Coffee House Gypsies is a pop-rock-tinged acoustic folksy coffeehouse band. Boasting a live set with covers to cover the ages, they also craft original compositions that fall into that Joan Baez/Jewel kind of feel. I like bookstores for books, and bars for drinking, but for the set that often enjoys…
Eric Stinnett Chocolate Soul (SMG Music Group) www.ericstinnett.com Chocolate Soul is exactly that. Well, it’s Eric Stinnett’s chocolate soul, and that means jazz-driven R&B ditties peppered with hip-hop-oriented sprechgesang. The arrangements are jazzy throughout, relying minimally on computerized effects, which I can respect. The six tracks on this album will…
If you know your Florida punk rock, you’ll know the mighty Roach Motel, the Sunshine State’s highly un-PC answer to Minor Threat. This CD compiles pretty much every RM song recorded (plus a Grand Funk Railroad cover), with the notable exclusion of the band’s classic “Wetback.” Oh well, you can’t…
The Electric Bunnies’ music makes me feel like I’m beating off to pornography while my wife sleeps in the same room. Good thing I ain’t married and can enjoy the Electric Bunnies in public. Wow! It’s a solid follow-up to the Eskimo seven-inch. This four-track, vinyl-only EP is an excellent…
Tampa Bay’s the Tim Version comes with a pretty good punk rock pedigree, seeing as how these Panhandle ne’er-do-wells have managed to take their wares across most of the U.S. of A., parts of Europe, and Japan, using that old trick: hard work. Individually they hold down some fairly white-collar…
Indie Unplugged Miami was a nifty little show that went down at the Wallflower Gallery last July and was recorded for posterity. As far as a live recording is concerned, the quality is pretty good. It’s not commercially available, so you have to get this South Florida sampler from the…
This “Vic Kingsley” seems to be a Mr. Vic Garcia, backed by Messrs. Luke Moellman, Jon Draper, and Ethan Carlson at various capacities, organic and otherwise. This 11-tracker is another solid calling card for the boys over at Dungeon Studios, and it is, for all intents and purposes, slightly danceable…
Down Home Southernaires were at one point known as Pygmy, and as Pygmy, they were great. As the DHS, they are even better. Imagine some country-fried soul R&B in the vein of Hialeah’s pride Coke (the band!) mixed with Clarence Reid’s Blowfly high jinks. Add Elastic Bond’s eclectic Dashiki express,…
The Waterford Landing’s 2004 self-titled full-length album was a refreshing burst of real music in what felt like a sweltering sea of local shit populated with bad bass, half-assed hip-hop, uninspired rock, and Atari-produced reggaetón. Scene veterans Richard Rippe (vocals, synths, bass), Ed Matus (guitars, synths, vox), and Alex Caso…
Miami’s Junc Ops combines some of the better elements of South Florida music into a savvy and futuristic amalgamation that whets the appetite and satisfies the hunger. It’s party music in the way that poppy melodies and catchy rhymes seamlessly glide over bass-heavy productions and make you want to shake…
One of the trends in punk rock that I happen to enjoy very much is how influences shape a 30-plus-year-old genre. C’mon, there’s only so much one can do with three chords, right? Well, Miami’s Boy Prostitute has definitely taken cues from the Ramones’ playbook and injected the chords with…
If you’ve never owned a vinyl album, I feel very sorry for you. Plainly put, you’ve never actually enjoyed music in your life — you just think you have. In truth, your life is a decrepit bowl of suck, and you have no chance at happiness. Kill yourself. One of…
On their follow-up to 2006’s Madrugada, Miami’s Elastic Bond shows all the right stuff, with maturity, solid arrangement, and know-how all on display. Working off of Andrés Ponce’s arrangements, Excursion is an album you can get your dance on to, get your fuck on, and still be able to play…
As part of Miami’s only all-male art collective, Boyz of Bazel, I usually have to answer some pretty bullshit questions concerning sexuality and whatnot. I don’t even want to know what the men of Bang Camaro have had to answer to. With bass, drums, three guitars, and a vocal choir…
What do perezhilton.com, El Cerro Market no. 7, Máxim en Español, botánicas, Mary’s Coin Laundry, and your heart have in common? Those are places where Jose El Rey resides. Let’s face it: The kingdom of Hialeah was up for grabs, and this man rose to the challenge. Living in the…
Here are Kenny Garrett’s credentials: At the gentle age of 18, he was part of Duke Ellington’s Orchestra (then led by son Mercer Ellington); at 21, he was gigging with Mel Lewis’ Orchestra; and by age 24, he had produced his first solo recorded effort. He’s shared the stage with…
There’s nothing I could possibly say about Miami’s the Eat that is not going to come across like some dribbly fanboy slosh. But I’ll say it now as I’ve said it a thousand times and will continue to say it till my dying days: I fucking love the Eat! Seriously,…
Wow, regardless of how you want to look at it, Dionne Warwick has been a musical powerhouse since she was discovered by Burt Bacharach doing background vocals for the Drifters. That was roughly 40 years ago, and the discovery yielded a string of major hits with Bacharach and his main…
Well, we’re at a point now where indie rock comes in many guises and with a lot of unexpected musical influences. Nothing wrong with a little diversity, right? Local Miami musicians Social Klash throw every sonic inspiration they can think of into the music blender on their debut album, Plastic…
Remember when you’d buy a really good seven-inch record and you played the shit out of it for a couple of months before you began to wonder if your crappy needle was gonna do a number on the wax? I don’t (cuz I have a good needle), but I do…
Local band, Map of the Universe, hit the South Florida scene in late 2005, after Ed Artigas and Ivan Marchena’s band (acclaimed local act Bling Bling) called it quits. Along with drummer Johnny Calderin, they started gigging all over the tri-county area, spreading some righteous hooks and melodies while releasing…
Since the release of Bestial last year, hardcore rock band Black Cobra has been one vicious critter. The guys have toured all over the United States and Europe and left most of their audiences with their mouths agape and scared shitless. They hail from South Florida (the Bay Area is…
