Antibalas and Cleaveland Jones at the Heineken TransAtlantic Festival 2011

Think you’re down with Afrobeat? Well, if you’re not familiar with Antibalas, then you haven’t sampled the real deal. But the Heineken TransAtlantic Festival is going to change all that next weekend. Based out of Brooklyn, the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra has straight-up hijacked the boogie from the Bronx. And while…

Amaury Gutiérrez and Friends at the Fillmore Miami Beach May 7

Amaury Gutiérrez, like so many of Miami’s own citizens, is a Cuban immigrant, an exile who was forced to choose between his homeland and his dream, between the life he knew and the life he sought, between his roots and his freedom. The singer-songwriter from Santa Clara studied music in…

Danish EDM Sensation Kasper Bjørke Hits the Electric Pickle May 7

It’s not very often that you hear about Denmark’s contributions to world music, let alone EDM. There was the sickly sweet ’90s bubblegum Eurodance of Aqua, an act that eluded even our guiltiest pleasure. And more recently, the dark electronica forays of Trentemøller. Then there’s Danish DJ-producer Kasper Bjørke, who…

Miami Reggae Festival With Cultura Profética, Luciano, Warrior King, and Others April 30

Out in the sloping, snaking streets of Coconut Grove, there are 10,000 Jah-blessed soldiers gathering for a peaceful revolution and they’re chanting the opening lines of the Rockaz MVMT mantra: “We are universal people/Young, strong, focused/Modern sages/Armed with sounds and phrases/Using music as our shield/Embracing this battlefield/Called life/Spreading love and…

Ramadanman Talks Bass, Britney Spears, and the Commercialization of Dubstep

London DJ-producer and Hessle Audio label chief Ramadanman (AKA David Kennedy) was schooled during dubstep’s first wave and he has since become one of the most recognized names on the international scene.Last year’s invitation to spearhead a new installment of Fabric’s prestigious compilation series with FabricLive56 is testament to both…

Sweatstock 2011 With Panic Bomber, Beings, and Others, April 16

Sweatstock 2011 With Panic Bomber, Beings, Lil Daggers, Little Beard, Furious Dudes, and Others Sweat Records and Churchill’s Pub, Miami Saturday, April 16, 2011 Better Than: Loitering in a Walmart parking lot for 19 hours. Now despite the fact that the vast majority of America’s music consumers prefer to procure…

Beatles vs. Rolling Stones at Van Dyke Cafe April 25

Who would win a bare-knuckle cage fight between Ringo Starr and Keith Richards? We’re not sure. Richards has survived every narcotic known to man, and Ringo is the greatest pop music drummer ever. We’re pretty sure they’d just punch each other in the face till they ran out of breath,…

Space Between Words’ Laser Light Show at Bardot

To some, laser light shows are like watching a Windows 95 screensaver on repeat for an hour. Those people are, clearly, not high. The tokers and tab-droppers of the world, meanwhile, know that laser shows are awesome and come second only to peanut butter-marshmallow-banana sandwiches. But at garage-y local band…