Sheila Witkin was the type of fly on the wall that never got swatted. Her contributions to South Florida’s music scene in the late 1970s by way of promotion and artist development was a critical component of what gave this region an identity when it came to indie rock. And…
Jazz and hip-hop once constituted a popular combination thanks to the likes of Gang Starr and A Tribe Called Quest. And while the mainstream has seemingly lost its taste for the blend, there’s plenty of flavor left in it — at least when Future Jazz Project is plugged in. The…
“Oh, cool! A Curious George doll!” Dears frontman Murray Lightburn exclaims. “I’ve been wanting one of these for my kid for ages.” He pauses. “Sorry about that — I got sidetracked. I’m in a pharmacy right now in Winnipeg.” These are not exactly the first words you expect to hear…
Musicians have faced adversity on the road to success since time immemorial. Hell, the Polish hunted down and killed thousands of musicians called bandurists for four centuries before they got over that nasty habit. In other words, a lot of forces have always conspired to keep musicians from achieving their…
A year ago, Paul McCartney opened the vaults to the Freelance Hellraiser, who smashed the back catalog all to, well, hell by mashing up mediocre Macca till it sounded brighter than the solo Beatle ever did all by his lonesome. Now comes the old pro himself, Sir George Martin, attempting…
OK, we weren’t sure what a “haggis” was exactly until we were told it has something to do with a Scottish delicacy consisting of boiled sheep innards. Which, for the most part, is pretty fucking disgusting. On the other hand, considering the delectable music made by Toronto’s Enter the Haggis,…
Filled with invigorating takes on classic rock warhorses, 2002’s Sucking the 70’s just might be the best tribute compilation ever produced. And while its sequel, Sucking the 70’s, Back in the Saddle Again, returns many of the same stoner-rock all-stars, Empire Strikes Back it ain’t. Like the first Sucking, the…
Singer/songwriter Cayce Lindner sports a thick gray beard, calls Northern California home, and plucks an acoustic guitar. This means a lot of people will describe his new project, Flying Canyon, as a symptom of this whole freak-folk, indie-hippie fad. And while Glenn Donaldson’s production — transforming doom-metal grooves into woodland…
Perpetually clad in flip-flops and baggy shorts, flaunting the kind of deep skin tone and shaggy golden hair only a lifetime on the beach can achieve, Sammy Zuniga doesn’t look like your typical music impresario. But local music fans know the international vagabond sophisticate as the founder of Lake Worth’s…
From the wave of acclaimed DJ/producers blowing outward from Orlando in the ’90s to the nightlong escapades at the infamous Edge, if any place in the country has truly embraced the breakbeat genre, it’s Florida. That said, one of the most promising sounds in Nu Breaks is coming from a…
The times, they are a-changin’ for Irish music enthusiasts — and their feet too. When the Pogues emerged from the early-’80s post-punk landscape, most of their fans wore Doc Martens. Some two decades later, though, California’s Gaelic Storm dropped its latest album, 2006’s Bring Yer Wellies, offering a spirited mix…
Just a few days ago, I was eating lunch with a friend when I mentioned that the once-great rock bar City Limits had recently reopened. A fellow two tables over from us perked up immediately when he heard the name. “City Limits is back?” he yelped out, spilling some of…
“Fetti Profoun” is a horrible hip-hop handle, but the hooks here are hot as hell. The CD opens with audio clips from news stations, spliced together to sound like a big, controversial story about the Phoenix-based Fetti, then busts into the title track with hydraulic-bumpin’ beats and suspenseful synths, where…
“I’m waist-deep in alligators,” Bill “Watermelon Slim” Homans sings on his latest album, Watermelon Slim & the Workers, “and sometimes I’m neck-deep in bullshit.” The Oklahoma-based blues singer, slide guitarist, and harmonica player has definitely seen his share of… well, trouble and contention in his day. But that’s because he…
Hollywood adores making big-budget biopics about rock stars and their eternal struggles with booze, broads, and diverse demons. And we love watching them. Some they nailed; others not so much. Jamie Foxx was a respectable Ray Charles, for instance, and Gary Oldman made a fine Sid Vicious. But Joaquin Phoenix…
“Hellektro” group Combichrist has long been a favorite of the fetish community. Led by Norwegian-born Andy LaPlegua, Combichrist blends dark techno, aggro beats, and synth noise to produce a wicked, hawkish soundscape that’s equally diabolical and danceable. The title track drowns in pulsating synths, while LaPlegua’s fuzzed-over voice floats to…
Ever since Buena Vista Social Club, Afro-Cuban music has been on the radar of mainstream trendspotters both old and young. Yet the majority of new releases and rereleases since BVSC have concentrated on the Caribbean side of the equation (with the possible exception of Senegal’s Orchestre Baobab), to the detriment…
In the jam-band world, there is a natural need to fill the void created by the departure of Phish and the Dead — and Tea Leaf Green has met the challenge with flying colors (well… green, at least). Keeping with the jam-band tradition, Tea Leaf Green makes MP3s of its…
Venezuelan-born DJ Miguel Colmenares started experimenting with electronic music after being wowed by two Miami mainstays — the up-all-night trance sessions of Club Space and the feverish beats of the Ultra Music Fest. Since then, Colmenares has gone on to spin a blend of house and ambient techno at a…
Since its inception back in the late ’80s, this series has embodied the state of dancehall reggae and launched emerging artists. Casual listeners learn about the year in dancehall while dedicated enthusiasts appreciate the CD-length collections of all the hot seven-inches in recent months. Core audiences in Kingston and Brooklyn…
Coming on the heels of last month’s Circle Jerks show, Respectable Street plays host to yet another seminal SoCal punk band — Agent Orange. Like the Circle Jerks, the Orange County-based trio, led by guitarist/vocalist Mike Palm, was a forerunner of the early ’80s West Coast punk scene. But unlike…
Despite the fact that his latest album, the optimistically dubbed Face the Promise, represents his first new set of songs in nearly a dozen years, Bob Seger is, to borrow the title of one of his most resilient oldies, still the same when it comes to his blue-collar rock ‘n’…
