The last time discerning ears turned toward Australia for the Next Big Hip Thing was for the gonzo garage-rock of the now-disbanded Vines. The Presets are the latest hot import from Down Under, but have almost nothing sonically in common with their shambling, spastic predecessors. They may have brought guitars,…
There’s a time to every purpose under Heaven, and 7:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on September 16 is the moment for Miamians to take part in a simultaneous prayer for peace with earthlings in 250 communities throughout 50 countries. Earthdance’s mission is to make music and dance the channel through…
From the halcyon days of Florida’s fin-de-siècle rave scene to the menthol-slathered, glitter-trailing set, AK1200 was the king of drum ‘n’ bass. A decade earlier, the Orlando native had earned his chops in tiny clubs in that city, his techno sets often greeted with confusion or indifference. But as the…
It might well be the apocalypse if Ladytron is finally coming to Miami, and for the band’s first appearance in Florida, no less. The members of Ladytron are spread across Europe, variously calling Liverpool, Glasgow, and Sofia, Bulgaria, home. But in the years since founders Reuben Wu and Daniel Hunt…
Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Gervasio Goris, a.k.a. Herbieman, writes on his MySpace page of how he came to Miami in 2005 on a 42-foot sailboat full of his musical instruments and an eagerness to sing in his bilingual English/Spanish. An adventuresome artist, Goris began pursuing music in 2003, when…
Sattayah-Omari Chang, Lidj Yassu, and Kwame Taijan created the promotions company Sankofa Sound to keep an old-school reggae vibe alive in Miami Beach. “It blossomed in five months,” Chang says. “It really tells me about what people want to hear and what was missing.” Sankofa sticks with roots and conscious…
To the sheltered gringo, daydreams of Colombia conjure up images of picturesque beaches, tan women, and topnotch nose candy. The fantasy intensifies with smoked-filled illusions of the ever-mesmerizing Shakira, yet another of the country’s hedonistic pleasures. Known worldwide for her signature quaver and gyrating hips, the Latin pop artist has…
On the heels of his new release, Who Let the Cats Out? (Heads Up), the three-time Grammy nominee weaves various musical influences into his guitar-playing. “I am a jazz player,” he says, “but you have to follow your musical heart.” He must have learned this lesson while performing with Miles…
“Live instrumentation is really the essence of Latin musical cultural roots. The intention of this festival is to shake things up a little bit and define our own sound,” notes Yerba Buena vocalist Andres Levin. “This festival” is a four-act bill with a kitchen-sink approach to the fusion formula: Yerba…
At sixteen years old, Miami native DJ Ralph Falcon had already identified himself as an emerging house artist, quickly earning a record deal with Atlantic in the mid-Nineties. Influences such as New York DJs Timmy Regisford, Merlin Bobb, and Bobby Konders led to Falcon’s dance-pop style, which grew increasingly popular…
On the cover of this month’s DJ magazine, the influential British dance publication, Christophe Le Friant’s pure white visage stares out against a bright red and blue backdrop. And it’s not the Stars and Stripes. The headline blares, “The French Revolution,” while the name Bob Sinclar, a pseudonym for Le…
One of last year’s biggest hip-hop beefs occurred between celebrity mogul Diddy and reggaeton’s leading man, Tego Calderón. It all began gently enough when Diddy offered Tego the opportunity to be the official fashion model for his new fall line of clothing. The catch was that Puffy was willing to…
With Usher languishing in the Broadway production of Chicago, and Michael Jackson kickin’ it in the Middle East behind a burqa or two, the tap shoes must fall to seventeen-year-old R&B ingénue Chris Brown to dance the ladies right out of their hot pants via his puppy-dog-sweet tunes and gravity-defying…
With its always-free admission, Laundry Bar might just be the best musical bargain to be had in pricey South Beach — well, maybe ever. This is especially true when a world-renowned jock such as DJ Sneak takes to the turntables to unleash his brand of blunted house and funk groovage…
There’s a long list of big names percussionist Sammy Figueroa has played with, including Miles Davis, David Bowie, and Mariah Carey. Born in Brooklyn, Figueroa began his musical career performing in Bobby Valentin’s band when he was eighteen, shortly before founding the Brazilian/Latin-fused band Raices, which brought Figueroa his first…
The world has become obsessed with Brazilian culture. Whether referring to svelte bodies on soccer fields, award-winning films, or amazingly complex and powerful music, we love it all. Celebrate your fetish for this sexy nation at Gil Santos’s Brazilian Independence Day Celebration at the Deauville Beach Resort. Santos is the…
Key words: liver spots, life insurance, Emma Bo-Bemma, Dick Royale, skeeze, beer, loitering. If Bob White were still around, he could tell ya that the preceding can refer to only one band, a band that is back with a new CD and a series of live concerts serving up across-the-board…
Combine the grandeur and rockabilly twang of Texas with the attitude and speed of punk, and the result is a bastard child known as psychobilly. Perhaps now the Quakes have come across a new hybrid of “-billy,” mixing Eighties and rockabilly. Retrobilly? Okay, not really, but the group has done…
What do U2, Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Ella Fitzgerald, and Michael Jackson have in common? Aside from being music legends, these artists (and many more) are named on Peruvian percussionist Alex Acuña’s resumé. Further bullets on Acuña’s impressive list of accomplishments include his being recruited for Pérez Prado’s big band…
Val Wisecracker knows plenty about tunecraft, and she’ll share it at the songwriters’ showcase series at the Wallflower Gallery (a three-time New Times “Best of Miami” winner). Val, whose real last name is Caracappa, uses the pseudonym because Caracappa is difficult for journalists and radio announcers to spell and pronounce…
It’s difficult to imagine a guy in a suit writing Criteria’s riff-based anthem rock. That’s why lead singer Stephen Pedersen quit his nine-to-five at a law firm to pursue music full-time. The result of his brave endeavor is When We Break, an emotionally and physically moving album with intelligent lyrics…
Like fellow Vikings, artists, DJs, and quirk-rockers Eirik Glambek Boe and Erlend ÿye of Kings of Convenience, Bardi Johannsson persists in being a hyphenate of performance. The lead singer of Icelandic surfer-songsters the Bang Gang, Johannsson is on a tour of the United States that showcases his tune-mixing abilities. The…
