Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner, the husband-and-wife duo better known as Mates of State. Mates of State Friday, September 12, 2008 Culture Room, Fort Lauderdale Better Than: Handsome Furs and Matt & Kim, I think. One of music’s greatest enigmas has to be the husband-wife duo. Sometimes an audience’s –…
Though this local Afro-Cuban ensemble doesn’t have much recorded history to make for much copy, one look at the names on the group’s roster shows the music is pretty serious. Among the notable members is Venezuelan-born saxophonist Ed Calle, who boasts a long history both as a leader and a…
The DJ/producer duo known as L.A. Riots is definitely a product of 2k8 — an amped-up style of French house and new electro mashed through the hyperspeed of the blogosphere. Making music together for just less than two years, Daniel LeDisko and Jo B quickly garnered massive downloads of their…
The Buzzcocks and the Ramones may have laid the groundwork for pop-punk, but the Queers helped make sure the genre would never grow up. After 25 years, Joe Queer still pines for that girl in third period, still appreciates a good party, and still sings about his subjects in a…
On Saturday, Shine reprises last year’s successful Bliss party reunion for the pleasure of progressive-house fans, both old-school and new. For three years until 2000, the last Friday of the month was penciled in on the calendars of the hip (and not necessarily rich) with the reminder to get to…
Enough with the polls already. First, there are all of those Obama and McCain commercials. And then there are the “Vote for Me!” DJ magazine year-end poll links on every house/trance/whatever DJ’s web page. It’s enough to give a regular joe a false sense of significance. Local guy (by way…
For a band that has been together for only a little more than a year, local multicultural act Bachaco has accomplished quite a lot. In this short time, the musicians scored a coveted weekly residence at Jazid while also sharing the stage with Locos por Juana. The group, which is…
If you saw the full-length version of the Kim Kardashian sex-tape, for some ladies, this is a no brainer. But VH1 is in the process of starting a new television show called, So You Want to Date Ray J? One can only suspect that it’s all about lining up eligible…
Justin Namon Michael Vincent Patrick, one half of Designer Drugs. Click here to view the full slideshow. Designer Drugs Monday, September 8, 2008 White Room, Miami Better than: A mouthful of actual designer drugs. Electro, blog house, nu rave — whatever, you call it, has been on the rise since…
Sayre Berman Chris Isaak Sunday, September 7, 2008 Pompano Beach Amphitheatre Better Than: Catching cool. When I first caught Chris Isaak, it was on the fourth floor of a legendary New York nightclub called Danceteria and the cat was still relatively unknown. But by the time he and his Silvertones…
Ryan Russell Jinchuu, Mehkago N.T., and Torche Saturday, September 6 Churchill’s Pub, Miami Better Than: The great majority of the corporate metal shows to hit the area in recent months. The Review: Here’s one thing about underground rock audiences in Miami. They may be smaller than in other cities, but…
Friday, September 5: *That retro-fried garage rock stuff that’s going strong in the rest of the country doesn’t often seep down here, so catch a little of while you can tonight, when the Seattle foursome the Boss Martians hit Churchill’s. Click here for the scoop. *The Microdots play the weekly…
Anthony Green Wednesday, September 3, 2008 Culture Room, Fort Lauderdale Better Than: Those love poems you wrote in eighth grade about Julie, er, or was it Sarah? One thing is clear: Anthony Green has found love. Well, that’s not just because he really did recently marry his longtime on-again, off-again…
Last year, Marc Anthony received mixed reviews for his portrayal of salsa pioneer Héctor Lavoe in the big-budget biopic El Cantante. But that critical reception does not reflect the Nuyorican actor, singer, and songwriter’s true star power. As he approaches his 40th birthday, Anthony boasts enormous crossover success, recording musically…
Real-deal rock-and-fucking-roll returns to usually buttoned-up South Miami this weekend, thanks to a new direction of musical programming at Bougainvillea’s. Hidden away from the street by thick, verdant Florida flora, the laid-back bar in a cozy cottage is rededicating itself to nurturing the local original music scene. To that end,…
It’s been a banner year for half-Miami/half-Atlanta-based (wahhh!) quartet Torche. The release of the band’s second full-length album, Meanderthal, this past April unleashed an avalanche of megawatt praise from the likes of Spin, Mojo, Decibel, and basically everyone who matters — even the usually cranky dudes over at Pitchfork. Representing…
Pablo Ceballos, hailing from Madrid, is most often spotted controlling dance floors alongside DJ Chus (a.k.a. Jesus Lopez Esteban). Their location on the Iberian Peninsula inspired the duo to coin the term Iberican to describe their fierce blend of the worthy elements of house and, yes, even trance. The sound…
Sheila Witkin Memorial Reunion Concert August 29 & 30, 2008 Club Cinema, Pompano Beach Better Than: Recreating the soundtrack to 21 Jump Street. The second annual Sheila Witkin Memorial Reunion Concert (a mouthful, right?) rocked through Club Cinema this past Friday and Saturday nights, gathering some of the best bands…
My Morning Jacket at The Fillmore Friday, August 29, 2008 The Fillmore Miami Beach Better Than: Bare-knuckle boxing a grizzly bear punch-drunk on thunderous riffs and silky falsetto funk. My Morning Jacket wandered past a strange crossroads straight into Miami’s Fillmore Theater on Friday, finding themselves somewhere between the epic…
Tonight, Friday, August 29 *The big deal for scruffy indie lovers tonight is My Morning Jacket at the Fillmore Miami Beach. Some people say they’re the best live band ever — hyperbole? You decide. *Rock en espanol darling Geordano Henriquez plays at Jazid — and maybe someday he will finally…
Geordano Henriquez lately has been a radio darling around the nation thanks to “Besos,” the upbeat slice of garage pop he wrote for his solo project a few years ago. After many years of owning the Latin rock scene around Boston, he’s now based in Orlando, and heads farther south…
In Brazil, where musical virtuosos (Sergio Mendes, Gilberto Gil, Antonio Carlos Jobim, et al.) are as abundant as lunatics on our local roadways, guitarist Rick Udler has achieved considerable acclaim. Born in Chile and raised in the States and São Paulo, he lived at various times in New Orleans and…
