Winter Music Conference, Miami Music Week, and Ultra Music Festival are all over. But this is Miami. We don’t just part one week out of the year. We keep the beat alive all year long! Some of the DJs can’t stand to leave, and can you blame them? We’ve got…
Last year, the Rhythm Foundation and Heineken’s TransAtlantic Festival brought together the Afrobeat extravaganza of saxophonist and bandleader Seun Kuti and the modern-day cumbia stylings of Quantic and Combo Bárbaro. You might think it would be hard to follow that kind of lineup. But maybe that’s what makes the Rhythm…
If you survived the last ten days, you’ve probably had enough uhntz-uhntz to last you till 2014. Or at least the rest of the month. That’s why we’re taking time out to bring you five of the best chill, live performances happening this week. From hip-hop to electro fusion, post-punk,…
As Rev Sinister of Inspecter 7 explained, there’s one place in America that gives Miami a run for its money in being dark and sordid. That’s Asbury Park, New Jersey, the grimey land that the band basically comes from. And from the first horn blow, guitar chop, kick drum, bass…
Let’s get Kinky. We’re not talking about whips, fuzzy handcuffs, or hot body oil. Just the best current alternative rock crew from south of the border. “With bands, it’s a really interesting thing with names,” Kinky guitarist Carlos Chairez tells Crossfade. “We were developing our sounds for the first album…
“What the fuck does unicorn taste like?” Stardust. Rainbows. Maybe black-market horse meat from Miami’s C-9 basin. There’s really no way to know, though. Because this fabulous one-horned equine creature doesn’t actually exist. Except when you’re raving, raging, and tripping out at Ultra Music Festival. Here are 50 WTF quotes…
Snoop Dogg, for getting high on stage at Ultra Music Festival, tossing blunts into the crowd, and almost maxing out the capacity of Klipsch Amphitheater, I salute you. For bringing your crew, running through the hits, testing new material, and throwing in a couple of covers, I salute you. For…
What do you get when you cross South African sonics with South Florida sound waves? The question is not a joke, riddle, Zen koan, or pickup line. It’s the inquiry at the heart of Eternal Peasant Remixes, a new compilation from Miami’s only global indie record label, Other Electricities. It…
“I only eat fruit,” Teepee frontman and songwriter Erix S. Laurent (birth name Eric Lopez-Zareño) declared in an interview with New Times last summer. “And I love it.” In addition to jazzing up his name and banning most food from his diet, Laurent has spent the past two years employing…
Wassup, Miami! And all you foreigners breathing our air. We here at Crossfade are covering all your Ultra Music Festival shenanigans. And we’d be remiss if we didn’t chronicle the adventures of the PLUR nation’s royal queen, Molly Casa of the 305. She’s that gorgeous monster stomping around in kandi…
What gets EDM-ers excited? Sometimes “bass makes bitches cum.” (Just ask these rumble-humping raver chicks.) Other times, a human chicken might be the thang that’ll get the party people hot. And at Ultra Music Festival, the beat freaks are undoubtedly the kinkiest. Just make the jump for Crossfade’s 15-photo recap…
Holy Effing Ship!!! Those three exclamation points signify three years for electronic dance music’s raddest four-day party cruise. (It ain’t just bad grammar or Internet-y hyperbole.) Coincidentally, though, we’re exactly that beat-freaking excited about the 2014 edition of Hard Events’ EDM humpfest at sea. Especially since it’s finally floating outta…
The end of any Ultra Music Festival weekend is when things start to get real. After three full days of dancing and pounding music, mostly in the sun, only the strongest make it to the end, and even they can get cranky. So while positive vibes ruled over 99 percent…
We’re starting to sound like a broken record. (Pun not intended. Every DJ uses Ableton these days anyway.) Hot Chip is easily one of the most influential electronic (or dance rock or indie electro or whatever you want to call it) acts of the past decade. They’re almost this generation’s…
Bras, ugh. They’re so constrictive! It’s no surprise that women often unclasp around the house, opting to let their ladies breathe and bounce freely, just the way evolutionary science intended. But in public, breasts are typically confined to two cups, held up by a couple of straps and an elastic…
15. Best Bieber At first we thought: “Holy shit! That’s Justin Bieber at Ultra! Wow! This is better than Madge’s crash (and burn) last year!” Alas! It was merely a cardboard likeness of our favorite pothead newbie. But for desperate Bieber fans like us, any Bieb’ll do. See also: -Ten…
Something really weird happened. We were walking into Ultra Music Festival, and just as we came around a corner, we saw a giant boombox blasting 808s and emitting smoke. We got closer to see what was up. Turns out, it was the UMF Radio stage, but it was overrun with…
The uhntz-uhntz hasn’t even died down. But just minutes after wrapping its six-day 2013 edition with Swedish House Mafia’s last show ever, Ultra Music Festival has already announced a plan for next year’s insane EDM extravaganza. “See you all next year at Ultra Music Festival 2014!” the fest’s organizers tweeted,…
Wanna prove your dedication to the EDM scene? Try a “Basshead” lip tattoo. Or dressing up like a grinning reptilian member of the “Pookie Monster Mafia.” Or stripping down on a daily basis to go swimming in a writhing sea of 150,000 sweaty human bodies. Even just surviving this UMF…
This year’s main stage at Ultra Music Festival has seemed particularly heavy on so-called “confetti house,” the lineup rife with marquee names from VIP-heavy megaclubs. But the (relatively) more underground sounds of dance music — or at least those not so concerned with encouraging bottle sales — lived on at…
After going all country music on Ultra 2013 this weekend, Avicii’s taking vacay for a day. (At least until it’s time to return to UMF tonight and “come, rave, love” one last time with his countrymen in SHM.) And it’s totally obvious where the Swede is sleeping and showering …..
How quickly some stars have ascended in the EDM boom. Just a few years ago, in 2009, Toronto-based producer Deadmau5 could be found at Ultra Music Festival on the live stage, essentially opening up for Simian Mobile Disco. Last night, though, trying to get the main stage to witness his…
