In the streets of Barcelona, Spain, the word barí means gem. Barí is also the name that alternative combo Ojos de Brujo (“Eyes of the Wizard”) gave to its second album before critics all over Europe began using the same word to describe the songs on it. Shiny and pure…
After spending years jamming on elegant sushi and dishing out raw blues, it’s no surprise local Renaissance man Kenny Millions is going to the source of both. This week, Millions teams up with Akikazu Nakamura, an esteemed Japanese musician who’s a recognized master of the wooden shakuhachi flute. After a…
If you thought Iron and Wine’s sleepytime hush was out of place coming from Miami, you’ll be shocked at the true-blue, back porch country wail of the Down Home Southernaires. Composed of members of part-time experimental jazz-rockers Pygmy, the Southernaires’ boot scoot boogie creaks and twangs with old yokel vocals,…
Country! Rock! Alternative! Pop! Acronym them all together and you get CRAP — that is to say, the CRAP Festival, an annual compendium of Southern bands, local and nonlocal. The 18 Wheelers specialize in the back catalog of big-beat honky tonk and rockabilly. Will Thomas perpetuates the recurrent yet somewhat…
Outrageous but true statement of the week: Keane is Coldplay without guitars. Ridiculous! you argue. A lie! you say. Just check out the English trio’s 2004 release, Hopes and Fears, and you’ll hear for yourself. Front and center are vocalist Tom Chaplin’s rosey-hued voice and Tim Rice-Oxley’s melodramatic piano. All…
When I say the words Las Vegas, what musical acts pop into your mind? Wayne Newton, Elvis Presley, and Dean Martin all sound about right, huh? Well, you’re dead wrong, sonny. Collective Soul is what Vegas is about. Oh, you didn’t know? That’s OK — neither did anyone else on…
While some might assess the recent breed of jam bands as successors to the Grateful Dead, this Mr. Know-It-All maintains that the worthiest heir to the Dead legacy is just another band from East L.A. Los Lobos measures up where it counts: musically. Like the Dead, they embrace roots music…
Downtown Miami’s I/O continues to play host to long-lost hip-hoppers on the comeback trail. Black Moon, Digable Planets, and Fatlip have all spit to South Florida fans in the past few months, and now underground legend Masta Ace gets his turn. Ace sprouted from the Brooklyn projects into critical acclaim…
If you need any further proof that Europe has cornered the market on weird, shtick-pop detritus homage, Stereo Total ought to settle the issue. The duo, composed of French femme fatale Françoise Cactus and German übermensch Brenzel Göring, has existed on the fringe of art-pop trash acclaim for ten years…
What was show business like before Survivor made stars out of nobodies for eating a horse’s ass or American Idol dolled up the willing in order to exploit their mug first and then their pipes? Apparently, at one time, there was some real work put into stardom. People had to…
Frankly, it’s hard to imagine a better bill than Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers paired with their special guests, the Black Crowes. They’re both traditional rock bands initially inspired by retro references, Petty and pals offering homage to the Byrds while the Crowes mimic Free, the Faces, the Stones, and…
If you read these pages reverently, then you’ve probably been following the progress of one Mrs. Judy Blem and her struggle to keep original music alive and low-cost in Broward County. In her latest arrangement, it seems Blem has found the right place for the right tunes. Cheers, Fort Lauderdale’s…
Axeman Eddie Turner might be known as a master of psychedelic blues guitar, but his sound owes as much to the folksy slidework of Duane Allman as to Jimi Hendrix’s brain-blistering feedback. Turner has the perfect pedigree for a premier six-string slinger: He was born in Cuba, raised in Chicago,…
Quick — name some things that Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson have in common. Forget the fact that these old masters both tour incessantly; cynics would suggest they’re each kinda craggy and croon as if suffering from terminal post-nasal drip. Whatever… the common bonds make their current double bill appear…
They say hip-hop is a young man’s game, and they’re probably right. Apparently, though, even rappers well past their prime can still hang with the kids if they never grew up in the first place. For proof, just check out the Old School Summer Jam. This throwback party of mid-’80s…
What is it about Scotland, anyway? This is the cradle of culture that spawned Sean Connery, Primal Scream, Trainspotting, and Austin Powers’ former enemy Fat Bastard. Add to that list Snow Patrol, related to fellow Scots Belle & Sebastian by friendship and musical influences. Where B&S couch their sardonic wit…
Forged in the sweaty, Latin juke joints of late ’60s New York City, boogaloo is the fusion of hip-swinging Cuban montuno rhythms and hard-driving American R&B. If that sounds too encyclopedic for you, I’ll put it another way: Boogaloo is genuine dance music: sexy, smart, and thrilling all at the…
Studies indicate that rap-metal ages about as well as pig slop in the sun. But that hasn’t stopped venerable Fort Lauderdale combo Collapsing Lungs from reuniting every few years or so to wallow in it. Back in the Spooky Kids days — “before Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Linkin Park made…
Once upon a time, family acts were a fairly common occurrence in music: Isley Brothers, Cowsills (the initial inspiration for the Partridge Family, oy), and perhaps the most (in)famous, the Jacksons. Reggae’s Morgan Heritage, though, has ’em all beat, if only by sheer numbers. Jamaica-born, Brooklyn-residing singer Denroy Morgan has…
In his Encyclopedia of Jazz, Leonard Feather describes saxophonist Red Holloway as “capable of generating great excitement with his big sound and hard-driving, mainstream-modern style.” In other words, the man from Chicago can blow. In his 60-year career, Holloway has shared the stage with many greats, from Dexter Gordon and…
Most people don’t realize that two tributaries of American music — rhythm and blues, country and western — are linked by more than geography. While, sadly, not the commercial force it once was, the R&B/C&W fusion is still with us: Elvis Costello’s The Delivery Man is one example, and the…
The fact that rock ‘n’ roll never gets old is what keeps it churning out wild-eyed hopefuls, desperate to make a racket and rebel against… whatever you got. This is instinctual music; either you got it or you don’t. These days, there are a lot of pretenders to the rock…
