Any music writer will tell you 1979 was a great year for punk and new wave. By that standard, brainy and tenacious Ted Leo is a music critic´s wet dream. He sings like Joe Jackson (only with a better falsetto), has the lyrical eye of Paul Weller (only from an…
Damn right, he´s got the blues. At one time, he was the youngest member of that great fraternity of old-school Chicago bluesmen (Muddy Water, Otis Rush, Magic Sam, etc.), but Buddy Guy is now keeper of the flame as the Windy City´s unofficial king of the blues. A juke-joint prodigy…
Laying down what they call ¨the new disco,¨ Radio 4 is one of several bands teaching the indie kids to dance again. They call it ¨the new disco,¨ first heard on Gotham, the NYC-based band´s 2002 breakthrough album. Like Franz Ferdinand, the Faint, Bloc Party, and others, Radio 4 employs…
As the Jackson 5 grew into the Jacksons, the Five Blind Boys of Alabama became, after a member´s passing, the Blind Boys of Alabama. Formed in 1937 at the Talladega Institute for the Deaf and Blind, they began recording in the ´40s, scored gospel hits in the ´50s, and their…
When Sublime point-man Bradley Nowell died of a drug overdose in 1996, many hard-drinking, fast-living music fans were left in limbo. Where were they gonna get the infectious mix of ska, punk, reggae, rock, and hip-hop that they had come to know and love? Enter Badfish, the Sublime tribute band…
Returning to South Florida has not been an easy task for the Radiators this year. Not only were the August shows canceled as a result of Hurricane Katrina but these New Orleans-based boys experienced the storm’s devastation first-hand. Since its inception in 1978, the Rads have built a loyal fan…
If you can think of another aging rocker with more lives than David Lee Roth, please let us know. First and foremost, he’s the man who made Van Halen the undisputable prototype for ’80s power-pop rock (Disagree? Tell me: Which is more iconic — Eddie’s shredding on “Eruption” or Dave’s…
When the ocean breezes of Florida get a little tetchy, a city with winter winds that smack like a hand across the face might feel like a welcome respite. “But I can’t get up to Chicago as often as I’d like!” you cry. Hold on — a taste of Chicago…
The Big Holiday Season is almost upon us — but few radio stations will be blaring songs about Hanukkah non-stop. Just think, another onslaught of Andy Williams, Burl Ives, and plenty of other ditties driving many of us into Cheer Overload and paganism. Not that I’m a Scrooge, but surely…
The misunderstood phenomenon of XBXRX is best explained after a large glass of tequila and a handful of barbiturates. Imagine the creative noise manipulations of mid-90s anarchic noize-master Flammable Child thawed by the artistic impulses of Melt Banana and finally garnished with the technological misuses of the Residents. XBXRX has…
An orthodox Jew reggae-rapping about God, the Torah, and clean living? If you hanen’t seen Matisyahu on MTV’s TRL or heard his album Live at Stubb’s, you might not believe it, but the bearded, black-hatted singer is the real deal. The former Matthew Miller grew up in White Plains, New…
Think about South Florida’s intimate relationship with Cuba and the Caribbean and the influence it’s had on our indigenous music scene. The same sort of cross-cultural, stylistic leg-humping goes on in Southern California across the Mexican-American border, and there’s no better example than L.A.’s Ozomatli. The bilingual, genre-smashing, Latin-funk-rock-rap outfit…
A giant among giants in the dance scene — literally and figuratively — Carl Cox might just be the most renowned techno DJ in the world. Currently ranked number six on TheDJList.com (putting him in company with names like Oakenfold and Sasha), Cox has snagged DJ of the Year kudos…
You gotta wonder if maybe Billy Idol invested in the patenting of hair gel, since there are few who’ve done as much to bolster its sales as he has. The only time he veered from his trademark peroxide-blond spikes was in ’93, for his techno-informed Cyberpunk, and the dreadlocks that…
So what do all these new bands that play ’80s romantic revivalist music listen to besides the Chameleons and Interpol? Depeche Mode, of course, which you can verify for yourself at the kickoff show of the venerable band’s new tour. These Brits have been making albums since 1981, certifying them…
Flying under the hippie-esque banner of “Yeehaw! Love Everyone!,” “Big” Kenny Alphin and John Rich — the singer/songerwriter/production duo that goes by the all-American moniker Big & Rich — has blazed a trail into uncharted country music territory. Hanging with a gaggle of hard-partying yokels known as the Muzik Mafia,…
So you’re a big Billy Joel fan and you feel the sincerity of Elton John, yet you haven’t checked out local (by way of the world) phenomenon Brendan O’Hara and the Humble Ones? Stop sleeping it! O’Hara has had a long trip from the outskirts of NYC to Portland to…
Age, they say, brings wisdom. It also brings Social Security checks, which Delbert McClinton will qualify for when he turns 65 next month. Hell, the Texas-born singer is so unapologetic about growing older that he’s adorned the CD sleeve of his latest, The Cost of Living, with past driver’s licenses…
For a while, it seemed that emo might be the only kind of punk germinating in Long Island, but Latterman meets at the post-hardcore/pop-punk crossroads those crybabies are trying to get to. Bringing their own spin to suburban teenaged pain and the injustices of the world, the four boys of…
It must be hard to be Hanson — you know, the brothers who “MMMBop”ed their little-boy androgyny onto the walls of many a preteen girl’s bedroom in the late ’90s. Guess what? They grew up, like even the most unwilling adolescents have a tendency to do. Checking into their just-released…
It bills itself simply as that “Little Ol’ Band from Texas,” but considering that its pedigree stretches back some 35 years, ZZ Top might be the best-known power trio since Cream. The band’s videos pass off a slapstick image — two front men boasting huge amounts of facial hair, wide-eyed…
Maybe you missed its Cinco de Mayo show at SpiderPussy, but if you like dangerously catchy, keyboard-driven tunes, Elkland is your band. The synth-poppers formerly known as the Goat Explosion bring their brand of hook-laden electro back to South Florida after finishing a stint opening for Erasure. Formed in the…
