It’s sensual, moving and breathtaking all at once. And smooth-delivering Victor Manuelle is a master at it. No matter the subject the Puerto Rican salsa star is a virtuoso at delivering impromptu lyrical soneos that can go on for several minutes at a time. Whether he’s singing about a woman…
The drum ‘n’ bass tanks keep rolling at Laundry Bar, with DJ Krust manning the booth this week. Krust was originally a hip-hop guy who began DJing in the mid-Eighties at schools and small clubs around his hometown of Bristol in the UK. During the later part of that decade,…
If you attend Ozzfest at the Sound Advice Ampitheathre in West Palm Beach on Thursday, check the second stage for the L.A.-based Ankla. And if the band’s crushing, hypnotic grooves move you, good news: The group takes the stage Friday at Studio A for a full headlining set. The band’s…
There are electronic musicians, nonelectronic musicians, and then Miami’s Fitzroy. “I don’t think of myself as an electronic artist,” the Barbados-born singer professes before admitting, “I record my stuff using a lot of synths — both real and computer-based.” Okay. “The songs are then topped off with guitars, bass, trumpets,…
It came from down under: Modular Records, that is, the Sydney, Australia-based label and one of the leaders of the post-rave, post-rock, all-fun Zeitgeist. Thank the label for introducing the world to the warped dance beats of Aussies like the Presets and Van She, or on the guitar side, Wolfmother…
A few years back, The Used’s Bert McCracken and My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way were the enfants terribles of the ’00s post-emo/post-whatever world. The duo shared a serious dark streak and a fuck-it-all attitude, seemingly inhaling substances by the gallon and sharing a kind of symbiotic man-bond that defied definition…
Jamaican reggae group, Rootz Underground is playing their first ever show in Miami tonight at PS 14. The group has a powerful video, “Victims of the System” which has been getting a lot of love on MTV’s Caribbean station, Tempo, lately and the band is known for its positive vibes…
Kinky August 28, 2007 The Fifth, Miami Beach Better Than: Once Upon a Time in the West as fleeced by The Thievery Corporation. Or something. Else. Kinky lead man Gil Cerezo The Review: The seven-city Samsung/AT&T Summer Krush series swung into South Beach last night with a set so low…
Josh Smith The Poorhouse August 25, 2007 Better than:Watching Taylor Hicks perform in Boca Raton with a bunch of horny grandmothers The Review: Guitarist Josh Smith played two shows on Saturday and was running on fumes by the time I caught up with him at the Poorhouse in Fort Lauderdale…
Baby Anne Studio A August 25, 2007 Better Than: Paying $80 to watch break-beat sessions at Ultra Music Festival. The Review: Florida’s own legendary bass queen, DJ Baby Anne, headlined the Clash of the Titans electro breaks session at Studio A on Saturday August 25th along with Darling Nikki, vocalist…
A.K.A. PS 14 August 22, 2007 Better Than: Getting jumped, robbed and stabbed by a group of raging women. The Review: A.K.A., the all lady trio voted 2007’s best female band by the Miami New Times, held one of their last shows at PS 14’s, Spider Pussy, on Tuesday before…
What do you get when you grab the Au Pairs, ´80s-era King Crimson, Mungo Jerry, and the guy who mixes the harmonies for The Scissor Sisters, stick them in a blender, and hit “frappe”? Goo. You get goo. It’s disgusting. Never try it. But! If you take those same ingredients,…
Some bands try for crossover hits, and some throw Hail Marys from 60 yards out. Purple Popcorn would fall into the latter category. The Miami-based hard-rock/rap act is headed up by Danny “Styles” Schofield and Winston “Blackout” Thomas, the same pair who produced 10 of the songs on Shawn Mims’s…
If the drum ‘n’ bass genre were ever to eat itself, Ed Rush wouldn’t be to blame. In the early Nineties, Rush was just another way-too-serious breakdancer searching for meaning beyond his electro/hip-hop universe. As it happened, the key to his artistic salvation was the rave scene, or one aspect…
Give Orlando-based DJ/producer Baby Anne a gold star on two counts. One, for still carrying a torch for Florida breaks, our state’s woozy, psyched-out spin on electro that reached its heyday in the late Nineties. Two, for being one of the few females to do so in a scene ruled…
Apparently some talented people can literally make art just by taking a dump. Wait, don’t go yet. “I’ve written several songs on the toilet,” Latin superstar Marco Antonio Solis reveals. “One of them is ‘La Venia Bendita,’ which came about while I was traveling from Mexico City to Cancun.” The…
Wherever his musical endeavors take him from this point forward, Marco Antonio Solis will forever be credited for greatly influencing norteno and tejano music all over Mexico and southwestern parts of the United States. Just 12 years old when he started improvising on an array of instruments and developing a…
Rachel Brown Jazziz Lounge August 15, 2007 Better Than: Listening to pillow-talk R&B on the radio Last Wednesday night, sultry singer, Rachel Brown showcased her long awaited debut CD, Love, Life & Relationships at Jazziz Lounge in front of a packed audience of fans and industry-types. The locally based R&B…
Peter Frampton And The Doobie Brothers Hard Rock Live August 19, 2007 Better Than: The usual recycled vintage radio rock acts. In a night that gave classic rock fans a double shot of live and loud, the question hovered over the crowd like a waft of pot smoke. Should Peter…
Argentine-born artist Diego Jinkus knows his way around his axe. Seriously — even when he’s rocking out, his fingers are fluttering up and down his guitar’s neck with hummingbird speed. His chops have even garnered him coveted sponsorships from both Godin and ESP guitars. But Jinkus is no long-haired metal…
The fresh-faced quartet Down to Earth Approach might look barely old enough to legally enter Studio A, where the band plays Thursday. But really, the guys have been at it now for the better part of a decade. Forming first in their native New York state, they decamped to California…
Rarely does a band’s name fit its music as decorously as with the Birthday Massacre. Similarly the Toronto-based quintet’s sound is color-coordinated with its black-and-purple art scheme. It is Eighties big-rock balladry reupholstered for the goth-rock vampire patrol, like Missing Persons lost in the House of Frankenstein, armed with only…
