Music

A newcomer arrived in Miami. He drove from the airport through the jungle breeze and sharp metallic colors. He switched the radio on and heard: “Lift up your leg! You must!” in a froggy, urgent roar from an artist he’d never heard. The station, he discovered, was WAVS-AM (“The Heartbeat…

Critics have been proclaiming the death of rock and roll for so long now, the genre’s aesthetic demise is almost taken as a given. Buzzsaw guitars? Crashing drums? A lovesick singer whipping his microphone through the air? Uh, what else ya got, grandpa? So why the Strokes were able to…

Whatever alternate moniker he’s going by at the moment — Hova, Jiggaman, or simply Shawn Carter — New York City’s Jay-Z remains one of hip-hop’s most talented rappers. And while his paeans to all that glitters (preferably if it’s wrapped around somebody that glitters) aren’t going to win too many…

If there’s one thing you want coursing through a rock band, besides electricity, it’s moxie. Singer Catty Tasso hit upon the name in Maine. She saw a bottle of Moxie, the weird old gentian-root soft drink that still has a cult-like following. “That’s us!” she exclaimed, according to husband-guitarist Josh…

If Latin alternative music never triumphs in South Florida, don’t blame Kike Posada. This tireless crusader for la causa is determined to get the word and rock out by any means necessary: promoting events, publishing ¡Boom! magazine, and in July 2001 convincing the Anglo owners of AM station Radio Uno…

A reformed journalist who wisely joined our NPR affiliate in 1995, Fields takes the honor this year not because she’s done something different but rather because she’s been consistent — consistently good. Her playlist spans decades but is selective and smart. No pop jazz or smooth jazz or acid jazz…

(c)(r)~E(c)(r)~EG1/2?(r)g/~C&!:ê¯(c)(r)~E??y??????????O????f?????f(c)(r)~E(c)(r)~E(c)&!:ê¯?y????(c)&!:ê¯?y??f(c)(r)?????(c)(r)(r)g?f(c)(r)~??(c)&!:ê¯(c)(r)~E??y??????????O????f?????f(c)(r)~E(c)(r)~E(c)&!:ê¯?y????(c)&!:ê¯?y??fE(c)(r)????O????f?????f(c)(r)~E(c)(r)~E(c)&!:ê¯?y????(c)&!:ê¯?y??fE(c)(r)~EG1/2?(r)g/~C&!:ê — most Thursdays at Churchill’s…

Ever since Chocolate Industries pulled out of town a year or so ago we’ve been jonesing for a new sonic substance. Luckily local DJ turned entrepreneur Greg Chin, a.k.a. Stryke, has been happy to oblige with his ambitious new Substance Recordings. In addition to his own delicately textured take on…

New York City had Simon and Garfunkel, so it’s only fitting that Miami’s most dynamic songwriting duo should have come together in a tribute to our city. Before September 11 Elsten Torres and Juan Carlos Perez Soto had been writing songs separately for years. They had even been writing songs…

Who knew Desi Arnaz would come back as a Brit-pop-loving hipster with a penchant for vintage clothes? Only a kid who grew up in Miami could bring such left-field treatment to classics “Babalú” and “Como Fue.” Moreno may have a face that teenyboppers love, but his voice is for the…

Love, like everything else, has imitations, but Dean Fields is the real deal. We just hope we can keep him here, at least for a little while. The curly-topped Virginian has stopped off in Miami for a little booklearnin’, but his heart is in his music and it shows. Fields…

R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to these three. R-E-S-P-E-C-T so rare for women in the compas industry. Saima, sisters Sabine, Yves, and Martine Francoeur, got tired of serving as back-up singers to a slew of male stars, so they struck out in search of their own spotlight. You’ll still…

DJs Oscar G (Space) and Ralph Falcon (Billboardlive) first hit the scene in 1997 with the club classic “Fired Up.” In 1999 they avoided the sophomore slump by releasing “Body,” a smash hit that swept across dance floors worldwide. Now the duo, along with singer Tamara, have scored again with…

Frankly, Jake ain’t that little, but given the scarcity of old-fashioned bass-slappin’ rock and roll outfits in these parts, we’re not going to nit-pick. And when this slickly coifed, tattooed, and sideburned band gets a good head of steam going, there’s no time for semantics; best to just grab your…

For too long, rap in Miami was synonymous in the nation-at-large’s mind with Luke’s 2 Live Crew. And given that ol’ Uncle Luke has been little more than an embarrassing punch line for nigh on a decade now, the ascension of Trick Daddy’s gleaming gold smile to MTV is more…

The Caribbean, claims Cuban writer Antonio Benitez-Rojo, is a meta-archipelago: a giant sponge spiraling out from the Caribbean Sea to Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas, the universe, endlessly repeating. The Caribbean, in short, is the rhythmic center of the world. And so the Afro-Polyphonic World Orchestra, an…

For the purist, Miami has a wealth of fine jazz musicians who know their way around an Ellington composition or conserve the stylistic touches of Dizzy, Miles, or Coltrane. Jesse Jones, Jr., Melton Mustafa, Randy Gerber, and Paquito Hechavarria are just a few of the virtuosos who keep the flame…

Oh, happy dilemma. More than one indie night to choose from. More than two! More than three! This past year has been a great one for the local indie pop scene, with long-brewing enthusiasm finally coming to a boil. But savvy disc-curating sets PopLife above the rest, mixing deep, dark…

You left/and since you left, Castro lost/Miami, no/we hope you’ll stay/(Making beautiful salsa/Showing us how it’s done)/You left/and since you left CANF is lost/what does it mean?/we hope you’ll stay/And now you are the king/of the Hialeah festival in the spring/And now you are the king/of the Hialeah festival in…

There isn’t much competition for this category in a majority Latin county, but that’s not Volumen Cero’s fault. It’s been doing all it can to give us a good name. These hard-working boys, with their emo-gothy-hard-rock-en-español (except-often-in-English) sound, have been playing seriously, recording seriously, touring seriously, showing up on time…

One look at Bozo Porno Circus and you instantly know they’re not from around here — no matter where here may be. “We were eating at Wendy’s and I was talking on my phone, looking out the window. I turned around and [saw that] everybody in line wasn’t facing the…