An icy wail pierces the air, high-pitched and quavering, enough to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Slowly, the pedal steel guitar slides down home with a bluesy flourish to a low rumble of bass chords and drumbeats from the band. A preacher breaks the…
At the height of the alternative surge of the early ’90s, Live — with a long i, named after the setting in which the group felt most at home — embodied the best of American pop. The outsider band from Pennsylvania tapped into the national consciousness with a string of…
Dare I ask: Is Tori Amos still a relevant force in the music industry? Reply from ardent fans ranging in age 13 to 52: Yes, she is. And why? It must be the subtle values and soothing spirituality of her lyrics and arrangements. And while the times have slipped on…
It takes some patient, ear-to-the-speaker listening before Jamie Lidell’s off-kilter, glitch-funk tendencies come to light on Multiply, but that sultry subtlety makes the album a repeat-play sleeper. Straight out of the box, Multiply bubbles with Stax/Volt soul, easy, husky, and heartfelt, Lidell’s affable vocals colored a vibrant shade of Otis…
Now that even Grandma gets Dave Chappelle’s goof on Lil Jon, crunk faces the challenge of all overexposed genres: how to stay relevant. One way, of course, is through the time-honored bid for “artistic growth.” But when it’s Atlanta’s Ying Yang Twins talking about such matters, you have to worry…
Jason Mraz’s second studio album actually makes something of its uninspired title. From his upbeat, white-boy funk to his clever coffeehouse “Wordplay” to his swooping, Broadway-style ballads, Mraz couldn’t cover more bases if his skills had been designed by a marketing committee. Of course, for those who prefer that talent…
Not a week after Beatcomber railed against the general mindlessness of local rock cockfights (a.k.a., battles of the bands), we bore witness to yet another travesty of musical justice. Osiris Rising, a Coconut Creek goth-metal four-piece, was robbed of certain victory at one more in an endless stream of shady…
Even for a death-metal band, Soilent Green was unusually hateful. In its songs, the band took gruesome pride in subjecting lustful whores to violent acts, like a Victorian slasher. The malevolence sounded genuine too: This was a documentary-gritty Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer in a genre stocked with shoddy,…
As a SoFla kid growing up in Sun Britches and striped gym socks, Beatcomber spent many prime, prepubescent summers slip ‘n’ sliding in the backyard grass and riding bikes around his still ungated neighborhood. Of course, sweltering afternoons were often most enjoyable inside, collapsed under the A/C, nosed up to…
Word has it that Anton Newcombe — the only constant in the always wobbly world that is the Brian Jonestown Massacre — is quite unpleased with his portrayal in the recent rockumentary Dig! Odd, since the film makes him out to be an unquestionably talented madcap savant who’s a helluva…
A couple of years ago, hip-hop was going through its poodle metal phase. Lots of flashy clothes, Cristal pouring over half-naked girls dancing on parked sports cars. Yeah, it’s entertaining, but MTV’s rapsloitation has nothing to do with the four elements of hip-hop. So we look back to the heroes…
From Tom Waits to George Gershwin to Chopin, the influences on Jesse Jackson, a renegade musician bending the norms of the dance-obsessed Miami scene, produce a passionate iteration of contemporary soul-folk. You can often spot the blond, affable Jackson performing outside Back Door Bambie, an incongruous figure with his portable…
Andrea Echeverrí, organically rocking front woman for the Colombian alternative band Aterciopelados, is milking the groove-mama experience for all it’s worth. Three years ago, the artist had her first baby, a daughter named Milagros (“Miracles”). Now she’s stepping out with a self-titled solo album dedicated to the joys of motherhood…
If there’s one thing in the world that doesn’t make sense, it’s how most offspring cringe at the discussion of mom and dad making sweet, sweet love. For most of us, revulsion ensues when the parental units lock the bedroom door to “turn in early.” And menopause, high blood pressure,…
What do Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, T-Bone Walker, and Johnny Ramone have in common? They’re just a few of the influences of Rick Rossano, lead guitarist for West Palm Beach’s the Dillengers. Unlike the genre-bending musical wannabes found in the swampy pit of the Sunshine State, this semihidden gem of…
As the proprietress of Radio Thrift Shop on WFMU on the East Coast and an accomplished singer in her own right, Laura Cantrell is a champion of old-time country music — and she makes it sound lovelier than ever on her Matador debut, Humming by the Flowered Vine. Cantrell’s precise,…
Australian native Xavier Rudd is a musical madman; the ambidextrous multi-instrumentalist is proficient at guitar, percussion, and didgeridoo, interlacing them into a sharp, dynamic echo of today’s funky folksters. Most interesting is that he plays them simultaneously. Solace is one man’s journey into sonic solitude and an aural testament to…
On his tenth solo album, Frank Black approaches Southern roots and soul not as a philanderer but as a lover. Which stands to reason: Since 1998’s Frank Black & the Catholics, this head Pixie’s leering weakness for genre-play has gradually given way to something more heartfelt. The rich, dewy arrangements…
Two lyrical heroes of indie hip-hop team up to pay tribute to everyone’s favorite Cosby castoff, Lisa Bonet. Actually, Slug and Murs’ sweet memories of Denise Huxtable play only a minor role in the duo’s stories about the opposite sex. Felt 2 pops off with the picked guitar funk of…
Tiptoeing along with cinematic flourish and blunted swagger, Al Valient’s debut EP is smart, subtle, and shifty. A native of El Salvador, Valient is something of a nomadic producer who’s worked in Germany and Central America but currently calls Miami home. For the past couple of years, he’s been a…
It was almost 2 a.m. this past Thursday, the second of two consecutive nights to which Beatcomber volunteered its ear as a judge in the Vans Warped Tour Battle of the Bands. The last band standing after the three-week, six-night competition at Alligator Alley will ascend a stage at Pompano…
When metal became a serious musical force in the early ’90s, the proud state of Florida rose to the occasion with unmatched ferocity. Bands like Brutal Mastication, Raped Ape, Cynic, Assück, and Malevolent Creation set the bar so high that national bands scrambled to record at Morrisound Studios in Tampa…
