There’s a swath of heartbreak a mile wide running through Judith Edelman’s third record, Drama Queen. Most of the 13 tracks here are narrated by women who are overworked, underpaid, and/or romantically betrayed, usually all three. What allows Edelman to transcend the weepy bathos of chick rock are the lush…
Jethro Tull: Can anyone name a single song these self-dubbed “old farts” have produced since the late ’70s? Neither can anyone in this office. But the band (playing in Sunrise on Friday and Saturday nights), still under the stewardship of singer-flutist Ian Anderson and guitarist Martin Barre, keep pumping out…
Where to place Austin Willacy? Somewhere in the great open plains between Stevie Wonder and Kurt Cobain. Willacy, formerly of the House Jacks, has the voice of a classic soul singer and the songwriting sensibility of a grunge disciple. The result is a fascinating, if prickly, solo debut, American Pi…
It’s been three years since Suzzy Roche, the youngest member of the phenomenal folk-pop trio the Roches, took the solo route away from the safety of her sisters and released her first solo album, Holy Smokes. It was a difficult record and period in her life, as it detailed and…
“Where there’s no respect, there’s hatred,” cautions David Hinds, leader of the indomitable reggae outfit Steel Pulse. “And where there’s hatred, there’s instant violence, and it leads ultimately to death.” Such dire sentiments from Hinds are nothing new; he’s spent 25 years using Steel Pulse (performing in Sunrise June 21)…
I’ve never thought of ex-Pink Floyd leader Roger Waters as the nicest guy. Maybe it’s all those bombastic songs delivered through clenched teeth in a voice reminiscent of a monocle-wearing SS officer. But at his performance in West Palm Beach June 4, he showed off a sweet side by paying…
Six years ago, when the band known as Ed Matus’ Struggle settled on its curious moniker, the whole thing felt like a joke. “There’s a lot of cheesy names out there,” notes guitarist Juan Montoya. “So we just named ourselves after someone we knew.” The real Ed Matus, another Miami-area…
We’re nearly halfway through the first year following the biggest odometer rollover any of us can recall, and we’ve accumulated a teetering tower of local compact discs to pore over. Thanks to all the South Floridians who have sent in product and press kits and called to check the status…
Archers of Loaf Seconds Before the Accident (Alias) Alternately dissonant and melodic, cacophonous yet inarguably tuneful, Chapel Hill’s Archers of Loaf were one of the greatest guitar bands to emerge from the indie-rock underground of the early ’90s. Taking cues both from their hometown comrades in Polvo and from the…
A Perfect Circle Mer de Noms (Virgin) If Jesus Christ reemerged as a rock singer, he couldn’t sound much better than Maynard James Keenan. Best known for his vocal work with the Los Angeles art-metal posse Tool, Keenan possesses a voice that murmurs sweetly one moment and explodes with psychotic…
Andy Partridge is a cyclical creature. Anyone who has followed the fortunes and foibles of XTC over the years will tell you that Partridge routinely follows periods of pastoral bliss with energetic rock explorations. So it is with the double-themed sword of Apple Venus (Vol. 1) and Wasp Star (Apple…
Begin with a broth of Zappa, Beefheart, and the Residents, add a liberal dose of lowbrow humor, and throw in some zany sound effects. That’s the recipe for entertainment — Mister Entertainment to you. Mr. Entertainment is Steve Toth, preparing to spread joy and mirth with the festive musical menu…
A lethal combination of nightclub politics and unlawful decibels, exacerbated by the oncoming heat and humidity, has thrown a wrench into the gears of “Sonic Saturday,” the weekly West Palm Beach drum ‘n’ bass party that has held court on the back patio of Respectable Street for nearly a year…
Pop tart Gwen Stefani — pretty as can be, with a midriff for the ages — celebrated a special birthday recently: the dreaded three-oh. And by industry standards — those youth-obsessed, number-crunching principles — such a cosmic reckoning usually means one thing: Keep the salt lick and denture grip handy,…
Can’t we all just get along? Not if you look at the demise of Veruca Salt, which went down in flames two years ago, after singer-guitarists Nina Gordon and Louise Post had a major falling out. The band scored big with its 1994 debut, American Thighs, and seemed destined to…
To refer to John Convertino and Joey Burns as a rhythm section is tantamount to calling John Lennon and Paul McCartney a couple of songwriters. It’s an accurate depiction but only in the most rudimentary Etch-a-Sketch-y fashion. Of course drummer Convertino and bassist Burns have been the living pulse of…
With the dissolution of Dead Can Dance two years ago, the schizophrenia that gave the music its conflict and mystique was finally cured. Angelic singer Lisa Gerrard was free to pursue the serpentine swirls and exotic esoterica that showed up on recent scores for The Insider and Gladiator, while Brendan…
Take heart if you’ve become accustomed to certain genres of music taking center stage at Alligator Alley, one of Broward’s finest live music venues. Local music man Fran Snyder is bringing his Writers Night showcase to town. This monthly meeting designed to hone local musicians’ chops is among one of…
Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés hasn’t exactly wanted for publicity in the last few years. A founding member of the Latin jazz supergroup Irakere, Valdés has recently signed to Blue Note Records and even been hailed as a master performer by the New York Times during a historic 1999 engagement at…
Azalia Snail likes secrets. The Los Angeles- based psychedelic folk rocker guards her mystique with sharp words: “No way!” she fires back when pressed to reveal her real name. “Azalia Snail, baby. I don’t want to talk about my name; I just think that’s such a trivial pursuit. It’s something…
Most pop fans know William Orbit’s music but little or nothing about the man behind it. The British ambient-house pioneer and master remixer twiddled the knobs in relative obscurity for years, doing studio time with Sting, Prince, the Human League, Peter Gabriel, the Cure, Blur, Depeche Mode, and Madonna, among…
What — you were expecting something good, something innovative to tour through South Florida? Off-the-beaten-path, interesting, unusual music is rarer than rocking-horse manure in this corner of the continent. Until the shifting tectonic plates move Broward/Palm Beach farther up the peninsula, more-fashionable fare will continue to shunt its services northward…
