Just announced: Joel Meinholz, head of the supercool party promotions/whatever company IAmYourVillain, has just booked the legendary Beat Junkie J-Rocc to perform this Sunday at the Chocolate Sundays at Purdy Lounge. (IAmYourVillain is also responsible for the chilled-out, hip-hoppy, skateboarderish, anything-goes vibe of fun parties like Take Out Tuesday at…
Anyone who thought Putumayo World Music hit its prime during the early-Nineties Birkenstock revival and organic Color Me Cotton clothing line for aging hippies has another groove coming. The label has never ceased to pump out a steady world beat, and these days it’s gettin’ downright funky. Artists from Iceland…
Oski, frontman for the band the Oski Foundation and freestyling host of The Rock Thursdays at Tobacco Road, hates party promoters. “And band managers,” he adds bitterly as he shares what he claims is his most published quote. “I hate them because I’m not a promoter. I’m an artist.” In…
The thumping sound and poignant verses of “Pobre Diabla,” the ear-pleasing harmony of “Lloran las Rosas,” the lyrical poetry of “Mi Corazoncito”: Musically diverse though they may be, Don Omar, Christian Castro, and Aventura, the respective singers of those tunes, will find themselves under the same roof in Coral Gables…
The sounds that Miami’s Skymall, a.k.a. Ed Prence, makes are the musical equivalent of Tourette’s syndrome, and that’s meant as big praise. Frenetic beats, nasty bass, and offbeat sampling might be hallmarks of the area’s electronic underbelly, but Skymall’s volume goes to 11. His single and EP releases are scarce…
Death comes to Churchill’s this Saturday in the skinny form of South Florida’s hottest extreme/death/thrash-metal acts. Miami-based headliner Wykked Wytch has been making records for 10 years. Powered by the caterwauling vocals of Kittie-sound-alike Ipek, the band tempers its extreme metal sound with a fetish for theatrics that recalls King…
The Vans Warped Tour, that all-day extravaganza of punkish rock bands, extreme sports, and alternative youth lifestyle branding, turns lucky 13 this summer. In celebration, the sprawling, multistage, all-day affair has grown even larger. The band lineup alone features something like 55-plus names. And then there are all the vendor…
Over the course of the band’s 25-year career, the thrash-metal pioneers of Slayer have been accused of inspiring murder and necrophilia (check out www.elysemarie.org). They’ve covered “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” for the Less than Zero movie soundtrack. And just last year they won a Grammy for the song “Eyes of the Insane,” off their…
It was 4:40 p.m. when the telephone in my cubicle rang. “You will have 15 minutes,” said the publicist on the other end of the line. A moment passed, and then another voice: “Hello? This is Marilyn Manson.” Although Manson, born Brian Warner, grew up in Ohio, South Florida is…
Interpol’s major-label debut, Our Love to Admire, isn’t as monochromatic (or monotonous) as its previous two albums. “Pioneer to the Falls” is arguably the richest song the the band has ever recorded, a track that channels the stormy textures of the Cure’s Pornography. Death-march piano and woodwinds add countermelodies, a…
Remix collections based on legendary artists or record labels are often dicey propositions concocted to introduce a younger generation to a classic sound in a form that listeners are expected to somehow find more palatable. Sometimes these offerings aren’t well-thought-out and go a long way toward damaging the legacy of…
In the summer of 2005, when Billy Corgan took out a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune to announce the reformation of the Smashing Pumpkins, few would have guessed we would get Zwan instead. But perhaps it was just wishful thinking on our part. After all, this reincarnation of the…
Groovebox Symphony @ Studio A You may (or very well may not) remember those glow stick lit nights in the late 90s at Malibu Grand Prix, where the air smelled of Vics and organic electronic mixes begged the body to groove. For many of these Full Moon ravers, candy or…
Mala Rodriguez looking muy mala The way she holds the voice recorder reveals that some of her fingernails are painted teal. Her middle fingernail sports this color completely, while ring finger is split vertically: half teal, half bare. That’s Mala for you, the reigning queen of Spain’s hip-hop scene. She’s…
At first glance, it´s easy to consider Matisyahu as a novelty act within reggae music. The tall, slender, and heavily bearded Jewish crooner seems about as far as you can get from Jamaica, and, in appearance, he´s unlike anyone else who´s ever made a living as a reggae singer. But…
Morrissey July 14, 2007 Mizner Park Ampitheatre Photo by Jeffrey Delannoy Better Than: For Morrissey fans: everything besides sex. But then again, considering that Mozzer is famously “asexual,” for some diehard fans even that may not be the case… The Review: There is a famous Baroque sculpture in the Cornaro…
Local MC’s are always vying for the number one spot. Despite the amatuer camera skills used to record this, wordsmiths Lyve Kaos of Brokensound BLVD/Deadbeat Writer’s Lab and freestyle champion Wrekonize go at it in a top notch battle that’s full of sharp barbs and comical punchlines. Hip-hop fans should…
Passing this along from Pandora’s e-mail list… Hi, it’s Tim one more time… Disaster looms! Yesterday a federal court denied a plea to delay the massive increase in rates webcasters must pay the record labels. This means that, absent immediate Congressional action, the new ruinous royalty rates will be going…
Seven years ago actor Andy Garcia portrayed Arturo Sandoval in a biopic film about the renowned jazz musician. On Sunday Garcia and Sandoval will stand side-by-side on stage. Garcia will try his hands on the congas alongside the Cuban trumpet-player and friends at the Arturo Sandoval Jazz Club in Miami…
So I finally headed out to the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, where the Latin Alternative Music Conference’s headquarters are stationed. At the showroom, you are inundated with an array of products ranging from Gibson Guitars to Microsoft’s Zune, which is trying to beat the iPod in its own game…
Latin Alternative Music Conference Indie Musician Showcase July 11, 2007 New York, NY So last night I headed out to the Mercury Lounge, where the LAMC indie showcase was already unfolding. The venue is a small room located in the city’s Lower East Side (also dubbed East Village), and is…
Once a year, Latin Alternative musicians – those who don’t play salsas, tangos, boleros or other regional beats come together in New York City for a series of industry panel discussions,networking opportunities, open bars (there is a cocktail party that begins at 1 PM on Thursday!),promotional stops and of course…
