There’s some sad news out of England to report. According to this story from the AP, vocalist Corrine Bailey Rae’s huband, Jason Rae, was found dead over the weekend in the city of Leeds. Jason was a saxophone player in the band called the Haggis Horns. They’d just released an…
Macy Gray March 23, 2008 The Florida Room at the Delano, Miami Beach There are songs in the world; then there are songs – songs so unbelievably beautiful that they touch the whole wide world at large. Macy Gray’s “I Try” is such a song, and last night she sang…
Jay-Z, Mary J Blige and Crew March, 22, 2008 American Airlines Arena Better Than: All of his competitors, hands down. Hip-hop impresario Jay-Z spent his second night of performing in Miami in top form once again as the Heart of the City tour got it’s official start at the American…
Jay-Z at The Fillmore Miami Beach March 21, 2008 Better Than: You Even Know The Review: If somebody told me a week or so ago that I’d be spending this Good Friday at The Fillmore digging Jay-Z, I’d have told ‘em off. I mean, c’mon. Jay Z? At The Fillmore?…
Last Night: George Thorogood and the Destroyers at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater Friday, March 21, 2008 Better Than: A refreshing pinch between the cheek and gum. The Review: George Thorogood got Bad to the Bone on Good Friday at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater. It’s possible he knew of the day’s…
In this week’s special Winter Music Conference guide, we spoke with house legend Louie Vega — click here to read the story. Of course, there are always interview outtakes, so for Louie’s true fans, here’s the full Q&A. — Arielle Castillo Little Louie Vega performs Thursday, March 27, at the…
Hip-hop’s smokiest DJ is back at it again with a fresh new podcast via the HVW8 crew that’s well worth listening to. DJ House Shoes has a bunch of hip-hop exclusives from cats like Kool G. Rap, J. Davey, Ta’Raach, Pete Rock, and of course, some solid J. Dilla material…
Every major city in America has a “crusty” straight-up punk band. The members sport studded leather jackets, liberty spiked Mohawks, and dirty jeans — the uniform popularized by early-Eighties, Second Wave UK punk acts like GBH and the Exploited. Once dressed for the part, they do their best to sound…
Many years ago, when I wasn’t completely bald, I used to book some good punk rock revues at the now-defunct Gables Pub, and one of the bands that featured frequently on my lineups was Lose the Rookie. Before the whiskey and pitchers took their tolls, these gigs were full of…
While this particular gig might have you thinking you’re seeing double, there’s no need to tally up the bar tab just yet. Fact is, it’s a special bill featuring the two bands helmed by the ever-so-prolific Jim Wurster, musical mainstay behind the seminal South Florida goth group Black Janet and…
Born Gloria Fowle in Newark, New Jersey, the original club diva we know as Gloria Gaynor scored her first big hit in 1974 with “Never Can Say Goodbye.” An upbeat dance ditty that showcased disco’s special blend of wistfully bittersweet lyrics, it reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100…
With 30 million records sold, Kenny G is by far the most popular, and most hated, man in jazz, if you even grant him that categorization. His degree was in business, and his skill with contracts achieved coups such as his duet to Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” —…
It was late 2006, and Matt Tuck was living the rock and roll dream. His band, Bullet for My Valentine, had spent the good part of two years traveling the world and playing music off of their 2005 smash The Poison. The album had sold more than a million copies…
On a recent Friday night in Miami Beach, the wind slices across Ocean Drive and the waves from the Atlantic pound in a deafening crescendo. Three perfectly bronzed girls, bikini lines exposed, walk briskly across the street to huddle under a palm tree, in search of a little warmth. Seconds…
Among the major themes of this year’s 23rd installment of Winter Music Conference are better and bigger. Much bigger. Just check the numbers: 40,000 people are expected to attend various events; 20,000 area hotel rooms are booked; more than 1,780 artists and DJs will perform; over 85 venues will throw…
Autechre’s MO over the past decade has been to usher you through a labyrinth of thorny textures both alien and alienating while spouting complex algorithmic theorems and punching you about the head and torso in 17/8 (or maybe 13/4) time. But on Autechre’s ninth album, Quaristice, the band members occasionally…
On this document of its 2007 world tour, the Barcelona-based, self-styled “hip-hop flamenco” band plays music from its latest studio recording of the same name while also going through some material from its back catalogue, delivering a high-energy performance that can be felt from the first moment. “Sultanas de Merkaillo”…
If Supernature was Goldfrapp’s ode to stylish disco saturnalia, Seventh Tree is the elegy for the inevitable “Suicide Tuesdays”: when clubbers ache to dispel that raisin-y, dried-out feeling and the Roland TB-303 drumbeats still pound in their heads. Once galvanized by the opiated synergy that exists between beats and body,…
Downer duo Beach House first made waves with its 2006 single “Apple Orchard,” which copped the breathy vocals and slide guitar of Mazzy Star and buried them under layers of cavernous reverb and buzzing organ. Two years later, the band’s bewitching formula hasn’t really changed. Upon first listen, Devotion floats…
Spinna is one of the busiest working producers and DJs on the planet. Not many can keep their hands on the pulse of the next shit when it comes to both hip-hop and dance music, but Spinna has stayed in the forefront of more genres than a United Nations summit…
Long Island’s DJ Theo is one of the few in the trade with enough versatility to love the club and — gasp! — the radio. In fact he’s passionate about both. Fiery, even. “I always thought dance music didn’t get the kind of respect where people could talk about it…
Long before dance music was divided into a million subgenres, Héctor Romero was mixing things up at his legendary block parties in the Bronx. During those anything-goes days, Romero — then known as Baby Hec — developed a love for early house music through residencies at legendary NYC clubs such…
