Ozuna, “El Negrito de Ojos Claros,” Brings Afro-Latino Visibility to the Music Industry

Ozuna’s sophomore album, Aura, dropped last week, and Latinos everywhere got their perreo on to the sweet melodies of the Boricua-Dominican artist. The 19-track album has been in the works for the past year and includes a bonus track that Ozuna says is “very special.” “Besos Mojados” features reggaeton royalty RKM and Ken-Y, who brought classics such as “Me Matas” and “Down” to the genre in the early 2000s.

Joke’s on You — Darude’s “Sandstorm” Is Still Cool

Internet memes can change your life. One day you’re working at Subway, arguing with customers about the actual length of a footlong, and the next you’re a meme sensation. It only takes the right repost and a bit of Photoshop or video-editing skills to send you to superstardom. For Finnish DJ and producer Darude…

Haute Tension Is on Track to Play 31 Consecutive Shows in Dade This Month

Though the name of Miami’s Haute Tension sounds like it might generate a taut, stressed-out vibe, the band formerly known as Mo’Booty actually makes chill, slow, surfy riffs stamped with deep and dreamy male vocals. There is, however, some tension in the noir sound that recalls long days spent sweating in the tropics, just waiting for something, some mystery requiring a deadpan voiceover, to happen.

Twenty-One Years Later, Umphrey’s McGee Is Still Going Strong

It’s a point of pride for the jam band Umphrey’s McGee that in this, its 21st year of existence, it released not one, but two new records: It’s Not Us and It’s You. “It’s great we can show people that 20 years into the band, we’re not rehashing old music,” keyboardist and singer Joel Cummins says…

Bound Brings Deep Feeling to Gramps

The Washington, D.C.-based group Bound, which is set to perform at Gramps August 22, shares thoughts on life’s tragedies and heartbreaks to give a self-reflecting and emotional experience through music.

American Football Brings Influential Head-Nodding Heartaches to Revolution Live

Filing into Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale to see the seminal emo act American Football, you’d be forgiven for not knowing the band’s highly influential debut came out nearly 20 years ago. Here was a crowd of fresh-faced youngsters piled in to watch a group of guys who could be these kids’ dads play music suffused with melancholy and beats that rarely surpass a steady 120 BPM.

Miami Welcomes J. Cole, the Best Worst Rapper in the World

This country does not do earnestness well. We would rather turn you into a meme than lend you an understanding ear. We have trouble digesting sincerity unless it’s wrapped in something less vulnerable. Perhaps that’s part of the reason some folks have so much trouble with J. Cole. His…

Mat Zo Returns to the Intimate Heart of South Beach, Treehouse

Matar Zohan knows how to bring the funk. Plain and simple, the 28-year-old London-born virtuoso is one of the last proponents of the nearly extinct art of originality. His past projects have run the gamut from collaborations with Kill the Noise and the Knocks, to an ambitious and widely satisfying…