While MSTRKRFT was everywhere, again, this Winter Music Conference, a lot of the talk was about when they’d finally release some new material. (The duo’s last full album, The Looks, dropped in 2006). Similarly quiet in recent years, although not, um, really discussed at Winter Music Conference, is rapper N.O.R.E…

I usually never delve into the world of designer toys — oops, limited-edition figures with varying “colorways,” or whatever. But this time around someone’s obviously done their Googling and realized I’m a fan of Motörhead, and sent me a press release for this little gem. It’s definitely gone on my…

Here’s a track a friend suggested I look up, thanks to our shared love of any song using the phrase “booty music” (as opposed to the more journalistically politically correct “Miami bass”). Please start your day with this refreshing jam, “Booty Music” by Deep Side, a multiethnic, locally based quartet…

The monthly, completely undefinable music night at Churchill’s known as Night of the Weirds celebrates its final installment tonight. For a brief explanation in this week’s issue of the paper, click here. For an in-depth exploration of what Night of the Weirds was all about from Sasha Weisfeld, an active…

Handmade Electronic Music by Nicolas Collins Harold Golen Gallery, Miami Sunday, March 30, 2008 Better Than: Making music using GarageBand There’s beauty in chaos, especially when electronic hardware hacker Nicolas Collins gets his hands on some odd machines and lets his mind come up with unusual, yet stunning sounds. Long…

Antidote party, featuring Bassnectar and the Freestylers Circa 28, Miami Sunday, March 30 Better than: A ripe, juicy peach on a hot summer afternoon while your boombox spills the top 40. A good amount of closing joints were poppin’ off Sunday night to see the close of WMC ’08, but…

Fool’s Gold Records showcase The White Room, Miami March 28, 2008 Better Than: All the sleep you’re missing from WMC, times 10 Although most of the brouhaha was supposedly occurring Friday night over at Ultra, one seemingly underground party emerged from the woodworks of Downtown Miami. Dubbed by LA Riots…

Justice at Ultra Music Festival Bicentennial Park Friday, March 28, 2008 Better Than: Whatever X those chicks next to me were rolling face on I obviously wasn’t surprised in the slightest to see the typical ravers, rollers and ridiculous public behavior at Ultra, a fest known for its array of…

M.A.N.D.Y. and Booka Shade’s hit 2005 track “Body Language” M.A.N.D.Y., hailing from Berlin, isn’t female — nor is it even one person. Rather, it’s the purposefully ambiguous moniker of the DJ/producer duo of Patrick Bodmer and Philipp Jung. Longtime pals since boyhood, over the years they moved from throwing warehouse…

In this week’s special Winter Music Conference guide, we spoke with house legend Louie Vega — click here to read the story. Of course, there are always interview outtakes, so for Louie’s true fans, here’s the full Q&A. — Arielle Castillo Little Louie Vega performs Thursday, March 27, at the…

After more than two decades of one of the most celebrated careers in dance music, Little Louie Vega is still teaching the new jacks — and making bodies jack. But in recent years, Vega, ever the boundary-pusher, has expanded his conception of the groove beyond plonk-plonk-plonk. As Eddie Amador once…

Craze has never been one to overstay his musical welcome in any one genre. The Nicaragua-born, Miami-raised DJ boasts six DMC championship titles gained largely on hip-hop-heavy routines. Then, in the late Nineties, he won over hordes of ravers with his ingenious drum ‘n’ bass deck gymnastics. But these days,…

Anja Schneider took, it seems, a sort of reverse route to worldwide techno stardom. Rather than starting out in the clubs and working her way onto free-thinking European radio, she pluckily landed on the airwaves first and worried about figuring out how to mix records later. Schneider, who grew up…

On a recent afternoon, DJ Aero is sitting at home in L.A. cheerfully describing the set of 14 propulsive, four-to-the-floor tracks he recently helped create. Then his partner chimes in about one that’s still in the works. “We were in Costa Rica, and we recorded these girls chanting this thing…