Second-guessing the state of commercial hip-hop could become the next no-budget ESPN thing once Celebrity Poker buggers off. You’d need look no further than Slow V and Retrospect to find a couple of locals eager to expel some froth on cable or anyplace else. “Today’s clubs, to me, are like…
Bebo Valdés, the supremely gifted 87-year-old pianist, master arranger, and star of Miami’s Calle 54 Records, joins the powerful Arturo O’Farrill-directed Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra to perform “Suite Cubana.” Valdés describes his grand, Grammy-winning composition as “the realization of a dream.” Valdés radiates a friendly confidence that carries through to the…
Although Brittany Murphy’s attempt to raise temperatures with her sex-o-licious purring on Paul Oakenfold’s latest single, “Faster Kill Pussycat,” is bound to score with postadolescent Maxim readers, anyone who has ever set foot in a club knows it takes more than heavy breathing to heat up the dance floor. The…
Evoking an aura of tiki huts, toothpick umbrellas in amaretto sours, and red velvet wallpaper, Bossacucanova takes the mondo-cool sounds of 1960s-era bossa nova and re-creates its vibrancy with funk, hip-hop breakbeats, rotating turntables, digital technology, and skillful mixing. The result is a concoction of classic and new bossa nova…
A Cuban star who found his way to Miami via Colombia in 1961, Carlos Oliva jammed with Julio Gutiérrez and Willy Chirino. Oliva’s stealthy fusion of rock, jazz, samba, son, guaracha, and other Cuban rhythms makes each song sound like an original. His newest CD, Yayabo, includes conga songs such…
Raul Ramirez’s one-man electronica show deploys computers, synthesizers, laser beams, keyboards, bass, guitar, and electro-acoustic drums. “Ecomusica tries to bring harmony to the environment and its listeners. So I try to contribute my own little grain of sand in trying to make this world a little better by making music…
Citing musical influences such as Eminem, OutKast, Nirvana, and Bob Marley, JD Natasha is an alt-girl rocker with an international flair. The Kendall native’s album Imperfect/Imperfecta, a mostly Spanish-language album penned by this young star, takes risks and explores a variety of genres. Following in Shakira’s footsteps, JD Natasha plans…
Brazilian-based singer-guitarist Badi Assad lived in Sarasota for a while in the Nineties, but this concert marks her first official one in Florida since she decided to radically change her musical style, switching from a classical/experimental format to a more jazz-inflected pop style. “I started out playing chorinho and then…
Atlantic Records had big plans for Tego Calderón. Upon signing a contract with the popular reggaetonero, the record company hoped its new star would collaborate with well-established American hip-hop celebrities. The idea was to produce a crossover album that would resonate with the English-speaking public. Unfortunately for Atlantic, Calderón had…
Although Neil Tennant — the Penn Jillette of the Pet Shop Boys — embraces the Eighties, he says the duo (whose other member is the mostly silent Chris Lowe) is moving musically forward, yet with more than a nod to the era that saw the hits “West End Girls” and…
Raul Midón spent years building a reputation in the Magic City, performing at spots like the Van Dyke Café and singing backup for Latin pop stars like Jennifer Lopez and Alejandro Sanz. He even landed a contract with BMG US Latin, which issued his Gracias a la Vida. His journey…
What could be more fun than a Saturday-evening show with Humbert, Hialeah’s very best rock band? How about a show with newcomer Pyrojet, debuting its first effort, Living Funeral; and the ever-present the Stop Motion? Humbert blends a certain kind of quirky pop with stick-in-your-craw songwriting skills. Following a successful…
After a couple of quiet years following the success of its sophomore album, Light and Magic, Ladytron has resurfaced in a surprising flurry of activity. First there was the third full-length, Witching Hour, in late 2005, and the band, which rarely appears live, is undertaking a massive world tour (which…
When not obsessively scanning the surfaces of potato chips for holy likenesses of Phace, Cologne-based nuevo-funkers Sebastian and Henrik Wild shake down Black & Deckerized drum ‘n’ bass for every worthwhile nuance it’s got, in this case a boil-and-bubble reverse-thrust groove that keeps time the way MF Doom recites Shakespeare…
There’s only so much mileage the Changes will get out of the outraged buzz about how they were the only unsigned act at this year’s Lollapalooza, a fact that, to be realistic, bespeaks a travesty not of Iraq-invasion proportion but certainly pushing undisclosed-European-torture-chambers levels. Picture the Association — the evildoers…
We have seen Danity Kane sing, dance, and run three miles in Central Park. We have watched it become a cohesive harmonizing singing group. Now it’s time to see if all of that hard work and P. Diddy wax can make this self-titled debut a platinum-selling success. The album’s dozen…
After Lloyd Cole’s twentysomething years of making music, first with his band the Commotions and then solo, his career had become somewhat rote — an album every couple of years, but nothing that seemed especially inspired. His latest disc changes that perception; it’s a stirring set of songs. The title…
Another rising star from the Botanica del Jibaro collective, Seven Star gives a taste of his upcoming full-length with this rallying cry for authenticity in hip-hop and culture in general. Seven’s flow is cool, calm, and collected, effortlessly riding producer Deviant’s arresting beat, a truly soulful funk wah-wah punctuated by…
Olivier Alary — a.k.a. Ensemble — cobbles a Rotoscoping four-poster bed for lover-boy schlub Lou to project from, all digitized trap-door clicks and shifts, acoustic guitar, creamy keyboards, and imaginary string sections shuddering into a thrilling crescendo. Barlow is usually on such unimpeachable solid ground in folksy-confessional and angry electric-rock…
Gregg Foreman, the mastermind behind the shifting musical lineup that performs as the Rare Birds, is indeed an exotic specimen in Miami. Under the moniker “Mr. Pharmacist” (cribbed from a song by the Fall), Foreman is one of the most prolific rock DJs around town. But even in his native…
The Miami jazz fusion circuit has become somewhat of a phenomenon. Although the genre has existed since the Sixties, a noticeable surge in horns and keyboards has taken over local bands and nightclubs. Suddenly every band is a jazz-funk-rock-R&B crossover. From Brazilian to Afro-Cuban, avant-garde to acid, jazz is quickly…
Grunge as it could only be interpreted on the Sunset Strip, Red Rover is perhaps the ultimate set piece. On Agent Sparks’ debut album, these Angelinos recast mid-Nineties Northwest sludge as artful noise, full of thick, rolling bass lines and sculpted squalls of feedback. The band’s parallel universe imagines Cobain…
