Someone needs to pinch Freddy Lim. The 31-year-old Taiwanese singer thinks he’s living the ultimate heavy-metal dream. His long-time black metal band, ChthoniC, has been traipsing across the country all summer as part of Ozzfest and getting more exposure than band members ever could have imagined. They’re the first Asian…
There aren’t many performers alive today with catalogs more extensive in both gospel and contemporary music than Mavis Staples. The gifted singer got her start in the early 1950s as a teenager and gained acclaim as part of the legendary gospel outfit the Staple Singers. The group had strong spiritual…
It’s not every day that you find a group of musicians who can straddle the line between the dreamy atmospheres of Ambient Works-era Aphex Twin and the soul pop of Hall & Oates while striving for the arrangement sophistication of Steely Dan. But that’s precisely what this Massachusetts-via-Brooklyn quartet does…
Taking their cues from dub pioneers like King Tubby and Lee “Scratch” Perry, Austin-based quartet Grimy Styles seems glad to respectfully step away from anything old school and focus on ushering in a new wave of exploratory dub. Listen to the group’s freshly released LP, Rewind, and you’ll hear tracks…
Hot Shit Bill Bellamy: He’s been a player and a booty call. He’s worked his way from ground up to headlining position on Def Comedy Jam. This week, the host of NBC’s Last Comic Standing tickles Palm Beach’s funny bone, Fri., Aug. 31, 8 p.m.; Sat., Sept. 1, 7 p.m.;…
Brass Monkey Primate Tavern 10190 W. Sample Rd., Coral Springs 954-753-1110 Even on a Saturday night, Coral Springs is the epitome of quiet living. Amid the dead air, wedged between a bike shop and a print shop, Brass Monkey Primate Tavern stands out, with spotlights aimed at its entrance in…
“Conscious rap” needs to be eliminated from hip-hop’s vernacular — or, at the very least, Talib Kweli’s name should be stricken from its rolls. Nobody’s quite sure what the term means: Music that doesn’t focus on rims and bling? Songs wherein the listener’s life isn’t explicitly threatened? Kweli has said…
Within the realm of African free jazz, there’s never been a performer with charisma and skill that could match South African trumpet player Hugh Masekela. He’s been an icon within jazz on a global level since the late 1960s, when he was releasing songs like “Grazing in the Grass” to…
Paul Motian has never been quite so stunning a bandleader as he was an ensemble drummer, playing with guys like Bill Frissel and Bill Evans in the late 1950s. On his latest disc, Live at the Village Vanguard, one wishes fellow musicians Chris Potter, Larry Grenadier, Greg Osby, and Masabumi…
Mala Rodriguez is more than just another hot Spanish singer. Yes, she is sexy, but she’s also an authentic rapper. Consider her Tego Calderón minus the ‘fro. She’s a genuine singer too and often shows traces of a Nelly Furtado-esque ability in her songs. Like her American counterparts Foxy Brown,…
It’s an unusually breezy Thursday afternoon on Hollywood Boulevard. The vintage shops and restaurants that line the old district are mostly empty, and Latin music sensation Sito Oner Rock — or just Sito to his fans and friends — is doggedly trying to choose a restaurant for an interview. The…
Alanis Morisette is conquering the web with an unpredictable cover. The typically angst-ridden Canadian singer produced a satire of the Black Eyed Peas’ inane hit song “My Humps.” There is even a Will.i.am stand-in for the video, which, while faithful to the original lyrics, is delivered in Morisette’s usual slow…
Fidel Nadal Templo August 29, 2007 Better Than: Standing around under the hot, backing sun of Bicentennial Park’s Memorial Fest reggae festival. Fidel Nadal is an internationally acclaimed Argentine reggae superstar. His songs focus on the plight and social issues of the underprivileged. Nadal is old school, starting out in…
It’s sensual, moving and breathtaking all at once. And smooth-delivering Victor Manuelle is a master at it. No matter the subject the Puerto Rican salsa star is a virtuoso at delivering impromptu lyrical soneos that can go on for several minutes at a time. Whether he’s singing about a woman…
Everybody sing together now: “Anoint my phallus with the blood of the FAL-LEN!” If you see the crowd gathered in front of the second stage at Ozzfest — girls and boys alike — singing along to these words, banging heads, and swooning in phallic-referencing glee, you can thank Karl Sanders…
Ozomatli formed in 1995, but it’s a true 21st-century band. The Los Angeles nonet blends a variety of native and folk styles and, in a process symbolic of our expanding music world, transforms the cacophony of competing global voices into a bubbling jazz-funk brew. Not surprisingly, the birth of Ozomatli…
When you think about it, Labor Day is the most American holiday we have, trumping even the Fourth of July, since, let’s face it, this nation prides itself on its blue-collar roots more than a silly declaration of independence. So here are a handful of songs about the American working-class…
2029 Harrison St., Hollywood 954-920-1312 It’s time to ditch the sandals and cargo shorts and don dress shoes and a button-down. Today, I’m OK putting down the sweaty beer mug and picking up a martini glass. A good night at Legends Café will do that to you. The dimly lit,…
Every few years, South Florida seems to cough up a rock band with superior pop talent that’s capable of becoming the next big thing. Although some rock fans might argue about what band currently occupies this spot, it’s undeniable that Big Bang Radio has all the makings of a local-meets-global…
Within the holy walls of New Orleans backline music, George Porter Jr., Russell Batiste Jr., and Brian Stoltz are easily looked at as the city’s three funky wise men. They’ve been anchoring the New Orleans sound for decades and have made just as much of a musical contribution to the…
Tahita Bulmer, the effervescent frontwoman for New Young Pony Club, has little love for the sort of po-faced, pseudo-earnest bloke rock that’s held her London home in its tatty-trousered chokehold. “Women and their histories and their perspective haven’t been fashionable for a long time,” she says from a recording studio,…
It’s an undeniable fact that certain traditionally black genres of music such as the blues and sacred steel have become embraced by jam-band audiences far and wide. Despite what some purists may think, this is irrefutably a good thing. Artists like Robert Cray, Aubrey Ghent, and the Lee Boys can…
