Can Justin Timberlake bring the sexy back to pop music? “Sexy Back” might be a good beginning. The song, produced by and featuring Timbaland, offers a grown-up Timberlake asking to be whipped if he misbehaves and affirming he has moved beyond coy Michael Jackson fashion references. “Sexy Back,” with its…
DJ Sire Esq.’s Fuggetaboutit Vol. 2 definitely lives up to the proclamation on its CD cover: “Over 70 minutes of real deal hip-hop and more.” The local DJ was definitely in DITC (diggin’ in the crates) mode when preparing for this mixtape. Fusing some of hip-hop’s most subterranean and mainstream…
Above all, Humbert is from Hialeah and proud. A city better known for its equally convoluted politics and street grids than its cultural output, Hialeah’s best-known musical export to date is KC and the Sunshine Band. Still, a tiny subculture of live rock acts has persisted there, and the four-member…
Hailing from the Bronx, the Juggaknots first made waves in the mid-Nineties New York scene with appearances on famed DJ Bobbito Garcia’s radio shows. MCs Buddy Slim and Breeze Brewin spit laid-back rhymes over slightly jazzy beats, perfectly encompassing post-D.A.I.S.Y.-age East Coast hip-hop. Their out-of-print 1996 debut LP resurfaced as…
Whether art, music, or film, Miami festivals are as inescapable as the heat this summer. The seventh installment of the Rock vs. Art series sizzles amid the ranks of fellow fetes with a marriage of underground music and art. The event spans more genres than a worldly DJ’s vinyl collection,…
House, techno, jungle, drum ‘n’ bass, breakbeat. To an outsider, these terms equate to simply “untz, untz, untz.” But for EDM insiders, these subgenres are as distinct as twins are to their parents. Consider T.S. Heritage the ultimate insider. You won’t find him venturing into one of the megaclubs or…
There’s a reason why people brave the lines and the heat and the bums to get into the Pawn Shop Lounge. And though some credit might go to the wonderful bar staff (you go, Joel!), most of it goes to the peeps behind the tables — those rhythmic readers of…
In a world of diminishing returns and softening sensibilities, it’s nice to see five regular dudes find themselves on common ground. They mix it up with enough technical know-how to help them stand out, but not enough to make it boring or godly, though they still retain that endearing rawness…
Ah, just when you thought some guys had vanished, you’re reminded they are still out there, making the rounds, filling arenas and stadiums across the Hispanophone world. A simple singer who has always distinguished himself with bare melodies and the symbiotic relationship between guitar and voice (with the occasional addition…
The three men of Santos formed a quick and immediately productive bond a few years ago. And it is evident that the laid-back environs of Cocoa Beach and the idylls of a lackadaisical Central Florida lifestyle have gelled them a fine acoustic-rock sound with enough tinges of soul and R&B…
Friday evening has another super new party for you to either get your dance on all night or hit during the downtown hop (which always ends at Goldrush for some bizarre reason). The Pawn Shop’s offering for main-room action in celebration of the work-week’s end is Detour Fridays, and your…
Three pimply dudes convince some cute chick to front their after-school ska-pop-punk band. That’s their story. Or at least it’s the one I’m sticking to, ’cause they seem awfully young and no real explanation has been made available. This is for sure: By the time they load their stuff into…
Active for almost ten years, L.A. Symphony comprises a core of five MCs backed by a rotating cast of DJs and producers. Despite the group’s geographical origins, tales of lowriders and pimps are eschewed in favor of a more intellectual approach. Still, Los Angeles’s cultural legacy permeates every song. The…
Born in Trinidad to a violinist father and a mother who worked as a piano teacher, Othello Molineaux was unsurprisingly turned on to music at a very young age. After learning piano as a child, he moved onto the steelpan, a pitched percussion instrument native to Trinidad and Tobago, which…
Performing as Hydroplane since 2003, Renzo Gorrio produces a mix of experimental hip-hop, electronica, and weird shit thrown in with some handclaps and whoop-whoops. This particular musical endeavor (Gorrio is also active in live music, such as the recently sadly-winding-down Objects in Transit and the new project Late Night Curly)…
When Gil Scott-Heron spit “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” in 1970, he was condemning crass commercialization. Fast-forward 36 years and Scott-Heron’s message has been remixed for modern sensibilities. Spoken-word artist/underground promoter Chris Imperial, of the Grassroots Collective, and director Ean Smith are filming an artistic revolution of their own…
Soul music isn’t what you think it is. If you listened only to 99 Jamz or 103.5 The Beat, you’d think modern soul rests with slick young women who trill over mechanized hip-hop beats and quiet storm arrangements, and advertise their wares by stripping down for soft-core booty mags; and…
This is the final installment in a four-part series about world-beat women. Read the first three by scrolling to the bottom of this page and clicking on one of the three previous articles by Julienne Gage. This past July, Michelle Forman perched herself atop a tall chair at the Cornerstone…
Adam Singer and Vitaliy Levin don’t get out much. When they’re not working their nine-to-five jobs, they’re either at Singer’s parents’ house, where Singer lives, or at Levin’s mother’s house, where Levin lives, glued to their computer screens and taking breaks only so Levin can have a smoke or a…
Get these motherfucking emo bands off this motherfucking album. No, really — get these motherfucking emo bands off this motherfucking album. The soundtrack accompanying arguably the year’s most anticipated cheese-horror flick is a giant mess — namely because it’s full of pounding, stuttering dance remixes of songs by new-punk kingpins…
Richard Bona, an enigmatic, Brooklyn-based Cameroonian bass player and singer, explores several musical directions on Tiki. The opening track, “Please Don’t Stop,” grabs attention with its catchy beat, soul-inflected keyboards, and soulful vocals by John Legend. Brazil’s influence is evident throughout the album; for example, Djavan performs a duet on…
Austin, Texas trio the Weird Weeds are likely to get their due in another decade or so, when some upstarts stumble upon their catalogue and — in the process of reinterpreting one of their frail, digest-it-and-forget-it songlets — infuse the source material with some much-needed presence and vigor. Yeah, okay:…
