The Eighties were like a virgin, touched for the very first time (Madonna was everywhere). While some of us were sporting feathered hair, sleeveless zebra-print T-shirts, and tight leather pants, others were listening to Suicidal Tendencies and skateboarding through the mall. Whether your fancy was for cock rock, punk rock,…
The New York Times may have raved about the Spam Allstars to no end. S.O.B.’s (also in New York) may have become the band members’ second home. MTV might feature them with a page of their own, and the festival circuit might have latched on to their patented brand of…
Okay, so John Fogerty won’t be there, but CCR’s original rhythm section will be. So will John Tristao, a Sixties one-hit wonderboy who actually opened for the original Revival way back when. And if you don’t know that Tristao once fronted the band People and had a hit with a…
It’s a thin line between punk and poser. So how do you tell the difference? Do Mohawks, homemade tattoos, and musical elitism comprise the punk checklist? Not so much. Try: fighting censorship, singing in an influential band, and running an indie label. Those are the major accomplishments of one Eric…
A s if the trademark T-Mobile ring tone hasn’t annoyed you enough, just imagine trying to freestyle over it. That’s what the up-and-coming Miami rapper Prelude was asked to do when he received a recent phone call from one Johnny Escardo. Escardo identified himself as an A&R exec from DTP…
Although her flamboyant outfits have never been polite, Björk’s past few albums certainly have been. The ice-crystal percussion and melodies on Vespertine were stunning but mannered, like an immaculately decorated parlor, while the nearly a cappella Medulla — an album in which beatboxing and throat-singing replaced traditional instrumentation — felt…
Here’s the secret about nerdcore: Either you get it or you don’t. This hip-hop subgenre is essentially music for folks who enjoy tinkering around with the insides of PlayStations and quoting from Star Wars like it’s Scripture. As for Frontalot, well, he’s nerdcore’s disseminator, originator, and poster child all wrapped…
Wilco may set the standard for eclectic indulgence. Shedding its Americana visage with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in 2002, the band successfully redefined itself as an experimental outfit dealing in atmospheric soundscapes and sonic contradiction. This daring was rewarded with a pair of Grammy nods for the followup, A Ghost Is…
The calypso anthem “Big Tingz” on Kingston-based singer Nadine Sutherland’s new album, Say My Name, would be the perfect opener for the annual Best of the Best reggae festival over Memorial Day weekend at Miami’s Bayfront Park. You can visualize people bawling out “yeah” in a sea of Caribbean flags…
Maybe it’s the long nights with nothing to do but take drugs and play music, or maybe it’s the band’s position outside of America’s mainstream, but whatever the case, Norway’s 120 Days has managed to create a murky, driving album that puts the relentless pulse of synthetic percussion and old,…
Dulce Pontes An oral tradition that is passed on in the taverns and streets of Lisbon, Portugal, fado is the urban, bluesy musical form that gained international renown through the voice of the late Amália Rodrigues. The lyrics speak of love, longing, and the gritty life led on the streets…
Raphael, a.k.a. Don Rafael Martos Sánchez, a.k.a. Spain’s answer to Tom Jones, visits Miami this Friday for the first time in more than four years. A child prodigy from Linares, Spain, Raphael burst onto the scene in 1954 when, at nine years of age, he won the “Best Child Singer”…
First it was the Beatles, until the best musicians in that band died. Then it was the Ramones, until the Reaper wiped them out, too. Now the biggest musical reunion imaginable (at least here in Miami) has arrived. Thirteen years after its demise, Natural Causes — the beloved roots rock…
Ours, the quintet lead by New Jersey’s Jimmy Gnecco, plays Studio A on Tuesday as a prelude to the release of the band’s third album, Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy. A perfectionist known for taking his time on his albums, Gnecco spent the past three years honing…
The funny thing about snobbery is how it’s often in the eye of the beholder. Giselle Brodsky ain’t no snob, despite bearing the title of artistic director for the Miami International Piano Festival. The goal of the festival, she informs me in her rich Bolivian accent, is to lure new…
Back in 2004, the four teenage members of DMG spent every waking moment writing and recording songs. The plan was simple: to come up with a mainstream hit in the same vein as Top 40 acts such as Jay-Z and Outkast. But there was a rather obvious problem: copying a…
New Yorkers love to talk about today’s popular male vocalists, and how they stack up (or not) against the blessed Sinatra. This no-win comparison is especially common when it comes to the young pianist and singer Tony DeSare, who arrived in New York City at the ripe old age of…
Among the international DJ set, the chance to release a collection on the revered Yoshitoshi label is a rare and coveted honor, the kind of thing that nudges an artist one step closer to superstar status. Which is why regular Club Space spinner Cedric Gervais is feeling so good these…
Lady Saw claimed she’s “too nice fi inna cock fight” and “too rich to argue with bitch” in 2004 on “Man Is the Least,” but that was all chat compared to her eighth LP, Walk Out. “Make me introduce you to mi cutlass,” she threatens one heifer on “Chat to…
Boston-based music group Willard Grant Conspiracy sure knows how to make a music critic’s job tough. Whereas most bands can be blithely described with a few words, WGC practically requires a new genre tag. Stylistically it’s got strong folk-rock and rootsy overtones but isn’t exactly Americana. Instead WGC couches the…
Leave it to Trent Reznor — one of the few musicians who doesn’t need to hype his art by this point — to trump every other viral marketer with the promotional campaign for the new Nine Inch Nails album Year Zero. Besides leaking MP3s via USB drives left on bathroom…
Viki has always been a true Detroit eccentric, operating well beyond genre — a point this fifteen-track collection of rarities and outtakes drives home. Viki’s gargantuan beats, bee-buzzing distortion, cheap sci-fi sound effects, and reverb-soaked sauciness should be the toast of underground dance music; in fact, the electro-freaks in Adult,…
