Photo by Santiago Felipe Beyonce July 22, 2007 BankAtlantic Center Better Than: Hating. You gotta love it. The Review: Blue-eyed soulster Robin Thicke was just finishing up his set when I walked into the BankAtlantic Center. So like any good girl on a Sunday night, I head straight to the…
Wu-Tang and LOUD.com offer fans a chance to open for The Wu in Hawaii! From July 16th to August 20th, 2007, Wu-Tang fans have the chance of lifetime. They can log on to LOUD.com, where they will be able to use a unique online recording studio to make and submit…
Tegan & Sara The Con (Vapor/Sire) The musical output of Canadian twins inevitably carries with it a vaguely alien air. One can just imagine Tegan & Sara in Montreal and Vancouver, respectively, engaging in some seizure-like sibling communication and spontaneously birthing The Con. Nothing so medievally weird happened, of course,…
Mary J. Blige July 19, 2007 Hard Rock Live Better Than: Any lip-synching factory-made pop tart we can think of The Review: Last night Mary J. Blige turned the Seminole Hard Rock into the Seminole Hard Soul. Rockin a one-piece black jumpsuit and some killer heels, she started the show…
Jackie Guerrido Premios Juventud 2007 July 19, 2007 BankUnited Center, University of Miami Better than: Staying home, I guess. Univision spent the last several months leading up to last night’s 2007 Premios Juventud playing it up as one that would stand-alone for years to come. Nice try but the Spanish-language…
The Rocket Summer Do You Feel Island Records The Rocket Summer’s major label debut, Do You Feel, rings similar to their two previous full-length albums. Bryce Avary, the band’s songwriter, singer, and instrumentalist has perfected his sound with this release. The Rocket Summer got its start back in 1999, when…
Vans Warped Tour July 21st, 2007 Bicentennial Park 11:00 a.m. Warped Tour is celebrating its 13th birthday this year. The main stages have been appropriately renamed to “Lucky” and “13” for the occasion. South Florida did hit some bad luck, though, with bands such as Alkaline Trio, Mxpx, and Valencia…
Bad Brains Build a Nation (Oscilloscope/Megaforce) By Saby Reyes-Kulkarni With musicians, like athletes, it’s always disheartening to watch them hang around long enough to see their abilities break down. Bad Brains fans, long beset by the band’s notorious instability, have every reason to expect that a present-day reunion album can…
Just announced: Joel Meinholz, head of the supercool party promotions/whatever company IAmYourVillain, has just booked the legendary Beat Junkie J-Rocc to perform this Sunday at the Chocolate Sundays at Purdy Lounge. (IAmYourVillain is also responsible for the chilled-out, hip-hoppy, skateboarderish, anything-goes vibe of fun parties like Take Out Tuesday at…
Latin hip-hop is a strange animal these days. What was once perceived as a laughingstock or at best a lackluster subgenre of rap is now a multimillion-dollar commodity. Venture into the right nightclubs, where the tastemakers hang out, and it’s reggaeton and Spanish hip-hop, not just meringue and salsa, that…
Spice Resto-Lounge954-923-3888 1934 Hollywood Blvd., HollywoodThe blue, red, yellow, and pink lights bounce off the walls. Patrons sweat as their appendages move to a conga beat. A silky canopy hangs above them, adding to the impression that Spice Resto-Lounge is actually somewhere other than here. Somewhere more exotic. Hollywood? Nah…
What’s so bad about feeling macabre? Nothing, if the works of Nick Drake, Camera Obscura, and Ladybug Transistor are around to dispel your bittersweet nostalgia or pensive melancholy. Although these ‘bugs call the wilds of Brooklyn home, there’s little of the bluster often associated with that NYC satellite within their…
It’s 11 on a hot and sticky Friday night, and I’m sweating inside Hollywood’s Club M waiting on a miracle. The once-popular, always-dysfunctional, heavily loved hardcore band Load is scheduled to play an impromptu set within the hour. If all goes well, it’ll be the band’s first time on stage…
After a four-year absence, Marilyn Manson has returned to the public eye in the video for “Heart-Shaped Glasses” by porking his barely legal girlfriend in a rain of blood. Considering Manson’s affinity for shock value, it was a grand reentry into the rock world. That kind of flashy, trashy imagery…
Dear Beyoncé, I know you’re busy being a multimedia superstar, but did you get a chance to check out Knocked Up when it dropped a month back? I’m sure you had things to do, like win a Grammy or deny Jay-Z is totally tapping that, but, hey, if you did…
Two married pop-country superstars, one stage, one burning question: Who would win in a celebrity death match between these two happily married musical artists? Why Faith Hill Will Win: With hits like “Wild One,” “This Kiss,” “Breathe,” and “Mississippi Girl,” Hill has established herself as one of the greatest country…
Unlike the Passa Passa dancehall DVDs that are all about booty shots and the hottest dance moves, films documenting true-school reggae concerts are hard to find. You can walk into any Caribbean record store and get the latest Passa Passa vid, but catching acts like Richie Spice, Chuck Fenda, and…
Coming off an eight-year recording hiatus with a thing or two to prove, Queens, New York, MC and early ’90s underground hip-hop phenom Pharoahe Monch delivers a poetically flawless product with his second solo release, Desire. Central to the disc’s impact is Monch’s seamless mastery of fusing words to render…
EPs, while thoroughly forgotten, have always been the best litmus test within music. Not only are artists able to feel out their fans but listeners can get a small taste of an upcoming album. As listeners, we either like it or we hate it, but when the latter occurs, at…
When it comes to the prototypical urban songstress, there’s no one who commands more respect than the legendary Mary J. Blige. New urban starlets such as Keyshia Cole, Beyoncé, and Alicia Keys have all named her as influences, and she’s been the marquee name within female R&B for the past…
Go to any Colombian party on New Year’s Eve and you’ll hear it. Give it just five seconds and watch it summon all within its audible reach to the dance floor. It’s name is “El Preso” (“The Prisoner”), and it’s a Colombian classic. Keyboards and trumpets intertwine behind the clave…
Some assume that being in a punk band means surrendering your sense of humor and giving up all claims on musical maturity. Fortunately, there’s the occasional outfit that dispels that stereotype. The Ramones were goofy from the get-go, while Green Day proved that even irreverence can garner you a Grammy…
