Oh! This crap again!

​We've been accused of a lot of things here at the Grind. We've been accused of loving Lil Wayne too much, worrying excessively about dance crazes nobody has ever heard of or cares about, celebrating birthdays of musicians who don't know we're alive... in short, grievances have been made against us as a company and as individuals. More >>

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Black Cobra
Invernal
(Southern Lord Recordings)
blackcobra.net

Say what you will, but South Florida loves all of its children, whether they live here or not. I can't think of a better example of this at the moment than the almighty duo of Black Cobra. And that's not just because album opener "Avalanche" is hacking away at my rapidly deteriorating hearing this instant.

Currently calling San Francisco home, this band features the talents of drummer and multi-instrumentalist and ex-Acid King and 16 player Rafael Martinez and ex-Cavity axman Jason Landrian on guitar and vocals.

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ReverbNation.com

​Palm Beach-based beat maker Shawn Wayne flies his boom-bap colors high and proud on his solo debut, The Wayne Event, released recently on FootWork4Self. Cut from a cloth of men who like their samples soulful, their drums gritty, and their beats between 85 and 95 beats per minute, Wayne's 15-track collection is like a warm embrace from an old friend. And a much-needed hug for many -- where once we were beating back golden-era nostalgia with a Louisville Slugger, 2011 has been a tough year for the classically trained hip-hop head. While rap purists stand around and scratch their heads at the popularity of underground artists like Das Racist, Lil B, and Odd Future, The Wayne Event gives them something familiar and sorely missed to come home to.More >>

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​We all know E. Grizzly's work locally with AlukarD and from numerous ciphers and hip-hop jams around town. What we have here is a fully realized, 13-track album of pure alternative hip-hop goodness titled Helldoesnotexistasweknowit bizzaro mix vol. 0. But let's talk about the bases first; let's talk about New Milly.

New Milly is Grizzly's nickname for his tri-city life in New York, Miami, and Philly. The art and music promotion company Philly Kid Group has given Grizzly free range over numerous tracks by famous NYC underground producer and rapper El-P (Company Flow, Def Jux), and what we have here is as evenly matched an oeuvre as you'll get.

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The Beltones
Cheap Trinkets
(TKO Records)
beltones.com

Last year in September, we had the opportunity to revisit one of my favorite local platters from the '90s, the Beltones' Lock and Load seven-inch on the sorely missed Far Out Records. It was, as it usually is within these pages, a great time to sit, listen to music, and reminisce about those wild times in South Florida punkdom. But as often happens with these BFTP columns, I was saddened over the possibility that I would never see these guys play live again.

Well, thanks to the wonderful efforts by Ms. Nayra Serrano and this weekend's upcoming Mondo Fest, I (we) will get to see South Florida's smoothest lyricist, Mr. Bill McFadden, and his fantastic Beltones! But before we get into the meat of the Cheap Trinkets disc, we had a chance to catch up with McFadden, and here's what he had to say:

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​Jackie Ransom/Luster and Beta Evers
Secrets of the World
(Zero Hour/Doom & Glamour)
zerohour.com.au

Aside from being one of the sweetest people around, Jackie Ransom is one local we can be proud of. This seven-inch split with Luster and Beta Evers is proof-positive of vinyl's superiority as "the" music format more people should be into. Before we go into the specifics of this little record, I would like to point out the nice packaging; thick vinyl and sturdy insert that as a record geek I can fully appreciate. You should too; it's a well-known fact that you can't cuddle with an MP3.

Moving right along, Ransom's side, "The Killer Inside," is a murderous fantasy delivered over a haunting and simple synth melody with some decidedly cheeky and retro Casio drumbeats that evoke, at least for me, when MIDI got a resurgence earlier this century for homebody musicians and locally to the great work put forth by Jeremy Kolosine and Futurisk. There also is a great nod to American pulp fiction (Jim Thompson anyone?) that can't be denied. In any case, this is solid minimal wave with an almost gothic undertone.

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​Just in time for the onset of fall, the Heavy Pets offer up a set of cool, acoustic music on their third studio album Swim Out Past the Sun, which they'll be celebrating the release of this Saturday at the Stage in Miami.

The album's release is reminiscent in feel to the Grateful Dead's American Beauty. In both instances, bands who'd gained popularity as electrifying, jamming, live acts turned it down a few notches and play some lovely songs. The two albums even have the legendary David Grisman in common -- he guests on mandolin on both. The songs on Swim are a mix of intricate compositions, heart-felt songwriting, and reggae-funk grooves. Echoes of Phish and Wilco throughout, but with a Carribean flavor -- which adds an enjoyable, homegrown feel for the South Floridian listener.

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​Emcee Jabrjaw (AKA Ryan Britt) and DJ Dee Dubbs' (birth name: Dan Wilkes) debut full-length album Eastern Specifics poises the duo as South Florida's very own Eric B and Rakim. Because they've worked together since 2006, it would seem like the wait for a final product from the Lake Worth duo will pay dividends to local rap fans.

The 14-track record comes with a killer groove and a laid-back drawl that harks back the golden age of hip-hop. Jabrjaw's higher-pitched, liquid-smooth, effortlessly cool flow stands front and center here,
drawing inspiration from late '80s/early '90s boom bap kings like KRS-One and EPMD.
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​Ladies and gentlemen, we are a few months away from the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's Nevermind. That is a big deal, not only because it makes a lot of us feel old and nostalgic but it also reminds us that there was a time that bands that were really good became really famous.

This month, Spin is paying tribute to Nevermind and giving away a free downloadable tribute album. Go get it from Spin; it's worth listening to, and some tracks are worth skipping. I just heard it a couple of times, except for the songs skipped because they were bad or boring.

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​Plains
Plains (10K Islands)

Although South Florida may have a lot of indie (as in independent) bands, until recently it's been light on "indie rock" in its classicist form. We mean straightforward, meat-and-potatoes jangle rock with plenty of intellectual wit but not a lot of cross-genre trickery. That's especially true in Miami, where underground cool-kid acts have long tended toward the danceable. All of that makes Plains, one of Miami's best new bands, such an anomaly. By concentrating on no-frills, shambling rock of the kind best developed in the '90s, the group actually sounds fresh.  More >>