Doorway 27

It’s been almost four years since Doorway 27 dropped its last album, Doorway 27, a slick mix of Alien Ant Farm, Incubus, and Sublime. The difference is noticeable. On its fourth album, The Rescue Effect, Doorway 27 delves into a softer and more commercially viable sound. Along the way, the…

The Bikes

Since combining forces in the Bikes, Rick Ambrose (Postface, Ex-Cretins) and Dan Hosker (Doersam, Holy Terrors) have been peddling their eclectic, violin-coated indie rock to South Florida audiences for quite a few years now. So it’s high time the group churned out some recorded output. With its debut album, Get…

imadethismistake

Kylewilliam Campol, AKA imadethismistake, offers a blend of minimalist soundscapes combined with off-beat samples, nontraditional instrumentation, and spoken-word poetry. On Campol’s second release, The Hypothetical Child’s Hypothetical Situation, the one-man band explores the usual themes of heartbreak, lost love, and existential pondering. The album also has samples that sound almost…

Dr. Mooch

Dr. Mooch (AKA Muchanza Akapelwa) was born in Zambia, post-independence, and has written several books, the bulk of which are poetry and experimental fiction, most pressed on Minerva, a now-defunct vanity/subsidy publisher from Britain. Now, with this self-proclaimed comeback album, the Broward-based vocalist offers a mix of light dub-reggae and…

Rayko/KRB

When you throw the new Rayko/KRB release Six in the old stereo, the first thing that comes to mind is the halcyon days of the 1990s — rolling out with your homies, scoping for hotties, rocking out to Sublime, and likely packing that pipe full o’ weed. The mix of…

Fat, White, and Crunked Up

Ever wondered about the ethnographic background of the rapper known to the world as Bubba Sparxxx, née Warren Anderson Mathis? Those without cable might think he’s black, since they were rocking him hard on 99 Jamz right up until the Big Lip Bandit exclaimed, “This dude is white!” Since his…

Band the Joke

Many people love the visceral, passionate explosion in contemporary music that’s been called emo, screamo, post-hardcore, and any of a million and one hipster catch phrases. Many of these same people grew up with the original NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). Many of these people love comedy. Enter Horse the Band,…

Chipmunk Pie, Anyone?

Perhaps you haven’t had the pleasure of taking part in the fried-chicken-eating, boogaloo-dancing, good ol’-fashioned hoedown that is a Southern Culture on the Skids show. Maybe you haven’t heard the Appalachian surf-punk, mud-soaked guitar playing of Rick Miller. There is an off-chance that the incredible power of the beautiful, bouffant-clad…

The Siblings

Since 1973, the Pointer Sisters have been making waves in the pop world, surviving the twists and turns of stardom and longevity. Ruth, Anita, June, and Bonnie Pointer started singing gospel songs in their family home, having been warned off the devil’s music (i.e., rock ‘n’ roll and R&B) by…

Sad and Loving It

Despite his recent troubles with the law (See the October 6, 2005 issue of this publication), Keith Morile Michaud has found the strength to continue on his path. The Summer Blanket frontman’s music keeps him going, enabling him to heal broken emotions and strained heartstrings. His stuff stands strongly on…

Get ‘Er Done

Since the alt.country revival that began in the ’80s and blossomed in the past ten years, bands aplenty have sprung up, weaned on Wilco, Sun Volt, and the like. Along with local song-killers Charlie Pickett, the Silos, and the Mavericks, Truckstop Coffee continues that long tradition of American roots music,…

Sister Act

Are they goth? Are they rock? Does it matter? The Sisters of Mercy have put together more than two decades of smash hits, public roustabouts, great lines, and other oddities. OK, so they don’t have any smash hits, but try telling that to the rabid fan base the Sisters have…

Hardcore Enterprise

Walking into the Fort Lauderdale offices of Eulogy Recordings is more like reaching an intersection than a destination. One route — past the standard plastic furniture, fax machine, and copier — leads through the typical, successful American business manned by a small, efficient staff. The other winds into the isolated…

Betta Axe Somebody

Let me tell you something: Duwayne Burnside can flat out play guitar. The son of veteran bluesman R.L. Burnside, Duwayne grew up in Senatobia, Mississippi, playing the deep blues with his father and other heavy dudes like Albert King, B.B. King, and Bobby “Blue” Bland in and around the Hill…

Out of Touch?

All the kids love the ’80s. Just look at the tight-pants-wearing, asymmetrical-haircut-sporting throngs of post-teens jittering to those totally rad retro hits. And here come Hall and Oates, our original poodle-cut heroes. The duo coalesced back in 1969 while fleeing from a gang shootout in Philadelphia during a show they…

The Tributes Continue

There’s a special moment during so many beer-fueled evenings at the bar, the party, or just the living room, when someone puts on a Sublime album and a round of sloppy singalongs ensues. The same love and adulation that brings about these touching moments of drunken camaraderie is the reason…

The Law One

Local legend Charlie Pickett was there before Wilco, before the Jayhawks, before the onslaught of roots Americana and the dilution of rock ‘n’ roll. His masterpiece, Live at the Button South, was released in ’83, when Pickett was a college dropout from UF who returned home to Dania Beach and…

Gimme Sommore

Actress Nia Long has a sister – Sommore, a straight talking, no-nonsense, ball of thunder who cuts into men like a hot knife through butter. And this week, Sommore is in town to cut everyone up. Be prepared, for the Trenton, New Jersey, native armed with an onslaught of smarmy…

Kind of Like Indie

The passionate-almost-to-a-fault brand of pop rock that we call indie is brought to full bloom by Portland’s Kind of Like Spitting. Chief songwriter Ben Barnett has unleashed a deluge of recorded material since 2000, extolling the virtues of full-on engagement with life, love, and music. He’s persisted through an evolving…

The Mouse That Roared

Detroit, May 2003, the “Gangster Bass Tour”: Dan “Doormouse” Martin, a six-foot-tall electronic musician sporting a beard and an all-too-revealing cheerleader outfit, screams across the stage, commanding DJ Baseck to do jumping jacks. Miami native DJ Otto Von Schirach stands off to the side, scared shitless, as a naked Baseck…

Point/Counterpoint

If you grew up in South Florida in the ’90s, you probably love metal. You probably dearly miss ZETA. And every year, you probably thank your lucky stars that Nonpoint, Miami’s premier Latin American rap-metal icons, are still holding it down. Formed in 1997, the band features a lineup that’s…

Kneel, Mortal!

There was a time when men proudly sported tight, stonewashed jeans and had long feathered manes. A time before indie became a genre, when the gods of rock reigned supreme. Yes, it was a magical, legendary era called “The ’80s.” Once again, those bygone gods smile upon us as they…