Dancehall music is in a state of crisis. Violence and gun-talk rule the scene while peace and love is nowhere to be found. Most longtime admirers of the genre are fed up, but those who created the genre hate it even more. A man like King Jammy, who helped pioneer…
Despite putting out nine albums and having a knack for writing songs that would make Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson wince with envy, Ron Sexsmith has somehow managed to fly below the radar with the music-buying masses. Just exactly why remains an unfathomable mystery. Yet to his credit, this baby-faced…
In 2003, trombonist Conrad Herwig performed a weeklong engagement at New York’s Blue Note with a nine-piece ensemble that featured pianist Edsel Gomez and legendary reedsman Paquito D’Rivera for a show billed as “The Latin Side of Miles Davis.” Three nights were recorded, including the Grammy-nominated Another Kind of Blue,…
When one thinks of significant “duo” performers in American pop culture, who comes to mind? Sam and Dave, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Simon and Garfunkel… um, ahem. Add to that list the Bird and the Bee, a California twosome of Greg Kurstin (all instruments except horns) and Inara George…
Although flamenco is the main source of inspiration for this world-renowned Spanish band, the eight members of Ojos de Brujo tend to incorporate various musical influences into their compositions. What else can you expect from a band of gypsies who hail from Barcelona, a literal crossroads for the best musical…
Miami-based singer/producer Wibby White should learn how to quit when he’s ahead. The track arrangement on his newest album, The Trendsetter… starts out strong and can easily fool a listener into thinking he just copped an innovative CD. The album’s lead single, “Enjoy Yourself,” is a damned good blend of…
Slick Rick graced our cover just a few weeks ago in our lengthy anatomy of his legal troubles (“Slick Trouble,” Julia Reischel, January 11). But hey, he’s not just fighting deportation — he still performs, and he’s coming our way. The thumbnail: Back in the mid-1980s, the British-born, eye-patch-wearing MC…
Musicologists categorize the “Bo Diddley beat” as a variation on the clavé, a basic three-two (or two-three) pattern of accents that underlies much Afro-Cuban music. And while Diddley is justifiably famous for popularizing the influential rhythm that bears his name, that’s not his only contribution to rock history. His rumbling,…
Though his accessible approach to rhyming and beats might at first sound tailor-made for suburbanite mall dwellers, MC Lars’ subversive spirit is what matters. His hum-along melodies and wise-ass quirks might come off as safe, but dude makes music like a Jesus Jones-meets-Kraftwerk compilation album. A Stanford University student with…
Rick Miller isn’t a fan of South Florida’s club scene. As the singer/guitarist for popular rockabilly group Southern Culture on the Skids, he’s not in love with venues festooned with chrome and mirrors. And he says he hasn’t had good luck winning over crowds this far south. For a North…
Patti Austin recently dropped a hundred pounds from her famously plump frame and has gone from a size 26 to an almost petite size 6. Can you say gastric bypass surgery? It’s a big change for the singer/songwriter known mostly for her buttery smooth voice on songs like her 1982…
The king of lover’s rock is tired of freezing his ass off. It’s week five of a grueling eight-week North American tour, and Jamaican singer Beres Hammond has absolutely had it with nontropical weather. Detroit was frigid. Toronto was freezing. And if you even get him started on Montreal, all…
The story is a familiar one: a successful hair metal band (its first two albums went platinum) ultimately taken down by the undertow that was “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” And yet, by the time Nirvana came along, Winger was already adrift, sufficiently staggered by Beavis and Butt-Head and Metallica bitchslaps…
After their first single, “Don’t Let Go,” was featured on the soundtrack of the movie La Mujer de Mi Hermano last year, this Bronx-based duo formed by Dominican-born singer Nova (keys, guitar, vocals) and Colombian-born instrumentalist Maya (bass) finally emerges with its debut album. This is one of the most…
Poor Tommy Castro was born 40 years too late. He really should have been going to elementary school with folks like John Lee Hooker and Wilson Pickett. That way, he could have donated to the golden era of blues, when monsters like B.B. King and Buddy Guy were seemingly in…
The son of the recently departed Malian singer and guitarist Ali Farka Touré continues his father’s legacy with style and grace. Thankfully, he is also able to live up to his famous surname when it comes to Malian blues. Almost predictably, Vieux’s self-titled debut album is drenched in musical influences…
After four albums of exceptional, introspective folk-pop musings, it’s something of a shock to find Erin McKeown turning her attention to jazz gems of the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. Still, she does a credible job of capturing the spirit of those songs with a wink and a nudge of irreverence…
Judging by how often their early work is still, nearly two decades later, being pumped out on the PA systems of Spanish and Latin-American restaurants in this country, it’s pretty plain that Americans generally regard the Gipsy Kings as some kind of gold standard for what passes for Latin music…
It’s the seven-year mark for Naked Evolution, downtown Fort Lauderdale’s wildest revolving dancehall reggae party, and to celebrate the milestone, promoters are bringing in South Florida’s marquee “sound system.” That’s Jamaican talk for a roaming reggae party of epic proportions, and supplying the sounds will be the Miami-based Black Chiney…
Here’s a hip-hop artist who knows how to poke fun at himself. Lex One doesn’t seem to take life seriously on No Respect for Pedestrians, the shit-talking, party-rocking album from this Hollywood-based MC. The music here is reminiscent of early ’80s comedy-style hip-hop from Biz Markie or Kool Keith —…
It’s a no-brainer that Billy Joel has an obvious appeal to the geriatric crowd. After all, here’s a guy who has penned his fair share of ballads, with songs such as “New York State of Mind” and “Piano Man” providing fodder for many a lounge crooner’s repertoire. But anyone who…
You don’t have to be from the boondocks to savor Yonder Mountain String Band’s down-home sound. In fact, its inspired blend of folk and fusion has less to do with hillbillies and more in common with such genre-defying outfits as Nickel Creek and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Although it’s…
