Critic's Notebook

Broward rapper Xali Unknwn gives an inside look at his studio process at Bay Eight Studios.

Richard Shelter plans a screenplay, a book, and reunion weekend celebrating Miami’s ’80s punk heyday.

When Olivier Libaux and Marc Collin formed Nouvelle Vague, they inadvertently created the perfect amalgam of new and old. Though they had both been punk and New Wave aficionados, “in 2003, Marc dreamt one night of a Bossa Nova version of ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart,’ sung by a Brazilian…

Jim Camacho launches his new web series and podcast on the art of songwriting and challenges his guests to write a song in 30 minutes.

It’s 8:30 p.m. Saturday night, and Westchester is relatively quiet. Somewhere in Brickell, a group of scantily dressed girls are doing shots in preparation for a wild night out, but 15 minutes west, in the grassy armpit of the Dolphin and Palmetto Expressways, leathery Cuban men gather on sun-bleached porches…

Spring break is officially here. With all the college students flooding Miami to party hard in downtown and get reckless on the beach, it’ll be hard to drown out all the mind-splitting EDM that will boom from every club in Dade County for the next month. Are you hip-hop heads looking for an easy escape route? Then search no further.

Deaf Poets return with a new album, Lost in the Magic City, and video for “Celestine.”

February has been filled with nothing but love from our hometown rappers and artists.

You can’t overstate the enduring influence of Laura of Miami, AKA Laura Sutnick, on the local alternative dance music scene. From her tenure as a WVUM radio DJ to her event promotions company Nightdrive and Klangbox.FM internet radio station, she has championed lesser-heard sounds for more than a decade.

Elastic Bond has never been the kind of band to concern itself with limits, be they conventions of genre, language, instrumentation, or influences within the group’s music. Songwriters Sofy Encanto, from Honduras, and Andres Ponce, from Venezuela, exist in two spaces at once, influenced by the music they heard growing…

It might only be February, but this month’s first release from Richie Hell’s newly launched Gumbo Limbo Music is already poised to be one of the best local-label debuts of the year. This tasteful new slab, Future Blues, includes four slow-burning Delta blues-infused disco-house bangers and is an auspicious sign from the…

Instrumental fusion quartet Electric Kif is like Miami’s musical version of the United Nations. The band, which will play the Coconut Grove Arts Festival February 20, transforms four cultures into one sonic experience. “I’m from Mexico City,” bassist Rodrigo Zambrano tells New Times. “Our guitarist is from France, with all its gypsy culture; Jason [Matthews, the keyboardist] is from Philadelphia, which has its own thing with soul and R&B; and Armando [Lopez, the drummer] is from here, the Magic City.”

After dedicating his previous four albums to South Florida and his love for coffee beans, Biddines’ fifth album, The Local Café, allows him to further embrace his passion for a hot cup of coffee as he tells personal stories from his past.

Coconut Grove Arts Festival music lineup includes Greyhounds, Locos por Juana, Electric Kif, and Patrick & the Swayzees.

Artists can learn about the legendary reggae label and how to get their own vinyl records pressed.

I remember the first time I heard Erykah Badu playing on my mother’s stereo in our little townhouse in Virginia. “Tyrone” echoed through the house while my mom cleaned the kitchen. I couldn’t help but think: Who the hell is Tyrone? Why does he need to be called? But then I became captivated by the sound of Badu’s soothing voice. It rang in my ears even after the song ended. “It’s called soul music,” my mom said. After that, I was hooked.

Radiohead fans were already excited that the English rock band will headline this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in mid-April. Now the band has announced an 11-date U.S. tour scheduled to kick off March 30 at the American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami.

A little more than a year ago, Gabriela Guerrero’s mother showed her a flyer for a Vevo DJing competition sponsored by Tiësto and encouraged her to register. Guerrero had messed around with her stepfather’s DJ equipment here and there, but had minimal experience in the booth. Still, she decided to…

Trina, Yung Simmie, Nell, and others release their latest.