Say it with me: SOOF-yahn. Last year, you could get away with mispronouncing the symphonic-folk songwriter’s first name; his previous two records, the sprawling Greetings from Michigan and the religious, banjo-filled Seven Swans, were gorgeous works that, in spite of critical praise, never received the nationwide attention they deserved. But…
Nine times out of ten, when someone complains about being “so sick and tired of the shit on the radio and MTV,” as this young Canadian singer does right at the top of her second album, it’s because he or she isn’t listening. Not so with Esthero. All over the…
Remember when hardcore ruled the streets of South Florida? When slow riffs and hyperpunk cadence crossed over to thrash stages? It was the mid-’90s, and we anteed up on New York with thugged-out panache and pop-a-cap-in-your-ass cool from bands like Bird of Ill Omen, Cavity, and Shai Hulud. Now it’s…
In early 2003, shortly after the release of his band’s major-label debut, Steve Bays imagined himself in one of two positions. Within five years, he figured either Hot Hot Heat would sound totally different and his fans would be tagging along for the ride or the band would be broken…
“Lean Back” gave Fat Joe a chance to make the really big money, and he’s taking advantage by embracing the mainstream. He came across as a genial glad-hander while working the red carpet at the recent MTV Movie Awards, and he makes repeated bids for airplay on All or Nothing,…
“On the day that Dennis Brown’s lung collapsed, spring rain was misting down on Kingston/And down at the harbor, local cops were intercepting an inbound shipment…” It’s a long way from the cornfields of Iowa to the hills of Jamaica, but lo-fi hero John Darnielle’s “Song for Dennis Brown” divines…
Yes, this is another story about a local hip-hop act. This is not, however, your typical tale peopled by former drug dealers laundering their money into a flimsy record or earnest suburban kids writing rhymes in their bedrooms and trying to save hip-hop. Instead, it features two young friends, both…
Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters have made a career of delivering some of the most solid if uninspiring American pop-rock in the past decade, but In Your Honor is such a snoozer that it makes all other Foo albums sound experimental. First in the set is an “all-rock” side that Grohl…
Summer wouldn’t be summer without Fountains of Wayne. Sure, hot dogs would be just as carcinogenic, steering wheels would still sear flesh, and young lovers would still get VD, but the season wouldn’t be as special without the fine details and lacerating hooks of those New Jersey troubadours. Famous for…
Rappers and punks take pains to make their rebellious postures seem offhand. Shakira, meanwhile, doesn’t draw attention to her nonconformist tendencies — but make no mistake, she just don’t give a fuck. The Colombian superstar gave her 2001 crossover album (Laundry Service) and subsequent stadium-hopping stint (“Tour of the Mongoose”)…
Gabby La La is tap dancing. Tiny of frame, huge of talent, she tap-dances onto the stage — it’s about performance and percussion. Gabby is hooking into a growing audience, as if the sitar she plays, held like a Strat, is tapping the cosmic escalator and she is ascending into…
Even if his name doesn’t ring a bell, Rick Bauer’s towering frame should be easily recognizable to savvy Broward nightlifers. The six-foot-two Bauer and his band regularly play drinking holes from Himmarshee to Pompano Beach, digging into a massive trick bag for bar-rocking covers and late-night sing-alongs. With Daybreak, Bauer…
Somewhere between MTV, Quentin Tarantino, and cinéma vérité — which is true film for you Francophobes — stands the iconic reggae gangster film Rockers. Shot on location in the shanties, villages, and jungles in and around Kingston, Jamaica, Rockers debuted at Cannes in 1979, on the same night as Apocalypse…
“Some day,” former heavyweight champion Sonny Liston once mused, “they’re going to write a blues song just for fighters; it will be for slow guitar, soft trumpet, and a bell.” Liston knew boxing was a lifetime of heartbreak doled out in three-minute doses; he just got the instruments wrong. Jazz…
If Alkaline Trio is truly the savior of punk rock, if the band really lives up to its rabid, fan-fueled glorification, you wouldn’t know it from talking to Dan Andriano. The bassist/vocalist sounds rather indifferent speaking over the phone from a tour stop in Boston. Given the hurdles the band…
Thanks to rhymers like Pluzwun and Mike West, the 954 is starting to get noticed as a hotbed of hip-hop creativity. As the Fort Liquordale community pulls itself up by its bootstraps and works hard to build a scene, folks might want to take a look north to rope in…
Take heart, all you Pavement worshipers surveying the current reunion landscape: Face the Truth — the third solo album by Stephen Malkmus (with occasional contributions from his backing band, the Jicks) — is his first to truly do justice to the formidable legacy of the band he used to front…
With the Pink Zep comparisons a year behind them now, local ex-pats Secret Machines can get on with the business of revealing their true selves… with songs by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and Berry Gordy Jr.? Seriously? You’d be forgiven for missing the joke, since there isn’t one on this…
After so much give and take, after growing so close to the Great Pumpkin through so many years of intimacy, we all want Billy Corgan’s solo debut to burst like a golden light through the storm clouds of his recent meandering. The Pumpkins didn’t end well. Zwan was divisive. But…
Depending on how you look at it, Guru is either the rare hip-hop icon with the courage to follow his convictions beyond the commercial spotlight or a mainstream hero sliding into indie irrelevance. Version 7.0, the first release on his own label, 7 Grand, suggests the former, though not always…
With its eponymous debut, hard-rock fourpiece Far From Gone attracts the spotlight that so often favors Broward over Palm Beach County. The eight-song CD starts off with a bang, lining up a trio of powerhouse tracks with a strong sense of melody and group dynamics. Vocalist Jeff Irving is a…
The most impressive thing about Cowboy Troy’s major-label debut is what it took to make a black country-rapper feasible. Hip-hop, the great assimilationist art, had to become the dominant musical form. A long line of experiments, from Charlie Daniels’ spoken-word songs to Timbaland’s hoedowns with Bubba Sparxxx, had to lay…
