Tokyo quartet Melt Banana really is the perfect band for fans of both Puffy AmiYumi and AIDS Wolf, if such a creature actually exists (the fan, not the wolf). On the cute side of things, there are frontwoman Yasuko Onuki’s vocals, which are mostly hyperactive squeals, squawks, and chants comprehensible…
It’s possible to hear Radiohead’s In Rainbows, in the craftmanship of its 10 songs and their essential tunefulness, as a conservative piece of work. Thom Yorke’s vocals and Phil Selway’s drums lead into “15 Step,” followed by the off-kilter, technical sparkle of Jonny Greenwood’s guitar riff and the tumble-down entrance…
Drum ‘n’ bass compilations are difficult to put together. The sound belongs so much to a loudspeakered, floor-shaking, chest-vibrating type of atmosphere that trying to compress it onto a disc is next to impossible. The way most jocks tend to make their compilations enticing is to include as many marquee…
Miami Beach may be famous for many things — celebrity cachet, club chic, thongs, and a dearth of parking spaces. But it’s generally not known for birthing rock stars. So when singer/guitarist/songwriter Roger Houdaille proclaims himself a Miami Beach homeboy, it doesn’t necessarily affirm his credibility or credentials. Then again,…
Every independent music scene needs a selfless character to help shine the light on other artists — even when it detracts from his own spotlight. As far as Palm Beach hip-hop goes, that catalyst is a producer/MC by the name of E.F.O.N., who’s been putting out a series of mixtapes…
So Alicia Keys currently has the number one single in the country with the song “No One” which is as catchy and soulful as anything the 27-year-old singer has ever put out. While that tune is burning up the charts, here’s a fresh remix featuring Keys and Jamaican singer Junior…
Laurent Garnier is one of the world’s most celebrated house and techno DJs, but also one of the most elusive. French by birth, it was in late-Eighties Manchester, England that Garnier first heard Chicago house. Instantly hooked, he soon became a DJ at the legendary Hacienda club, owned by Factory…
I walked into the Miami Elks Lodge 948 (10301 SW 72nd St., Miami) ballroom last Saturday night, amidst a sea of silver hair, and the scent of ultra-sweet perfume. The song “Blue Velvet” blared as the 55-and-over crowd danced ever so slowly on the dance floor. “She wore bluuuuuuee…vellllvetttt….” I…
Get Ready Less than an hour ago, the organizers of Langerado Music Festival just announced their line-up for 2008, and let me be the first to say, it’s killer. Don’t expect a good festival like last year…expect a great one. I don’t want to write it all out, but check…
Booka Shade: DJ Kicks (!K7) Henrik Schwartz: Live (!K7) Ricardo Villalobos: Fabric 36 (Fabric) It used to be so easy for DJs. Refine a set over a couple of years, license the necessary tracks, mix them all together and voilà! Genres were born, scenes were codified and superstar DJs were…
Reports coming out of Los Angeles and Chicago are sadly stating that rapper Kanye West’s mother, Dr. Donda West, died over the weekend “as a result of complications from a cosmetic surgical procedure.” The family released a one sentence statement this morning, which read: “The family respectfully asks for privacy…
BY ANDY VIHSTADT Jukebox Hero Cat Power turns on the Jukebox January 22. The mostly covers album (and bonus disc) will include a bit of everything from Hank Williams to the Hot Boys. Here’s the tracklisting. For those of you hoping for her rendition of “Hanging on the Telephone” from…
The Morrissey concert originally scheduled for tonight at the Fillmore Miami Beach is officially cancelled. No official word on why, or whether or not it will be rescheduled. Refunds at point of purchase. Gossip to follow, I’m sure at www.morrissey-solo.com. Don’t ask me anything else right now because I’m too…
In the eight or so years since Tegan and Sara signed to fellow Canadian Neil Young’s Vapor Records and began touring the world in earnest, more and more fans have been flocking to their unorthodox, much-talked-about shows. The tattooed, mulleted sisters are hilarious onstage, where they include sibling-rivalry jabs, using…
It’s a good month for Joy Division fans to maybe think about trying to smile. Sure, the confusing multiple release dates for Control, Anton Corbijn’s biopic about singer Ian Curtis, make it unclear if the movie will ever reach the big screen in South Florida. But fans can thank the…
Liverpool musican Pete Wylie allegedly coined the term optimisery. Definition: The feeling of wanting to fall in love, but knowing the heartbreak that arrives with it. It’s an apt sniglet to describe those individuals stumbling through the fragile hedgerows and into the gracefully darkened, blue-smoky garden of English folk artist…
The story of Against Me! begins in the small college town of Gainesville, Florida, in 1997. There then-17-year-old Tom Gabel would play his angst-filled compositions with an acoustic guitar on street corners for spare change. The tunes were catchy, and his lyrics were about, well, being an angry punk-rock 17-year-old…
No matter how much he shuns the public eye, no matter how many times he threatens to disappear, no matter how tired he might seem, Morrissey will always have fans who flock to him. When the Manchester-born Moz — an eloquent bard of countless slightly dark, bookish, often myopic misfits…
During the making of None Shall Pass — Aesop Rock’s gentler, narrative-heavy new CD on Definitive Jux — the hip-hop MC moved from his beloved New York to San Francisco, got married, and turned 30. “So those were the three punches in the face I took,” he says with a…
Eric Prydz is serious about energy conservation, but that isn’t why he’d love to see airplanes abolished. The Swedish techno DJ/producer is deathly afraid of flying — it’s a wonder he’s making a stateside trip to begin with. Thus it makes sense that he’ll be killing two birds with one…
Shane McGowan would be proud: Irish-inflected punk is alive and kicking with booted feet. The latest heirs to the royal court currently led by the Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly are the members of Flatfoot 56, a quartet hailing from the Windy City. Like any self-respecting Celtic rockers, they’ve got…
This weekend, jazz fans who head out to Sandoval’s will have a unique opportunity. Instead of listening to a sole bandleader doing his thing, they’ll be able to sample two veteran musicians in a coheadlined concert showcasing material from the repertoire of both artists’ long careers. The concept, says New…
