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…
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 do nothing but tarnish the band’s hallowed legacy. After…
Interpol’s major-label debut, Our Love to Admire, isn’t as monochrome (or monotonous) as its previous two albums. “Pioneer to the Falls” is arguably the richest song the band has ever recorded, a track that channels the stormy textures of the Cure’s Pornography. Death-march piano and woodwinds add countermelodies; a giant…
In ice-cool genre-mashup circles, Brazil is the de rigueur frontier for new hard-hitting, urban-sexy dance beats. Bonde do Rolê, hailing from Curitiba, is the first group from the baile funk scene to make international inroads, thanks to a chance discovery by Florida-bred DJ/producer Diplo of Hollertronix. On its first full-length,…
Groovebox Symphony @ Studio A You may (or very well may not) remember those glow stick lit nights in the late 90s at Malibu Grand Prix, where the air smelled of Vics and organic electronic mixes begged the body to groove. For many of these Full Moon ravers, candy or…
Mala Rodriguez looking muy mala The way she holds the voice recorder reveals that some of her fingernails are painted teal. Her middle fingernail sports this color completely, while ring finger is split vertically: half teal, half bare. That’s Mala for you, the reigning queen of Spain’s hip-hop scene. She’s…
Check out a young Bounty Killer and a relatively trim Barrington Levy yamming it up for the “Living Dangerously” video from the early 90s. Bounty has developed a significantly more gangsta image since these days but it’s funny to see the influence of 90s rap videos on this dancehall classic…
At first glance, it´s easy to consider Matisyahu as a novelty act within reggae music. The tall, slender, and heavily bearded Jewish crooner seems about as far as you can get from Jamaica, and, in appearance, he´s unlike anyone else who´s ever made a living as a reggae singer. But…
Came across this old video circa 1980 of an old Wailers practice session. It’s short, but precious footage of Bob and the boys wailing away on “Forever Loving Jah” –Jonathan Cunningham…
It’s funny how easy it is to forget about hip-hop group like Arrested Development. Since their heyday was in the early 90s, during the dog days of gangsta rap, most of their hits were lauded at the time of their release, but barely remembered in comparison to all of the…
Morrissey July 14, 2007 Mizner Park Ampitheatre Photo by Jeffrey Delannoy Better Than: For Morrissey fans: everything besides sex. But then again, considering that Mozzer is famously “asexual,” for some diehard fans even that may not be the case… The Review: There is a famous Baroque sculpture in the Cornaro…
Local MC’s are always vying for the number one spot. Despite the amatuer camera skills used to record this, wordsmiths Lyve Kaos of Brokensound BLVD/Deadbeat Writer’s Lab and freestyle champion Wrekonize go at it in a top notch battle that’s full of sharp barbs and comical punchlines. Hip-hop fans should…
Passing this along from Pandora’s e-mail list… Hi, it’s Tim one more time… Disaster looms! Yesterday a federal court denied a plea to delay the massive increase in rates webcasters must pay the record labels. This means that, absent immediate Congressional action, the new ruinous royalty rates will be going…
Seven years ago actor Andy Garcia portrayed Arturo Sandoval in a biopic film about the renowned jazz musician. On Sunday Garcia and Sandoval will stand side-by-side on stage. Garcia will try his hands on the congas alongside the Cuban trumpet-player and friends at the Arturo Sandoval Jazz Club in Miami…
So I finally headed out to the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, where the Latin Alternative Music Conference’s headquarters are stationed. At the showroom, you are inundated with an array of products ranging from Gibson Guitars to Microsoft’s Zune, which is trying to beat the iPod in its own game…
Latin Alternative Music Conference Indie Musician Showcase July 11, 2007 New York, NY So last night I headed out to the Mercury Lounge, where the LAMC indie showcase was already unfolding. The venue is a small room located in the city’s Lower East Side (also dubbed East Village), and is…
Once a year, Latin Alternative musicians – those who don’t play salsas, tangos, boleros or other regional beats come together in New York City for a series of industry panel discussions,networking opportunities, open bars (there is a cocktail party that begins at 1 PM on Thursday!),promotional stops and of course…
Aymee Nuviola will play Mystique on Saturday, July 14th. On more than one occasion Aymee Nuviola has emphasized her inability to socialize and vocal inclination as traumatic hurdles she encountered as an adolescent. “A raspy voice and lack of social skills will do that to you,” says Nuviola. “Let’s just…
Not even the shorest glimpse of the movie El Cantante is not necessary to understand Marc Anthony is no Hector Lavoe. Short on schooling but long on raw ability and bravado, Lavoe had a unique propensity – unlike Anthony whose antics at times seem forced – to grasp a stage…
As Tall as Lions July 11, 2007 Culture Room Better Than: Paying $200 for recycled nostalgia The Review: Coordinated in vests & dress pants like they were late to play a VH1 afterparty, As Tall As Lions’ hit the stage at freeway speeds, merging their sounds in and out of…
Search through the iPod of any pop-punk fan over 12, and you´ll see the names Screeching Weasel and Riverdales in the artists menu. Search through their closet shelves and you´ll find where many of those iTunes files came from — rows of compact discs that have sat untouched since the…
