Arranca is Spanish for “uproot” or “tear out.” It’s also the name of a new South Florida band that tackles Cuban music — and politics — with the energy of old-school punk rock. The band’s frontman and songwriter, Victor Garcia-Rivera, was arrancado from his Cuban homeland at the age of…
Sonic Youth A Thousand Leaves (DGC) Unlike any other album Sonic Youth has released in the last decade, A Thousand Leaves has met with surprisingly harsh criticism. What critics once saw as modernist lyrics, revelatory guitar tunings, and meaningful clouds of feedback have now been redefined as obtuse poetry, meandering…
A big, burly presence hovers near the bar at Sneakers Sports Grill in Hollywood on a recent Friday evening. The entity is invisible but unmistakable as B.O.B., a five-piece band formerly known as Britain On The Bay, plays songs by the Grateful Dead, the Beatles, and other classic rockers. A…
Smashing Pumpkins Adore (Virgin) The massive success of Smashing Pumpkins is positively uncanny — MTV Video Awards, Grammy Awards, plaudits from Rolling Stone and Spin — but in a decade with so few true rock stars, the band fills a void. The band’s frontman and overweening artistic visionary, Billy Corgan,…
The booming voice of Bryon Patt is perfect for radio. It’s energetic, crystal clear, and instantly likable, with the hint of a smile around the edges. Patt’s voice has so much decibel-power that it carries well enough without the help of a transmitter. But these days his voice can be…
To music buffs who remember the mid ’70s as the age of long hair, African garb, and jazz-rock, the name Omar Mesa might ring a bell. Mesa played guitar with the group Mandrill, whose Afro-Cuban-fusion-rock gave Carlos Santana, War, and Earth, Wind and Fire a run for their money. “Back…
If you’re going to the Spice Girls concert Monday to witness an example of “Girl Power,” you may be looking in the wrong place. A more suitable choice would be the folk duo Big Blue Sky. With Sue Crago singing lead and playing a crisp electric guitar and Jill Apolinario…
The punk rock genre has been getting a little formulaic lately. Various bigtime California bands — Green Day, Rancid, Offspring, Bad Religon — have basically laid down a blueprint consisting of boot-stomping rhythms and power riffs. But punk rock, by definition, rebels against established conventions. It was probably only a…
The slinky, swingin’ rockabilly of the Hep Cat Boo Daddies emerges from the open door of the Poor House in Fort Lauderdale on a recent Saturday night, drawing the attention of passersby. What is this mutant strain of full-throttle surf-blues? It sounds like there’s one wild party going on. Indeed…
A few weeks ago at Desperado’s in Fort Lauderdale, the dance floor was a sea of black and white cowboy hats. Two-stepping, silver-tipped boots gleamed under the flashing red and yellow lights above. Denim-clad butts shook, swayed, and wiggled. The inspiration? Pop-country tunes performed by Gatorkicks. “I kinda like to…
Lenny Kravitz 5 (Virgin) Even the casual Lenny Kravitz fan knows that Lisa Bonet’s old flame is, to put it nicely, a popular-music historian. His detractors, of course, would call him a rip-off artist. OK, so the riff from his hit “Are You Gonna Go My Way” sounds suspiciously like…
Containing more than 900 entries, 100 interviews, and 450 pages, Connecticut Rocks! is a monumental, if somewhat strange, achievement. Its subtitle defines it as “An Encyclopedia of Rock ‘N’ Roll, Rhythm & Blues, Rockabilly, Doo-wops, Gospel, Punk, New Wave, and Soul Records by Connecticut Artists and Connecticut Record Labels.” The…
This electronica stuff might be simpler than it sounds. Andre Frazier, a.k.a. DJ Andre, has figured out how to put together his own electronic music using some pretty basic equipment. “I’m telling you, this is low tech,” says Frazier, gesturing toward a few outdated instruments tucked in a corner of…
Jack “No Busfare” Johnson is the beatnik who many people, in the deep, dark recesses of their psyches, always wanted to be. He’s traveled from town to town, making music and poetry, expounding his theories on life, and chasing his muse. He has lived with Allen Ginsberg and run from…
Robbie Robertson Contact From the Underworld of Redboy (Capitol Records) A haunting Native American song floats over a bed of tribal shakers and atmospheric keyboards. Sweet piano chords add harmonic dimensions to the simple melody. Then an abrupt wall of industrial noise and harsh guitar feedback overwhelms the melody as…
Coughing, hacking, and snorting back phlegm, David Yow is half asleep and trying to sound coherent. It’s 12:30 p.m. on a recent Tuesday, and Yow is in a Montreal hotel room, resting between concerts while on tour with his infamously aggressive band, the Jesus Lizard. He has no idea he…
Nirvana did it, and the performance was one of the band’s best. Pearl Jam did it, too. As did Hootie & the Blowfish, R.E.M., and countless others. And now the Broward-based rock quartet Jadestone will do it, on Friday at Borders in Fort Lauderdale. What are we talking about? Going…
When Gary Numan first appeared in 1979, singing the chilly synth-pop song “Cars,” he didn’t look like a 21-year-old rock star. He looked like a flesh-covered robot. In the song’s video, Numan wore a black shirt and red tie, his dark hair combed perfectly to one side, menacing black eyes…
For insight into a foreign culture, look no further than the Broward-based, music-and-dance duo Harmonic Motion. The performers are Joe Zeytoonian on oud, cajita, and vocals, and dancer Myriam Eli on riqq, zills, and darbuka. The duo specializes in bringing together the string- and percussion-driven sounds found in Armenian, Turkish,…
Last Thursday evening outside Maison a Go Go, Hollywood’s newest dance club, roughly 200 people stood on the sidewalk waiting to get in to the preopening VIP party. Even the mayor of Hollywood, Mara Giulianti, had to wait in line behind the velvet ropes. Giulianti cut the ribbon for the…
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Walking Into Clarksdale (Atlantic) Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have produced some of the best rock albums of all time. Walking Into Clarksdale isn’t one of them. Twenty years ago, during the heyday of Led Zeppelin, Page was a lot slimmer, and Plant had a…
Every Saturday night at Tavern 213, several pairs of women’s shoes can be found lined up along the banister that surrounds the bar’s small stage. There are clogs, sandals, sneakers, stacked-heel pumps. It looks like some kind of strange offering or sacrifice to the four guys on stage, collectively known…
