Combining two artists’ debuts into one release was sensible marketing for Lil Jon, who sought to bring out further evidence of the young crunk culture of Atlanta. But the maneuver almost begged for competition between Lil Scrappy and the trio Trillville, even though both received the benefit of Jon at…
No Doubt’s best record, Return to Saturn, played like an unofficial Bridget Jones soundtrack. Gwen Stefani is jealous of cuter women, greets her birthday with grim gravity, clings to an unfaithful man, and frets: Who will be the one to marry me? Her pathological insecurity is absurd but never insincere…
Loretta Lynn had been a grandmother for over ten years when Jack White was born, so it’s fair to ask exactly what this Johnny-come-lately from The White Stripes has to offer one of the grande dames of American music. In pairing a country legend with a hip producer, Interscope Records…
It’s amazing math and science majors don’t outnumber metalheads at an average Isis show, as the Boston-born, LA-based quintet’s insistent cadences dovetail with such point-counterpoint precision that it captivates like covalent bonding. Strained bellows and a cascading, gnawing ensemble of guitars and electronics equally flesh and flay atop skewed meters…
Before parting ways ten years ago, American Music Club forged a multihued, angst-induced sound. After reconvening earlier this year, the group articulates the disenfranchisement and alienation of the new millennium with the ironically titled Love Songs for Patriots. It’s a series of confessional encounters, from the male stripper of “Patriot’s…
John Legend’s Get Lifted is a breath of fresh air in the sea of monotony that is R&B. With his Stevie Wonder meets Jay-Z sound, Legend distinguishes himself with writing that vividly captures the nuances of love, commitment, and struggle. On the unapologetic cheating song “She Don’t Have to Know,”…
You’ve no doubt heard of wine, women, and song. Devin the Dude, the funniest of Houston’s rappers, has, too. But what really gets him going is weed, women, and bongs. Almost every one of To Tha X-Treme’s seventeen songs concerns either smoke or hotties. He likes to get “higher than…
Often compared to the great Koko Taylor, twentysomething Shemekia Copeland is a powerhouse singer who blends aspects of funk blues, R&B, and Memphis soul in the proud tradition of belted-from-the-gut vocalists. Reared by her father, the late Texas bluesman Johnny “Clyde” Copeland in his final performance days, she is no…
Stone Love Sound System, the trendsetting selector crew who pioneered the practice of pulling Jamaica’s top deejays and singers into the studio to whip up exclusive verses for their sets, will be mashing it up in South Florida this New Year’s Eve. But don’t be fooled. There is a group…
Yes, New Year’s Eve is a great time to get wasted, make promises you won’t keep, et cetera. Why not get down to some great dance music while you’re at it? After her high-water mark as an R&B/pop princess in the mid-Nineties, Deborah Cox has remade herself as a house…
Miami resident Farah Juste is one of Haitian music’s premier singer/songwriters. For nearly 30 years, Juste has written provocative political songs championing the rights of Haitians at home, in South Florida and those scattered throughout the Diaspora. Her lyrics embody a rapturous love of country and profound pain for the…
Barrio brothers Tropyco and Bombillo, better known as the Sofla Kingz, have released a CD just in time to capitalize on the current Latin explosion in hip-hop and the rising popularity of reggaeton. The Sofla Kingz have previously distributed their mixtapes all over South Florida for free, but this is…
Saturdays and Sundays, Fat Tuesdays The better-than-cool DJ Iceberg is a rookie on the rise. He’s the Saturday night resident at Fat Tuesdays on South Beach and the official DJ for the rap duo Sofla Kingz, even though he just started spinning professionally this year. Originally from Martinique, the 25-year-old…
When I moved from Madrid to Miami two years ago, I was lost in a sea of poppy salsa and merengue. It was a far cry from the cosmopolitan mix of artistic expression among Spaniards and immigrants in my former, centuries-old Malasaña neighborhood (praised by Manu Chao in “Me Gustas…
Miami hip-hop used to be exotic and wild, our town known around the world as the land of bass. Today it’s not so unique, closely resembling regional flavors such as Atlanta crunk and New Orleans bounce (though one could convincingly argue that Miami bass influenced both of these sounds). But…
If 2004 proved anything to anyone, it is that this damn city can still rock. And we’re talking rock in its many forms. Some young kids picked up guitars, but it was the old guys who came out on top. Decade-plus-strong quartet The Crumbs opened the year with a pair…
Music videos weren’t particularly groundbreaking in 2004, nor did most genres stray from their conventions — rockers still favored live performance shots while rappers opted for traditional money shots. Still, there were plenty of entertaining videos this year, ones that elicited either delighted awe or gossipy ridicule — what marketing…
Although no single dancehall artist or CD dominated 2004 as Sean Paul did 2003, the music remained a presence on the crossover charts. Beenie Man’s “Dude” and Baby Cham’s “Vitamin S” (recorded on Dave Kelly’s joyous Fiesta riddim) spent several weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 while producer Scatta Burell’s…
Our second annual survey of the best music of the year is marked by a tie between Björk’s Medulla and Kanye West’s College Dropout in the top albums category. They couldn’t be more different: Medulla is perplexing and occasionally beguiling avant pop, while College Dropout is classic, radio-friendly hip-hop. Other…
It has been more than a year since The Stills were introduced to America with a splash of interviews, rave reviews, and glossy magazine covers. And, like so many postpunk, astral pop, and mope-rock bands of the same ilk, any sign of a lengthy musical career is hanging on their…
I admit it. I fucked up. Last year, the inaugural Miami Awards were held at the now-defunct Bar Code in South Beach, and yours truly was the only mainstream journalist to cover it (“Triumph of the Will,” August 28, 2003). It was the calm before the storm: Jacki-O was riding…
A vixen in a halter top and low-rider hot pants catwalks in front of the DJ booth in Coconut Grove’s Oxygen Lounge. She bends over the carpeted partition and, in the one ear Armand Pena has that isn’t covered by his headphones, asks as seductively as she can yell, “Are…
