Seeing Sounds is the third album from N.E.R.D., the “artist” project from Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of production team the Neptunes, along with their buddy Shay Haley. It’s the musical equivalent of an ad campaign trying to appeal to the sorta-grown-and-totally-sexy Red Bull and BlackBerry generation. “It’s gotta be…
The Virgins may be inexperienced, but on their debut album, naiveté proves to be an asset. Where the Strokes (to whom the NYC foursome is often compared) traffic in jaded, professional cool, the Virgins stumble and fumble with a kind of genial glee. In contrast to the romanticized tenor of…
(Travis McCoy, from mtv.com) Yesterday’s Warped Tour stop at Maryland Heights’ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater wasn’t all sunburns, music and fun for one of the bands. Gym Class Heroes front man Travis McCoy was arrested after tussling with a fan who had been heckling him during his band’s day-closing set. Sergeant…
The Electric Bunnies Chewing Gum (Florida’s Dying Records) The Electric Bunnies’ music makes me feel like I’m beating off to pornography while my wife sleeps in the same room. Good thing I ain’t married and can enjoy the Electric Bunnies in public. Wow! It’s a solid follow-up to the Eskimo…
Jose El Rey If you haven’t seen local artist Jose El Rey perform live yet, you are missing one of the best spectacles out there. He easily won my heart over when I saw him perform at White Room earlier this year. And when he gave his cousin (niece?) Yarisleydi…
The folks at the Verve Music Group are trying to make sure that the great jazz vocalists of yesteryear are never forgotten. So for the last six years, they’ve been creating a stellar remix series where they select some of the world’s most respected DJ’s and crate diggers, give them…
Bryan Falla Wisin Y Yandel Saturday, June 28, 2008 American Airlines Arena Better Than: Watching your mom and dad grind inappropriately to “Noche de Sexo” at last year’s New Year’s party. By 8:45 p.m., the arena had filled up almost entirely and the crowd was antsy. With every cadence, every…
Sayre Berman Keyshia Cole Lil’ Wayne, Keyshia Cole, Akon and more at SummerFest 2008 Saturday, June 28, 2008 BankAtlantic Center, Sunrise Better Than: Throwback hip-hop fest Power House from the ‘90s with a side of Pop Rocks and OE. For South Florida hip-hop enthusiasts, Saturday night’s South Florida SummerFest 2008…
The excellent New York quartet Locksley opens for Rooney tonight (along with the Bridges) at Revolution. Still unsigned, thanks to their catchy Brit-inflected power pop, and a fierce penchant for self-promotion, the band already boasts an enviable string of high-profile television appearances and tours. Here’s what I had to say…
If you’re not familiar with local avant jazz guru Kenny Millions, then you’ve got some catching up to do. The man is a saxophone virtuoso and if you listen to his music, without knowing anything about his storied past as a musician in other cities, you get the sense that…
Nic Fanciulli In a sort of last minute booking, British DJ extraordinaire Nic Fanciulli is stopping by the Vagabond Saturday night for its Back Door Bamby party. Don’t know who Fanciulli is? Well let me expand your musical knowledge. He’s a British house DJ that is associated with acts like…
It’s hard to hold an interview with Argentine rock band the Gardis at Finnegan’s Pub on Lincoln Road. Each question is interrupted by a bartender, bar crawler, or obsessive Gardis fan patting the boys on the back, kissing them on the cheek, or dropping free beers on the table. What…
The L.A. quintet Rooney has not exactly suffered from its Hollywood connections or good looks. Frontman Robert Schwartzman is the brother of actor (and occasional rocker) Jason. This makes him son of producer Jack Schwartzman and part of the extended Coppola clan that includes his mother Talia Shire, uncle Francis…
They’ve got perhaps the best DJ collective name of all time, and that alone is reason to pay these guys some attention. And when you think about it, if you’re an audiophile, what else turns you on more than good music? Based out of England, Johan Karlberg and Etienne Tron…
At the heart of Negroni’s trio are father José Negroni and son Nomar, both hailing from Puerto Rico, plus a rotating pool of guest bassists. They’ve been making strides in the international jazz community since the release of their first CD, Naturaleza/Nature, in 2003. A music professor and classically trained…
The 32-year-old house producer and DJ known as Laidback Luke first got his kicks in his native Holland as a graffiti artist. When the thrill of the physical and legal danger wore off around the mid-Nineties, he turned to music. Still, he preserved the sly cunning of the graffiti writer…
Destined to be a stoner classic, Tha Carter III should silence critics who think Lil Wayne can’t make a cohesive album. His vision and self-confidence have improved exponentially since the humorless mishmash of styles that was Tha Carter II. III is pop-rap to giggle to and marvel at, from “Phone…
Husband-and-wife team Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner seemingly make gorgeous indie pop songs as easily and casually as the rest of us shower in the morning. Much has changed since their duo Mates of State’s 2006 debut on Barsuk, Bring It Back; they have moved to New York and had…
Lil Wayne is not batshit insane. Let’s be clear about that. Okay, he regularly refers to himself as an extraterrestrial and seems to have an utter disregard for the rule of law and for his health. He has even publicly kissed his surrogate father, Cash Money Records head Birdman, on…
I first met Wisin & Yandel a year ago, in the swank lobby of a San Juan hotel in their native Puerto Rico. At the time, they were the most popular reggaeton group in the world, and the guys of the self-proclaimed “Dynamic Duo” had practically done it all. They’d…
How Miami’s own DJ Irie handles his heavy schedule is anybody’s guess. He boasts residencies at the Delano, the Forge, the Ganesvoort, Cameo, the Shore Club — and that’s during off-season. When it’s high season, Irie is also turntabling at the American Airlines Arena for Heat games, as well as…
Rock geeks across the county have already shuffled (real rockers don’t run or flock) to check out MoCA’s superhip summer exhibition, “Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967.” But the whiz-bang opening, featuring bands in a soundproof box, and free “What Would Neil Young Do?” was…
