Since launching its hip-hop party, Brown Bag Wednesdays, the Green Room has become the hump-day spot to drink Colt 45s while listening to throwback jams. The best part is, you never know what might happen. One night, a local rapper might be cooking chicken on stage. Another night, Talib Kweli…
Hip-hop artist Ricardo “Gaps” Tejeda is a Fort Lauderdale native who started rapping in high school, making, according to him, “little horrible tapes and dabbling with Fruity Loop beats.” Guided by his brother’s interest in rap and the lifestyle of growing up in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Tejeda recorded his first first…
Against Me! frontman is taking gender-bending one major step further than Bowie or Peter Gabriel ever did. In the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone, the 31-year-old singer announces his plans to transition from man into woman, from Tom Gabel to Laura Jane Grace. A sneak peek of the story was published on Rolling Stone’s…
The release of 2009’s Merriweather Post Pavilion brought Baltimore’s psychedelic indie trailblazers Animal Collective together in perfect harmony. The critically acclaimed album showcased AnCo’s trademark occulting sonic snippets while simultaneously unveiling the most approachable moments of its career. “My Girls” and “Summertime Clothes” were not totally art-damaged pop songs; turns…
Music vet and New Times scribe Lee Zimmerman shares stories of memorable rock ‘n’ roll encounters that took place in our local environs. This week: A new way to make memories. I have to admit, I’m not always comfortable with new technology. Anyone who’s seen me scream in frustration when…
Israeli psy-trance duo Infected Mushroom released a new album, Army of Mushrooms, this week — their eighth studio LP on Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak Records. One of Israel’s best-selling groups, the collaboration project of Erez Aizen and Amit Dudevani became a genuine international cult success with their fusion of trance, psychedelia, and…
Since the 2009 debut of Lungs, Florence Welch — and her powerful backing musicians — has become an unstoppable force in the music world. The booming and ethereal vocals on such tracks as “Dog Days Are Over” and the catchy lyrics of “Kiss With a Fist” had us hooked. Now…
Randy Piro is sort of the orchestrator of Orbweaver, an experimental psych-metal band that’s currently working on music for a new album. The Broward native, formerly of Gigan and Hate Eternal, hand-picked some of the best musicians in the tricounty area to work with him on this, his newest project. This includes…
Is it wrong to love the music of Jennifer Lopez or that of Enrique Iglesias? Maybe. But is their music as obnoxiously addictive as cupcakes were popular in the early aughts? Yes, and just as delicious and somehow just as gross as that strangely popular phase in American culinary history. Both…
For a man who was not only the avowed forerunner of modern blues music — Eric Clapton once called him “the most important blues singer that ever lived” — relatively little is known about the brief life of Robert Johnson. Even the information that has been uncovered is often contradictory…
In a converted nursery school on Wiles Road, with heavy-metal music blaring behind every door, Andrew Musselman leads me to the classroom where he’ll teach his next lesson. He’s running late, but that doesn’t deter him from giving me the grand tour. As we pass a room with beanbag chairs…
PitbullSunFest, West Palm Beach May 6, 2012Better than: Not hearing Pitbull say dale. Mr. 305 brought his notorious Miami flavor and fast-paced rhymes Sunday to the Bank of America stage at SunFest in West Palm Beach. Pitbull, who has been a staple in the South Florida hip-hop scene since 2004,…
Back in 2008, Built to Spill performed their 1997 release, Perfect From Now On, in its entirety at the My Bloody Valentine-curated ATP concert in Monticello, New York. It happened to fall on the same weekend of my very best friend’s wedding on Block Island, Rhode Island. After flying in…
Passion PitSunFest, West Palm BeachMay 4, 2012Better than: Fostering the people to a Creed performance. A gentle breeze and balmy upper-70-degree weather provided idyllic conditions for enjoying SunFest, West Palm Beach’s multigenerational music and arts festival by the Intracoastal on Friday night. Upon entering, we maneuvered our way passed the horde…
Cinco de Mayo Black Seal, The Muggles, Nervous Attachments, Radioboxer, EverymenSpeakeasy Lounge, Lake Worth May 5, 2012Better than: Building a raft from discarded fliers and navigating a river of vomit back to your car.The thought of Cinco de Mayo, the second of three yearly amateur boozing nights, falling on the same Saturday…
Better than: Vans Warped TourAs the sun set and the full moon rose above the West Palm Beach waterfront festival, the All-American Rejects took the stage. Returning for a second year — they performed back in 2007 — the band delivered a sexually charged, power pop goes rock n’ roll…
Def Leppard and Poison are bringing their big hair, big riffs, and big hooks to BankAtlantic Center on August 9. The “Rock of Ages Tour” — named after the movie based on the musical based on the music of these two bands and their contemporaries — will begin just a…
With swampy song titles like “Vizcaya” and “I Fought a Crocodile,” there’s no doubt the Jacuzzi Boys love sticky, sweaty South Florida. They braved their collective fear of flying to bring Miami-flavored, coconut-croquetta-tasting rock ‘n’ roll to Europe on a recent 26-city tour. Though we knew the continent would send…
Better than: Lita Ford ever was.Just before Joan Jett bounced on to the Tire Kingdom stage in a skintight outfit and black high-tops with red laces, nature had provided an epic warm-up set: Temps dipped from searingly hot to pleasantly balmy, palm trees swayed along the waterfront, and a giant…
Brian Fair is the dread-headed lead singer for metal band Shadows Fall. Though the group has referenced Rastafarian ideas in their lyrics, including on the song “Wasteland” off their upcoming release Fire From the Sky, Fair says based on his hair, “everyone assumes we’re a rasta band anyway.”That’s not the only religious perspective…
Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Tour Hard Rock Live, Hollywood May 4, 2012 Better Than: Brian, Mike, or Al on their own Okay, let’s all take a collective breath here… Friday night’s Beach Boys concert was not only a lot of fun, fun, fun, but a humbling experience as well. Seeped in nostalgia, it proved…
“I give thanks for this world as a place to learn, and for this human body that I know I’ve earned” -Adam Yauch, 1954-2012 MCA’s passing comes as a shock. Adam Yauch was diagnosed with cancer back in ’09. I really thought he’d beat it. I realize now how naïve…
