whose name was borrowed…
If you’re anything like me, you spent much of your childhood wondering just what was up with those perennially sad and generally bothersome parents. With 1988’s “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince articulated those feelings of generational separation and existential detachment. The Fresh Prince was…
George Van Orsdel has taken his penchant for rockabilly, punk, and horror to a whole other level. The ubiquitous hometown favorites the Van Orsdels have begun their own monthly party, dubbed Psychobilly Spookshow Saturdays, at the spookiest venue in Miami, Churchill’s Pub. Van Orsdel made his name in Miami as…
The youthful and intrepid Soweto Gospel Choir, a South African-based troupe that includes some 30 members, is one of the most inspiring musical performances you’ll see this year, regardless of which altar you pray at. Under the direction of choir leaders David Mulovhedzi and Beverly Bryer, the Soweto Gospel Choir…
A few verses and explosive horn riffs from his accompanying band prove Elain Morales packed every ounce of his swing when he made his way to the States from Cuba more than five years ago. Despite his lack of mainstream recognition and exposure, the Cuban singer is one of the…
Usually once a South Florida band has achieved a modicum of success and national exposure, it leaves our little corner of the world and sets off for greener pastures. Bucking this trend, the genre-scaling gymnasts in the Linx are returning to the South Florida live music scene after a two-year…
Back in Cuba during the Forties and Fifties, when conversations turned to sonero Beny More, the most common refrain was “Todo podrán imitar lo, pero nadie va igualar lo” (“Everybody can try imitating him, but nobody will ever equal him”). There have been a slew of tribute albums by lesser…
Though DJ Colette is unmistakably beautiful, it is her talent on the turntables that attracts hordes of clubbers who flock to her concerts. The Chicago native was weaned on the sounds of house music legends such as Frankie Knuckles and Juan Atkins. While still in her teens, she began to…
Garage rock aesthetics meld with punk rock snarl in Atlanta’s own rock and roll misfits the Black Lips. Fast, soulful, raging rock and roll devoid of corporate bullshit, the Lips’ bare-bones garage rock harks back to the time before their Caucasian granddaddies stole the strut from African-Americans. Fans of Pussy…
Make no mistake — Paris Is Burning has nothing to do with 2005’s widespread turbulence in France, the 1966 film about the last days of German occupation in the capital, or the 1990 documentary of New York’s finest drag queens. This Paris burns in South Florida, and it’s of the…
When dance music first took off in the Seventies and Eighties, club DJs ignored genre boundaries and played whatever they wanted. The results were unpredictable and exciting blends that left ecstatic clubbers guessing what the DJ had in store next. Chicago’s Derrick Carter was influenced by this movement and played…
