In 2012, melanin levels are no longer much of a factor in overground rap credibility. See, for example, the success of Yelawolf, plying a trunk-rattling Southern sound, on one hand, and the lighthearted, so-called “frat rap” of Mac Miller on the other. Now entering the mainstream fray is Machine Gun…

Buffalo, New York-based death-metal legend Cannibal Corpse has been going strong for some 23 years now, longer than many of its younger fans have likely been alive. That, however, is the beauty of that musical style and of Cannibal Corpse in particular. As long as there is a new, fresh…

The creation myth of August Burns Red is charmingly pastoral. The founding members, then high school buddies, got together on drummer Matt Greiner’s family farmland in exurban Lancaster, Pennsylvania. But the sound they came up with was the opposite of mellow — in fact, maybe all that open space encouraged…

Miami band Plains’ first year of existence was defined by a certain elusiveness. The group, led by frontman Michael McGinnis, dropped gem after indie-rock gem to the internet hordes but largely held back from saturating the live circuit. The focus on writing and recording meant that the group’s self-titled debut…

Buffalo, New York-based death-metal legends Cannibal Corpse have been going strong for some 23 years now, longer than many of their younger fans have likely been alive. That, however, is the beauty of that musical style and of Cannibal Corpse in particular. As long as there is a new fresh…

Lou Barlow has been to South Florida only once, ever, and previously has had no desire to spend any extended time at sea. This week, though, he’s due for an extended dose of both. The indie-rock icon is slated to perform aboard the Weezer Cruise, departing from the Port of…

Gregg Allman is of course the only surviving eponymous brother in the Allman Brothers Band. But the group is one of the few of the late hippie generation enjoying renewed fan infusion over the years, thanks to popularity on the jam-band scene and the addition of younger players like Derek…

Winter Haven quintet Anberlin arose out of a particularly Central Floridian millennial scene in which various punk-derived strains of music commingled freely with Christian sensibilities. Early Anberlin material featured the kind of swoopy hair, soaring hooks, and inspirational lyrics popular with fans of its original majorish record label, Tooth and…

True hip-hop has long had an affair with classical music, though indirect. The best producers have long used booming strings and brass to add a sense of melodrama and impending doom to classic boom-bap beats. Broward-native duo Black Violin has gone a step further in circling that musical relationship back…

The annual Jam Cruise, departing from Fort Lauderdale on January 9, has long been sold out. But the onslaught of music cruises leaving from South Florida is the gain of land-bound music fans, thanks to the requisite kickoff shows open to the public. The Jam Cruise has always been particularly…

Miami foursome Krisp is one of the few local acts to actually label itself “chillwave” on its various web pages rather than running quickly in the other direction from even the vaguest whiff of that derided term. More oddly, that pseudo-genre tag doesn’t even fit. Sure, Krisp plays gently retro…

Friday’s show at Revolution doesn’t officially have anything to do with the Jam Cruise, but it might as well. Boat or no boat, upstate New Yorkers Donna the Buffalo are cut from the same free-wheeling, improvisation-based musical cloth as many of their buddies who are sea-bound the following Monday. As…

In its brief existence, Boynton Beach trio New Coke has gone down much better than the even more short-lived beverage from which it cribbed its name. Whereas New Coke, the drink, was maligned and rejected for screwing up a formula that worked, New Coke, the band, takes a different tack…

Yes, it’s sad but true: At least one local institution is meeting its own apocalypse in 2012. As of the new year, the Monterey Club will be no more. Blame a lack of hard liquor, the economy in general, or any number of other factors. But in its two-year existence,…

If a bearded Hasidic Jewish hip-hop and reggae singer known for his Hasidic Jewishness and beardedness shaves off said beard and sheds the Hasidic part, is anything left? Such are the grammatically complex questions currently posed inwardly by fans of Matisyahu, who, until now, had probably the most unique brand…

New Orleans act Bonerama takes the brass-band tradition of its hometown and gives it a funky twist. Though the group is a full band complete with guitar and rhythm section, the focus is, as the name indicates, on trombones — usually at least three of ’em. The result is a…

Remember before all the “Sex on Fire” stuff when Kings of Leon were a down-and-dirty, long-haired, rollicking rock band? Melbourne-based band Elephantgun may refresh your memory. With the same kind of charging, sing-along choruses and mush-mouthed, Southern-inflected vocals, the group picks up where the more famous act left off when…

Paul Anka may be far from the teen idol he was in the ’50s and ’60s, but the legendary crooner still knows how to stir up a romantic mood. Old hits like “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” are now timeless classics, and Anka, even at age 70, still boasts…

Yes, it’s sad but true: At least one local institution is meeting its own apocalypse in 2012. As of the new year, the Monterey Club is no more. Blame a lack of hard liquor, the economy in general, or any number of other factors. But in its two-year existence, the…

Palm Beach County is of late awash in acts that marry roots music styles with contemporary ones, usually punk. But if you listen closely to KillBillies, from West Palm Beach, you’ll notice a different kind of twang — an English one. The duo is a marriage of sensibilities from both…