It was on an early March morning last year when I fell out of bed, threw on some clothes, and sweatily stumbled down the several blocks or so that took me from the apartment where I was staying with two friends to an imperious-looking hotel on Washington Avenue in South…
BAJOFONDO TANGO CLUB Marlin Bar, March 4 Bajofondo Tango Club co-producer Juan Campodónico, a.k.a. Campo, has an altrock past in his native Uruguay, where he recorded two albums with the band Peyote Asesino in the mid-Nineties. But in the last four years he has completely devoted himself to electronic music,…
Prices and times are subject to change (and many probably will). THURSDAY, MARCH 4 B.E.D. RE-UNION II 9:00 p.m.-5:00 a.m. DJs/Performers: E-Man, Dr. Love a.k.a. Richard Vasquez, Mike Agent ‘X’ Clark, DJ Romain, and Ron D. Lim. crobar THE SHOW 10:00 p.m.-5:00 a.m. DJs/Performers: Room One — Kid Capri. Room…
Singer-guitarist Raf Classic of the Crumbs, South Florida’s most fiercely followed three-chord, four-member punk band, shrugs while slugging down an ice-cold beverage. Along with other members of the well-traveled group, he reflects on the indignities of having a popular and well-respected but terminally poor and unlucky gig. “Well, with Low…
It’s not uncommon at a major record label’s headquarters to see a hip, bald man in his late thirties cleaning out his cubicle. In his four years as a business analyst at Universal Music, Rob Coe has seen more than 200 people pink-slipped and escorted from the building. What’s unusual…
Violin master Malcolm Goldstein laughs when he is reminded that his work is considered experimental music. It’s not that he rejects the label. Instead Goldstein, renowned worldwide for virtually reinventing the way the violin is played, responds as if the classification is too simplistic an explanation for what he does…
In the converted garage of an old Coral Gables home just off Douglas Road, one of Miami’s top DJ/producers is busy in his studio turning the knobs on his latest creation. It’s an album untitled and sans label, set for a summer release, with thirteen pumped-up dance tracks of completely…
I remember first hearing Nirvana in 1991, when MTV premiered the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video on its token college-rock program, 120 Minutes. The song was all fuzzy guitars and commercial doublespeak, fueled by Kurt Cobain’s chorus, “Here we are now/Entertain us,” and I immediately turned up my nose at…
Louie Vega’s musical journey to maturity has been an extensive tour of self-discovery through collaboration and experimentation. Vega broke as a teenage DJ in the Bronx Latin freestyle scene of the Eighties (notably remixing the classic 1987 hit “Silent Morning” by Noel) and has been a dominant figure in house…
Ever since Trick Daddy and Trina darted across the national radar in 1999 with “Nann Nigga,” the debut single from Trick’s second album, www.thug.com, Slip-N-Slide has reigned as Florida’s number-one independent record label. A quick walk or drive through Trick’s hometown of Liberty City will show you why. Its rundown…
Puerto Rican rappers who have popularized a Spanish-language dancehall/hip-hop hybrid called reggaetón are almost entirely men, not surprising given the genre’s tendency to lyrically embrace such typically macho exploits as drinking, partying, and sexing to excess. Comparable to the way some in Jamaica perceive dancehall reggae, many older, upper-middle-class Puerto…
In hip-hop culture, we tend to refer to hip-hop as a thing, a possession, a living person. It is the spook that sat by the door, the infiltrator into mainstream society, the one that blew up black culture, the great corrupter. Back in the day, Chuck D famously crowned it…
If you hear something you don’t like on Tripping Tropicana, the first U.S. release from Colombian rockers Superlitio, just wait a second. Even in this era of global musical promiscuity, the sextet from Cali is remarkably wanton with genres and moods. The disc opens with a hard rock guitar riff…
After months of drooling anticipation, Liars have unloaded a large, mysterious object into the dying fire of pretentiousness. And while it is moderately intriguing to hear those flames crackle again afresh, it is doubtful either fans or haters expected a sophomore album as stubborn and abstruse as They Were Wrong,…
Federico Aubele, an Argentinean who dubs at the speed of King Sunny Ade, excels in tropicalia; he owes the sound to labelmates Thievery Corporation, the D.C. duo who produced Granhotelbuenosaires. In a strong debut reminiscent of Gotan Project, the Parisian electronic act responsible for popularizing accordion-flavored tango samples, Aubele’s songs…
Born in Sevilla, Spain, rapper María “La Mala” Rodríguez represents a new breed of European artist. She tells sordid stories about life in the hood, surrounded by dealers, drugs, and all kinds of toughs, while carrying over flamenco’s dramatic flourish. La Mala’s second studio album, Alevosía (Deliberate), offers her ragged…
On Fourth Dimensional Rocketships Going Up, Blackalicious rapper Gift of Gab floats through his own inner galaxy. Seattle producers Jake One and Vitamin D lace him up with beats that are supple and funky, bumping along with an early-Eighties bass vibe; “Welcome Back” is decorated with Seventies soul orchestral strings,…
The first thing you notice about Lucinda Williams is her voice: raspy and brittle, yet supported by a husky tone that rubs against you. It is rough and comforting, a thin blanket that somehow manages to insulate you from a cold, heartless environment. Her songs, in contrast to her surroundings,…
Beloved underground scenesters bolting for shark-infested, mainstream waters in hopes of bigger and better things is part of a perpetual cycle. Here we go again: Many notable gatekeepers of the Design District’s indie scene are flocking to South Beach. The graduates include M-80’s Ana Diaz-Balart, Poplife’s Ray Milian, Jordan Binder,…
For a guy who plays the blues, Albert Castiglia www.albertcastiglia.com seems to be having way too much fun. Holding court onstage during a recent Friday night at Hooligan’s Pub and Oyster Bar in Pinecrest, he and his back-up band run through a set that includes cuts from his debut disc,…
The phrase “singer-songwriter” usually conjures up images of blandly dressed young men with acoustic guitars intoning personal songs in an overwrought voice, not noise artist Xela Zaid. Zaid comes from an alternate universe. He has developed his own method of tuning and plucking a guitar that allows him to produce…
If you think that the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake nipple shield flash and Michael Jackson’s child molestation trials are the biggest scandals in entertainment right now, then you obviously haven’t tuned in to Spanish-language television recently. While the Jackson family exercise the Anglo media with their travails, Univision and its competitors…
