As Iraq burns, New Orleans drowns, and our president complacently plucks his guitar strings, the voice of Damian Marley blasts out of seemingly every other car stereo and club sound system in Miami: “To see the sufferation, sicken me/Them suit no fit me/To win election they trick we/And they don’t…
The late afternoon shadows are peeking through the balcony doors of a plush penthouse on Miami Beach, but Olga Tañón shows no signs of fading. Unfazed by a string of lengthy interviews and impromptu requests from visitors, she cheerfully cracks a joke to the delight of those in the room…
Over the past two years, the Kali-worshipping Dadaists at Sublime Frequencies have been bringing their skewed take on their Middle and Far East travels back for Western ears. Eschewing academic and anthropological dissection and analyses, the Sublime Frequencies folks instead opt for something more impressionistic and surreal. During stops in…
Feeling old? Ten years of listening to New York hip-hop’s hustle squawk and Five Percent hints seems particularly silly now that the East Coast’s heyday rappers have settled for decent indie money or sold out for G-Unit glory. Brooklynite rapper AZ, once the Jim Jones to Nas’s Cam, is betting…
M83’s third album, Before the Dawn Heals Us, suffered from the unimaginative palates of club snobs across the land, and though it was a fine album, it’s nice to see Nicolas Fromageau and Anthony Gonzalez’s first effort reissued in the full glory of their analog synth, keyboard, and Moog manipulations…
You’d think it would be difficult to tell who’s wearing blackface when you’re looking at the world through rose-colored glasses, but the guys in North Carolina hip-hop outfit Little Brother think they have a grip on the situation. On songs such as “Cheatin'” and reoccurring interludes, Little Brother MCs Phonte…
There are many things I didn’t know about Seventies and Eighties pop before I heard the new album by sample deconstructionist/pop genius Jason Forrest. For one, I was unaware that combining trace elements of Seals & Crofts, Stealers Wheel, and Blues Image could result in a glitch-house cut (“Skyrocket Saturday”)…
For Real Rock IV, Curious Hair and Evol Egg Nart Records’ Jeff Rollason have organized a show of rocktastic proportions, simultaneously stirring the semislumbering princes of Miami’s dormant rock history while raising a spotlight to the very much awake projects being proffered by veterans and newcomers alike. This is an…
Earlier this year it was revealed that pre-Bravery, singer Sam Endicott had played in a ska band called Skabba the Hutt, and judging by the hit the New Waver’s reputation took, only the discovery of former Klan membership or a pedophilia rap sheet would have been more damning. Granted, it…
DJ music for hipsters is one of the most quickly morphing subgenres in modern music. Three years ago it was all Soul Wax and pop music mashups, but now the Zeitgeist has quickly recentered on Southern hip-hop, Baltimore club music, and South American sounds. And few have done more to…
Though techno elitists constantly write breakbeat off as lightweight tripe, the backlash hasn’t fazed DJ Icey and Baby Anne one bit. Ten years on, these Florida-grown club vets are still dropping their patented trap-kit-thumping beats with swirling acid lines. The two obviously know where their target demographic lies, having been…
Miami homeboy Sam Beam, a.k.a Iron and Wine, and those sons of the Southwest, Calexico, share something more in common than an indie ethos. Each has built an impressive reputation by making music that’s elusive, densely textured, and draped in a meditative aura that begs quiet contemplation. Their first collaboration,…
In the DJ booth during his weekly residency at Miami’s most famous club, the internationally recognized Space, house DJ/producer Oscar G began to get that feeling. It was 2002 and he was set to release what would become his biggest single to date, the gorgeously twisted “Dark Beat.” As he…
Indie music: The appellation is problematic. For one, it doesn’t describe any particular sound. Rock and roll captures that genre’s ragged glory and sexual subtext, and hip-hop certainly points toward the rap world’s bouncing rhythms and alliterative wordplay. But indie music? Independent of what exactly? The mainstream’s corporate hegemony? The…
Underground musicians in South Florida have always suffered from a certain geographical isolation. Florida’s sheer length makes touring a logistic and economic mess for homegrown talent. And while major cities such as Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville get their fair share of national tours, in Miami-Dade it’s slim pickings. For local…
This past January, Library of Congress jazz specialist Larry Appelbaum stumbled onto the sole full-length professional recording of a November 1957 collaboration between bebop’s high priest Thelonious Monk and tenor saxophone giant John Coltrane. The occasion was a Carnegie Hall concert documented for a Voice of America radio broadcast. The…
With a barrage of lurid rhymes, NYC’s Cage spits the sort of storyboard rhymes on Hell’s Winter that sound ripped from an underground graphic novel. The dreary warzone backdrops come from El-P, RJD2, and Blockhead, and their nimble, diesel-charged compositions help drive Cage’s reckless imagination over the edge. The foolish…
London’s cavernous, genre-bending nightclub Fabric continues its FabricLive mix series with a jaunty set of electro and techno curated by veteran UK electronic band Death in Vegas. While many collections of this genre often delve into too-deep waters, FabricLive 23 keeps things light and breezy. From DIV’s own Kraftwerkian “Zugaga”…
In modern hip-hop, groups have been supplemented by cliques. Cliques usually consist of one successful rapper (in this case ATL superstar T.I.) and a gang of stragglers and hangers-on (enter Pimp Squad Clique). And what’s become par for the course, Pimp Squad Clique’s debut, 25 to Life, proves to be…
This rowdy posse cut from members of the Dungeon Family is the lead single from the forthcoming Purple Ribbon All-Stars, a compilation that officially launches the Big Boi’s Purple Ribbon label. “Kryptonite” contains some mesmerizing wordplay; let’s just say they’re talking about a different green crystalline substance than the one…
“Stay Fly”
This Tennessee all-star bid for a mainstream single is free of the anxiety to which vets tend to submit. They know they don’t have to try hard to fit in with the syrup abuse and Southern pride dominating the charts today. A glitzy video and a reaffirmation of their status…
“Don’t Trip”
Lil Wayne gets to speak his peace first, but once Trina grabs the mike, he sits out the rest of the track as a mere hook-slinger. Trina’s confidence and lyrical authority make even the gruffest rapper sound happy to sit back and ride shotgun, hoping if he plays it cool,…
