Listen closely to their second full-length and you can actually hear the members of Mason going through puberty. Which is to say, there’s a lot of straining, questioning, aching — and not a little whining — wrapped up in You Were Supposed to Be Beautiful. If that sounds intolerable or…
Direct from Beatcomber’s lips to your, um, eyes — Happy New Year! Here’s a toast to new beginnings! (Yeah, I’m drinking and typing. You gonna give me a TUI?) But there’s one question that keeps bouncing around my head like that unpardonable “Laffy Taffy” song. Why is the local music…
OK, people: No dwelling on that bitch Wilma. And no bitching about your dwelling in 2005. South Florida took some shots, both on the chin and at the bar, during another mercilously hectic, predictably unpredictable year. The real movers and shakers of the music scene are learning — slowly but…
Diplo performs Saturday, December 31, at the District, 35 NE 40th St., Miami. Doors open at 10 p.m. Admission is $20. Call 305-576-7242.
Their roster reads like a gang of street thugs or super-antiheroes: Stunner. Dirty Dave. Crystal Van Hart. They’ve got the look to match, sexy, stoic, sweaty, and buttoned up to the nines. Their songs play out like proto-punk power-pop infused with a touch of Che and more than a little…
Here’s a cool idea to ring in the baby new year: Find a reborn band playing at a reborn bar and make the most of a brand new thing. You’ll find that freshly minted vibe at the Beach Bar, that corner spot on A1A and Sunrise that recently reopened under…
Back just two months after its last capacity show at the Culture Room, the Benevento-Russo Duo brings a secret weapon to its New Year’s Eve eargasm: dorktastic former Phish bassist Mike Gordon. That adds up to a drum ‘n’ bass ‘n’ keys trio that jam-fan wet dreams are made of…
Few hip-hop outfits can pull off the high-flying balancing act that the Roots have maintained since their early-’90s inception. Way above its peers and imitators, the Philly collective walks a tightrope between street cred and pop appeal, intellectualism and b-boyism, jazzy musicianship and rugged MC mastery. Through the course of…
So barefoot-boogie hippies rub you the wrong way. Or maybe you’re more open-minded than the typical cranky-pants, scene-sucking elitist. Either way, hopefully you’re savvy enough to realize that shortcut labels like jam band and indie rock better describe a band’s business approach and fan base than its sound. This year,…
Trendsetting celebs like Madonna and Perry Farrell are getting into it. Indie rockers like Yo La Tengo, moe., and They Might Be Giants are singing about it. The New York Times and Newsweek are writing about it. Starting December 25, more than 625,000 South Florida residents will begin celebrating it…
Long-standing Clematis Street club Flow just reopened under new ownership, right on schedule to woo all the big-money, big-mouthed snowbirds roosting across the Intracoastal in Palm Beach. The place is ready for the influx, offering a slick, upscale den that’s regularly packed with impossibly bodacious females and their shiny-shirted, well-gelled…
“The first thing you do when you get to Montego Bay,” Tony Kelly told me over the phone last Monday, “is get in a cab and tell the taximan to take you to Kingston instead.” Not exactly encouraging advice for me and Inside Scoop, two music junkies taking a 36-hour…
It’s a question on everybody’s mind: When will orchestral indie rock and atmospheric drum and bass finally get it on? Even though it’s an unlikely union, Brothers Past somehow woo both styles enough to create an undeniable spark between them. The Philly four-piece has been lurking in the underground for…
As the world turns away from melody and harmony to fully embrace post-hip-hop rhythmocentricism, jazz hasn’t kept up, losing relevance like a hemophiliac rolling in broken glass. Drummer Steve Reid has returned to stop the bleeding, and he’s brought producer Kieren Hebden (of bedroom electronica outfit Fourtet) with him. Reid…
“I do not want to explain, and I’m not going to/I wanna get high on something/Go dancing with someone/Turn our backs to the battle/I didn’t see anything/Nothing worth remembering.” — Castanets, “Dancing with Someone (The Privilege of Everything)” Ray Raposa is not afraid of abstractions. “Those are the terms I…
The man may have one of the unfunkiest names in showbiz, but Brian Stoltz is actually one hell of a ripping dude. Check the Crescent City six-string slinger’s CV and you’ll find him backing some of the most iconic performers of the past 30 years: the Neville Brothers, Bob Dylan,…
Dear Snowbird/Tourist/Recent Immigrant: Welcome to South Florida! This music column is dedicated to you, the flocks of intrepid travelers who packed up the Lexusi or booked overpriced flights so you might sample our region’s famously sunny disposition. Let’s face it — this is the place everyone wants to be right…
“For me, funk is a feeling. It’s a great feeling that makes you want to get up and get down!” So says DJ Nickodemus, and the man should know. Seven years ago, he launched Turntables on the Hudson, an ongoing series of epic danceathons at offbeat Manhattan locations, spinning the…
It stands to reason that once you’ve made it to all-star status, you’re one of the legends of the game. Just ask Luther Dickinson, lead guitarist and singer for the blues-rocking trio North Mississippi Allstars. “Actually,” he says, “the name is kind of tongue-in-cheek, because we got two white guys…
There were several signs that Q-tipping wasn’t enough: I could no longer hear the difference between Coldplay’s mushy whine and U2’s throaty self-satisfaction. I couldn’t hear the drunken hippie standing mouth-to-ear inside the Poor House yelling last week’s RatDog set list at me. I couldn’t hear Mike Jones bark about…
While the Experience might be Jimi Hendrix’s better-known backing crew, few would disagree that the Band of Gypsies was the better-playing. And while Hendrix provided the Gypsies’ six-string pyrotechnics, the heart of the group was Buddy Miles and his supremely in-the-cut drums. Miles wrote and sang the classic “Them Changes”…
Up-and-comer Hook Shop Records held its label debut party early in the week of August’s VMAs inside a sleek hotel lobby in Miami Beach. The night went from ho-hum to slam-bang as reggae riddim masters Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare made the scene and dancehall blasted from a makeshift PA…
