Q&A With Converge, Playing With Mastodon and Dethklok November 8

To the uninitiated, the Massachusetts quartet Converge can be downright terrifying. And it’s not because they appear clad in face paint or leather and chains — this underground punk-bred foursome would never waste time on costume-like trappings. Rather, part of the reason they are so scary is because they are…

Radio-Active Records Hosting Punk Rock Food Drive

Punk rock has always been more about the attitude than the music. Unfortunately, that “punk rock attitude” is often portrayed as a hate-everything, outsider-only, anti-social group. While some of those things may be true from time to time, things like this can also really show off what punk rock is…

Electric Six

Love and indifference are your only real options with the Detroit-based sextet Electric Six. Their remarkable production values are unaffected: Frontman Dick Valentine begins shows wearing a customized cape (“Flashy”) for the song “Flashy Man,” removing it at song’s end to reveal a second customized cape (“Showtime”) for “It’s Showtime.”…

A Wilhelm Scream

A cross between the melodic punk of Lawrence Arms and the churning hardcore of Rise Against, AWS combines a high quotient of both heft and hooks. Original drummer Nicholas Pasquale Angelini is the beast’s backbone, driving tempo like Jeff Gordon and keying a thick bottom end worthy of J.Lo. Atop…

Jewel

Jewel has had a hell of a musical career for someone barely into her mid-30s. The folk singer-songwriter went from living in a van to MTV stardom in 1995, thanks to her hugely successful debut album, Pieces of You. She then penned a collection of poetry, A Night Without Armor,…

MuteMath

Defining MuteMath’s sound is daunting. The band’s songs feature lush, synth-laden rhythms that at times chug persistently alongside post-New Wave rock riffs. Other times, ambient backdrops and soundscapes sweep through haunting down-tempo tracks that, for lack of a better word, can only be labeled ballads. All variations along this spectrum…

Head Spins: Benton Galgay

Benton Galgay may play records, but he’s got his own ideas about what it means to be a DJ. First off, aside from Wooden Shjips, there are very few new artists he’s into spinning. And when he does wax au courant, it’s on behalf of labels such as Sublime Frequencies,…

Steve Lawler Plays Gryphon Thursday

Legendary British DJ/producer Stave Lawler will be playing at Gryphon Nightclub at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino this Thursday night. A child of the ’90s UK rave scene, Lawler got his start organizing some of the infamous M42 Motorway illegal parties as a teenager, before getting his big…

Rocio Jurado Musical Opens This Week at Manuel Artime Theater

The late Spanish singer and actress Rocio Jurado wasn’t known as “La Mas Grande” (“The Greatest”) for nothing. From the mid sixties until only a few years ago, Jurado was, and likely still is, considered one of the motherland’s most beloved performers of all time. The quintessential diva, her command…

Concert Review: Junior Boys at The Vagabond, October 24

Junior Boys with WoodhandsSaturday, October 24, 2009The Vagabond, Miami Better Than: Staying home, lighting some candles, putting So This Is Goodbye on blast and spending some quality bedroom time with someone special …well maybe. The Review: The Junior Boys threw a Halloween party at the Vagabond and everyone showed up…

Concert Review: Marc Anthony at American Airlines Arena, October 24

Marc AnthonySaturday, October 24, 2009American Airlines Arena, MiamiMelodramatic Latin tenor extraordinaire Marc Anthony was personally handed the keys to Dwyane Wade’s house Saturday night. Wade, NBA star player of the Miami Heat, surprised Anthony on stage midway through the the singer/songwriter’s  performance to make sure he would feel right at…

Pete Tong at Mynt Lounge on Tuesday, October 27

Pete Tong is hardly a man who needs introduction. The hardworking and ubiquitous British DJ, radio personality, label head and perennial host of legendary BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix is one of the most highly-regarded tastemakers in the world of electronic dance music. An early proponent of house, when the…