Did you know that Laidback Luke isn’t just an EDM hotshot? He’s also a kung-fu champ with a serious collection of shiny awards for excellence with his fists and feet. “It’s true,” he recently told Crossfade, “that I actually won five medals, four gold and one silver, at the championships…
As the esteemed host of BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix and Essential Selection programs, Pete Tong has kept a finger pressed on the pulse of global dance music for the better part of two decades. Though broadcasting from the old continent, where electronic dance music dominates the mainstream airwaves, Tong’s…
In just three years, Spain’s Pablo Alborán has become a pop phenomenon. It all started with a video recorded at his house and posted to YouTube in 2010. The clip reached one million views and he became a near-instant celebrity. Since then, the 24-year-old singer and songwriter has released three…
Yo, punx. The homie Moguai has been shredding all across the continent for the last three months. And so far, he’s hit up party cities in spots like Cali, Colorado, Texas, New York, Arizona, even Canada. Finally, though, bro’s bringing his Punx Up the Volume tour to the FLA this…
Hey, you party people. Yeah, you. It’s almost time for Ultra Music Festival again. And guess who’s back to blow our minds? Why, it’s our favorite Aussies, Empire of the Sun’s Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore. They dazzled the Ultra crowd in 2011, playing tracks off their debut album, Walking…
Trippy visuals and live music go together like drugs and rock ‘n’ roll — or BPMs and EDM. In the beginning (the ’60s, when else?), there were Ken Kesey’s Acid Tests featuring San Francisco’s Grateful Dead and full-on psychedelic film projections splashed across the walls like shamanistic flower-power visions. Meanwhile,…
When you hear “family reunion,” you might imagine a barbecue in a park attended by dozens of screaming children and an uncle who drinks too much. Some crappy boombox blasts radio tunes, piercing the boredom like a plastic spork through mac ‘n’ cheese. But what if we take away the…
Carnaval on the Mile With Asaf Avidan, Black Violin, Brass-a-holics, Grupo Fantasma, and others Miracle Mile, Coral Gables Sunday, March 2, 2014 “It’s just me playing music. I’m not going to ask anyone to holler. I’m not going to ask anyone to make noise. I’m just going to play some…
“Yo, VIP,” and also general admission peeps, “Let’s kick it!” That’s right … New Times’ Brew at the Zoo is back with a brand-new announcement. For the 2014 edition of our annual sudsy romp at Zoo Miami, we’ve enlisted Vanilla Ice to “rock a mic like a vandal, light up…
Swamp Stomp Music Festival With Bright Light Social Hour, Roosevelt Collier’s Phunk Phactory, and others Tobacco Road, Miami Saturday, March 1, 2014 Better Than: The sound of alligators and mosquitos lurking in the dark. As you look toward the sky from the Tobacco Road parking lot and see the multitude…
Nothing ruins your Friday like realizing it’s only Monday… Now after you’ve come to terms with your rude awakening, take a seat on your black office chair, and check out Crossfade’s pick for the five best concerts this week. When you’ve got JT’s “Suit & Tie” and other shows to…
Ragers, raves, getdowns, throwdowns, pool parties, boat parties, beach parties, club parties, street parties … Yep, it’s already time to get set for another bout of Winter Music Conference and Miami Music Week madness. Now, at the moment, with the ten-day blitz still over a month away, the WMC and…
Young John Waste was a 14-year-old kid when he became a New York City punk rocker. He got into the life after going to a Plasmatics concert and seeing a chick named Wendy O. Williams “blow up a car, shake her pussy, and wear whipped cream on her nipples on…
Cuban poet and political figure José Martí once wrote, “Perhaps the enemies of liberty are such only because they judge it by its loud voice.” That was about 60 years before communism would begin its reign over the island, depriving the Cuban people of so many basic rights, including that…
Sean “Birdman” Gould is a lean, mean, rockin’ machine. He has played in at least five Miami bands at all times for the past 20 years. And right now, he’s rollin’ with Nil Lara, Mixed Culture, Birdman’s Clambake, Night Train, and Blowfly. Music has even put him at the center…
Blood will rain from the sky at Kryptonite Metal Festival VII. And by blood, we mean beer. And by beer, we mean lots of it. Because when 1,900 heads bang, the Earth shakes. And if you’re not careful, you might spill your drink. Forty bands — yeah, count ’em –…
Roky Erickson and Black Angels Grand Central, Miami Tuesday, February 25, 2014 Last night, we here at Crossfade witnessed what may truly be the ultimate in psych-rock shows: A tour featuring the living legend and originator of the genre, Roky Erickson, and the band that has preserved and carried on…
Living the PLUR life, wearing kandi, and listening to that tiki-tiki music may be all the rage right now. But there’s one pachanga that cranks up más volumen que Ultra Music Festival, Winter Music Conference, and Miami Music Week combined. And it’s called Calle Ocho. Every year, two million cubanos,…
The year 1966 was a pivotal moment for the Moody Blues. That’s when bassist John Lodge and guitarist Justin Hayward joined the band and changed its direction dramatically. Abandoning the blues and R&B standards that had been the group’s stock in trade since its formation, Lodge and Hayward pushed for…
Since forming in 2004, Austin, Texas,’ Black Angels have become the proverbial torchbearers of traditional psychedelia, wringing aural acid trips from the keys of reverb-soaked combo organs and droning sitars for the better part of ten years now. But beyond an impressive discography of its own drug-rock masterpieces, the band…
Alejandra Guzmán La Guzmán en Primera Fila Tour Fillmore Miami Beach Friday, February 21, 2014 Over the weekend, Mexican rock star Alejandra Guzmán arrived at the Fillmore Miami Beach to celebrate 25 years of rock ‘n’ roll and desmadre. After a series of health issues that threatened her life, the…
Swedish House Mafia may have disbanded. But former mob member Steve Angello is continuing SHM’s tradition of scoping out unlikely locations for epic EDM throwdowns. Over the years, Angello, along with associates Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso, brought the Masquerade Motel party to Midtown Miami, the sands of South Beach, and…
