Not all creatures thrive in sunlight. The iconoclastic, Miami-based electro-noise terrorist Otto von Schirach works by moonlight. The later the hour, the more his creations flourish. They’re unpredictable, belching, screaming things that thump in the night. A Dr. Frankenstein of electronic music, Schirach assembles works from disparate elements. The resulting…
American Gangster the album is not the soundtrack to American Gangster the film. Jay-Z came up with the idea for the CD after watching the movie about Harlem heroin dealer Frank Lucas. But the album isn’t about Lucas; it’s about Jay. Get it? Pandering, reactionary, and megalomaniacal, the disc should…
Most fans of World Wrestling Entertainment have known Lilian Garcia for the past seven years as an attractive woman with a microphone who introduces the superstars to the ring. But that all changed this past October 9, during a taping of the popular Monday Night Raw TV program. It was…
Today Miami is home to some of hip-hop’s biggest names and in-demand recording studios. But back in the Nineties, the only things most out-of-towners knew about the area, other than the infamous South Beach nightlife, were Dan Marino, hurricanes, and Uncle Luke and 2 Live Crew. That is, until 1998,…
This weekend famed house artiste Laurent Garnier appears at Shine for his first gig in Miami in more than a decade. The star DJ, one of the prime cogs in the late-Eighties Madchester scene, boasts his share of storied appearances. There was the time he stood in for Guns N’…
She has teamed with Iggy, Elvis, Moby, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, and Miss Guy (of Toilet Boys). She has spoken up and out on AIDS, the Human Rights Campaign, and even the incarceration of Lil’ Kim. Her songs are now tracking a West End staging of Desperately Seeking Susan and racing…
Together for less than a year, the world experimentalists of Bachaco prefer their career trajectory like their tequila: straight up. Already armed with enough original material to fill a couple of albums, the Miami band is at work on its first, as-yet-untitled full-length for Onesound Records, due out before the…
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…
