Blogs

On his debut solo album, Raised by the People, Notch is a sonero. A songsmith. He’s confident, even boisterous. But the person sitting across from me during a recent lunch interview is humble. He might attribute his humility to his nomadic journey in music; from his days in the reggae duo Born Jamericans, to his later dancehall days to his latest venture: reggaeton. But, after only a few questions it becomes apparent that it’s not the journey, but the reason for that journey that has made him this way. His cultural identity is a jigsaw puzzle. From an early age he understood that he wasn’t just American. He’s Jamaican. He’s Puerto Rican. He’s Cuban. And his music symbolizes that identity. He’s been categorized as a reggaeton artist for Raised by the People, but he’s quick to reject the label. As well he should. Raised by the People flows from reggaeton to merengue to freestyle to R&B to reggae without the slightest friction. In “Ay Qué Bueno!,” “Dale Pá Trá” and “Guaya Guaya” he’s all reggaeton. “Qué te Pica” is a merengue reminiscent of Sandy & Papo – if not more danceable. Then there’s “Jah Mexi Cali,” a purist reggae beat as catchy as its lyrics are melancholic. To add to the album’s mercurial nature, he sings in what he calls Spatoinglish, a mixture of Spanish, Jamaican patois and English. While in Miami, Notch sat down with New Times to talk about his journey.

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Somewhere Hector Lavoe and Celia Celia – to name a few - are smiling and probably jamming as well.

And Oscar Hernandez should no doubt feel a sense of accomplishment.

Hernandez, the founder and pianist for salsa ensemble Spanish Harlem Orchestra, set out to maintain the charged fusions of Afro-Caribbean rhythms and big band sound popularized all over New York in the 60’s and 70’s with the band’s third album.

United We Swing does just that with a bevy of blaring trumpets, trombones, street-smart improvisations and all-out exuberance that serves as an invitation to dance and pure old-school all at once.

Although the overall feel of the album is a throwback, the Grammy-award winning group scores big with original material played by veteran musicians who shared the stage with some of the famed salseros of yesteryear.

The album provides something for everyone who has a special place in their heart for ”la salsa dura” (hard salsa). Take the charm of Gil Lopez’s piano bouncing off the horn drive in “Llego la Orquestra” (The Orchestra has Arrived).

“En El Tiempo Del Palladium” (In The Time of the Palladium), is an up-tempo homage to the famed New York hot spot while “Plena Con Sabor” (Plena With Flavor) honors the old Puerto Rican genre that eventually made its way to the Big Apple.

The lone oddity is “Late In the Evening” (Tarde en la Noche), which despite being well-written by Paul Simon has a strange feel (Salsa just doesn’t carry the same vibe in English.) Still Hernandez’s beautiful and brassy arrangements make it worthwhile.

The group’s trio of demonstrative, polished and fine-tuned vocalists (Ray de la Paz, Willie Torres and Marco Bermudez) bring an added touch that fits the band’s harmonic diversions throughout the album like a glove.

One that’s definitely going to make you want to get up and dance. -- Fernando Ruano Jr.

Tony Orlando
June 27, 2007
Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Better Than: An Elvis impersonator

When you're a singer whose career is based on hit songs you can count on one hand and your 15 minutes of fame lasted five years, it's probably best to sprinkle the chart toppers throughout a show. Someone should tell Tony Orlando.

The singer, who became a household name with catchphrase tunes like "Knock Three Times" and "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree," appeared at the Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino. Playing to a crowd that looked more condo than casino – average age was 55 plus – Orlando, 63, came out swinging his Top 40 chartbusters, one right after the other. "Oak Tree" came first, a sing-along of "Knock Three Times," "Candida" (no, not the sexual fungus; this one's about a girl), then "Sweet Gypsy Rose," and his final Billboard hit from 1977 "He Don't Love You."

Not even a half an hour into the set, the hits were wrapped up and I was waiting for, "Thank you ladies and gentleman, you've been a great audience."

So, where was the Dawn-less Orlando going to go from here? If your music is steeped in nostalgia, you reach back into the oldies bag and pull out a few nuggets. A tribute to Doo-wop yielded this off-hand comment: "I want to see Eminem rap that baby" then it was Phil Spector's "Spanish Harlem."

Orlando's put on a few pounds and punctuates his on stage banter by dropping names and telling stories of "back in the day." There was talk of the good old days of television and playing stick ball in the old New York neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen. One of the oddest moments of the night, which got progressively odder, was when Orlando told the audience, "I lost 80 pounds. How'd I do it? On Nutri-System." Endorsement? I think so.

Orlando has a great stage presence, but his vocals aren't his strong suit. With no Dawn to back him up, he relies on his six-piece band featuring his brother, David, on keyboards. In another mind-boggling moment, the band busted in to Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" shaking the rafters and practically catapulting the early-bird crowd out of their seats.

Keyboardist Toni Wine (who penned hits including the famous Meow Mix commercial and was the singing voice for Betty/Veronica in "The Archies") gave Orlando a breather when she was in the spotlight for "Groovy Kind Of Love," a song she co-wrote with Carole Bayer Sager.

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It's good to see a local MC on the come up and we at Crossfade are going to support him any way we can. Well respected lyricist Garcia has a new album coming out this summer, and Miami music editor, Arielle Castillo, has a killer article coming out on him soon. But if you're curious as to why she's writing about him, check the vid below and get hip fast. --Jonathan Cunningham

Throwback Tuesday's is still in full-effect.
This time, it's a shout out to Trouble T-Roy from Pete Rock and CL Smooth.
The song is a classic and the video is as well. For those that don't remember it, here it is. --Jonathan Cunningham

It’s easy to understand why fans might be cynical about the fact that the original lineup of the Bad Brains, one of the most storied acts in the history of hardcore, is back together yet again. If you haven't already heard, they've got a brand new album, Build a Nation, which comes out today.

After enduring many false alarms with reunions that were either short-lived, lukewarm, disastrous, or all of the above, Brains afficionados can’t be blamed for not cutting out of work early to hit the record store. Sure, heading home to spark a J and spend the afternoon getting carried away by Dr. Know and the original gang with the new record on repeat seems like an awesome idea, but past precedent indicates that getting your hopes up probably means trouble. As much as the makers of the American Hardcore film did a good job of not wallowing in nostalgia, hardcore that’s living, breathing, and sweating in the flesh, right in your face in the present tense presents a risky gamble at best and a demoralizing blow at worst. Hardcore was always self-referencing music, and to go along for the ride in 2007 necessarily entails living in the past. But, as the film conveys rather well, Bad Brains mean a lot to the people who love them, which happens to include scores of people who parlayed their involvement in hardcore into a career --- people like Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, Harley Flanagan, and, last but not least, Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, who just so happened to produce the band’s new offering.

Again, fans might be leary, thinking that such a pairing sounds so good on paper that it’s got to be too good to be true. Sometimes what sounds too good to be true actually comes true. Who’s to say whether the band will implode again before it gets to tour, but at least you now have a permanent document of that Bad Brains energy, finally captured in a studio recording. With this new disc (which also comes out on red-yellow-green vinyl!), Bad Brains delivers us once and for all unto the musical Zion that has eluded its supporters --- and the band itself --- for so long. --Saby Reyes-Kulkarni

"Makeda"

Been digging through the global R&B vaults lately and keep landing on this little ditty from 1999.
It was the first single that I ever heard from Les Nubians and it changed my perspective on Francophone soul music completely.
Hope the throw back video rubs somebody the right way. --Jonathan Cunningham

MC Sharpness

Better than:Seeing pretty colors after smashing your head on a rock.

The review:
The drum and bass party on Saturday, wasn’t one of Studio A’s better nights. After stumbling in to use some drink tickets that I was oh so generously given, it took me about ten minutes to realize that the party wasn’t going anywhere. The highlight of the night was watching three people dance, while the other twenty people on the dance floor stumbled around to produce a series of arm gestures and drunken boogaloos hat could only have seemed acceptable in their inebriated minds.
The music however was fairly enjoyable. The artists included DJ Zinc with MC Sharpness. It was the usual drum and bass set where the DJ spins an assortment of rapidly mixed bass while the MC shouts out some fast paced words that no one can really understand, except for when he makes reference to the DJ. Yet for some reason no one could help but like it.
Therefore, can you really blame anyone for wanting to flail around at the risk of looking like an idiot? Yes, you can and you should. --Lucy Orozco

Critics Notebook
Personal Bias: The only reason why the party was a bust might have been due to a lack of proper promotion and organization.

Random Detail: On June 29th, Studio A is actually having a highly anticipated fetish party thrown by the same people that throw the Kitchen party at Soho Lounge. I was actually supposed to go to the Kitchen that night and am still wishing that I would have.

By the way: The doorman did say that it was a last minute party thrown together by culture productions. Note: Last minute parties do not always work out very well.

Jacob Miller and Longwave

June 23, 2007
Studio A

Photo by Jeffrey Delannoy

Better Than: Waiting around for prime Saturday going-out time; the show got going around 10:00 and was over by about midnight.

The club doors opened at 8:00, and opener Jacob Miller took the stage at nearly 10:00 – just on time, by this city’s standards. Bathed in a blue light, the 22-year-old Miami native sat center stage behind his electric Roland piano. Reed-thin, he looked small but poised, his stage presence beefed up by the seeming deference of his band, whose members seemed to hang back just out of the spotlight. Impressively, his bassist used a sort of electric, mini standup instrument that he kept propped on a stool and sometimes played with a bow.

Miller himself plays with a focused intensity, looking out periodically but doing so with a seriousness fitting the tone of most of his songs. After his first song, he introduced the followup thusly: “Well, we all have one thing in common – you’re not good enough for someone.” Ouch! “Well, fuck those people,” he offered, launching into the actually laid-back hushed groove of “Love Me More.”

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Black Light Burns & Horse the Band
May 23, 2007
Culture Room
Better Than: Nintendo music
You should always be wary of any band that promotes one member with the tagline "...formerly of the band...” as some type of attraction. It's a bit like advertising a party with "a celebrity has been invited to attend." Especially if you don't really sound like the band you're name-dropping anyway. So Black Light Burns, "fronted by former Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland" doesn't sound or look like his former incarnation. Black Light Burns are gothic industrial in the vein of Nine Inch Nails. For all the red & white face paint and black body chalk that makes it looks like he just climbed out of a coal chamber, Black Light Burns doesn't sound as bad as their clashing collage of visuals makes them look. Borland has surrounded himself with talent. Guitarist Nick Annis, bassist Sean Fetterman, and the drummer Marshall Kilpatric make good wing men for Borland to perform between. Annis does great ax work, but looks restrained in a band put together to feature someone else. Borland is a much better guitarist than singer. His voice isn't bad, but it's not as interesting as his fret work on the guitar, which are only present in half the songs. I'd rather hear an hour and a half of Black Light Burn's instrumentals, than listen to Borland's looping lyrics in the mix. If only he spent more time firing off guitar chords than spitting bottled water.

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Issac Delgado
June 23, 2007
Knight Center

An energetic and from-the-heart Cuban rumbón broke out Saturday night as a delirious and receptive crowd welcomed one of the island's grandest and most innovative musicians ever at the James L. Knight Center.

As a result the man responsible for keeping close to 5000 people on their feet most of the evening might have no problems feeling right at home. Singer/bandleader Issac Delgado, whose percussive-driven, Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazzy riffs have captivated audiences all over Europe and Latin America for two decades, went for broke in his first performance in Miami since deciding to leave Cuba seven months ago. He displayed a smooth yet controlled way of delivering his music, and received ample assistance from a well-structured and blistering orchestra.

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Whole Wheat Bread
June 22, 2007
Churchill's Pub
Better Than: Being hit in the face with brass knuckles. Barely.

With too few good punk bands to cleave to, I hoped this show would provide a miracle.

Beginning with Ft. Lauderdale natives Skuff'd Shoes, a ska-reggae-punk hybrid, the night opened to a sparse crowd that continued to shuffle in as the band played. The audience was met with a seemingly prepubescent front man with an abrasive voice that detracted from the band's pinnacle: straight- forward catchy music. The set's highlight boasted a cover of Snoop Dogg's “Gin and Juice” which gave life to a lackluster audience who previously declined a sing along the band desperately tried to coax out of them.

The end of one pedestrian band brought the beginning of another one, Pitch Black Radio. The band struggles to find a unique sound unique and often falls short, sounding more like a Strung Out cover band than one out to establish a name for themselves.

Opening their set with a new song, Five Across the Eyes also known as F.A.T.E., delivered their intense brand of street punk and Chuck Berryesque guitar solos to an attentive crowd. While showcasing three new songs, the band also appeased old fans by playing classic F.A.T.E. songs with quintessential sing a longs.

The next band was Howitzer. If your neighborhood punk band would like to know what they would look like in 25 years, look no further. Howitzer makes use of their experience to compose songs that would easily satisfy both the punk and hardcore crowd.

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Martini Bar, at the Shops of Sunset Place (5701 Sunset Dr, South Miami) has become the unofficial spot for a freestyle revival. Check it, in the last few months they've had Stevie B. and Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam! (And on the non-freestyle, but still late-Eighties/early-Nineties tip, Jordan Knight, of NKOTB fame).

We've just learned that tonight, Company B rolls through. The group actually came from Miami, and are promoting a remix of their 1986 club hit, "Fascinated." Show time is at 8:00 p.m., late enough that you can hit happy hour first, but early enough if you're finding you just can't party like you used to...

To get amped, here's the video for the original version of the song. Please enjoy the aqua spandex, Aquanetted wigs, and rooftop dancing in what is one of the most 80s Latin videos ever. -- Arielle Castillo

Hey, you get a key chain!

"In order to give fans the best possible experience for both The Police and the Miami club show, the Maroon 5 show at Studio A has been rescheduled for Wednesday, July 11 at 3:00pm. Maroon5 will offer fans a rare and intimate acoustic performance. All original ticket holders will receive a refund for their tickets at point-of-purchase and will receive entrance into the show. Those who purchased tickets at the box office may turn their tickets in for a cash refund from now until July 11, 2007, if they are unable to attend. All fans who purchased tickets from the box office and will be attending must hold onto their tickets in order to gain entry to the show and will be given a cash refund prior to their entrance into the venue. All people who purchased tickets via the web may receive their refund prior to the show and will receive entry into the venue since their name will appear on the ticket provider`s will call list as an original ticket holder. All patrons attending this special performance will receive a free Maroon 5 key chain."

Issac Delgado isn’t letting anybody in on what to expect tomorrow night when he performs in Miami for the first time since leaving Cuba late last year.

About the only thing the multi-talented Cuban bandleader/sonero/songwriter is promising is ‘tremendo rumbon Cubano’ (‘one hell of a Cuban fest’) while adding that the audience will be treated to plenty of surprises.

While those in his inner circle have remained mum there is speculation that Delgado will share the stage with local artists with heavy ties to his musical generation, including son specialist and longtime Hoy Como Ayer regular Luis Bofill and Aymee Nuviola.

An appearance by Israel ‘Cachao’ Lopez and several others that call South Florida home – perhaps Manolin – might also be in store. But for someone looking to make a loud statement - in front of what at times has proven to be a poor market for live music and indifferent about Cuban musicians setting up shop here – Delgado and his team would be wise to add a defining moment that will stand out on its own.

Granted it might cost a little extra cash, but rather than stick to the norm and depend on the local contingent to drive the show Delgado would be well-served to have Puerto Rican salsa singer – and mainstream star – Victor Manuelle join him at some point to perform “La Mujer Que Mas Te Duele” (‘The Woman That Hurts Most’) in order to deliver a knockout punch.

Delgado’s innovative style, which he has found plenty of success with for close to two decades, blends Afro-Cuban rhythms, jazz riffs and has a gangster-like attitude behind it.

But it’s still a virgin sound to plenty of the paying customers who will be in attendance although there will probably be a large number of supporters from his days in Cuba.

Still what better way than to leave the crowd wanting more than to deliver a moment they soon won’t forget. -- Fernando Ruano