Good ol’ Jägermeister sure knows how to diversify in targeting its various constituencies. Wisely realizing that Jäger is some of the most favored fuel of wild parties, the liquor giant sponsors regular music tours. The best known are probably its hard rock packages, but this month brings us a country-flavored…
With so many acts, rock, R&B, and otherwise, leaning toward a heavily electronic sound, it’s no wonder that at least a few rising pop groups would decide to take things back. Way back. In the case of Under the Streetlamp, we’re talking at least 50 or 60 years back —…
San Diego quintet Through the Roots boasts what is probably the quintessential California sound: breezy, beachy, and freely crossing through any number of laid-back genres. Unsurprisingly, the group’s sound is mostly grounded in reggae, but it often comes blended with rock, pop, hip-hop, and whatever else melodically fits into the…
Adrenaline Mob delivers what its name promises: a rush of heavy energy powered by raw guitar force. The New York-based group is, in fact, a metal supergroup. Singer Russell Allen has also fronted Symphony X, while guitarist Mike Orlando and drummer Mike Portnoy formerly played in Dream Theater. Because of…
Melissa Etheridge may no longer be shooting up the rock charts — but really, who is these days? Some time in the early aughts, though, she passed through those kinds of chart-topping requirements, making her officially a “Career Artist.” When her albums Skin and Lucky performed well critically but not…
Downtown Hollywood’s Native Florida Tap Room serves as an appropriately named venue for this Saturday-night show, which groups together some of the area’s homegrown legends. At the helm is the infamous Blowfly, the soul and rap legend who’s enjoying a bit of a renaissance helped along by the recent documentary…
Like it or not, for most people, Cinco de Mayo is celebrated as culturally correctly (or as historically educated) as St. Patrick’s Day. Pretty much, it’s just another excuse to drink theme-appropriate booze and maybe take part in some vaguely Mexican-themed festivities. Well… Crack out the tequila, right? If you…
Try as the cool-kid establishment in various areas might, some things will always please millions without being inherently cool. Velveeta? Actually kind of delicious besides being processed to hell and not even remotely healthy. Three-camera sitcoms with canned laughter? Yes, even they have their moments. Nickelback? Well… The mere mention…
The WeekndRevolution, Fort LauderdaleMay 1, 2012Better than: Paying for an hour of the watered-down dance-pop that’s mostly passing for current R&B.Last night’s local performance by the Weeknd, his first in the area and a stop on his inaugural tour, served as a lesson in wise music business practices circa 2012…
Abel Tesfaye, the 22-year-old who goes by the Weeknd, is enjoying the first flush of his Next Big Thing success. His show tomorrow at Revolution, part of his first tour, sold out within a day of its tickets’ release. Based on his buzz alone, he could easily fill a venue…
Yesterday was equally appalling and exciting on this blog and across Twitter and other various social media platforms. As a freelancer, I was busy in the morning covering the Billboard Latin Music Conference in Miami, and during a break, I checked my various feeds to see a post on this…
The great achievement of Chicago-based punk foursome Rise Against is that the group has walked a tightrope on which few similar bands have managed to balance. Its original stance, down to its name, was largely political, and yet the group has mostly enjoyed the continued respect of fans and critics…
Duo Blood on the Dance Floor seems tailor-made for the nightmares of any old person — let’s say, anyone over 21. The group’s masterminds, Dahvie Vanity and Jayy von Monroe, revel in looking like vastly over-the-top versions of a latter-day “scene” look, taken to the extreme, all teased hair, makeup,…
There’s nothing shy about Lacuna Coil, an Italian six-piece that helped fully solidify the subgenre dubbed “gothic metal.” Nearly everything about the band is bombastic, from vocalist Andrea Ferro and Cristina Scabbia’s dramatic male-female vocal interplay to the effects-heavy, ethereal touches to the music itself. In clumsier hands, this could…
German six-piece Rammstein was among the great bogeymen of the late ’90s, right up there with Marilyn Manson and Tool as bands you could blast in your room to disturb conservative parents. Indeed, much of the band’s shtick, from its gut-churning, throbbing industrial take on metal to its deliberately provocative…
It’s hard to separate the name of Los Angeles rock act Great White from the event in recent history with which they’re most associated. It was supposedly this group whose pyrotechnics caused a notorious 2003 club fire in Rhode Island that killed 100 people, including the band’s then-guitarist. Unfortunately, the…
The annual Hukilau extravaganza, a unique event that’s part fandom convention, part history-buff gathering, part retro-tastic spring break, returns on Thursday, April 19, to South Florida, this time at the Best Western Oceanside at Fort Lauderdale Beach. The four-day event as a whole celebrates tiki culture, a retro-loving scene based…
In 2012, Yanni is often an easy punch line; anytime someone needs a quick quip about the New Age and easy-listening cultural moments of the early ’90s, Yanni’s the guy. The Greek composer particularly didn’t help himself much on the latter front with his famous, overblown, 1994 Live at the…
The Speakeasy in Lake Worth is quickly becoming Palm Beach County’s new epicenter of punk, hardcore, and all related subgenres. That’s mostly thanks to local duo On Fire Booking, whose promotional power in scoring big-name touring acts now rivals that of bookers at bigger clubs. Case in point: this show…
Stuart-based trio Aquaphonics dubs its sound “electro-soul,” and indeed, it often uses a funky interplay between the electronic and the organic. As the group’s watery name might indicate, there’s a lot of bubbling percussion and cresting and receding waves of guitar and keyboard. And besides the “electro” and “soul” parts,…
If you’ve been noticing a certain uptick in Lake Worth bookings along the hardcore, punk, and related spectrum, it’s not just you. The rosters at the Speakeasy Lounge and Propaganda are packed in coming weeks with performances by big-name touring acts like Set Your Goals and Chelsea Grin. They’re all…
Numonics, the local hip-hop producer born Jonathan Rosenfeld, is on a hot streak. In the past couple of months, he’s released a handful of new albums — two with local artists, Knowledge Medina and J. NICs, and two with out-of-towners, Co$$ (repping Los Angeles) and REKS (from Lawrence, Massachusetts). At…
