The flak that religiously oriented music gets from secular camps generally lies within the parameters of acceptance and “mass appeal.” So it is strikingly refreshing when a rambunctious teenager discovers the meaning of his parents’ G-d in the wilderness and sets out to mix that with his past rebellions. Matisyahu’s…
Since striking its own multithread trajectory off of the early Nineties breakbeat hardcore sound, drum ‘n’ bass has swung back and forth in popular opinion. There have been times when its hyperkinetic breakbeats and penchant for speaker- and tweaker-punishing malevolence have been labeled too insular, and other times when its…
Though it’s true that jazz thrives on forward-looking innovation, the best progress comes from artists who are as aware of their predecessors as their peers. In the eleven years since its inception, the Berlin-based collective Jazzanova has pushed the envelope as often as it has licked it and sent love…
Something like an Amazonian leprechaun, Curumin is a mythical jungle troublemaker in the guise of a feral child. His favorite tactic is misdirection; with his feet facing backward, poachers never know exactly which way he is heading. The same can be said for Luciano Nakata Albuquerque, the multitalented Brazilian wunderkind…
When the Rub — a Brooklyn DJ crew comprising DJ Eleven, DJ Cosmo Baker, and DJ Ayres — performs at the new Wynwood venue Bullfrog Eatz on Friday, the dance-ready patron in attendance can expect a few of the usual suspects (Miami bass, Baltimore club, rock, rip-hop, New Wave, electro,…
Juan Luis Guerra’s band, 4.40, takes its name from the universal tuning pattern of the A note, 4.40 hertz. The name was chosen, by Guerra’s brother José Gilberto, as a reference to their obsession with staying in perfect tune. This musical fixation led Guerra and 4.40’s bandmates, all natives of…
Dan Martin wears many hats: beach bum, topless gazer, gabber, musician, performance artist, provocateur, et cetera, but since relocating to our sunny shores from Milwaukee in 2002, he certainly hasn’t dilly-dallied in pushing the boundaries of his Doormouse persona. Not to be confused with his more serene cousin, the church…
Horror music buffs know their Cramps, their Misfits, their eerie Jack Starr homemade tapes of the early Sixties, and basically every twang set to B-grade celluloid. But one of the truest horrors beset upon mankind was the recharged wave of ska-related bands of the early Nineties. Either on purpose or…
“Iko-Iko” is the name of a Fifties pop song written by James Crawford in New Orleans that quickly became a folk/blues standard and has been covered by countless legends. It is also the fitting name of the renowned Miami-based blues quartet founded by the mythical Graham Wood Drout, a vocalist/guitarist/percussionist…
Sweet New Jersey has had a bad rap for so long now it’s beginning to tarnish great summertime vacation memories of visiting my relatives in Newark. Quick facts about the Garden State: Pre-psychic friends Dionne Warwick, Frank Sinatra, and Connie Francis hail from there; the first solid-body guitar (Les Paul,…
Michelle Riu isn’t exactly what one might expect of a local singer/songwriter. There are no syncopated salsa rhythms or thumping reggaeton bass lines here. Instead her Cuban ancestry fuses with Southern sensibilities, making her songs a welcome addition to the often-nebulous pop-country genre. Her thick, smoky warble is evocative of…
Juan Gabriel is arguably among the more important figures in modern Mexican music, having written some of its most famous songs, including “Querida,” “Hasta Que Te Conocí,” and “Amor Eterno.” Gabriel has also worked extensively as a producer (for Rocio Dúrcal, Lucha Villa, Lola Beltrán, and even Paul Anka) and…
Kirk Franklin was abandoned as an infant by his biological mother and, never knowing his father, was raised by his Aunt Gertrude, a deeply religious woman who paid for his piano lessons by collecting aluminum cans. He became fascinated with gospel music and by age eleven was directing adult choirs…
Brazilian Girls make rhythmic, danceable melodies infused with creative, truthful, and sometimes very personal lyrics, but more important, the trio knows how to put on a beautiful, almost hypnotic live performance. Sabina Sciubba boasts the vocal mastery and stage presence of songstress legends like Debbie Harry and the cool calm…
Are they goth? Are they rock? Does it matter? The Sisters of Mercy have put together more than two decades of smash hits, public roustabouts, great lines, and other oddities. Okay, so they don’t have any smash hits, but try telling that to the rabid fan base the Sisters have…
Styles come and fads go, yet thankfully the funk always lurks, its spirit manifest in different forms and from unlikely tributaries. Believe it or not, New Orleans’ Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes hail from classical-music backgrounds. At Loyola U., goateed bandleader Johnny Sketch (a.k.a. Marc Paradis) majored in cello…
What began as a shits-‘n’-giggles-in-the-basement kind of band has grown into an unstoppable street punk/Oi! force to be reckoned with. The Dropkick Murphys even have a competitive hockey squad in the Boston area. So ten years, five full-lengths, and a bucketful of singles later, these Irish-American rovers stand atop the…
Not unlike Richard Jordan’s Sandman character in Logan’s Run, there is something sexy about Miami’s long-running New Wave/postpunk luminaries that creeps out from around the corners of well-crafted songs. Multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer Omar Cuellar has been around for God knows how long with the on-again, off-again Francis 7 project…
Queen without Freddie Mercury? Isn’t that like the Doors without Jim Morrison (the laughable Doors of the 21st Century notwithstanding)? Or INXS without Michael Hutchence, especially after the band anointed his would-be successor on a TV talent show? After all, when Paul McCartney recycles the Beatles catalogue in concert, he…
Remember back in 2002, around the time Rolling Stone magazine famously and lamely declared that rock was finally back, we were hit by an avalanche of bands trying to sound like the White Stripes or look exactly like the Strokes? Now we can all safely say that the Hives are…
What is it about California that causes its young to thrash out on Les Pauls and Fender Strats in such large (and high-quality) numbers? From Agent Orange to Rancid, each new generation of Golden Staters seems to take up the punk rock cause, with Bay Area band No Use for…
When Bob Marley died in 1981, a seismic shift in reggae was set into motion. Island New Wave shook Kingston clubs in the form of dancehall. The man credited as the pioneer called himself Yellowman. His beats attracted legions — at one point he had 40 singles charting the island…
