“Ska can be a lot of different things mixed together,” claims Joe Basi, drummer for Fort Lauderdale-based ska octet King 7 and the Soulsonics. “It has elements of jazz and reggae, but ska is really about the beat and can be interpreted in many individual ways.” Basi and his bandmates…
Edwyn Collins I’m Not Following You (Epic) As long as we’re being forced to relive the Seventies, why not let Edwyn Collins score the soundtrack? His darkly reedy voice, pop-culture fetishism, and cheesy synthesizers make for an appropriate, end-of-the-millennium update on that never-ending decade. On this, his fourth solo release,…
Although blood brothers will be eternally infamous for numerous disagreements and quarrels (just think of Biblical legends Cain and Abel or Oasis’ feuding Noel and Liam Gallagher), siblings Carl (vocals) and Rich Coccaro (guitar), of Fort Lauderdale-based rock quartet EXIT, get along just fine. Joined by bassist Dave Laber and…
Just a couple of years ago, Stephan Jenkins was living the low-rent lifestyle in San Francisco, cutting lumber on his dad’s land in the nearby forests of Inverness for a few dollars. He wasn’t dreaming about becoming a rock star then. He was planning on it. His band, Third Eye…
In an era when heavy metal is about as hip as breakfast cereal, Pantera is white-hot. Metal may have died a fiery death in the late Eighties, but these neometal cowboys rose from the ashes and became the toast of a new underground. With only four major-label albums under their…
Chumbawamba Tubthumper (Republic/Universal) Chumbawamba must be as surprised as anyone that they’ve scored a Top 10 single with “Tubthumping,” that irresistible pop ditty with the rousing chorus, “I get knocked down/But I get up again/You’re never gonna keep me down.” Just last week it hit No. 7 on the Billboard…
Over the course of this weekend, South Floridians will spend three warm evenings with Barry Manilow — the man, the legend. But not the myth. There really isn’t one surrounding Manilow. In fact, though his fans seem to enjoy an intensely personal relationship with him, Manilow appears almost totally devoid…
Need to relax? Too many thoughts running around inside your head? Music for Healing and Meditation is an entrancing, healing, and relaxing cassette full of meditative flute tunes by Silver Nightingale (a.k.a. Laura Sue Wilansky). It’s the perfect accompaniment to a comfortable couch, a cup of herbal tea, and some…
Named after a former band member’s mangy cat that attacks dogs, Livid Kittens has adopted the ferocious feline’s attitude and applied it to their gothic-punk sound. Already a staple at local rock venues such as Tavern 213, Squeeze, and the Theater, Livid Kittens are currently planning a tour of the…
The most fascinating thing about Andy Warhol wasn’t his platinum blond hair, his gaunt face, or his creepy entourage of attention-starved hipsters. Nor was it his artwork. Though Warhol’s contributions to popular art and popular culture are impossible to quantify, his simple soup cans and Day-Glo Marilyns were far less…
The Pursuit of Happiness The Wonderful World of… (Iron Music Group) Over the course of five albums, from 1988’s bracingly smart Love Junk to the current, equally likable The Wonderful World of…, the Toronto-based Pursuit of Happiness has cranked out a welter of relentlessly brilliant hard-pop songs — wry, witty,…
The name Duran Duran once conjured up the most glamorous of all possible worlds. Simon Le Bon singing “Rio” while swinging off the mast of a speeding yacht. Nick Rhodes wearing an off-the-shoulder sweater while playing a Roland keyboard. The three Taylor boys — Andy, John, and Roger — preening…
Craig Yarnold sounds thrashed. His voice is croaky, nose congested, and he’s sending some gnarly, hacking cough concussions over international phone lines. Sick? Not really. More like a hefty hangover. And who can blame him? It’s not often a band plays a gig like Yarnold’s Buck-O-Nine did in Tokyo two…
Before embarking on a European tour in early December, the five-piece Christian hardcore group Strongarm has a few more songs to belt out right here in South Florida. Promoting its most recent CD, The Advent of a Miracle, the Fort Lauderdale-based group will perform tonight (Thursday) as part of an…
Jen Trynin Gun Shy Trigger Happy (Warner Bros.) Jen Trynin may ponder love’s great existential questions to death, but Gun Shy Trigger Happy is a brilliant bit of navel gazing. This is a confident and cagey second outing, with more of the coy balladry and tough guitar-wrangling that made 1994’s…
Buena Vista Social Club Buena Vista Social Club (World Circuit/Nonesuch) Since the early Seventies, Ry Cooder has been rediscovering forgotten songs and breathing new life into vanishing musical traditions. By embracing numerous genres — including country, blues, gospel, Tex-Mex, and Hawaiian slack-key — the guitarist/producer has seemed to be on…
“Ska is an organic product with deep cultural roots that is far better for you than major-label chemicals,” notes Rob “Bucket” Hingley, founder of the Toasters, a seven-member multiracial combo that unleashed its catchy, up-tempo ska strains onto U.S. shores for the first time fifteen years ago. “You’ll never see…
It’s a good bet that in the last few months R.L. Burnside has become the world’s most popular septuagenarian punk rocker. Burnside, a 70-year-old North Mississippian who plays slash-and-drone guitar and sings like a satisfied frog, is suddenly a growing sensation on the college-radio circuit. Technically, he isn’t a punk…
