Billboard unveiled this morning the very first phase of the lineup for the 2009 Ultra Music Festival, and it’s actually time to get excited. As the festival has expanded in size, its organizers have made laudable stabs at taking the lineup into the new dance-music frontiers of the 21st century…
If you are into dazzling, disjointed hip-hop beats, then you have probably heard of a whiz kid and producer that goes by the name of Prefuse 73. Born in Miami, but raised in Atlanta, Prefuse 73 (born Scott Herren) also records under various monikers like Savath & Savalas and Delarosa…
This past spring’s Taste of Chaos tour arrived in South Florida smack in the middle of Winter Music Conference, on a weekday, and at the Bayfront Park Amphitheater in downtown Miami, no less — awkward timing and location all around. (Not that the WMC/Taste of Chaos tours overlap, haha, just…
Matt & KimNodzz and Matt & KimThe Converse/Kill Your Idols space at the Marcy Building, the Design District, MiamiThe Gossip After DarkO.H.W.O.W., MiamiThursday, Dec. 4Better Than: Anything else you could have been doing for free, without a guest list hassle, last night.The Review:Well, as Basel’s getting on, and my brain…
Andy LaPlegua, the mastermind behind the twisted industrial / EBM / whatever juggernauts that are Combichrist and Icon of Coil, has a lot of pals in South Florida. So he seems to always be around, but not always in the way his most diehard fans would really like. A planned…
If it seems like Mötley Crüe was just here, well, it’s because they were, in July, headlining their Crüefest tour at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach. They’re coming baaaaa-aaaaack, though, as part of their Saints of Los Angeles Tour, and diehard fans will be happy it’s a relatively…
YelleWednesday, December 3, 2008Art Loves Music, Miami BeachBetter Than: I’m going to skip this.Let me start out by saying: Worst. Crowd. Ever.I’m going to keep this short since we already reviewed Yelle not too long ago. Way to castrate an energetic performer and have her beg you to wake up…
To haters, this Mechanicsville, Virginia native is a purveyor of Top 40 schlock, just another pretty boy with a sincere face and a soul as deep as a wading pool. To fans, he is a pretty face, yes, but also endearingly vulnerable. Fans know Mraz is open about singing of…
The sky is the limit for this eclectic Dominican-born pianist. A member of his native country’s symphony orchestra while still in his teens, Michel Camilo made the decision to leave that position in 1979, when he went to New York to study at Juilliard. At the same time, he hit…
For 30 years the Misfits have been spreading their colloidal mix of punk, rockabilly, and horror-flick themes to ravenous “fiends” around the globe. Formed in 1977 by Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only in Lodi, New Jersey, the Misfits were punk rock’s answer to the B movie. With a DIY ethos…
Dance fiends still drool over the mere thought of veteran DJ Dean Ramirez’s remix of “Yeah Yeah,” the woozy-cheesy electro-house Bodyrox track from 2006. In the song’s heyday, Nic Fanciulli and Paul Woolford described it as one of the biggest tunes at Winter Music Conference. And so Ramirez’s star went…
After the Burial, Born of Osiris, and Shai HuludBackbone Music, Delray BeachTuesday, December 2, 2008Better Than: Feeling old in a place with no live music….The Review: Backbone Music, in the heart of downtown Delray, got the Broward-Palm Beach New Times’ Best Record Store nod in 2007. But because Delray seems…
…No, really. As part of her Great American Second Act, Britney Spears’ upcoming comeback tour is titled The Circus Starring Britney Spears, proving again that the woman’s got more dark wit than expected. According to the current cover story on Spears in Rolling Stone, that means a bona fide, three-ring…
To haters, this Mechanicsville, Virginia native is a purveyor of Top-40 shlock, yet another pretty boy with a sincere face and a soul as deep as a wading pool. Well, that set wouldn’t get within 100 yards of a Jazon Mraz concert, so it’s better to take a look at…
Yes, while everyone else is running around in a pseudo-art-related frenzy, there are a few big events this week that are absolutely NOT related to Art Basel. It seems almost anticlimactic to talk about them, though, with all the big-deal one-off events going on. Still, here’s something for the frequent…
Maybe this is the beginning of a new trend. Just last week, Bay Area rap legend E-40 was in town promoting his newest album and performing at SoBe Live. Tonight, California rap veterans Daz and Kurupt (better known as Tha Dogg Pound) are going to be in Miami performing at…
Shoring up Heathrow’s more dancefloor-friendly offerings is tonight’s party, which tends more towards the experimental and heavy. Prefuse 73 was born Guillermo Scott Herren in Miami but grew up in Atlanta; still, he remains popular locally thanks to his releases on labels like Schematic and Warp. With a dizzying discography…
Photo by Eddie RosenstockQ-Tip with The Cool KidsWednesday, November 26, 2008Revolution, Fort LauderdaleBetter Than: Watching Q-Tip live on Letterman.The Review: Rap shows normally feature an MC accompanied by a tour DJ and a laptop, but when an artist such as Q-Tip brings a tight band with him onstage alongside the…
The last of the Art Basel week shows at the Kill Your Idols space kicks off with a set from Brooklyn-based Pink Reason, currently a trio but really the brainchild of Kevin Failure, the band’s frontman. It sounds a little like Joy Division or another post-punk act put through a…
MadonnaWednesday, November 26, 2008Dolphin Stadium, Miami GardensI am writing this to you at 2 a.m. exactly, which is the time you get home if you live in Wilton Manors and go to Madonna concerts in Miami. Madonna does awful things to the Golden Glades Exchange. Madonna makes “lanes” meaningless and…
The elusive Seattle/Olympia hardcore-ish band is cult-famous for its refusal to make a web site or even properly record and distribute its music. The Pittsburgh foursome Caustic Christ has toured with similarly deliciously named bands like Municipal Waste — ’nuff said. Meanwhile, the songs on Annihilation Time III: Tales of…
Few bands better embody metalcore than Broward County expat Shai Hulud. Though now based in Poughkeepsie, New York, the group was originally founded in the mid-Nineties by guitarists/Uncle Sam’s Records employees Matt Fox and Oliver Chapoy. Their initial sound was further propelled by the youthful exuberance of then-14-year-old future New…
