The title “Most Rock ‘n Roll Band in Rock ‘n Roll” still belongs to The Black Crowes, but I’d like to present Black Rebel Motorcycle Club a (stolen) 2nd place trophy. Without really saying much between songs, BRMC commanded the stage last Saturday at the Culture Room. Drummer, Nick Jago,…
Between the power chords and one-love vibration, State Radio’s performance last night at the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale in support of their latest album, The Barn Sessions, was electrifying. After browsing the band’s website, I wondered whether Urmston, who pens lyrics about conscientious objectors, was going to preach or…
Osunlade is, quite literally, the priest of deep, soulful house music — a talented producer who left a promising mainstream career and shed the trappings of the American recording industry in favor of becoming a spiritual guide in the African religion of Ifa. And despite the reputation for excess levied…
When former Eighties and Nineties superstars are in search of a sixteenth minute of fame, VH1 offers a slightly less desperate alternative to leaking sex tapes and adopting children. Jordan Knight, a former New Kid on the Block, took a stab at reality-TV redemption on VH1 shows The Surreal Life…
Tumult is nothing new to the French, but their recent political events intrigue partly because of the battle-of-the-sexes element involved. Just take France’s recent presidential election, which resulted in the rejection of popular candidate Ségolène Royal in her bid to become France’s first female president. Enter Diam’s. This female rapper…
Though he seems annoyingly aware of this fact, Maroon 5’s lithe frontman, Adam Levine, is one of the prettiest pop-rockers to come along in eons. (Oh, how Jared Leto must covet Levine’s milky complexion.) But with his brassy sass and brave forays into the upper registers of his voice on…
Cotton candy? Check. Tiaras? Check. Oversexed pop music? Check. With all of this involved, last night’s Fergie show in Boca Raton was a 10-year-old girl’s wet dream. The Dutchess sauntered in dripping with glitz, in a tiara and a sparkle-lined, bubblegum pink robe. In between belting lines of “Here I…
With summer coming and tourist dollars drying up, Igor Bogatov is on the offense, looking for fresh local faces on the dance floor. (Well, fresh local feet, actually; if you find your face is often on the floor, maybe you need to skip it this week.) In this spirit, Bogatov,…
To borrow from Chuck Klosterman: Metal bands come in two forms — those that model Led Zeppelin, and those that model Black Sabbath. (He recently proposed this thesis in the exhaustive, four-hour VH1 documentary Heavy: A History of Metal.) Tool, who plays Friday at the BankAtlantic Center, falls into the…
Let’s face it: The two countries that formerly composed Czechoslovakia barely register a blip on the South Florida radar. Asked to name a modern cultural export of the Czech Republic or Slovakia, the average educated adult might come up with author Milan Kundera and … exactly. No matter. Though their…
A new album and a tenuous connection to the Queers bring the Leftovers to Churchill’s on Friday. Nowadays Portland, Maine, is the U.S. capital of DIY when you’re talking north of Boston. Somewhere hidden among the city’s too-fucking-quaint tourist traps and laughably expensive lobster joints dwell the Leftovers, now pushing…
All thanks and praises to MySpace Photo by Tovin Lapan Last night, MySpace threw a “secret show” at Studio A, which was PACKED by 9:30 pm (what kind of secret is that?), featuring Stephen “Raggamuffin” Marley and his brother Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley as performers. The show opened with Mr…
After a major American tour backing Panic! At the Disco in 2006, Bloc Party has returned to our shores. This time, they’re headlining large venues in support of their sophomore album, A Weekend in the City, released this past February. Sunday night was the band’s South Florida stop, at the…
Barington Levy Miami’s Best of the Best concert, which took place over Memorial Weekend, was a star-studded reggae extravaganza that exceeded the six months of hype that was attached to it. Consider that Barrington Levy, who was on stage belting out hits like “Under mi Sensi, and “Too Experienced” was…
Photo by Jeffrey Delannoy Seal Since Seal had his couple of big stateside hits in the Nineties (the seemingly immortal “Kissed By a Rose” being the most recognizeable), lately he seems to have been relegated to the role of Mr. Heidi Klum. So who goes to a Seal concert in…
Let’s face it, none but the hottest Canadian/Portugese MILF could get away with lyrics like “It’s okay, we could do it in the dark/If you got a candle let’s light a spark.” Despite Nelly Furtado’s inherent MILFness, it was a stretch for diehard fans to embrace her latest LP, Loose,…
The members of the successful, tour-happy New Orleans group the Dirty Dozen Brass Band could have long ago acknowledged the sousaphone’s presence in the band’s three-decade history, and, with a solemn nod, replaced the fifty-pound mega-tuba with the more practical electric bass guitar. They could have still called themselves a…
Seal visits Miami during the last leg of a U.S. tour on Thursday, and he arrives in the Magic City at a critical point in his career. He hasn’t released any new studio material since 2003, and since then his sum output has been — shudder — a best-of album…
He’s Dolemite writ large and in cartoon, a big mean black guy dressed like a pro wrestler from the Sixties; the self-professed inventor of the Miami sound, writer of tracks for Betty Wright and KC and the Sunshine Band, and he’s in my face. And yours. Ladies and gentlemen, I…
Since its modest beginnings, the Friday-night party Revolver has become a weathervane of the latest in underground/indie/whatever (all contentious terms) culture, name checked by bands like the Sounds and even Rolling Stone. The weekly party has fueled hedonistic drinking and dancing from its early days as a gathering for moddish…
Bebel Gilberto fans know better than to expect the sort of bossa nova plied by her father, Brazilian guitarist and singer João Gilberto. Although there is a clear bossa influence in her style, the younger Gilberto has gone beyond it, pushing the boundaries of Brazilian music to suit her own…
The Eighties were like a virgin, touched for the very first time (Madonna was everywhere). While some of us were sporting feathered hair, sleeveless zebra-print T-shirts, and tight leather pants, others were listening to Suicidal Tendencies and skateboarding through the mall. Whether your fancy was for cock rock, punk rock,…
