I’m hoping none of you needs an introduction to the Atomic Dog, a.k.a. Dr. Funkenstein, a.k.a. Uncle Jam. You should know George Clinton’s influence on pop, rock, and hip-hop is far too profound to detail here. You might also have realized his music is as scathingly political as it is…
Compare and contrast: My lovable, irascible grandma, just turned 80 years old, whom I worry about whenever she gets behind the wheel; B.B. King, soon to turn 80 years old, who still works his guitar like his reputation depended on it. I’m not quite sure what I’m getting at, but…
Hip-hop is an elusive mistress. She takes on so many forms these days that it’s a lost cause trying to pin her down. The art form once branded a fad has matured into a complex, well-endowed empire, one that’s skewing younger as it grows older, haunting the inner cities as…
Even as it shirks the drug-binging, groupie-banging, therapy-seeking responsibilities of a full-fledged band, Popvert has managed to construct a remarkably slick, sophisticated EP. The band’s press sheet is insistent: “Popvert is not a band… It’s a project!” Apparently, core members — producer/bassist Jose Tillian and guitarist/keyboardist Marthin Chan (of Volumen…
Making like a flock of Northeastern snowbirds, local fave Hashbrown is taking wing to our shores over the holidays. But unlike the rest of the Massholes and Connecticunts, these former Fort Lauderdale freakonauts are more than welcome to return whenever they need a dose of sunshine. If you’ve never had…
It feels weird rooting for the sparkling-new, pre-fab festivities at Seminole Paradise out west while downtown Lauderdale’s Revolution struggles to keep a viable local music night, but you can’t fight the rising tide. After all, South Florida loves a strip mall, and the immaculate, brand-name entertainment complex out on State…
Just imagine the chops it takes to be voted the funkiest act in the world’s funkiest town. Out of the sweat-drenched, hard-partying, all-night mayhem of New Orleans comes Papa Grows Funk, winners of Downbeat magazine’s Funkiest Band award for two years running. All the requisite ingredients for an ear-tickling musical…
A quick survey: Mos Def — quick-lipped conscious MC or headbanging rap-rock drill instructor? Intellectual thespian or slick cover boy? Brooklyn hipster or Tinseltown glitteratus? Don’t look to his recent album The New Danger for clues — this uneven opus veers more wildly than Michael Phelps on a weekend joyride,…
What with all the recent ’80s disinterment, it’s good to see a young band looking beyond its older brother’s generation for influence. Heralded in their native Liverpool, the Zutons ply earnest ’60s hindsight and work some eerie déjà vu juju on their stateside debut. The quintet is a garage band…
This ten-song compilation from Latino-loving producer Chris Allison’s Sonic360 label offers a full-body rubdown of slick Argentine electronica. Allison is responsible for bringing edgy Mexican outfits like Kinky and the Nortec Collective north of the border, and though most tracks here fit neatly into the standard funky house niche (which…
After 78 years, no damned hurricane — or even four of them — is gonna put the kibosh on Opa-locka’s Arabian Nights Festival. Originally scheduled for mid-September, the long-running shindig was postponed due to the unrelenting storm season but has emerged invigorated and expanded. It’ll be studded with celebrities from…
