Standing in a weirdly calm commercial kitchen and looking both bemused and amused, Taking Back Sunday frontman Adam Lazzara grabs a tray with two Polish sausages. Then he delivers an important message to the YouTube audience: “Make sure you check out DennysAllNighter.com!” Lazzara, you see, has just scored a coup…
Beyond the crush of Winter Music Conference, the folks behind Soul Simple Entertainment have been keeping it real for lovers of house music on that, well, soulful tip. They’ve been sort of quietly running a weekly Friday jam in the bar attached to the restaurant Ouzo’s, with the soundtrack supplied…
The apparent goal of this local-artist extravaganza, according to the tireless Oski Gonzalez and his cohort, the anonymous Queen of the Scene, is to present “culturally diverse artists.” Well, that’s sort of a given in Miami, no? In any event, Oski has again done what he does best — arranged…
It’s been a while since we checked in on Can You Rock a Little Softer, the weekly Wednesday event that Miami New Times just named Best Open Mike night. If you don’t already know, the schedule is thus: From 9:30 to 10 p.m., there’s an acoustic open mike. Then, from…
The contrast between Jamey Jasta, normal guy relaxing, and Jamey Jasta, frontman of crushing metalcore latter-day legends Hatebreed, is striking. Onstage, the compact 29-year-old is a man possessed by righteous rage, lathering up a roiling pit of burly guys who pressure-cook just short of a full-blown melee. Often rocking a…
Hip-hop artist Camu Tao, known for his membership in acclaimed underground assemblies MHz, S.A. Smash, the Nighthawks, and the Weathermen, passed away Sunday afternoon after a two-year battle with lung cancer. Born Tero Smith, he was two weeks shy of his 31st birthday. In his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, he…
Turkey: Mor ve Otesi – “Deli” (Insane) Turkey was ballsy and pretty ass-kicking on two levels here: 1) For entering a straight-ahead contemporary rock song, with band members actually playing their instruments, and 2) For singing in Turkish. That effectively prevents any kind of crossover success, even within Europe, but…
Because today’s a slow, lazy holiday, here are some more highlights from last week’s and weekend’s Eurovision song contest. The previous blog entry looked at some countries’ intentionally funny entries. Now is time for some possibly unintentional lulz. Azerbaijan: Elnur & Samir – “Day After Day” It looks like they’re…
This last weekend marked the finals of the Eurovision song contest’s 2008 edition…. What, haven’t heard of it? If not, you’ve missed out on years of amazing spectacle, full of slinky costumes, little-heard languages, and some of the most painful strains of Euro dance pop we’ll never hear widely on…
The Nylon Summer Tour With Switches, the Virgins, Be Your Own Pet, and She Wants Revenge Revolution, Ft. Lauderdale Wednesday, May 21, 2008 Better Than: Seeing Switches, the Virgins, or Be Your Own Pet in the future at whatever bigger venues to which they will graduate. The Review: Everyone seems…
LaShunda Flowers, a.k.a. Shunda K, is simultaneously black, gay, devoutly Christian, and the writer of songs such as “Kryptonite Pussy” (refrain: “Yo’ punanny better make that moneyyyyy!”). And the founder of the Tampa-based electro-rap outfit Yo Majesty is totally, comfortably outspoken about all of these things. If punk was originally…
Let’s see … a show at Churchill’s, a MySpage page headline that reads, “Fuck it up for the kids!” and a band name involving the word destroy. It’s a safe bet that Tuesday’s extravaganza at the premier rock dive in Little Haiti should include plenty of true punk-rock rowdiness, some…
Sunday afternoon marks the latest installment in an informal series of in-store performances at Sweat Records. It’s a nice change of pace in (gasp) daytime activities. Taking the store’s cozy stage this time is brand-spanking-new local quartet Avondale, purveyor of sweater-warm and comfy, acoustic-guitar-driven pop. The backbone of the group…
“I’ve always seen myself opening and running a hip-hop college or a hip-hop school of some sort,” says Miami MC Brimstone127. Now the tireless preserver of hip-hop history is one step closer to his goal — and local heads of legal age are going to be jealous they’re no longer…
In this week’s issue of the Miami New Times, for my Suicide Blonde column I spoke with JWL B and Shunda K of the Tampa-based electro-rap group Yo Majesty. Click here to read my explanation of why they’re one of the most punk rock things out there right now. But…
I miss Franz Ferdinand. Yes, unfortunately the Scottish quartet has continually suffered massive overexposure of all its singles. But that’s because you absolutely cannot fail with top-notch, hooky, angular U.K. rock that works as well on a dance floor as on a concert stage. Luckily, to fill in that gap…
Critical Miami recently pointed out Pitchfork Media’s pretty unforgiving review of Trilla. Yes, that’s a decimal point — on Pitchfork’s sort of infamous 10-point scale, I’ve never understood how reviewers arrive at the exact number. Why is it a 2.4, and not a 2.6 or a 2.3? Is there some…
Sayre Berman Duran Duran Mizner Park Amphitheater, Boca Raton Monday, May 19, 2008 Better Than: Just about every other show in the last six months by a band existing for more than fifteen years. The Review:Last night Duran Duran, now at some 28 years and running, managed to achieve nearly…
So, who doesn’t want to gently easy into their Monday afternoon with a good 20 minutes of time-wasting bad Internet videos? The smartest YouTube searchers know that the site’s treasures are often found simply by typing “worst” whatever in the search box, or, for a grab bag, just “worst” itself,…
The Square Egg, once upon a time, was one of THE best live acts going in Miami, with a live hip-hop/jazz/soul kinda thang that has yet to be paralleled in quality in this town. But eventually, as too many people do, frontman Lee decamped to Brooklyn – boohoo! Luckily, though,…
There’s no ignoring Ben Taylor’s musical lineage: With James Taylor as dad and Carly Simon as mom, Ben’s prowess in songwriting and performance is proving itself to be as impressive as his parents’. Yet his unique style is less hippie and more hip-hop. Ben’s set to open up for mom…
Tomorrow afternoon and evening, snag a free spot to learn some of the latest hands-on electronic beatmaking programs with George Acosta, Miami boy and legendary trance and progressive house DJ. (In 2007, Acosta was voted America’s Best DJ in DJ Times magazine. Also, remember those days at the Mix afterhours,…
