It’s an undebatable fact that the MTV VMA’s are a big waste of time. Britney Spears jiggling her way across a stage and Kanye West throwing yet another temper tantrum is not news. But damn if it’s not entertaining to watch the stars in all of their drunken glory! Aside…
One of South Florida’s finest underground MC’s, Dynas, recently released a new video with good lyrics and some well-needed strong social commentary. Watch out for hip-hop’s Special Task force. The tune is called “Figure it Out” and Dynas isn’t holding his tongue on this one. Check it out. –Jonathan Cunningham…
If you know anything about SXSW, the annual new music showcase in Austin, TX, you know that SPIN magazine’s parties/shows there are epic. Here’s your chance to play next year’s edition. Enter the Hot Pursuit, an online competition powered by Music Nation. Upload your songs, videos, and photos on the…
There aren’t many names within the global house community as recognizable as Bad Boy Bill’s. As the long-time poster boy for Chicago house, Bill has been taking house music to higher and higher levels since the mid-’80s, when he used to open for the famed Hot Mix 5. While he…
Global news outlets are reporting that the most famous opera singer of our time has passed away. Luciano Pavarotti died at his home in Italy after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 71 years old. The king of the high C’s and longtime member of the famed Three…
Ky-mani might very well be the forgotten Marley. One of countless children of the late, great Bob, he saw his release Many More Roads nominated for a Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 2001. But Ky-mani’s brother, Damian Marley, walked away with the award. “It is a blessing and a…
Rob Zombie is a lot less scary in person. For years his grizzled appearance — thick beard, tattoos, and, quite often, dreadlocks — has combined with his love of horror, both in his personal life and his music, to create the persona of a creepy creature of the night. In…
I admit it — I don’t like cover bands. In fact I’ve never heard a cover band that can substitute for the original record. My wife tells me I can’t appreciate cover bands because I don’t dance, and she’s right on that score; every time I attempt to gyrate, I…
Obituary singer John Tardy was a pioneer of the low-growl metal-vocal sound, but he sounds pretty normal over the phone. “I can’t wait to see the fans in Miami,” he says, referring to the Tampa band’s first local gig in two years. Saturday’s stop at Studio A is part of…
Chicago DJ Terry Mullan’s house music is so acidic he should be pimping Eveready batteries. Mullan was last in Miami in March, at Nocturnal for the AM Only party during WMC. His renown stems in part from his track “Sidewinder,” which wound up on the Chemical Brothers Brother’s Gonna Work…
Austrian-born jazz guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel invariably gives the first impression of a phenomenally understated musician. He rarely raises the voice of his instrument above a normal conversational tone. It’s a brilliant gambit; by keeping his cool, he draws the listener in. Now you’re in Muthspiel’s territory, and you have about…
Some of the brightest rising stars on the Christian rock scene arrive Tuesday for the local stop of their Pages Tour, so named for the journal in which headliners Shane & Shane penned many of their lyrics. The Shanes — last names Barnard and Everett — perform in support of…
The beautiful thing about art and music,” reveals 37-year-old renaissance man Djinji Brown, “is that you can redefine or reinvent yourself by trying some different shit.” He should know. A recent Miami transplant, Brown has perfected the art of reinvention over his musical career. Starting out playing in a hardcore…
The four guys of Tigercity must be totally smooth dudes. There’s the cover of their latest self-released EP, Pretend Not to Love — a photo of four graceful stallions galloping down a crystalline beach. Smooth. Then there’s the opening of “Are You Sensation” — grooving percussion picked up by funky…
The British and French can barely conceal their contempt for one another, so leave it to a band from Louisville, Kentucky, to unite the two countries’ rich, if diametrically opposed, musical traditions. VHS or Beta’s debut album, Le Funk — short on vocals but long on grooves — flaunted an…
After 10 years or so, the members of Mendoza Line are still mining their original choice of topics: dashed hopes, failed relationships, and the uncertainties of life in the modern era. The band’s latest two-disc opus clings to this tangled trajectory, maintaining a decidedly downcast gaze. Therefore those unfamiliar with…
On his latest album, The London Book of the Dead, Steven Coates, the man behind the Real Tuesday Weld, goes deeper and deeper into the past. Contrary to what the title might suggest, Book of the Dead is less of a morbid affair and more of an exploratory one. Coates…
If you ever want to travel back to the year 1986 — and God knows why you’d want that, but at least Dick Cheney wasn’t running the country — this disc should do the trick. It’s filled with the sort of manically synthesized pop we all remember from those days…
Alanis Morisette is conquering the web with an unpredictable cover. The typically angst-ridden Canadian singer produced a satire of the Black Eyed Peas’ inane hit song “My Humps.” There is even a Will.i.am stand-in for the video, which, while faithful to the original lyrics, is delivered in Morisette’s usual slow…
Fidel Nadal Templo August 29, 2007 Better Than: Standing around under the hot, backing sun of Bicentennial Park’s Memorial Fest reggae festival. Fidel Nadal is an internationally acclaimed Argentine reggae superstar. His songs focus on the plight and social issues of the underprivileged. Nadal is old school, starting out in…
It’s sensual, moving and breathtaking all at once. And smooth-delivering Victor Manuelle is a master at it. No matter the subject the Puerto Rican salsa star is a virtuoso at delivering impromptu lyrical soneos that can go on for several minutes at a time. Whether he’s singing about a woman…
Inside Club Dream on August 21, the pressure was palpable. The Miami Beach night spot had been converted into the set of a $150,000 music video for Slip-N-Slide rapper Plies’s hit song “Hypnotized,” which features — who else? — Akon. The day’s shoot began at 12:30 p.m. and kept the…
