There’s a line in Gogol Bordello’s 2002 song “Let’s Get Radical” that goes something like this: “You know, Mother, some things are actually sacred, and tapping your foot to the ceremony just won’t do.” The tune is one of the New York group’s more abrasive and melancholy (it actually begins…
Like many of its Seattle peers (and famous followers, notably Nirvana), Mudhoney was branded with grunge’s scarlet letter. It’s a hollow label, of course, ignoring the pioneering group’s raunchy, bad-vibe rock and roll, which set it apart from the genre’s occasional this-close-to-metal posturing. Twenty years after its release, Mudhoney’s breakthrough…
Either go to college or you’ll end up like this deer. No pressure. Michigan based rocker Ted Nugent has sharp a message for high school graduates this year. The highly vocal 59-year-old conservative recently penned an Op-Ed piece in the Detroit News that he wants to circulate throughout the country…
Stevie Nicks Saturday, June 7 Hard Rock Live Better than: Watching Stevie Nicks 10 years from now. The body of Stevie Nicks turned 60 last month. Her voice has been 60 for a while. Maybe it was all that coke in the ’70s, or maybe it was that her vocal…
Little Brother with Double-O of Kidz in the Hall Paid Dues Tour Saturday, June 7 Club Cinema Better Than: Believing hip-hop is deceased. It would be great to say the hip-hop extravaganza known as the Paid Dues Tour went off without a hitch this past Saturday night. The vibes were…
Brazilian singer-songwriter Djavan got his start in the late Seventies while playing modern sambas with a clear bossa nova vibe. Over the years, he has expanded his musical palette by incorporating sounds from jazz, blues, and the Brazilian northeast. His resulting unique style boasts a sophisticated sheen but also remains…
The San Francisco-based house DJ duo of Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden celebrated its “Best American DJ” award at this year’s Winter Music Conference in novel fashion: They broke up the act. They went out with a bang, too, slaying the Pawn Shop crowd with a five-hour set March 28…
It’s certainly impressive that Steely Dan masterminds Walter Becker and Donald Fagen have contributed such a staggering group of hit songs to the canon of modern music. One imagines that, even after civilization collapses, jazzy classics such as “Reelin’ in the Years,” “Bodhisattva,” “Any Major Dude,” and “Peg” will continue…
In case you haven’t heard, Camila is the Mexican rock act of the moment. The band’s 2006 single “Abrázame” — a catchy Spanish ballad reminiscent of Oasis’s “Wonderwall” — climbed to the top of the charts throughout Latin America. The group’s follow-up chart-topping debut album, Todo Cambio, brought the band…
John Hood Nada Surf Monday, June 2, 2008 Studio A, Miami Better Than: Letting Leonard Cohen’s bubblegum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight. I’m not supposed to dig Nada Surf. Their songs are sentimental, sometimes sappy even, drenched in despair, cuddled by consolation and stricken in all kinds of…
Justin Namon/thepopnessparty Modeselektor bringing the German groove to Studio A. Modeseleketor with Otto Von Schirach Saturday, May 31, 2008 Studio A, Miami Better than: When Dieter says, “Now is the time on Sprockets vhen ve dance.” For a moment last night it felt like Studio A was back to buzzing…
Natalie O’Neill Alerta! Miami Indie Showcase Friday, May 30, 2008 White Room, Miami It’s not that indie rock kids can’t dance. It’s just that, at most shows, they spend more time leaning against a wall or sucking down a cigarette than moving to the beat. But not at Alterta Indie…
Long established as the most accessible act in contemporary prog-metal, New York’s Dream Theater is probably more accurately described as a hard rock band whose members just happen to know how to play the shit out of their instruments. Prog’s defining tendencies toward nutty arrangements, obscure classical influences, and multiple…
The apparent goal of this local-artist extravaganza, according to the tireless Oski Gonzalez and his cohort, the anonymous Queen of the Scene, is to present “culturally diverse artists.” Well, that’s sort of a given in Miami, no? In any event, Oski has again done what he does best — arranged…
This weekend, Down Home Southernaires hit NE 14th Street two nights in a row, to play two neighboring venues. The Vagabond and PS14 are nice venues for dancing and drinking. And though the stage areas at both clubs are small, it’s this kind of intimate setting where amazing local shows…
Beyond the crush of Winter Music Conference, the folks behind Soul Simple Entertainment have been keeping it real for lovers of house music on that, well, soulful tip. They’ve been sort of quietly running a weekly Friday jam in the bar attached to the restaurant Ouzo’s, with the soundtrack supplied…
After getting Richie Hawtin down here outside of Winter Music Conference for a packed-to-the-gills one-off last December, the local promoters of Future Mob have scored another seemingly impossible booking. The latest feather in their cap: an ultra-rare Miami appearance by the German duo Modeselektor, enticed to come down at the…
It’s been a while since we checked in on Can You Rock a Little Softer, the weekly Wednesday event that Miami New Times just named Best Open Mike night. If you don’t already know, the schedule is thus: From 9:30 to 10 p.m., there’s an acoustic open mike. Then, from…
Johnny Louis Barrington Levy performs at Best of the Best Sunday, May 25, 2008. Last Night: Best of the Best Concert 2008 featuring Super Cat, Beenie Man, Buju Banton, Sizzla, Junior Reid, Barrington Levy, Tony Matterhorn, etc. Sunday, May 25, 2008 Bicentennial Park, Downtown Miami Better Than: Best of the…
Since it’s a very chill Thursday morning and we could all use a few laughs, CrossFade is glad to present 10 of the dorkiest and funniest moments in the history of melanin-challenged rap: 1. Here’s a dorky guy who can impersonate LL Cool J, Mystikal and Digital Underground:…
The Nylon Summer Tour With Switches, the Virgins, Be Your Own Pet, and She Wants Revenge Revolution, Ft. Lauderdale Wednesday, May 21, 2008 Better Than: Seeing Switches, the Virgins, or Be Your Own Pet in the future at whatever bigger venues to which they will graduate. The Review: Everyone seems…
Sunday afternoon marks the latest installment in an informal series of in-store performances at Sweat Records. It’s a nice change of pace in (gasp) daytime activities. Taking the store’s cozy stage this time is brand-spanking-new local quartet Avondale, purveyor of sweater-warm and comfy, acoustic-guitar-driven pop. The backbone of the group…
