Labels can be deceiving. Take, for example, those misguided individuals who refer to South Florida as paradise. It’s highly doubtful that the concept of paradise ever encompassed awful traffic, squabbling politicians, heat, humidity, and the near-constant threat of a hurricane. So when Eddie Money promises two tickets to paradise, chances…
Love him or hate him, Dave Matthews puts on a hell of a concert. The beloved, balding troubadour of contemporary folk pop and his band have had ears for well-composed songs since their glistening Under the Table and Dreaming album was released to acclaim in 1994. College kids loved it,…
State of the Art (Rawkus Edition) featuring ArtOfficial, L.E.G.A.C.Y., Dynas, Protoman September 8, 2007 PS14, Downtown Miami Better Than: The MTV Video Music Awards The Review: Underground hip hop shows are hard to come by these days. Circa, say, 2004-2005, Miami’s burgeoning boombap movement was in full effect where indie…
There aren’t many names within the global house community as recognizable as Bad Boy Bill’s. As the long-time poster boy for Chicago house, Bill has been taking house music to higher and higher levels since the mid-’80s, when he used to open for the famed Hot Mix 5. While he…
There aren’t many names within the global house community as recognizable as Bad Boy Bill’s. As the long-time poster boy for Chicago house, Bill has been taking house music to higher and higher levels since the mid-’80s, when he used to open for the famed Hot Mix 5. While he…
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…
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…
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…
“Last Romantic Day,” a song off the latest Rentals EP, The Last Little Life, begins with gentle plucking on violin strings. Even before any other instruments come in, it’s painfully clear that Matt Sharp did the right thing when he freed himself from the repressive yoke of playing in Weezer…
A few years back, the Used’s Bert McCracken and My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way were the enfants terribles of the ’00s post-emo/post-whatever world. The duo shared a serious dark streak and a fuck-it-all attitude, seemingly inhaling substances by the gallon and sharing a kind of symbiotic man-bond that defied definition…
Jamaican reggae group, Rootz Underground is playing their first ever show in Miami tonight at PS 14. The group has a powerful video, “Victims of the System” which has been getting a lot of love on MTV’s Caribbean station, Tempo, lately and the band is known for its positive vibes…
Kinky August 28, 2007 The Fifth, Miami Beach Better Than: Once Upon a Time in the West as fleeced by The Thievery Corporation. Or something. Else. Kinky lead man Gil Cerezo The Review: The seven-city Samsung/AT&T Summer Krush series swung into South Beach last night with a set so low…
Josh Smith The Poorhouse August 25, 2007 Better than:Watching Taylor Hicks perform in Boca Raton with a bunch of horny grandmothers The Review: Guitarist Josh Smith played two shows on Saturday and was running on fumes by the time I caught up with him at the Poorhouse in Fort Lauderdale…
Baby Anne Studio A August 25, 2007 Better Than: Paying $80 to watch break-beat sessions at Ultra Music Festival. The Review: Florida’s own legendary bass queen, DJ Baby Anne, headlined the Clash of the Titans electro breaks session at Studio A on Saturday August 25th along with Darling Nikki, vocalist…
A.K.A. PS 14 August 22, 2007 Better Than: Getting jumped, robbed and stabbed by a group of raging women. The Review: A.K.A., the all lady trio voted 2007’s best female band by the Miami New Times, held one of their last shows at PS 14’s, Spider Pussy, on Tuesday before…
What do you get when you grab the Au Pairs, ´80s-era King Crimson, Mungo Jerry, and the guy who mixes the harmonies for The Scissor Sisters, stick them in a blender, and hit “frappe”? Goo. You get goo. It’s disgusting. Never try it. But! If you take those same ingredients,…
The Funky Blu Roots are a Fort Lauderdale-based quartet that is part Sly and the Family Stone, part B.B. King, and part Eric Clapton. They sound as crispy-clean on their live recordings as they do on their studio productions, and their signature song, “Long Time Coming,” plays like a jacked-up…
It’s a fine line between retro and rehash, but the Black Crowes always manage to tread that precipitous divide with swagger and finesse. In the 17 years since they made their debut, the band, helmed by brothers Chris and Rich Robinson, remains relevant and resilient. With a new effort in…
