It’s been 50 years since Castro took power, and still the stretches of ocean surrounding Cuba can’t stop the flow of its people’s creative juices. The second annual Global Cuba Fest pays homage to the continuity of this unique Caribbean culture by uniting artists who long ago spread to the…
Funplex, released last year, is the B-52’s’ first album in 16 years. It pumps up the volume, cranks the guitars, and rocks harder than anything the veteran group has done since its 1979 debut. There’s nothing here as sweet or as catchy as “Roam” or “Love Shack,” both of which…
Photo by Shigeo Kikuchi, via www.agnosticfront.comNew York City hardcore legends Agnostic Front definitely still bring it: They’re still as loud and confrontational as always, even with their wrinkles, gray hair, and degenerating vision. Well-into-their-50s principals Roger Miret (vocals) and Vinnie Stigma (guitar) — who, inspired by the likes of Black…
If you’re a fan of today’s reggaeton, there’s a good chance you’re into the romantic crooners that populate the genre. And if you’re into that, there’s an even better chance you’ve heard “Te Quiero,” which dominated the airwaves of Latin radio and video channels in just about every format for…
Justin Namon, www.thepopnessparty.comTo read past installments of South Florida According to Brooklyn, click here. What I would like to talk about this week is me being a jackass. Recently, I wrote about predatory men and slutty women, and it’s come to my attention that people got the impression I was…
Everything’s cyclical. It’s the reason for a resurgence of skinny jeans and Keds — the 1980s were due for a comeback that started early in the New Millennium and steadily gained steam. And that trend wasn’t lost on Latin rock groups. Outfits like Belanova, The Pinker Tones, and Babasonicos began…
Image via www.myspace.com/chuckdpublicenemyThere are few rap songs as important to modern culture as Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” a rallying cry against political indifference. Well, it’s been 20 years since PE’s frontman Chuck D helped scare the hell out of white America, and a black man now sits in the…
I first discovered Joshua Radin through the 2006 Zach Braff chick flick The Last Kiss — don’t ask why or how I ended up watching it — but after one listen I was hooked on “Star Mile” and the whole We Were Here album. To be fair, he probably owes…
Neo – honky – tonker Wayne Hancock’s nickname is “The Train,” and though it may appear convenient to give the native Texan the moniker simply because of the Dr. Seuss-style rhyme one can play with his first name, Hancock has earned an allegiance with perhaps country music’s greatest symbol of…
Critical respect has been a long time coming for the Eagles, who didn’t exactly help their cause much with last year’s mediocre double disc Long Road Out of Eden — which, despite (or maybe due to) being available only at Wal-Mart, wound up as one of 2007’s top-selling albums. The…
If the quantity of photos available online depicting a young violinist next to smiling, modestly dressed girls is any indication of classical music stardom, then Joshua Bell is off the charts. One could argue, too, that the admiration from students of an art that requires hours of practice a day…
Animal CollectiveMerriweather Post Pavilion(Domino)On Strawberry Jam in 2007, experimental noise-making weirdos Animal Collective glided on the outskirts of dreamy indie-pop. Fan fave “Peacebone” even flirted with a sunny melody that exposed a heart beneath all the usual digital flotsam. The band’s ninth album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, is still frolicking in…
To read past installments of Miami According to Brooklyn, click here.This week, we’re talking about how these fucking jackass kids hide behind their fucking computer monitor screens. First of all, we all know you’re a jackass if you’re talking shit on the Internet, and you don’t have enough balls to…
On the current southern tour of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the 16-piece band is focusing on the 70th anniversary of the original Blue Note records. The New York-based label founded by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis in 1939 that became seminal for musicians like Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane,…
Journeyman singer/songwriter Alejandro Escovedo has performed solo for a number of years now, but he sure has played in a lot of bands, too. It’s a theme that recurs throughout his latest album, Real Animal. A loose memoir of sorts, the album’s subject matter and styles span Escovedo’s 30-year musical…
Carl Wilson, ace music writer for the Toronto Globe & Mail, tackles taste at its basest level: in the work of Celine Dion. Through careful ponderings, fan interviews, historical research, Canadian intuition and thoughtful, expert prose, Wilson struggles to understand the hows and whys of the Quebecois Queen, one of…
To read past installments of Miami According to Brooklyn, click here. I want to talk this week about how the younger generation has no respect for the older generation. The younger kids coming up have no respect for the people who have been there, done that sort of thing. I…
James DunnThe Long Ride Homewww.jamesdunnmusic.comEven the title boasts an air of familiarity, one that translates to the sound of the songs themselves. It breeds a connection that finds these muscular melodies recalling the angst-filled anthems of Bruce Springsteen as they might sound if sung by Jackson Browne. Indeed, there’s a…
People are ready for a fresh-faced heir apparent to Paul Simon, and from the looks of things, Brett Dennen is the guy. His warm, socially conscious folk continues to grow in appeal. Maybe it’s the fact that he has more to say about the world than Jack Johnson, and that…
