Wu-Tang and LOUD.com offer fans a chance to open for The Wu in Hawaii! From July 16th to August 20th, 2007, Wu-Tang fans have the chance of lifetime. They can log on to LOUD.com, where they will be able to use a unique online recording studio to make and submit…

Tegan & Sara The Con (Vapor/Sire) The musical output of Canadian twins inevitably carries with it a vaguely alien air. One can just imagine Tegan & Sara in Montreal and Vancouver, respectively, engaging in some seizure-like sibling communication and spontaneously birthing The Con. Nothing so medievally weird happened, of course,…

Mary J. Blige July 19, 2007 Hard Rock Live Better Than: Any lip-synching factory-made pop tart we can think of The Review: Last night Mary J. Blige turned the Seminole Hard Rock into the Seminole Hard Soul. Rockin a one-piece black jumpsuit and some killer heels, she started the show…

Jackie Guerrido Premios Juventud 2007 July 19, 2007 BankUnited Center, University of Miami Better than: Staying home, I guess. Univision spent the last several months leading up to last night’s 2007 Premios Juventud playing it up as one that would stand-alone for years to come. Nice try but the Spanish-language…

The Rocket Summer Do You Feel Island Records The Rocket Summer’s major label debut, Do You Feel, rings similar to their two previous full-length albums. Bryce Avary, the band’s songwriter, singer, and instrumentalist has perfected his sound with this release. The Rocket Summer got its start back in 1999, when…

Bad Brains Build a Nation (Oscilloscope/Megaforce) By Saby Reyes-Kulkarni With musicians, like athletes, it’s always disheartening to watch them hang around long enough to see their abilities break down. Bad Brains fans, long beset by the band’s notorious instability, have every reason to expect that a present-day reunion album can…

Just announced: Joel Meinholz, head of the supercool party promotions/whatever company IAmYourVillain, has just booked the legendary Beat Junkie J-Rocc to perform this Sunday at the Chocolate Sundays at Purdy Lounge. (IAmYourVillain is also responsible for the chilled-out, hip-hoppy, skateboarderish, anything-goes vibe of fun parties like Take Out Tuesday at…

The Vans Warped Tour, that all-day extravaganza of punkish rock bands, extreme sports, and alternative youth lifestyle branding, turns lucky 13 this summer. In celebration, the sprawling, multistage, all-day affair has grown even larger. The band lineup alone features something like 55-plus names. And then there are all the vendor…

Groovebox Symphony @ Studio A You may (or very well may not) remember those glow stick lit nights in the late 90s at Malibu Grand Prix, where the air smelled of Vics and organic electronic mixes begged the body to groove. For many of these Full Moon ravers, candy or…

Morrissey July 14, 2007 Mizner Park Ampitheatre Photo by Jeffrey Delannoy Better Than: For Morrissey fans: everything besides sex. But then again, considering that Mozzer is famously “asexual,” for some diehard fans even that may not be the case… The Review: There is a famous Baroque sculpture in the Cornaro…

Passing this along from Pandora’s e-mail list… Hi, it’s Tim one more time… Disaster looms! Yesterday a federal court denied a plea to delay the massive increase in rates webcasters must pay the record labels. This means that, absent immediate Congressional action, the new ruinous royalty rates will be going…

Seven years ago actor Andy Garcia portrayed Arturo Sandoval in a biopic film about the renowned jazz musician. On Sunday Garcia and Sandoval will stand side-by-side on stage. Garcia will try his hands on the congas alongside the Cuban trumpet-player and friends at the Arturo Sandoval Jazz Club in Miami…

So I finally headed out to the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, where the Latin Alternative Music Conference’s headquarters are stationed. At the showroom, you are inundated with an array of products ranging from Gibson Guitars to Microsoft’s Zune, which is trying to beat the iPod in its own game…

Latin Alternative Music Conference Indie Musician Showcase July 11, 2007 New York, NY So last night I headed out to the Mercury Lounge, where the LAMC indie showcase was already unfolding. The venue is a small room located in the city’s Lower East Side (also dubbed East Village), and is…

Once a year, Latin Alternative musicians – those who don’t play salsas, tangos, boleros or other regional beats come together in New York City for a series of industry panel discussions,networking opportunities, open bars (there is a cocktail party that begins at 1 PM on Thursday!),promotional stops and of course…

A grinding bass line boomed as the lights came up on the baby-faced DJ, his white polo shirt collar popped and his black cap tipped sideways. He thumped his chest, and then, almost invisibly, his hands flew over the turntables, leaving a spray of scratches in their wake. Shouted hip-hop…

Q&A after the jump!…

Wondering what you’re missing in Ibiza this summer? Following, a couple interviews with some of this summer’s residents at megaclub Pacha. First, hometown hero, Space resident Cedric Gervais. Interview after the jump…

Jyrki69, frontman of the 69 Eyes Photo by Jeffrey Delannoy Last night’s concert at Revolution marked the 69 Eyes’ first ever appearance in South Florida as headliners. Despite playing, and with the same lineup, for over fifteen years, the Helsinki, Finland-based quintet has remained something of a cult band in…

Astute observers have noted that his summer marks the fortieth anniversary of the Monterrey International Pop Festival, the event that established the blueprint for the rock festival concept and spawned the possibility of booking a variety of bands and artists to perform over the course of consecutive days in a…