MP3 of the Day: Totem Pole’s “Stained Glass On”

Totem Pole’s swirling polychromatic swoon of “Stained Glass On” is like an ominous thunderstorm rolling in, but with a subtle resemblance to a moderately paced version of the Mission Impossible theme. This is the beginning of the previously unreleased track from West Palm Beach psych-pop group. The bewitching, old school…

MP3 of the Day: Remembering Never – “Time Eraser”

Remembering Never is a five-piece hardcore/metal band that’s been making a racket in Fort Lauderdale now for a number of years with the requisite personnel issues and stop-and-go schedules, but I’m happy to report that they are gearing for an upcoming album and this MP3 is solid proof that nothing’s…

Courtney Love Gets the Hole Band Back Together (Sorta)

Room, meet the rhinoplastied elephant in a tutu. To address the new Hole record, Nobody’s Daughter, without considering Courtney Love’s chaos-prone reputation — the “Courtney Love Monster,” as she recently described it on Twitter — is to analyze the recent health care bill without acknowledging President Barack Obama. It’s impossible…

Bachata Bombers: A Latin Music Fan’s Case Against Aventura

Aventura — the novelty musical act, not the city in Miami-Dade — has turned traditional Dominican folk music, AKA bachata, into a worldwide sensation by doing what Carlos Vives did in Colombia. They’ve taken song structures from el campo (the sticks), propped them up with pop tropes, and performed them…

Glimpses of the South Florida Scene: The Dewars

Glimpses of the South Florida Scene is a weekly column devoted to the artists thriving within Broward and Palm Beach counties featuring interviews with the folks making it happen. This week, the Dewars.The brothers who make up West Palm’s the Dewars are clouded in dreamy mystery: they play shows only…

Moving Units: Radio-Active Records’ Top 5 Releases for June 22-28

In our Moving Units column, Mike Ramirez at Fort Lauderdale’s Radio-Active Records graciously keeps us up-to-date and comments on the current releases flying out of his store each week.Don’t forget to attend Mike Ramirez’s 30th Birthday Party tonight at Monterey Club!After Devo and the Cure beat back the years last…

Pitchfork’s Forkcast Discovers the Jameses

Following some focused coverage on County Grind, West Palm Beach’s synth outfit the Jameses is getting some more national love via Pitchfork’s Forkcast. Read a very short summary of the band, and cop an MP3 of “The Haunted Rider” right here. Although the posting claims that the conceptual shot of…

Night Watch: The Green Room

Night Watch is a regular feature about bars and clubs by nightlife columnist Tara Nieuwesteeg.​ Green Room100 SW Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale.Call 954-727-0954 or visit here.I’d been wandering around America’s Backyard for a while. I was misdirected twice by bartenders and nearly knocked out by some unwieldy dancing college kids;…

Night Watch: Duffy’s Sports Grill

Night Watch is a regular feature about bars and clubs by nightlife columnist Tara Nieuwesteeg.​ Duffy’s Sports Grill 1804 Cordova Road, Fort Lauderdale Call 954-713-6363, or visit here.Duffy’s, a mega-monster sports bar, is just the opposite of Tim Finnegan’s. It’s a corporate bar that has spread like wildfire across the…

Crossfade: Deftones/Baroness, Interpol and Expose

So maybe Crossfade and County Grind are living separately, but our split was completely amicable. Here are a few stories reported recently via Miami’s raddest music blog that we want to make sure our readers see.Fillmore Miami Beach welcomes prog-metal ruffians Deftones and sludgy Baroness for a wimp-free evening August…

Ted Nugent Roars Into Revolution on Tuesday

Ted Nugent’s bad-boy persona is stamped with a sneer and a swagger that defines the distance between him and other rockers from the late ’60s and early ’70s. The difference is clear not only in his unapologetic disdain for drugs and his unabashed enthusiasm for guns but also his conservative…

The Juan MacLean Previews New DJ-Kicks at Delux Saturday

The music of the Juan MacLean, AKA the sometimes brooding, sometimes blissed-out alter ego of onetime tone-mangling spazz rocker John Mac­Lean, has always been a venue for both euphoria and paranoia in a synth-pop sizzle, exploring relationships submerged in disenchantment and analog modulation. “I think [my music] is analogous to…

Donavon Frankenreiter Sets Two-Night Stand at Culture Room

Even without the best waves in the world, South Florida has a thriving surf culture, with enthusiasts ranging from “super kook” to “full on ripper.” That’s one reason world-famous pro surfer and musician Donavon Frankenreiter is kicking off his summer tour with a two-night stand at the Culture Room in…

Night Watch: Tim Finnegan’s Irish Pub

Night Watch is a regular feature about bars and clubs by nightlife columnist Tara Nieuwesteeg.​ Tim Finnegan’s Irish Pub 725 S Federal Highway, Delray BeachCall 561-330-3153, or visit here.Gentle reader, I have downed many Guinnesses and feigned (terrible) Irish accents on many occasions. I’ve sat at dark-wood bars and gazed…

MP3 of the Day: Evan Rowe/Catalonia

Evan Rowe again makes good on his promise that musical formats as we know them are dead with another “burst” of a track that is as much music as it is his idea of what images should be made an association with. Keeping in the same vein of the last…

Juice: Fat Joe Spotted in Palm Beach After Sexual Assault Detainment

Over at the Juice: Rapper and occasional Plantation resident Fat Joe was recently accused of sexual assault in Wisconsin and was apprehended after a 33-year-old woman filed sexual assault claims against members of his crew. They were all released early Monday morning; no arrests were made.He flew back via Chicago’s…

Moving Units: Radio-Active Records’ Top 5 Releases for June 15-21

In our Moving Units column, Mike Ramirez at Fort Lauderdale’s Radio-Active Records graciously keeps us up-to-date and comments on the current releases flying out of his store each week.In addition to the usual hip, young buzz bands, this week’s top sellers feature two bands that have managed to remain cool…