Unclassifiable when they began making records, Manhattan Transfer were the Dresden Dolls of their day, sort of. The band was formed through a series of happy accidents — group founder Tim Hauser meeting the outfit’s first soprano, Laurel Masse, as a fare in the cab he was driving. The swing/a…
It’s hard to find anyone with a subtler touch on the keys than Maryland-born Cyrus Chestnut, who draws from both modern and traditional jazz, while also flirting with R&B and gospel. Such eclecticism has found him performing alongside the likes of Vanessa Williams, Wynton Marsalis, and the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni…
They’ll be rinsin’ the night away once again at Laundry Bar this Friday. Romford, England-based A-Sides — a.k.a. Jason Cambridge — headlines this drum ‘n’ bass night. One of the most prolific artists of the genre, he’s been producing music since 1990 and has released over 500 tracks to date,…
What a crazy few months it’s been for Beenie Man. These days, it seems like every time Beenie’s name is in the press, it’s pertaining to his personal life instead of his music. He’s the center of a tax evasion scandal, one that alleges he owes the Jamaican government more…
Café Tacuba Sunday, December 16 the Gusman Theater, Miami There are very few bands around that can continue to garner new, younger fans almost two decades into their careers. Mexico’s Café Tacuba, however, stands as one of those select few. Downtown’s Miami old and marvelous Gusman Theater was brimming with…
Pregnant chicks are cool, I guess, because they eat like stoners and can hold your beer on their stomach while you play Halo. But I still feel mildly weird about these pictures of Xtina trying to look all uber-slutty with a small human inside her stomach, I guess because a…
Café Tacuba Gusman Center Dec 16, 2007 Media: Check out a slideshow from the concert. Between the art deco splendor of the Gusman Center and the flock of Mexican hipsters making their way through the nipply cold wind tunnels downtown last night – it felt like we were in Chilangolandia…
The Y100 Jingle Ball December 15, 2007 The Bank Atlantic Center School will soon be coming to a brief respite as youngsters gear up for the holiday break. In celebration, every teen and tween in South Florida seemed to have congregated at the Y100 Jingle Ball with parents in tow…
Guess what her favorite band is. Big Bang Radio Swampgrass Willy’s December 15, 2007 Saturday seemed like it was a day of Big Bangs. South Florida’s hard rock juggernaut, Big Bang Radio, played three shows within a 10-hour span to celebrate the release of their debut album, To Mars from…
Jethro Tull at Hard Rock Live Thursday, December 13, 2007 They may belong to an elite group of Sixties survivors, but unlike others of that ilk, Jethro Tull have never attained the special stature accorded others of that ilk. Sure, “Aqualung” remains a perennial classic, and the band’s brainy synthesis…
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Andrea Bocelli’s concert at the Hard Rock Live Wednesday night. I knew he had sung a duet at one point with Celine Dion, and I was worried that the entire concert would be in that vein: cheesy, easy listening pop. I was pleasantly…
Local indie rock fans have long since considered soft-toned rocker John Ralston as a hometown hero. As a native of Lake Worth, he has rocked out around South Florida for years, opening for, and occasionally headlining with, other local-but-then-exploded acts like Dashboard Confessional and Legends of Rodeo. But now Ralston…
There are certain riffs that are forever emblazoned in the soundtrack of rock and roll: the Beatles’ “Day Tripper,” the Stones’ “Satisfaction,” the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me,” Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love,” Hendrix’s “Purple Haze.” Then there’s the opening guitar lick to “Locomotive Breath,” the inevitable showstopper at any…
Canadian-born techno veteran Richie Hawtin makes his home in Berlin these days and seldom performs in the States, so we’re lucky that local techno clique Future Mob has brought him to Pawn Shop this weekend. Since moving to Deutschland a couple of years ago, he has immersed himself in consulting…
For nearly two decades, the Mexican alt-rock stars of Café Tacuba have systematically dissolved the language barrier. Hailed by the New York Times as “one of the most important bands in the hemisphere,” the quartet (flanked live by Alejandro Flores on violin) has a distinctly arty sound. The band’s most…
South Florida’s mixtape king, DJ GQ, is having an album release party this Saturday, at Art Bar in downtown Fort Lauderdale. He’s dropping the Let Em Know Vol. 20 mixtape with guest appearances from DMX, Junior Reid, Pitbull, Trina, Kevin Lyttle, Mr. Vegas, and N.O.R.E., all of which are not…
Let me preface this by clarifying something: I’ve got great gams. It’s true. Everyone has something: hair that doesn’t go flat, perfectly long lashes, soulful eyes, curvy hips. But me, I’m a legs girl, so it’s strange that I don’t think about them all that often. In fact, until last…
Photo by Jeffrey Delannoy Iggy Pop and the Stooges performed as part of the Art Basel kick-off. See a slideshow from the concert. “I AM YOU!!!” Stooges frontman Iggy Pop bellowed, extending a bony finger at the swirling mass of flesh bouncing up and down on the sand in Collins…
Whether they know it or not, most radio-listening gringos have heard Alejandro Sanz. In 2005 the Madrid native recorded a little duet with Shakira called “La Tortura” (“The Torture”) for her sixth studio album, Fijación Oral Vol. 1. When the dust had settled from this reggaeton nuke, it had become…
When Ida No was deciding what to call her glam-inflected, no-wave-channeling, minimalist-disco, shrapnel-shrieking dance-floor mindfuck of a band, she must have had an Archimedean moment of epiphany. No and friends took the elements of Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie, the anti-everything cacophony of James Chance and Lydia Lunch, and Siouxsie Sioux’s scary/sexy,…
The Italian-born Alex Gaudino had already enjoyed more than a decade and a half as a successful DJ, remixer, and A&R guy when, earlier this year, he concocted a little musical alchemy and struck real international gold. Deciding to revisit a 2003 track he wrote with Maurizio Nari, “Destination Unknown,”…
Don’t let the glossy veneer and marketing budgets befitting a multinational conglomerate fool you. Tuscany’s towering tenor is a rare, satisfying talent. That is, when smarmy producers stay out of his way. Andrea Bocelli launched his career into the stratosphere with 1997’s international multiplatinum crossover album Romanza. Painstakingly packaged for…
