Tori Amos From the Choirgirl Hotel (Atlantic) Tori Amos likes contradictions. She’s a classically trained pianist who plays pop music, a feminist who humps her piano bench in concert, a waifish nymph with a grasp of classic Greek literature. But the biggest contradiction inherent in this 34-year-old musician is how…

Billing itself as “Florida’s largest music, art, and waterfront festival,” the five-day SunFest comes to West Palm Beach next week, featuring 40 musical acts playing on three different stages. From Wednesday, April 29, through Sunday, May 3, SunFest will take over a one-block stretch of Flagler Drive between Banyan Boulevard…

Heading north on I-95 toward her home in Fort Lauderdale, Mary Karlzen takes a sip from a bottle of Miller Lite and returns it to the cup-holder hanging from her dashboard. It’s well after three o’clock on Sunday morning, and Karlzen has just finished headlining a Saturday-night show at Tobacco…

Propellerheads Decksandrumsandrockandroll (DreamWorks) The music biz has been buzzing about Propellerheads’ debut album for almost half a year now. Part of the excitement surrounding this British drum ‘n’ bass duo comes from its hyperactive live shows, during which Alex Gifford switches between Hammond organ and bass guitar, while Will White…

On New Year’s Eve 1997, the Musicians Exchange celebrated its grand reopening. Its owner, Don Cohen, has seen the place open and close a number of times since he started the Musicians Exchange some twenty years ago. His latest gambit was the New York Entertainment Cafe on North Federal Highway…

Jono Manson Little Big Man (Paradigm Records) If you’ve never heard of Jono Manson before, it’s understandable. Though he’s been playing the club circuit for two decades, Little Big Man is only his second album on a major label (following 1995’s soulful Almost Home). Manson, who’s collaborated with Blues Traveler,…

Anyone who’s had a drink at the Elbo Room on a Monday evening has seen the blond-haired dude with a guitar and a keyboard standing on the makeshift stage in the corner. He can do “Brown Eyed Girl” just like Van, “Jammin'” just like Bob, and “Danny’s Song” just like…

Original rock bands are hard to come by in Fort Lauderdale. They’re out there (somewhere), but cover bands, Top 40 dance bands, and standard R&B bands dominate local clubs almost every night of the week. It’s as if venue owners fear that an unfamiliar chord progression might cause patrons to…

Pulp This Is Hardcore (Island) Jarvis Cocker’s songs are much like Martin Amis’ novels: The characters are distasteful, the situations sordid, the sex unsavory, and the humor cruel. It’s an ugly picture of mankind stripped to the skivvies, its immorality dangling in the wind. Amis hides his obvious titillation at…

Last week marked Austin’s twelfth annual South by Southwest music conference. Some 3000 music-biz types listened to some 850 bands from around the world play at 35 clubs over five nights. In other words, most of the music we’ll be listening to over the next year was previewed last week…

Dunstan Bruce, a member of the eight-person anarchist collective and pop group known as Chumbawamba, is pressing the flesh with various music-industry types at a sports bar in Milwaukee on a recent Thursday afternoon. Though Chumbawamba has been on a world tour since last October, Bruce is still not quite…

It’s easy to dismiss electronica as a passing fad. Radio stations almost never play it. Record stores consign it to a small section of its own. The media haven’t quite grasped it. What’s all the fuss about? Come on — this bleeping, squawking stuff will never replace rock ‘n’ roll…

Kristin Hersh Strange Angels (Rykodisc) Throwing Muses didn’t officially break up until last April, but as early as 1994 the band’s uncompromising lead singer and songwriter, Kristin Hersh, was already going her own way. That year she cultivated a haunting, hollow sound on her solo debut, Hips & Makers; four…

The disappearance of “real” music is a slow, daily process, barely even noticeable. CDs are purchased on the Internet, and much of the music on those CDs is sampled from old records, relics from the years when people actually played instruments. Just as often, the sounds come from computers. “Live”…

The High Llamas Cold and Bouncy (V2) Most bands work within established genres, such as rock, folk, or blues. Some mine more specific veins, like fusion or psychedelia. A few bands fall into minicategories; acid-jazz or chamber-pop come to mind. The High Llamas, however, model their work on a single…

Regulars at O’Hara’s on East Las Olas Boulevard may have noticed that when Danny Burger does a drum solo, he doesn’t sound quite like anyone else. It’s not merely that he’s good — after all, he’s played with some of the biggest names in jazz music, from Dizzy Gillespie to…

During a recent evening at Mario’s East, at 1313 E. Las Olas Blvd., it was easy to see that something had changed. Where were those dependable Top 40 cover tunes from Mario’s House Band? Who was the big, bearded guy on stage belting out hot New Orleans blues? Why was…

Kelly Mason, age 16, recalls with glee a recent Christian-rock concert she attended. “It was the first time I’ve been to a Presbyterian church with a mosh pit,” she says, “and you’d step out of the pit, and there’s blood on the floor. And I’m like, ‘Yes! This rocks!'” Until…

Mark Eitzel Caught in a Trap and I Can’t Back Out ‘Cause I Love You Too Much, Baby (Matador) It’s hard to imagine a better title for an album by Mark Eitzel, the verbose and despondent singer-songwriter who once led San Francisco’s much-heralded band American Music Club. This solo CD…

Various Artists Caribbean Island Music (Nonesuch) Various Artists The Real Bahamas (Nonesuch) The remarkable source recordings on Caribbean Island Music, as raw as unrefined sugar cane and just as sweet, are spontaneous performances recorded throughout the Caribbean at street carnivals, parades, religious ceremonies, and informal jams. The release features eighteen…

Armed with bottles of Faygo soda, the Insane Clown Posse comes to the Theater nightclub (3339 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale, 954-565-5522) on Tuesday. The band hails from Detroit, but has local ties that will sadly go unacknowledged. The Insane Clown Posse is Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J, white…

You’re a local band looking for gigs, trying to sell records, and generally taking advantage of every opportunity to be seen and heard. You’ve taped fliers to telephone poles, offered your CD to various record stores, and called every club in town. There’s certainly no substitution for hard work, but…