View a slideshow from the concert here.Built to SpillWith RevoltRevoltCulture Room, Fort LauderdaleFriday, October 15, 2010Better than: A lot of bands who look like they’re working harder.The review:Built to Spill shows aren’t filled with surprises. The workmanlike efforts of singer/guitarist Doug Martsch and his Idaho cohorts don’t create a visual…
DIY NetworkIf there’s a renovation problem, yo, Vanilla Ice will solve it. If you had any doubts, they were proven wrong in last night’s debut of his new reality-home improvement show, The Vanilla Ice Project.In the show, Rob Van Winkle (better-known as Vanilla Ice) and his buddies renovate a 7,000-square-foot…
Beer-sponsored revelry is possible and somewhat palatable, judging by the Hold Steady extravaganza in Miami earlier this year. Now, party-rock prince Andrew W.K., who inspires adjectives far more interesting than interesting, will host an event dubiously titled the “Most Interesting Show in the World.” (No word if Mr. Interesting himself…
View 29 eye-melting photos from the Matt & Kim show in a slideshow here.Matt & Kim with Donnis and Fake Problemsat the Culture Room, Fort LauderdaleThursday, October 14, 2010Better than: Joining the Babysitters Club and taking a bunch of 11-year-olds to a concert field trip… Oh, wait. The Review:Once keyboardist…
The magnificent Millionyoung, AKA Mike Diaz, has just premiered a new track via Yours Truly that plainly shows that this guy isn’t satisfied being quite so chill. Sounding more like a full-band concept more than ever, our Glimpses of the South Florida Scene alum shows a twee side for “Calrissian.”…
Photo by Jamie LongArmando Zuppa at Penny Lane Music EmporiumMusic has long played an important role in Armando Zuppa’s life. As a 7-year-old in Italy, Zuppa’s teacher used Beatles albums to help him learn English. So when deciding what to call his new music warehouse in Fort Lauderdale, using a…
After what has been a long, bitter fight between nightlife businesses in Lake Worth and several angry downtown-area residents, city commissioners voted Tuesday to enact a noise ordinance that will affect the city’s nightlife — or more precisely, its burgeoning music scene. Over the past few years, Lake Worth has…
We were a little put off when we heard Atlanta-based rapper Donnis was going to be opening up for Matt & Kim at the Culture Room tonight. We expected a pop-infused hybrid born of pixie sticks and high-pitched tricks to take to the stage and open for possibly the happiest…
Vampire WeekendWith Beach House and the Very BestFillmore Miami Beach, MiamiWednesday, October 13, 2010Better than: The impending Miami Music Festival.The review:A sea of flannel isn’t the norm in Miami Beach, but when Vampire Weekend’s in town, the kids don’t stand a chance…
Here’s another single from the upcoming Orion project, Hunting Season. Using a stellar cast of local rappers, this track doesn’t entirely deviate from his traditional intellectual hip-hop, but it does come through with a certain eeriness. The subject matter is darker than usual, and it is accentuated with clever synth…
Duck Down 15th AnniversaryWith Pharoahe Monch, Buckshot, Smif-N-Wessun, Sean Price, Skyzoo, D. SchwartzRevolution, Fort LauderdaleWednesday, October 13, 2010Better than: The Psychopathic Records’ 15th anniversary.The review:While many ’90s rap groups (à la Wu-Tang) eventually attracted more mainstream audiences, Boot Camp Click has, does, and will always belong to the underground. And…
Rachel KnightGlimpses 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, former West Palm Beach residents Hear Hums.Hear Hums stretches the boundaries of a proper band to include a…
Even though Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch sounds proud of his band’s newest album, There Is No Enemy, he’s aware of its typical critical appraisal. “First good record they’ve made since the 1990s,” he mockingly spits in a dumbass drawl. That isn’t altogether true. Still, there’s not much doubt among…
Whether Brooklyn knew it or not, the New York borough became a happier place the instant Matt & Kim began creating Pixy Stix-fueled keyboard pop anthems a few years back. Since then, the adorable couple has performed a load of high-energy shows that feature sweet banter and sweeter glances between…
When Orlando-based musician Andy Matchett rolls into town with his bouffant hair and his backing band the Minks, get ready for an act capable of delivering smiles aplenty, occasional confetti blasts, and a history of forging intimacy with the audience by performing under a parachute. Also expect an upbeat delivery…
Few bands embody the festival atmosphere quite like the Flaming Lips, especially effervescent frontman Wayne Coyne. For uninitiated revelers, the Flaming Lips performance Saturday could very well feature Coyne inhabiting an enormous gerbil ball or wearing a pair of hands as big as bicycle tires or just posing with a…
Sugarland’s Grammy-winning country team of Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush is building anticipation for a new album, The Incredible Machine, set for release this month. Still skirting the line between country and pop, the steampunk-themed album has already gained traction via single “Stuck Like Glue.” Nettles shows her Rasta side…
Atmospheric pop trio School of Seven Bells — identical twins Claudia and Alejandra Deheza, plus guitarist Benjamin Curtis, formerly of ex-Dallas prog-rock outfit Secret Machines — released debut Alpinisms in 2008. It was a ghostly wisp of music, and its follow-up, this year’s Disconnect From Desire, is similarly hazy. With…
Reaching the top isn’t nearly as hard as staying there. The Bone Thugs crew can attest to that. The quintet’s blend of gangsta rigor and R&B smoothness revolutionized the rap landscape when it emerged in the mid-’90s. But their friendship wasn’t as tight as their harmonies, and the group fractured…
James Brown was the hardest-working man in show business, but veteran punk act D.R.I. is an overburdened standout among do-it-yourselfers, subsisting on little more than genuine punk values. Over the punk-metal crossover group’s 26-year career, the rotating roster has grown from living in vans and eating in soup kitchens to…
Songwriter Dan Snaith, who records as Caribou, released his first record in 2000 under the name of Manitoba (he changed it in 2004 after a lawsuit from “Handsome” Dick Manitoba of New York protopunks the Dictators). Snaith, a Canada native, found an immediate transatlantic audience for his digital psych-pop polyrhythms,…
Florida breaks inventor DJ Icey originally dubbed Sunshine State native Dave Minner’s sound as “an AK-47 on 1200s,” and AK1200 was born. For the past 22 years, AK1200 has tinkered with higher BPMs and is widely credited with exposing the U.S. to drum ‘n’ bass music. After opening his dance-only…
