The second in Sonic360’s globe-spanning, electronic-loving Beatwave series, Japan differs from its predecessor in its wildly diverse influences. While the artists collected on Argentina swayed deeply to their country’s traditional tango rhythms and showed a devotion to somber synth-pop, Japan hopscotches with the same kind of dizzying overstimulation that’s on…
Ten years ago, the Album Leaf’s main man, Jimmy LaValle, was part of San Diego hard-core noise demons the Locust. “I played keyboards,” he says. “And screamed.” He went on to play guitar, drums, and bass in three different seminal indie bands, inching away from bombast toward the peaceful melodicism…
There’s a simple reason why overstimulated, drunkards at rock shows reflexively scream out “Free Bird!” in that pregnant pause before the encore begins: The song might be the most glorious, foot-on-the-amp, mullet-in-the-wind, shred-friendly rock anthem of all time. Its adolescent yearning and simple worldliness (penned as a dedication to Duane…
Recalling the sly intimacy of Lou Reed and Maureen Tucker during their quieter moments, the duo of Jared Flamm and Kala Savage provides the serene poetry that makes this Biirdie fly. Though Morning’s dreamy, dusty songs are colored by an array of instruments — rich piano, minimal percussion, wavy synths,…
In that golden time before marketing flaks defined the ‘tween demographic, Tiffany exploded into shopping malls and pop radio with her cover of Tommy James and the Shondells’ 1967 hit “I Think We’re Alone Now.” Only 16 at the time of her ’87 first blush, Tiffany Darwisch was the youngest…
The catchall term for the stuff is “jam band” music, but that cliché hardly describes the tuneful smorgasbord offered at this weekend’s Langerado Music Festival. For the third straight year, Langerado brings the nation’s top touring bands to Broward County. And once again, the festival has grown: The lineup –…
Keyboardist John Medeski is the melodic acrobatic of jazz trio Medeski, Martin, and Wood. Listening to his fingers pirouette across his array of ivoried instruments — piano, Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes, clavinet, melodica, Wurlitzer — is an auditory workout. Medeski can jackhammer his keys with percussive stabs, lean into prolonged…
Rock was looking pretty dead for a second there, and the sound of Broward’s mourning was loud and clear. Within hours of ZETA 94.9 dropping its beloved new rock alternative format and going Hurban — “hispanic urban,” for the Spanglish-impaired — on Friday, February 11, a petition was drawn up…
When they’re played right, the blues become a bridge between the past and the present, built musically from celebration and suffering. Singer/guitarist Corey Harris plays the blues right, recognizing their ancient origins and cultural evolution and imbuing them with modern urgency. With extensive travels throughout the African continent and an…
The Wu-Tang Clan shouldn’t still exist. In an industry in which today’s rap superstars become tomorrow’s MC Hammer, nine Staten Island MCs pulled off the impossible, outlasting the three great pitfalls of modern hip-hop: ego battles, gang violence, and, most important, irrelevance. So how did Wu-Tang leader and chief producer…
If you’ve ever checked out any local hip-hop nights from Palm Beach to Miami-Dade, chances are you’ve run into the Secondhand Outfit. MCs Dirty Work and Keenan Smith and producer/DJ Palmeto are staples of the live scene; Dirty Work, a.k.a. Jasper Delaini, also promotes and hosts the regular Rock Bottom…
I’m not sure why, but when the term progressive is slapped in front of a musical genre, the resulting phrase is instantly rendered trite and meaningless. Some bands, though, push so hard against the envelope that they effectively embody forward motion, building momentum from nothing more than a unique creative…
Back with thicker bounce and deeper funk than 2003’s brittle Bazooka Tooth, NYC MC Aesop Rock takes a step toward his musical origins while backpacking ever closer to the perfect flow. Rock’s loopy, wide-mouth baritone is easily one of the most recognizable voices in hip-hop, and its near-manic intensity is…
Maximizing Miami’s place as a crossroads between the Americas and the Caribbean, the Heineken Transatlantic Festival is a globally aware music series voted Best Festival last year by Miami New Times. This year’s festival kicks off in sultry style as DJ Da Lua brings neo-bossa beats to the swank outdoor…
After essentially establishing its own future-forward genre through years of relentless touring, Sound Tribe Sector 9 finally drops an album that reflects its innovative, enigmatic musical approach. The Santa Cruz-via-Atlanta quintet’s live shows seamlessly dissolve instrumental musings into fine-tuned sonic sculpture, veering from lengthy, jazz-driven improvisations to laptop-enhanced downtempo suites…
With Arular, her breakout debut, world refugee Maya Arulpragasam has finally found a home. Born in London, raised in Sri Lanka and India, and finished back in London as an art school student and hip-hop devotee, the 27-year-old Renaissance babe brandishes an intriguing patchwork of urban influences and political awareness…
Bleubird is not normal. As evidenced by his 2003 release, Sloppy Doctor, the Pembroke Pines rapper is many things — angry, witty, hopeful, hopeless, overstimulated, skeptical — but conventional he ain’t. Check a sampling of the four-minute, post-apocalyptic verbal symphony “When Happening:” “Humans think that they can master telepathy by…
Guitar hero Dave Alvin is nothing if not dedicated to rock ‘n’ roll. For more than 20 years, the undersung Alvin has wielded a sharp ax, cutting deep into the heart of hard-driving American music. Along with his brother Phil, he founded the early-’80s roots rockers the Blasters and later…
Hailing from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Matisyahu Miller is the original, self-proclaimed “Hassidic Reggae Superstar.” If that sounds kinda fakachta to you, you’re not alone: Time magazine and Carson Daly both found the former Phishhead curious enough to give him some exposure. On his JDub Records debut, Shake Off the Dust…..
Now that Robert Randolph and the Family Band have paved the way for the lap steel guitar to churchify pop music, we’re seeing a new interest in the origins and current purveyors of sacred steel. Florida, as it turns out, played a crucial part in the origins of the soulful…
South Florida’s veteran, gold-throated troubador, Matthew Sabatella, was born to make an album like Ballad of America. This low-key, acoustic opus is more a Folkways Smithsonian-style history lesson than a random assortment of wispy, coffee shop folk. Casual listeners, watch out: If you pay attention, you might learn something. Ballad…
The cool thing about being a brainy, one-man bedroom band is you don’t have to share the groupies. The sad thing is that the groupies often consist of your mom and your cat, one of whom just isn’t impressed. Based on the sound of his music, though, I’m betting Aqueduct’s…
