Dr. Manhattan

Dr. Manhattan is full of youthful bluster, promising musical revolution even while the band reminds you it doesn’t really give a shit. It’s a common rock trope, sure, and usually an unfortunate indicator of pending disappointment. Far better, as put so eloquently by Teddy Roosevelt, to “speak softly and carry…

Pelican and Thrice

Both Pelican and Thrice are stretching the boundaries of their sounds and others’ expectations. Pelican’s City of Echoes soft-pedals the band’s usual throb, taking its complex art-metal instrumentals in a melodic direction. The tracks are still dense but don’t unwind as far, getting through each thematic movement with heretofore unseen…

Santana

Carlos Santana has a lot on his plate these days: He’s launching a chain of Mexican restaurants, appearing in Macy’s commercials to hype the line of women’s shoes he has designed, and advocating a national holiday to honor labor leader César Chávez. But he still finds time now and then…

Funk Phenomenon

When people refer to Brazil as a land of endless rhythms and melodies, what comes to mind isn’t usually a wacky mix of grunge, metal, booty bass, and funk. But Brazilians are an eclectic folk. So it’s not surprising that in 2002, Bonde do Rolê, the nation’s latest youth sensation…

Remaking Michael Jackson

Earlier this year, the silver-anniversary re-release of Michael Jackson’s Thriller — a souped-up, repackaged remembrance of the nine tracks of pop/soul perfection that the tree-climbing, surgical-mask-wearing, yeah-it’s-okay-to-sleep-with-kids, nutty sumbitch unleashed on the world so many years ago — hit stores. Sadly there’s one thing keeping the re-release from being just…

Junc Ops

Miami’s Junc Ops combines some of the better elements of South Florida music into a savvy and futuristic amalgamation that whets the appetite and satisfies the hunger. The work of PG-13 (Paul Gaeta) and Kentsoundz (Kent Hernandez) gels well with the assistance of Matt CNTRL on the cuts, and musically…

Morrissey

The greatest Morrissey songs aren’t just sad, creepy and boastful; they also contain telling details, counterintuitive punch lines, and surprise turns of phrase. On Greatest Hits, we get winners such as “The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get.” But sometimes Morrissey doesn’t channel Morrissey properly, and one of…

Kid Creole

Kid Creole and the Coconuts — possessed of a flavorful, beat-driven energy with a slight urban touch — were a staple of the hip musical experience in the Eighties. Prior to that time, however, central figure Kid Creole was known as August Darnell. As such, Darnell worked in front of…

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

Usually, overly long band names point to an irritating sense of self-importance. Why else would you make someone spend a full minute enunciating your name, or force your fans to apply some ridiculous acronym? But somehow, by about 15 seconds into “Glue Girls,” the lead track from Pershing, it’s easily…

Piano Man on a Mission

This past February 27 would come to be known as Kristopher Hull’s Worst Day Ever. Armed with a full-size upright piano, a repertoire of Chopin’s etudes and nocturnes, and his nerves, the 33-year-old pianist planned to storm Lincoln Road, guerrilla-style. He was going to bring classical music out of the…

Concert Review: B-Live Miami 08

Concert Review: B-Live at The Bayfront Park Amphitheatre B-Live April 19, 2008 The Bayfront Park Amphitheatre Better Than: The biggest block party you ever attended. See the slide show here Miami is mad about its music, not to mention its mojitos, so when the good folk at Bacardi took over…

iTunes Tells Buju Banton to “Boom Bye Bye”

Not everybody hates Buju. According to a story that came out in the Jamaica Star last week, Apple Inc has recently removed some songs deemed homophobic from their catalog. Buju Banton’s “Boom Bye Bye” was one of those songs and according to this article, some Canadian gay rights organizations are…

Nas and Kelis to Sue Miami for $100 Million

I’d toast to that! I knew there would be more to this story after Kelis first got arrested last year in Miami. Now it looks like both her and her legendary hip-hop husband, Nasir Jones, are going to be suing the City of Miami to the tune of $100 million…

Last Night: Eisley at the Culture Room

Eisley Thursday, April 17, 2008 Culture Room Better than: Taking three xanax and drinking a handle of Jack. If you’re anywhere near exhausted, don’t even think about going to an Eisley show. This all-in-the-family Texas-born quintet (four sisters and their cousin, all with the last name DuPree) may produce some…

Interview with Meshuggah

“Warning: trying to follow Meshuggah’s music can make your eyes cross.” Apparently, the appeal of Swedish death metal band Meshuggah extends beyond your typical metal fan base. So much so that awareness of the band has even reached classical conservatory culture. In Volume 29, Issue 2 of Music Theory Spectrum,…

Film Screening: Another Night at the Agora

Last Night: Another Night at the Agora at Sunrise Cinemas Mizner Park The Palm Beach International Film Festival wrapped up last night with the second showing of A Rock and a Hard Place: Another Night at the Agora, a concert film/documentary that sheds light on the once-vibrant but now forgotten…

The Rock Three-Year Anniversary Blowout Tomorrow!

Tomorrow night marks the three-year anniversary party forThe Rock, the weekly locals-only showcase at Tobacco Road run by the loveable Oski Gonzalez, guy about town and frontman of his own band, the Oski Foundation. Yes, The Rock usually happens on Thursdays, but it’s been bumped forwards this week to Friday…

Bruce Springsteen Supports Obama for President

You might think it’s commonplace at this point in the election for Obama to continuously rack up support from musicians. It is. But the latest endorsement holds some significant weight. The boss of all music bosses, Bruce Springsteen, is throwing his political muscle behind Obama. That might not mean a…

Jazz Singer Carmen Lundy in South Florida Tomorrow Night

Carmen Lundy Quartet Unlike most vocalists in the jazz realm, this Miami-born diva doesn’t always rely on material from The Great American Songbook during her sets. Instead, Carmen Lundy always includes as many of her own compositions as she can both when recording and playing live – something she has…

The Stones and Scorsese

Shine a Light makes even the biggest comic-book superhero collaborations look lame. The upcoming concert documentary, previously released on IMAX, recently arrived at regular movie theaters. And it teams up one of the greatest rock bands in history, the Rolling Stones, with one of the greatest American movie directors ever,…

Play It Back

Beach Food Market clerk Pratap Chowdhury spends a lot of time focusing on South Beach diplomacy efforts. He practices basic Spanish, learns customers’ names, and reaches out with a handshake or fist bop deemed appropriate for each patron’s apparent nationality or culture. As such, New Times decided to offer our…