Futureman with Jake Shimabukuro

It’s not often that someone claims to be a scientist, an inventor, and a musician, but jazz percussionist Roy “Futureman” Wooten says he’s all of this and more. The four-time Grammy award winner is perhaps best known as a member of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, where his eccentric personality…

Today is your LAST DAY to get (free!) tickets for Bacardi B-Live

Last year, local liquor giant Bacardi threw its hat into the music-event ring with the first edition of B-Live, an all-day, rum-fueled shebang at Bayfront Park’s ampitheater. It featured a host of unexpected artist pairings, including headliner Paul Oakenfold playing live, accompanied by a full orchestra. Although the event was…

Review: Iron & Wine at Revolution

Iron and Wine April 12, 2008 Revolution, Ft. Lauderdale Better Than: A cellarful of John Henry. Saturday night at Revolution, the 999 other keen-eared indie music types in attendance formed, perhaps, the best-behaved bunch of rock club attendees I’ve ever encountered. The object of their focus: Sam Beam, the man…

Last Night: Juanes at the American Airlines Arena

Ivon David Rojas Click here to see a slide show of the concert. A vociferous crowd nearly blew the roof off the building Saturday night with an impromtu, pre-concert rendition of Juanes’ Me Enamora that shook American Airlines Arena. Over 20,000 voices sang along to a skit on dual video…

The Morning Of

The Morning Of is a sextet of indie youngsters from upstate New York who have suddenly found themselves on the national stage. Reinforced by major distribution via their label, Tragic Hero Records, which was recently absorbed by Warner Music Group, The Morning Of are riding a wave of word-of-mouth and…

Iron and Wine

There’s a metaphor somewhere in Sam Beam’s hair. Something that equates his newly expansive locks with the richer, full-bodied sound he now peddles as Iron and Wine. Something that correlates the furtive minimalism of his early recordings (done while he was teaching film at FSU and Miami International University of…

Tego Calderon

The biggest social networking website has realized it’s time to recognize the fastest-growing population segment in the United States. Enter MySpace Latino, a bilingual sub-site within the MySpace juggernaut, launching now after a beta period starting last year. Just like the original MySpace, it boasts star-studded “secret shows” to which…

Grimy Styles

Taking their cues from dub pioneers like King Tubby and Lee “Scratch” Perry, Austin-based quartet Grimy Styles is ushering in a new wave of exploratory dub. The group’s latest album, Rewind, boasts tweaked-out klezmer, gypsy dub, and other global grooves that are creatively rehashed. Their heavy, syncopated beats beneath a…

More on Caribou

Last Night: Caribou at the Culture Room Saturday, April 5th, Better Than: Making your own Tie-Dye Shirt. The Review: Pulling into the parking lot of the Culture Room, I felt a little bittersweet seeing all the available spaces. It’s rare when an indie band like Caribou decides to grace S.Florida…

Last Night: Say Anything at Revolution

Say Anything, Manchester Orchestra, Biffy Clyro, Weatherbox Friday, April 4, 2008 Revolution Live Better Than: Being spoon-fed dinner in a straight jacket Say Anything lead singer Max Bemis has got enough issues—enough to, well, write a 27-song double disc detailing those issues, which he did in the band’s 2007 sophomore…

Last Night: Caribou at the Culture Room

Caribou Culture Room, Ft. Lauderdale April 5, 2008 Better Than: Having The Amboy Dukes drop by to help you with your homework. First things first. I (and you, if you were lucky enough to be there) have gotta thank Ahmed Gallab of Sinkane, who took over the traps for Caribou’s…

Cappadonna A No Show

Lucy Orozco Better Than: Being home alone drunk on a Saturday night, listening to Wu-Tang on your iPod. Cappadonna, a lesser known part of the Wu Tang Clan family, was supposed to perform Saturday at Studio A. Instead, club personnel posted a sign at the entrance asking anyone to call…

MSTRKRFT and N.O.R.E. “Bounce” Back Together

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…

Last Night: The Mars Volta at the Fillmore Miami Beach

The Mars Volta April 2, 2008 The Fillmore Miami Beach at The Jackie Gleason Theatre Better Than: Being cooked in a cauldron of chaos. If it is true, as some rabid fan boys might believe, that you haven’t lived till you’ve been nearly kicked in the kisser by Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s…

A Pint-Size Plastic Lemmy

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…

The Baboons

If you’ve never heard of Miami-based music group the Baboons, they’re clever enough to capture your attention before you ever listen to their music. For a group of white folks that bills itself as an Afro-Cuban funk ‘n’ roll band, naming themselves the Baboons was a questionable call. You can’t…

Caribou

For a guy with a PhD in Math, Dan Snaith sure knows how to find the human warmth inside a machine. Over the course of four albums — his latest, Andorra, was released last August — Snaith (AKA Caribou, formerly known as Manitoba) has coaxed some elegant and ethereal dreampop…