Bands with a single common noun as their name are usually either attempting to remain obscure or have a shit idea of what makes for good marketing. Of course, that’s only true until they hit it big and bury both Merriam-Webster and Oxford in Google search results. British bands have…
Hey, there. It’s me, weekend. What’s that? You’re bored and your ears and hungry for frothy melodies? Well, why didn’t you say something earlier? This weekend we’ve got the Miami Music Festival from Around the World happening all weekend at the Wertheim Performing Arts Center at FIU. It’ll be classy as hell,…
The words “Design District” and “free” go together about as often as “Kanye West” and “humble.” It’s not exactly an area of Miami known for its live music, either. So, you can imagine our surprise when we found out about this weekend’s upcoming Day Into Night celebration happening in Miami’s swankiest district…
Now entering its tenth year, Miami’s messiest concert, the “World’s Largest Paint Party” known as Life in Color, is moving to Wynwood. After starting at a house in Tallahassee, LiC has taken over the newly renamed Hard Rock Stadium for much of its existence. But for the next installment of the neon Bukkake…
Guitarist John Ceparano was holding some flowers one day when a stranger approached, glanced at the blooms in his hands, and asked if they were stargazer lilies. “We thought that was such a cool name for a band,” Ceparano remembers. “It informed our sound. We thought, What would a band…
Common myth would have you believe that a person uses either the right side or the left side of the brain, and that alone determines whether the individual is creative or logical, as if the two are mutually exclusive. “I don’t believe it,” Manchester native Sam Shepherd says over the…
2017 is about to sneak up on you like a hungry leopard, reminding you that life moves fast, and we’re all one step closer to death. But it’s not all bad news. Sure you blew pretty much all your resolutions by February, but now you’ve got a clean slate on…
Since the first settlers sank a boot into the swampy expanse of Florida’s Everglades, the area has been under near-constant threat from environmental issues. These days, under the not-so-watchful eye of Florida’s governor, the assault continues. From lowered water standards being legally challenged by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, to…
Lil’ Boosie, Meghan Trainor, and Kanye West are all in Miami this week. God help us. Not to be the old man yelling from his lawn, but that’s a grating trio of noise, albeit in different, equally obnoxious tones. Actually, to be fair, the first two are forgettable “mehs,” soon…
Dialogue is important. Every great movement, law, and revolution throughout history started with a conversation. After all, you can’t change the world without getting on the same page. That’s part of the philosophy behind this weekend’s All Access Miami, a concert centered on the topic of abortion. It’s part of…
Despite its flaws, the city of Miami is often viewed by outsiders as an oasis, a little humid slice of heaven. The locals, on the other hand, know it’s more complicated than that, and learn to love it or simply tolerate it. But one group of young entrepreneurs simply couldn’t…
The first official day of fall is September 22. The first official day of what we laughably call “winter” is December 23. A lot will happen in between that time. We’ll fight over turkey with relatives who require several very full glasses of wine to tolerate. Some of us will…
Some bands become pillars of a genre, some redefine it, and others rise to the level of exemplar in their chosen style. And then there are bands that outright create an entirely new genre. Such is the case with Kassav’, the first zouk band the world ever knew. Formed in…
In the beginning of 2016, we learned that Homestead would once again have a proper music venue. The historic Seminole Theatre was to undergo the third renovation of its 95-year lifespan. And, soon, it would host shows with both local and national acts. The Wailers, Bob Marley’s old backing band, and the…
This Thursday, courtesy of the kind folks over at the Rhythm Foundation, Ivan “Melon” Lewis and his backing band, the Cuban Swing Express, will make its U.S. debut at the North Beach Bandshell. Lewis, a prominent pianist of Cuban decent, was nominated last year for a Latin Grammy for Best…
By the time you first heard of Leon Bridges, it felt like you were the last person on Earth to have done so. The 27-year-old from Fort Worth, Texas, started his career in a slingshot. After gaining some buzz on the local music scene, one of Bridges’ songs, the megahit…
Oh boy. That was a lot. Labor Day Weekend delivered more music than our poor ears could handle and now we will nap forever. Or, at least until Friday. Because then it’ll be time to do this all again. I mean, how could we miss out on a chance to…
As we mentioned on Monday, the range of music happening this weekend in Miami is, to say the least, overwhelming. It’s a good week to be a music fan in the 305. But it’s a really good week to be a rock fan in Miami. That’s because Miami’s historic Little Haiti punk…
18 years ago, Jose Elias, a self professed “world music nerd,” thought to put together a one-off tribute to the iconic artist Sun Ra at Tobacco Road. His curation of the event called attention to what he quickly realized was a hunger for African-derived music in Miami. “There were a…
Much like musicians of the post-punk era they idolize, the musicians in Astari Nite are romantics in black. “We really love what we do. We have a lot of passion and we’re super humbled doing what we do. If you enjoy what you’re doing there’s really no room for anything…
Labor Day in Miami is a welcome respite from the daily grind of traffic and work, but it’s also an extra day of the week to spend the cash you worked so hard to earn. It’s also the beginning of the end of summer, which means that — finally —…
Jazz Cartier doesn’t like doing too many interviews. He speaks bluntly — preferring superlatives to subtleties — and sometimes that means saying something in the moment, which he’d later like to reconsider. But he get’s it: hip-hop is competition. And when you’re the self-proclaimed “Prince of the City” in Toronto,…
