Music

Two years to the month after the release of Labor Days, the virile verbalist known as Aesop Rock returns with his fourth album, Bazooka Tooth. If fellow collegiate icons R.E.M. hadn’t already taken the name, Bazooka Tooth’s alternative title could be Fables of the Reconstruction. Like Fables, Bazooka Tooth is…

Peaches has a sense of humor that’s not for everyone. It takes a particularly twisted mind to appreciate an electronic punk chick who likes to appear onstage flaunting a hot pink leather strap-on, yet her upfront, messy take on sexual hedonism has attracted a sizable fan base. She gets away…

Swedish disco hillbillies, anarchist punks, and campy bisexuals? All are welcome at the jock jam. Artists as unlikely as Rednex, Chumbawamba, and Queen have contributed foot-stomping, beer-swilling songs that rile crowds at sporting events nationwide, thereby finding themselves included on one of ESPN’s Jock Jams compilations. Given the diverse ranks…

With his Sam Cooke-ish vocals that transport you back to the Sixties, Anthony Hamilton’s vocal constructions hit your spine and force you to affirm his every notion. On Comin’ From Where I’m From, strong but not overpowering production by Mark Batson allows Hamilton to showcase his greatest asset: his voice…

Raúl Malo is to country music what sunlight is to the sun — he comes from it, but he isn’t it. He’s a master at letting the songs themselves, no matter what genre they’re in, tell us what he’s all about. And even when his group the Mavericks toyed with…

Rare are emo-influenced bands that aren’t afraid to throw in big arena-sized riffs and guitar wizardry. Unlike so many of its ilk, Athens quartet Jet By Day has strong chops and the ability to develop a more dynamic sound with elements of prog-rock, alterna-metal, and Nineties hard-rock melodics. This doesn’t…

The British quartet Mojave 3’s new album, Spoon and Rafter, is so beautifully sad that one wonders why their outlook is so relentlessly downcast. The occasionally jaunty folk-pop and country arrangements of 2001’s Excuses for Travellers have been smoothed out into airy, melancholy backdrops; the four musicians’ playing has slowed…

My mental capacity decreases significantly as the week goes on. Seriously, by Friday I can’t even sit and chew gum at the same time, and I’m off limits to certain appliances (long story for another column). So a chat with Mark Christopher Graziadei, the deepest dude on the Beach, has…

So … the question lurks: Where has South Florida jazz gone? The memories of lounge evenings are faint at best; the glory of onstage improvisation and legend-shaping has fizzled into the pages of history under the category of “How days once were.” For those who think that jazz was a…

When Terry Riley composed In C, a repetitive piece comprising 53 interlocking patterns, he inadvertently invented disco. The audience of avant-garde classical fans attending the debut performance at the San Francisco Tape Music Center in 1964 probably had no idea that the minimalist composer was laying the foundation for the…

Purists sniff at world-music anthologies. Samplers are bottom feeders, after all, subsisting on recycled material. Few have sufficient flow to wet your ears. And the sustained vision that comes easily to most single-artist albums usually eludes them. Their try this, try that mentality favors standouts while ignoring quiet gems that…

There is a cloud of grief wafting through the offices of XELA Entertainment in downtown Miami, but it’s not because today is September 11, two years after the World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks changed the course of American history. The sadness that lingers here is caused by something…

Jaco Pastorius’s contributions to the world of jazz and the fretless electric bass will resonate for years to come. It is undeniable that he was the last great innovator of his instrument. He was the first player to elevate the bass into the spotlight, and he managed to play it…

Electronic music artists are often accused of being faceless and personality-free by those who don’t find their music interesting as well as those whose tastes veer toward it. The artists’ anonymity stems partially from their frequent inability to make any significant statement, be it verbally or instrumentally. With his latest…

Chris Clark is so punk rock, and not just because of the skulls scribbled on the cover of his new album. The whole Warp label is a totally punk-rock thing. The British imprint — known for its long-term relationships with electronic music iconoclasts Aphex Twin and Squarepusher — set itself…

About the only thing royal about rapper the Last Emperor is the pain in his ass he’s sustained. Since his appearance with KRS-One on 1998’s Lyricist Lounge compilation, the intelligent thug with a college degree and West Philly pedigree has turned out projects for Aftermath, Interscope, and Rawkus Records, all…

Don’t get me wrong, I have a weakness for dive bars and rowdy behavior, but for years the Grove has seemed to be closer to a Horse Country kegger than the nightlife streaming along Washington and North Miami avenues. Sure, there’s lots of raucous fraternity fun to be had at…

Most of us can remember where we were on September 11, 2001. We don’t need to rewind the video footage of the World Trade Center collapsing to remind ourselves of how we felt and what we did, specifically, in our initial shock. Although we can recall that dreary day with…

On July 4 at Revolver, the white-hot Friday-night party at the Design District’s Soho Lounge, Adam Johnson sequences beats from a laptop computer, formatting them into one long tapestry of melodies and softly percolating percussion. He rarely looks away from the computer screen, so he barely notices the 30-odd people…

Quick, name one of the longest-running bands in the known universe of Jamaican music. A band that started out when calypso still dominated the island; was there when the bright beat of a guitar first cried “ska”; helped slow ska down to rock steady, and then reggae; and today pumps…