M83’s 2003 album, Dead Cities, Red Seas, and Lost Ghosts was straight-up Blade Runner material, circa Los Angeles 2019. Dark and extravagant, it demanded proper subservience, too intense for a pedestrian spin on the stereo. While it garnered the group overseas adoration akin to that enjoyed by other French knob-twiddlers,…
Wes Anderson’s new film is his moodiest, most adult yet: Bill Murray’s Steve Zissou, a washed-up oceanographer/filmmaker plainly modeled after Jacques Cousteau, has a heart of gold, of course, but he also curses and behaves irrationally and commands unpaid interns to make him lattes on stolen espresso machines. The film’s…
This show will be brought to you by the number 3 and the letter F. And that’s F for funk, kids — the sticky, syncopated New Orleans kind originated by the Meters back in the early ’70s. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, listen up: PBS is…
Yeah, meat is murder. Which is one way to describe San Diego-based death-metal band Cattle Decapitation. If some Broadway producer decides to base a musical on the hard-core lives of roadies for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Cattle Decapitation will probably get the nod to write the score…
Everybody does it. Sometimes people even pay for it. The truth is — as I’m sure you know — Cex is well worth the money. To take the metaphor to the next level of freaky-deaky, this type of copulation comes between man and machine. Cex, a.k.a. Ryan Kidwell, is a…
Michael Donaldson, better known as Q-Burns Abstract Message, has had a long and varied career. During the “electronica” hype of the late ’90s, he cranked out everything from turntablist tracks (for the memorable Deep Concentration compilation) to breezy jazz ‘n’ bass and downtempo. If his latest compilation of remixes, Future…
Evan Rowe, singer for the band Catalonia, answers the fashion query: Will you wear high-waisted, acid-washed jeans when the eventual late-’80s fashion revival occurs? I’ll wear really tight, acid-washed jeans, jacked up high on my waist. But I’ll add a belt and shake it like grandpa. I like to shake…
Remembering Never Women and Children Die First (Ferret) Simplekill A Novel in May (Self-released) Between these two undersubtle, overwrought Fort Lauderdale hardcore bands is only the tiniest distinction. Simplekill screamer Panjo sounds like he gargled a bowlful of thumbtacks, while Remembering Never’s Peter Kowalsky growls like he’s smoking a diesel…
Unlike book jackets, album covers reveal a lot about the musicians they depict. DJ Irene poses for her CDs with bikini babes and blinging decks. Paul Oakenfold takes to turntables in the clouds as if he’s God’s personal DJ. Ferry Corsten’s Moonshine mix depicts him shaking the hands of hundreds…
The word “galactic” is a story in itself, conjuring up globular clusters and cosmic debris, spacemen, and silver ships. For New Orleans’ hard-touring Galactic, the word implies a hyperdriven spin out of the sweat-stained back alleys and inbred, funky old soul of their hometown into a thoroughly modern, body-moving blend…
Holy Ghost is an extraordinary career-spanning box set of rarely heard material by revolutionary saxophonist Albert Ayler. But it isn’t a must-have for even the most serious jazz collector. While the archival aspect of the package is noteworthy — eight CDs of live performances, an assortment of historical ephemera (including…
While most people use their basements for washing clothes or hiding bodies, Paul Westerberg has been busy pumping out a steady stream of records from his Minneapolis subterranean studio. If you’re a fan of the more bipolar ragings on Grandpaboy, you may be a bit disappointed by Folker. Clearly, Westerberg…
The Fiery Furnaces, the Brooklyn sibling duo that could, are restless. With their second full-length Blueberry Boat only six months the elder, they now send EP toddling out into the world. Its girth wide enough for LP clout, EP is a neat assembly of B-sides and new material. Tracks are…
Can we give out a Nobel prize this year for the Most Evolved View of Gender Relations in a Hip-Hop Song Still Saddled With Gratuitous Use of the Word “Bitch?” (We can do it the same night we award the Prehistoric Fuckface trophy to Dr. Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus, whose…
Go ahead and argue, but MOFRO is hands down the best rock band to come out of Florida since Skynyrd. You can keep your whiney emo brats and poseurific rap-metal numbskulls — Jacksonville natives J.J. Grey and Daryl Hance have them beat with an easy and true Deep South soul…
Despite the locale in their name, the North Mississippi Allstars are actually Tennessee royalty. The Dickinson brothers, drummer Cody and guitarist Luther, are the sons of legendary Memphis producer Jim Dickinson, who recorded the Replacements and Spiritualized, among others. Dad used to take the boys on the road, where they…
Most underground rappers have a hard time staying underground — if they’re talented, eventually they draw the spotlight. Somehow, Fatlip hasn’t had that problem. Once a member of acclaimed West Coast quartet the Pharcyde, the Angeleno’s hilarious, insane genius disappeared into obscurity and rumors of crack addiction. His brazen honesty…
In a world where it seems like the angriest rock bands win, the often-forgotten genre of folk music sits on the sidelines, patiently strumming along as it has for generations. Today’s folk music scene is vital and inclusive, encompassing bluegrass, country, and all aspects of “singer-songwriter-ness.” The South Florida Folk…
The formula is pretty much fail-safe: Cram 1,400 seasoned revelers aboard a chartered cruise ship with 25 hard-charging bands, lubricate briskly with around-the-clock boozing and recreational drugs, and spike it with the debauched lawlessness afforded by international waters. Sure, some tolerance for hyperextended solos and pinwheeling hippies is required, but…
It’s Nice 2 Be Rich (Self-released) On his second self-released full-length, West Palm Beach rapper/producer Rich Nice strings together a solid collection of rugged, street-level sketches on the eternal hip-hop hustle. Nice has a clipped, well-measured flow that lurches out of the gate a little woodenly, but by midway through…
Tony Landa, bass player for Humbert, answers the question: Which band are you embarrassed to admit you like? “The Hooters. Most people got over them after the first album, but I own ALL their albums and I’ve seen them live three times and they were great. Why do I hide…
Gabriel Fain has a superhuman ear for detail. You can hear it foremost in his euphoric, voluptuous house music sets at places like Voodoo Lounge and Club Space in downtown Miami. But you can also hear it in his speech, in the careful way the Israeli-born DJ uses metaphor to…
