As far as South Florida is concerned, nobody else is cranking out mixtapes with the quantity and quality of Fort Lauderdale’s DJ GQ. The longtime resident mixmaster of Broward County clubs like Voodoo Lounge, Art Bar, and Whyte Noise is known within the mixtape circuit for his lush blends of…
Direct from the Grateful Dead’s multitrack master tapes is the third installment in the Vault series. Believe it or not, it was ready for release back in the early ’90s, shortly after Two From the Vault surfaced. Regardless of the reasons for the delay, this recording from a February 19,…
Britt Daniel wants us to know a thing or two. One, he’s not a particularly good speller; Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga titles include “You Got Yr Cherry Bomb” and “Rhthm and Soul.” Two, he’s perfectly happy to continue lining the pockets of Spoon’s vampy guitar-piano pas de deux with…
While his older brother and label-mate Madlib was digging around in the Bollywood crates for his latest Beat Konducta outing, Oh No came up with even-more-unconventional source material for Dr. No’s Oxperiment. The superpsychedelic rock records that emerged from the Mediterranean and Middle East in the ’60s and ’70s have…
Against Me! New Wave Gainesville’s Against Me! shares a hometown with Lynyrd Skynyrd and, discounting the redneck caricature Skynyrd became after frontman/spiritual leader Ronnie Van Zant’s 1977 death, a lot more: a keen eye for the flaws of leaders and those being led alike, and songs with sentiments as potent…
Rick Ross Alexandra Quinones Rick Ross Charities, Inc. teamed up with Magic Johnson Burger King restaurants to kick off the 1st Annual “Rick Ross Be Out Day” Wednesday, at Miami Carol City Senior High. The concert was free, but it was incredibly hot. Luckily, Slip N Slide Records invited Miami…
Taking Back Sunday’s slow-but-steady rise to stardom is one of the most genuine post-hardcore success stories. Forming eight years ago in Long Island – historically a hardcore hotbed – the quintet got their start the true d.i.y. way, grinding away on the all-ages circuit and self-releasing their music. And that…
Anyone ever listen to Diplo’s seminal 2004 debut release, Florida, and find themselves rewinding the best frigging song on the album, “Diplo Rhythm,” endlessly trying to recapture that little snippet of Rio baile funk he slips in for the last 2 1/2 minutes of the track? It’s the one that…
Picture this: You’re enjoying a nice vacation in Rio, lounging with friends at a jazz club, when the bandleader calls out to you in the audience: ___________ (fill your name in here), come on up, it’s been years! “Oh, no, no,” you laugh, shooing away the attention with your hand…
Buy a ticket to the Projekt Revolution concert and your purchase will contribute to eliminating an estimated 167 tons of carbon emissions this year — which should make you feel pretty damned good about yourself. In fact, give yourself a pat on the back for hitting up a tour that…
First off, this isn’t exactly a new project by the fresh-out-of-prison Jamaican singer Jah Cure. The recently released True Reflections is more of a greatest-hits compilation of the best tunes that Cure has cranked out over the past eight years — most of which were recorded while the singer was…
In a genre in which artists are shot and killed because some take themselves too seriously, self-deprecation by independent thinkers is a welcome sound. Word Perfect, a duo made up of Florida MCs Dirty Dem (Fort Lauderdale) and Wiseguy (Orlando), would probably be more appropriately identified by a Chicago or…
If Mavis Staples never uttered another note, her legacy as one of gospel’s greatest voices would still be assured. A surviving member of the legendary Staples Singers, she helped carve a legacy that’s revered in both sacred and secular circles. In recent years, Staples has made a comeback of sorts,…
As with Contraband, the first Velvet Revolver CD, Libertad is an amalgam of its influences: some good (Guns N’ Roses), others less so (Stone Temple Pilots). Still, the unregenerate retro-ness of the project — and of Slash’s axing in general — will leave those with a taste for cock rock…
Here’s a disc that’s somehow getting better reviews as a rerelease than it did when it first dropped in 2003. That shouldn’t be the case, obviously, but since one-half of the Jaylib duo, the almighty J-Dilla, passed away, critics, pundits, and those who slept on the project the first time…
We’ve got the winners for our Projekt Revolution ticket contest. The trivia question was: What number appears in some form on the cover of every Taking Back Sunday album, and what does it refer to? The answer: 152. It’s explained here, in a a VH1.com interview with frontman Adam Lazzara:…
Erykah Badu & Common August 4, 2007 Chakra The Review: This past Saturday, a dose of real Hip Hop and R&B drowned out the typical South Beach sounds of music. Hours after the curtain closed on the uber-hype Rock the Bells festival, Gorillas Lifestyle Marketing ( www.gorillasrevolution.com) brought conscious rap…
Hip-hop junkies and beat heads need to familiarize themselves with DJ Houseshoes. He’s one of the foremost experts on all things Dilla related, which is a technical way of saying the two came up together in the same gritty Detroit night clubs and vibed outside of the typical DJ/MC relationship…
Combichrist Studio A August 3, 2007 Better Than: A double dose of spankings The Review: An assortment of mesh, vinyl and exposed genitalia gathered around Studio A on Friday night to await the coming of Combichrist, as well as to celebrate various kinds of alternative sexual fixations. The party was…
This little disc just landed at the New Times office today–straight from Osaka, Japan and it’s already got a few of us dancing. Of course, it’s past 6pm and those of us still here are minutes away from cracking beers and laughing the night away so we might as well…
Matthew Dear Asa Breed (Ghostly International) Matthew Dear has breathed new life into Detroit techno. “Hands Up For Detroit,” his debut single from 1999, became an anthem for the city, invoking the spirit of the mid-’80s, when the “Belleville three” ruled the clubs while inventing techno. After eight years of…
Young Buck Buck the World (G-Unit/Interscope) The autumn release of 50 Cent’s Curtis surely has Interscope execs sweating like pigs praying not to be butchered. Will Curtis save the G-Unit empire or hasten its demise? While they’re waiting, the suits should parse related releases for hints. The formulaic Rotten Apple,…
