Who says big-name, multi-band music festivals have to be filthy, debauched affairs whose main hallmarks are exorbitantly priced bottled water and a dearth of toilets? Who says they can’t be fun and uplifting events suitable for the whole family? Who says music with a positive message can’t be entertaining? Certainly…
Juliett Simms wants you to know she’s damaged. Her band, Automatic Loveletter, just released a five-song EP full of loss, regret, pain, and feelings of inadequacy, and now stands poised to capture the imaginations of sensitive, misunderstood 15-year-olds the world over. Automatic Loveletter seems almost purpose-built for this demographic, tapping…
Long Island emo-prog-rockers Envy On the Coast are trying hard to stand out in a world of Saves the Day and Brand New wannabes. It’s no easy task, and on the band’s 2007 debut full-length Lucy Gray, this quintet reminds us just how hard it can be. With melodic choruses,…
Not just a cover band, the Machine is the Pink Floyd experience. Not content to adequately recreate a thin smattering of greatest hits, like a live classic rock station, this New York-based sonic Ouija board delves deep into the history and legacy of one of rock and roll’s greatest bands,…
I don’t know why I’m a sucker for love lost and found but I’m pulling for Edgewater producer Diplo and London via Sri Lanka MC M.I.A. to get back together. Despite the fact that they make great music, after watching this video below, it’s hard to argue that they aren’t…
So, in just a few hours I’m off to an opening party for Dr. Feelgood’s, a new bar in West Palm Beach co-owned by Vince Neil… Of course, of Motley Crue fame. I’m a big fan of debauchery on nights it shouldn’t technically happen — like Tuesday — so I’m…
That’s gonna be hard for me to pass innit? It’s sounds like bullshit if this is true…but check out this article over on SOHH on why Amy Winehouse may not get a chance to attend the Grammy’s this year. She’s nominated for six Grammy’s for her latest album, Back to…
Just so you all know, RZA is not touring with Wu-Tang. I just got off the phone with Raekwon. Their tour-bus had just pulled up to a hotel in Virginia. They are playing shows every night, without RZA, The Abbott. When I asked Chef Rae about the current Wu situation,…
Killswitch Engage are pretty high on my list of bands I’d like to party with. The Massachusetts-based quintet are infamous for drinking lots of cheep bear, causing fun trouble, and reveling in the sort of sarcastic humor that earns their home state’s natives the label of “Masshole.” At the initial…
By Andy Vihstadt Separated at Birth Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan premiered the first material from their Gutter Twins project on MySpace last week. The duo, dubbed as the “Satanic Everly Brothers,” will be releasing Saturnalia on Sub Pop on March 4. Get on their space to stream a couple…
Andy Williams, guitarist for the Buffalo, New York-based quartet Every Time I Die, is an imposing physical presence for sure. With a close-cropped head, arms covered with a patchwork of tattoos, and a bushy beard, he’s described by tourmate Greg Puciato of Dillinger Escape Plan as “a beast” “When you…
Dillinger Escape Plan are sort of like a band of vikings, blazing through a town in a maelstrom of chaos that leave the feeble shivering in a puddle of their own secretions. Think noise, destruction, flames — literally, frontman Greg Puciato has been known to shoot fireballs from the stage…
Taj Mahal Let’s put aside the tried clichés that dictate steel drums, congas, and clanky Caribbean rhythms for this one. Oh yeah, let’s get down and dirty. Let’s run amok on a cruise with all the inflection and goodness only a rhythm and blues revue can bring. And don’t get…
I have to admit, a few times while sort of fuzzy-headed, possibly with a pounding headache, I’ve driven down Biscayne a few times on a Saturday afternoon and groggily wondered, “Hmmm, what’s all the fuss in front of the Carnival Center?” Well, my dumb ass completely forgot that, hello, the…
Hoodstock 2008 Saturday, January 3, 2008 James L. Knight Center Better Than: Watching Senator Clinton trying desperately to be funny during ABC’s Democratic Debate. While the Nation transfixed their eyes on their television screens, enraptured by both the Republican and Democrat Debates in New Hampshire over the weekend, it was…
The West Virginia-born saxophonist Marion Meadows first appeared locally at Arturo Sandoval’s Jazz Club last fall. For this time around, he plans to stick with what worked last time. “It will be the same formula, the same kind of thing that worked last time,” he says by phone. “Not many…
With In Rainbows the talk of the music industry, and the album’s official debut Tuesday at #1 on the charts, Thom Yorke and co. are ridin’ high. So, it’s time for another tour. And, lucky Miami, they’re gracing us with their presence. Of course, leave it to Radiohead to keep…
“I wrote that song [‘Hustlin”] in about an hour on some good kush,” says Miami-born hip-hop superstar Rick Ross as we sit in the entertainment room of his new Davie mansion on a recent Saturday night. “My definition of hustlin’ is: Handle your business, I’m gonna handle mine. Believe that…
When you’re in a world-famous rock band, having your frontman meet an unexpected demise can really be a major annoyance. At the very least, it makes you rethink your future. Take what happened when Jim Morrison OD’ed in that Paris bathtub — the remaining Doors gamely put out two albums…
A Cuban music festival in Miami — now that’s original, eh? But really, anyone who has spent an extended period of time around Cubans (and that would be just about all of us here in South Florida) knows there’s no limit to their musical innovation. This month local nonprofits FUNDarte…
It’s a hard time to be an Avril apologist, especially if you’re a heterosexual male music critic. Her 2007 effort, The Best Damn Thing, isn’t destined for any critical top 10 lists. Truth be told, it won’t be on mine, either, but I gave it serious consideration. The CD is…
Detroit DJ legend Kevin Saunderson knows how to keep a dance floor packed from late night till early morning. He’s been DJing all over the globe and pioneering various styles of techno for the past 25 years. He specializes in producing a hard-edged form of blacktronica. It’s rooted in soul…
