If you haven’t heard already, this year’s Ozzfest is free. No catch, just free. However, you still need to download a ticket from the Ozzfest web site, and before that, sign up for a special download code. Tickets for the South Florida stop, on August 30 at the Sound Advice…
The title “Most Rock ‘n Roll Band in Rock ‘n Roll” still belongs to The Black Crowes, but I’d like to present Black Rebel Motorcycle Club a (stolen) 2nd place trophy. Without really saying much between songs, BRMC commanded the stage last Saturday at the Culture Room. Drummer, Nick Jago,…
If your brain is a bit groggy as you sit in that cubicle, here’s a throwback video to help shake out the cobwebs. And for the newjacks, yes Xzibit had a career before MTV’s Pimp My Ride. Long live the golden era of hip-hop. –Jonathan Cunningham…
So reports say that legendary producer, radio host, and Juice Crew affiliate Marley Marl has had a heart attack and is recovering in a New York hospital. I’m not sure if there’s need for a candlelight vigil, but dude could use some prayers. And for those that worship the Temple…
Maroon 5’s gig at Studio A, originally scheduled for this Saturday, has been postponed until July 10. Here’s the band’s official statement: “If you haven’t heard already, Matt Flynn’s wife gave birth to the couple’s second child on Tuesday! In order to let Matt spend time with his family, we…
Hip-hop legends Grandmaster Dee of Whodini (now a Broward County resident) and Flava Flav are usually great on the microphone, but watching them trying to plug a local sports channel is too funny. By the third take, the cameraman must have been wondering what he got himself into. –Jonathan Cunningham…
No? Well, the two are two of the most important breakbeats, ever, in the history of hip-hop and dance music. Here’s a history of the amen, so called because it originates from a 1969 soul record, “Amen Brother” by the Winstons. You’ll recognize this six-second loop instantly, and this video…
Further proof that the dance music underground is growing down here: A day after posting mixes by DJ Nova and Anatoli Russki, I’ve received a message from another local mixer of minimal sounds: Baez. He tells me he’s spinning at a free minimal/tech house party this Friday at the Mark,…
An item that appeared in this week’s print edition “Night and Day” section contained errors about two upcoming shows at Churchill’s. Blitzkid will be playing there this Friday, June 8. The psychobilly festival will take place there on Saturday, June 16. Visit www.churchillspub.com for full details and an updated schedule…
Between the power chords and one-love vibration, State Radio’s performance last night at the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale in support of their latest album, The Barn Sessions, was electrifying. After browsing the band’s website, I wondered whether Urmston, who pens lyrics about conscientious objectors, was going to preach or…
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club performs Saturday, June 9, at the Culture Room, 3045 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale. The show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $18. Call 954-564-1074, or visit www.cultureroom.net
As if the name ¨Boca Raton¨ (variously translated as ¨Mouse´s Mouth¨ and ¨Thieves’ Cove¨) isn´t awkward enough, just imagine being a hip-hop group named after a street in this upper-crust South Florida city and trying to eke out some street cred. That´s hard on its own, but when the actual…
Japanese rock band Dir En Grey is huge in its home country, and it´s starting to make waves here in the States yes, they´re the same psyched out rockers who kicked ass at Revolution this past February. The group is the hippest hard-metal band to hit the Western world in…
There aren´t many composers who take the time to encode their music with overtones that activate your cosmic inner being, even among the assortment of ambient opuses found at Whole Foods next to the crystals and the yoga mats. But Eric Dez and Ankhuphara, two Miami-based multi-instrumentalists and vibrational healers,…
Texas is known for its great beer, BBQ, and twangy country music. Indie music, though, is not something most people would associate with the Lone Star state. Aside from Austin City Limits Festival veterans Spoon and the Polyphonic Spree, little is known outside of Texas about its indie-rock scene. It…
So attendance at Florida Marlins games is rather low. The bleachers look empty every time somebody hits a home run, and folks at the P.R. office are out to change that. Insert a raucous concert series after all of the Saturday-night home games and Dolphin Stadium will be alive with…
A band can put weeks into rehearsing and getting its sound just right only to have it all fall apart on stage. There´s either feedback coming from the monitors, instruments are out of tune, or it all just sounds terrible and the audience gives up on you halfway through the…
Tough and tenacious, Jesse Malin adopts the guise of street punk turned rebellious rocker and unapologetic outcast with a raised fist and an elevated middle finger. Malin´s third album, Glitter in the Gutter, is as contradictory as its title implies a petulant set of songs that celebrate possibility even as…
Folky New York rocker Swati was a classically trained trombonist before she picked up the guitar and started writing songs in her late teens. Her first demo was produced by Steve Lillywhite (U2, Peter Gabriel), and although it caused a buzz in New York´s competitive music scene, it took her…
During the ’70s, a slew of Cuban songwriters and musicians who had their ears tuned to illegal radio from the States started blending Afro-Cuban music with the sounds of American soul and funk. In this collection, compiled by music historian Dan Zacks, who found some of the source tapes in…
Atomic Dog One might expect a band championed by My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James to be a bit self-indulgent, but the latest disc from Philadelphia-based quintet Dr. Dog is, surprisingly, a tightly crafted, even disciplined piece of ’70s revivalism. At this point, I think it´s important to say that…
Straight Outta Cashville When rappers 50 Cent and Tony Yayo started piecing together their G-Unit family, they knew they´d need a Southern rapper to stay relevant in the streets. New York´s stranglehold on the rap world died nearly a decade ago, so enlisting Tennessee MC Young Buck to be a…
