If there was a figurehead for Miami’s rock en español scene, it would be Sóniko. Since releasing their crunchy debut Kombustion last year, the enterprising quartet has become a fixture on MTV Latin America with its nimble blend of hook-laden pop-punk and metallic rock. Thanks to a close association with…
Stenneth “Jah High Towa” Scarlett’s Poor Man Cry is the Miami-based DJ’s first release, a debut in the tradition of Bobo Ashanti/Rastafarian DJs à la Sizzla Kalonji, Capleton, and Anthony B. While the young, Jamaican born DJ makes a spirited effort, the fourteen-track release is a bit disappointing, considering his…
Ryan Raddon, who records under the name Kaskade, isn’t a typical superstar DJ. For one thing, he schedules a late-May interview for 9:00 a.m., a time when most in-demand turntable manipulators are still lingering in slumberland. For another, he speaks just before heading to a recording studio in Salt Lake…
It’s the season for gift-giving, but what to get that music nerd in your family? Well, you could try to appease him (or her) with a copy of U2’s latest. Maybe you could even cop out and present a gift certificate from Virgin Megastore or Best Buy; it’s the perfect…
Nasir Jones has often said he will never make another Illmatic. But just because fans came to accept that his 1994 classic couldn’t be replicated doesn’t mean they stopped demanding excellence from Queensbridge’s most visionary MC. In fact, it just fueled their expectations of him. Unfortunately, his latest, Street’s Disciple,…
Though there were inklings of T.I.’s breadth on his previous discs, it’s Urban Legend, his third, that validates his claim to be “King of the South.” Tip’s clever, swaggering verses flow copiously through songs as disparate as the quirky Pharell hip-pop collabo “Freak Though,” and the Jazze Pha/Nelly salt shaker…
Benefit compilations are usually a hit-and-miss affair, and Genocide in Sudan is no different. Stylistically, it jumps all over, from the earnest punk rock of Bad Religion to Yoko Ono and Craig Armstrong. There are a few songs that stand out, though. By “playing the race card” and pointing out…
Don’t tell Hexstatic (Robin Brunson and Stuart Warren Hill) that there has been a crackdown on sampling. They’d be screwed; it’s the genius of their art, which extends beyond music into audio-visual territory, sampling songs as well as films and television programs. On their second album, Master-View, the group’s carefully…
Never has a commercial catapulted a band’s career the way that Mitsubishi ad did for Dirty Vegas. Accompanied by the body-poppings of an eye-catching model, their infectious soundtrack for the car company, “Days Go By,” changed them from unknowns into Grammy Award winners. On their second album, One, Dirty Vegas…
Anyone who expects to hear chewy pop-rock on one of Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante’s solo recordings is in for a shock. His music, especially on the recent, self-explanatory The Will to Death, is dark and tortured, powered by a penchant for melodic hooks you can hear jangling…
Seattle’s Jeff McIlwane — a.k.a. Lusine, formerly Lusine and Lucine icl. — parlayed his studies in sound design into releasing material equally influenced by minimalist composer Steve Reich and the selected ambient works of Aphex Twin Reich inspired. Anchoring his Serial Hodgepodge melodies are chipped acid (micro) house and helical…
Word is that when local downtempo group Agape opened for Federico Aubele last month at I/O, they garnered more attention than the Argentine headliner. The lilting, cherubic chanting of singer-songwriter Nadia Harris and the chameleonic production style of Erick Paredes on their self-released Messenger EP has endeared Agape to knowing…
For the past few years, two massives have bookended our annual season: Magical Maydaze in May, and Candyland in December. Before the latest edition of Candyland gets underway on December 26, Culture Productions is throwing a preparty at downtown Miami’s Players, a sports bar/nightclub that seems an odd fit for…
It turns out that Venezuela’s oil-rich state of Zulia also has a wealth of musical talent. The vocally driven sextet Voz Veis has a range of octaves as broad as the state’s massive Lake Maracaibo. Originally an a cappella boy band formed seven years ago to serenade señoritas, the group…
Stephin Merritt is an underground pop icon. As the head of several projects, including Future Bible Heroes, The Gothic Archies, the 6ths, and most notably, The Magnetic Fields, he has built a small indie empire and a formidable song collection. Thanks to his nerd-rock status, Merritt is no stranger to…
When Nonpoint came straight outta Fort Lauderdale with its 2000 major label debut, Statement, the band was inevitably whipped into the nü-metal frenzy of the Linkin Parks of the day. Nü-metal’s not so new anymore, but Nonpoint’s third full-length, Recoil, finds its sea legs among the more melodic wave of…
Fridays and Saturdays, Grass Like Franco V during much of the week, Stan Kolev provides soulful house sounds for the moneyed loungers who occupy Grass. But before you dismiss him as a human jukebox for rich people, note that he brings a solid pedigree to his prime weekend slot. As…
The fifteen tunes on the Futureheads’ self-titled debut are loud, fast, and brief. Guitarists Barry Hyde and Ross Millard pile up shards of slash-and-burn riffery in “He Knows” and “Carnival Kids,” while Hyde’s strangulated yelp in “The City Is Here for You to Use” and “First Day” competes with the…
When Kid 606 couldn’t find the amped-up ragga he yearned for, he invited some like-minded friends to collaborate on their own music. Enter Shockout Volume One, an introduction to a burgeoning Tigerbeat6 sub-label that blends sweaty Jamaican machismo with junglist breakbeats. The most satisfying tracks are menacing soundclash shout-outs. Com.a…
One had to figure that it wouldn’t be long before the puglike cuteness of the Diplomats wore off. On “Stop-N-Go,” Cam’ron again proves why he is the most unjustifiably arrogant figure in hip-hop with rhymes such as “Y’all sing sing sing/I’m from the Sing Sing bing/right to the wing ding…
Hyped as a “mix tape,” Below the Radio includes tracks picked by Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle, including up-and-comers Fruit Bats, Earlimart, and Snow Patrol, as well as graying icons Beck, Pavement, and Giant Sand. There’s even one new Grandaddy track — the hold-hands-and-sway indie gospel sing-along “Nature Anthem.” For maximum marketability,…
A decade ago, the idea of a bluegrass artist finding mainstream success seemed as unlikely as another Bush winning the White House. But with the widespread acclaim accorded her double-platinum retrospective Now That I’ve Found You, and steering roles in mega-soundtracks Cold Mountain and O Brother, Where Art Thou, singer/fiddler…
