Bring on the major leagues.Just as Janet Jackson is mulling a move to an indie label, West Palm Beach sensation Surfer Blood is sidling up to a major. “We actually just signed a deal with Warner Bros. International,” Surfer Blood frontman J.P. Pitts recently told Brightest Young Things, confirming what…
The McRackins Planet of the Eggs (Stiff Pole Records) stiffpolerecords.com In honor of Richard “Big Stiff” Konwinski, who passed this past July in Tampa, I’ll be juggling between the County Grind and Crossfade blogs doing my “Blast From the Past” thing on the record label that he founded, Stiff Pole…
Photo by Amanda ArmbrusterNo, this is not a composite image.”Who says I can’t get stoned?” in action: John Mayer proclaimed that he would wear his Cleveland Cavaliers jersey during his September 11 performance in West Palm Beach. One of the blogs at our ribald sister paper in Miami noticed, and…
Tallahassee’s DJ Mannes of Team Jaguar tossed up a bunch of mashups today using the au courant indie pop of Twin Sister as a backdrop. He says this was in “the hopes of impressing the girl I fancy.” Even if she’s indifferent, fret not. There are a ton of nerdy,…
Rocco’s Tacos & Tequila Bar224 Clematis Street, West Palm Beach. Call 561-650-1001, or visit here.The first time I tried to move through the door of Rocco’s, I was almost taken out by a monstrous West Palm Beach rack. Once I dodged that obstacle, I found myself deep in a thick…
Photo by Cindy FreyLocal punk fans have it pretty easy this Friday with the massive lineup of Sick of It All, Street Dogs, and Devil’s Brigade gathered at Revolution for a night combining hardcore, the Irish-inflected Boston punk sound, and psychobilly. The latter two acts — both Hellcat Records signees…
The Pink Lincolns Pure Swank (Stiff Pole Records) stiffpolerecords.com In honor of Richard “Big Stiff” Konwinski, who passed away this past July in Tampa, I’ll be juggling between the County Grind and Crossfade blogs doing my “Blast From the Past” thing on the record label that he founded, Stiff Pole…
Since Crystal Castles first pissed their way into my heart with the irritatingly catchy “Alice Practice” in 2007, I haven’t been at peace with my manic devotion to a duo that seems to take pride in being total assholes. These total assholes, however, keep making great records that I can’t…
Sleepy Sun plays psychedelic rock filtered through a kaleidoscope of sludgy, swampy, and freak-folk textures. With tracks ranging from two to nearly ten minutes on Fever, the Bay Area sextet’s sophomore release on ATP Recordings, the sometimes-epic, sometimes-subtly gorgeous music has time to run the gamut genrewise. According to Pitchfork’s…
Anyone who says punk is dead and has been replaced by pretty boys, pop punks, and the posthardcore set hasn’t been keeping an eye on Hellcat Records. The Los Angeles-based indie label, founded by Rancid’s Tim Armstrong and Bad Religion’s Brett Gurewitz, continues to churn out quality releases and fuel…
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.The members of !!! (sometimes pronounced chk chk chk) had to be kind of pissed about two years ago when a whole…
Reef Road Restaurant & Rum Bar 223 Clematis St., West Palm Beach. Call 561-838-9099, or visit here.I was sitting inside Reef Road, vegging out to an ultrachill Sublime cover by Caribbean Club, the two-man band on stage. The bottles of rum behind the bar shone temptingly, illuminated by an electric-yellow…
Update: Here’s the review of the October 6 show.For some folks, it would have been enough to put up a copy of Blonde on Blonde with a chipmunk chewing on it: Bob Dylan’s coming back to South Florida! The concert takes place October 6 at the Arena at the Don…
It is no secret that for many years, I tormented the Garrote family with a $20 debt incurred by older brother Joe (of the Basicks and The Can’t Stand Ya’s fame) circa 1996 outside of Cheers. With his move to supershitty NYC many a moon ago, it fell on the…
Let this be the signal that the holiday gift season is at hand: South Florida rap legend Maurice “Trick Daddy” Young is releasing an autobiographical tome titled Magic City: Trials of a Native Son on November 16. There’s no helping you if the “tale of a boy whose father was…
Photo by Ian WitlenBefore riotous Boca rockers Blond Fuzz gets to be known as a retro cover act — recent Tina Turner and Velvet Underground revamps are doing wonders for that rumor we just started — the upcoming release of new album Perfect Breakfast will bring the focus back to…
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, Weird Wives.Weird Wives is not a Jesus Lizard cover band, contrary to the reader comments over here. Nor are…
Down with performers from down under? Experience singer/songwriter Xavier Rudd, who is the subject of this week’s lead feature and will perform at Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday. Writer Lee Zimmerman describes Rudd’s laid-back approach to playing a shitload of instruments: “Surrounded onstage with a collection of guitars,…
Sumsun’s Judson Rogers is a pretty tall dude, so it’s possible that “Ants” is just in reference to the rest of the population. More likely, though, that the West Palm Beach electronic artist, who recently relocated to North Carolina, has tied the first song from his upcoming album to the…
In the post-“Summer of Love” late ’60s — smack-dab in the middle of the Vietnam War protests, draft-card bonfires, and the Chicago Democratic convention melees — Merle Haggard dropped a couple of jingoistic little H-bombs titled “Okie From Muskogee” and “Fightin’ Side of Me,” which told the hippies burning their…
Xavier Rudd would seem to have a charmed existence. Traveling the world with an arsenal of instruments and a surfboard to boot, he creates a musical tapestry incorporating aspects of each diverse culture he encounters. It’s a joyous blend of folk, blues, rock, reggae, and other world rhythms borne by…
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.Michigan soul artist and producer Mayer Hawthorne’s blue-eyed falsetto has been raising eyebrows and pulling at heartstrings since A Strange Arrangement dropped…
