Bondage — to a beat — is back. This time in Miami Beach. After nearly a six-month hiatus, the London Ballroom unleashes its fetish club night once again, promising nothing short of pure debauchery. David Cordoves inaugurated the club theme night in Miami Beach three years ago. He moved it…
There are no dark-haired Europeans or designer Italian suits at Billboardlive tonight. No anorexic, blond model-types. Tonight this smoke-and-mirrored Eurotrash playground has been transformed into a thug heaven — a house party for towners from da city across the causeway in the northwest sections of Miami. Here to celebrate the…
Blame it on Rio, of course. Ask your average music lover in this country about the rhythms of Brazil, and you may get three postcard-worthy descriptions: cool, bubbly, bring-out-the-caipirinha type of sounds (bossa nova); sexy, sweaty, and acrobatic (samba, lambada); or just plain camp (hey, it’s Carmen Miranda time!) What…
Richie Stephens
In today’s competitive dancehall reggae arena, many artists bust with one initial tune, only to shortly disappear. Achieving longevity is no easy feat for an audience that can be as fickle as the genre’s continuously dropping riddims. Singers, however, tend to have a better run than DJs since love songs…
Not too long ago life was much simpler for Tijs Verwest (a.k.a. DJ Tiesto). He was a household name among Holland’s night crawlers, had achieved industry distinction with his small but potent label Black Hole Recordings, and headed up collaborations with fellow Dutch trance star Ferry Corsten in addition to…
It took some determination to find the unmarked Soho Lounge, but several hundred indie rock kids were rewarded for making the effort August 2, when the weekly Friday-night party Revolver christened a new venue with a typically schizophrenic mix of live music and DJs spinning everything from James Brown to…
“I think people honestly, genuinely love my salsa music; that’s the end of the discussion right there,” says Luis Enrique, wearing the kind of enlightened smile you might see on a salmon who’s decided to stop swimming upstream. Hugging his guitar, the “prince of salsa” leans back in a booth…
Whether or not Injected’s rendezvous with fame will be a fifteen-minute fling or an LTR remains to be seen. But if staying power is a vital ingredient to a healthy relationship, the Atlanta quartet thinks it’s off to a good start. “When you first meet a girl at the bar…
After years of struggle and relative obscurity, Carlos y Marta are about to make a name for themselves. At least that is what this Miami-based duo now hopes with the recent release of debut -CD Trova Bolero on the Duque Productions label. Although they’ve been performing for an ever-growing South…
Even though the Brazilian group Skank ventures far in its relentless exploration of sounds — mixing Brazilian pop with Jamaican ska and reggae and, more recently, adding Sixties psychedelic Brit rock to the repertoire — and even though it has toured throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America, in…
Once upon a time, there were three cellos who needed three women to play them. Since the age of nine had the girls toiled to hold their fingers against the strings and gracefully stroke the bow across them, back and forth, just so. Nearly two decades later, the three women…
Please don’t put your life in the hands/Of a rock ‘n’ roll band/Who’ll throw it all away.” Wise words. Noel Gallagher should know since they’re his (from “Don’t Look Back In Anger”). He’ll be the first to admit that there have been plenty of times in Oasis’s career when he…
There is a line outside the entrance to Piccadilly Garden on this summer Saturday night at 1:00 a.m., but not for the usual clubland reasons. There is no pretentious doorman. There are no partygoers bluffing about who is on the mythical guest list. Instead Trinidad, the pleasant dreadlocked giant behind…
Barry White. Englebert Humperdink. Jose Luis Rodriguez. When you’re ready to slip into something a little more comfortable, there’s really nowhere else to turn. Venezuelan loverman Rodriguez, better known by the name El Puma for his penetrating stare and jungle-cat appeal, has been setting the right mood for more than…
If you consider Enrique Bunbury the only survivor after the sinking of Titanic-like Spanish rock band Heroes del Silencio, then his fascination with dark and foggy atmospheres will seem appropriate. In his new solo album, the fourth since Heroes released its last live disc (ironically named Para Siempre [Forever]) in…
Don’t feel bad for Paul Oakenfold. The superstar DJ may miss a step here and there, but the sci-fi soundtrack maker and club-hit remixer won’t feel a thing when his debut artist album gets the third degree by critics expecting a watershed release. Unfortunately for Oakey, contemporary DJ Timo Maas…
The very title of the genre “nu-soul” implies a lack of predecessors, at least none not named Gaye, Wonder, or Mayfield. This state of affairs probably has caused Raphael Saadiq to gnash more than a few teeth over the years. Not only did his group, Tony Toni Tone, hold it…
It’s a sign of the times that Eddie Palmieri’s new La Perfecta II is both a joyous return to the enormously influential format of his late 1960s band, La Perfecta, and an unfortunate reminder of how boring most of today’s salsa really is. While much of modern-day salsa seems to…
Think back to what you missed.” That question, asked on “It’s All the Same” from Quit’s landmark 1990 LP Earlier Thoughts, has haunted the Miami pop-punk trailblazers since the summer of 1993, when Quit singer/guitarist Addison Burns fell off a rooftop and pulverized his wrist — suspending the career of…
Historically the most common place for women in the blues is the “my baby done left me” line that’s become a staple of the form. But for the past twenty-plus years, Rory Block has been one of a handful of female artists who have broken the stereotype in a genre…
Like father, like son. Those are words for music industry execs to live by. Especially if good ol’ Pop still has what it takes to sell albums and his last name can help launch his offspring. Of course, show-biz lore is full of children of famous parents who made it…
Gerry Kelly has made a habit of throwing parties for big names inside his nightclub, Level. Tonight the streets outside the adult playground are lined with news trucks. Their long antennas gobble up the evening skyline. Police cars close off side streets and line up along the medians while patrolmen…
