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Flyer design by Eddie Rosenstock

The motto is "Nothin' but the goods." And like some punch-drunk baby boxer beating a gong with bare bloody fists, the seven-week-old Champion Sound throwdown brings the noise in a big way. For proof of pure party acumen, just take a quick and dirty MySpace tour with a few members of the rapidly ballooning CS musical alumni, including hip-hop jam band Fusik, hometown funk hero DJ Le Spam, and local street trio Basic Vocab. 

, but new and underwater.

The Techno Loft at Space opened in May and has so far fulfilled its promise of indulging Miami's ever-growing taste for techno with stellar international bookings including Steve Bug, Camea and Adultnapper, plus weekly parties and afterhours by local DJs Maurizio & Danyelino, Dsan Powell, Simon Wish, and Jason Baez. A new DJ mix by Baez captures the appropriately spacey and atmospheric minimal techno sound enjoyed by Techno Loft patrons at Space every week.  

Click here to download Baez' new "Space Monkey" Mix.

Average White Band

War and the Average White Band
Hard Rock Live, Hollywood
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
 
Better Than: Hearing both of these groups play in another 10 years.

The Review:

With a bill of two of the funkiest multi-cultural groups from the late 1960s still alive and kicking, the Hard Rock promised to be a trip back in time for the baby boomer generation this Tuesday. War lived up to the hype minus some of lead singer Lonnie Jordan's running commentary, with their East L.A. sabor and tight seven-piece band keeping the crowd on their feet for most of the hour long performance.

However, AWB left something to be desired with backup singers and saxophone taking center stage over Alan Gorrie's famed vocals, bringing more of a smooth jazz feel to the renowned funky bunch from Scotland. 

It's no secret Crossfade thinks Stonefox is the bee's knees. If you want to find out exactly why, you can go through the archive and read the blogs we've written about them, or you could wait for the upcoming feature, or better yet, you can just clear your calendar on July 30 and check out their CD release party at Propaganda. Joining Stonefox is Surfer Blood, an impressive indie rock outfit from West Palm Beach and Dead Rabbits, a dirty garage band from Atlanta. I'd wager you won't find a better rock show in South Florida throughout July. Hit the jump for a few videos.

Miami natives Erik Slemon and Matt Gardner first started making music together more than a decade ago, when they were still apple-cheeked students at Coral Gables High and Columbus, respectively. Perhaps those early attempts were humble -- "We played, like, Nirvana covers at a couple of house parties," Gardner recalls recently, laughing.

But when high school ended, the two ended up far-flung -- Gardner at Florida State, and Slemon in Colorado, where he wound up in a hardcore band that toured nationally and started its own label. But perhaps it was kismet, then, that they reconnected in Los Angeles a couple years back. Gardner was working as a comedy writer there, and Slemon had moved his his hardcore act to the city in an abortive attempt to strike it bigger.

If you missed Goldcure's shows at Bull Bar and Propaganda back in May, you missed a hell of a good time. But fear not, young music lover, you've got a shot at redemption. On September 5, the Austin-based Indie-poppers are making another trek to Propaganda in Lake Worth. Let me clarify the indie-pop thing just a bit: this isn't another Shins/Strokes/Modest Mouse type of indie rock band. They play a radio ready style of rock and roll without overly complicated guitar work and weird for the sake of being weird vocals. Just good old fashioned alternative rock. Hit the jump or visit their MySpace page to sample the goods.

Jipsy

Surfcomber - when it's good, it's packed!

To read past installments of Diary of a Flasher, click here.

Some of you have a three day weekend and like many, will be heading out for a nice vay kay but this chick right here will be sticking it out in good ol' Miami. The weather pretty much sucks, but seriously, I am feet away from a pool and a few more from the beach and the parties just don't stop.

I wish I could share something juicy, but right now, my mind is on shooting Rye Rye this Sunday at Just Add Water over at Fontainebleau. Haven't been in a couple of weeks, but with the pool party bug -- I am ready to catch it all in front of my lens, rain or (preferably) shine.

Let's say tomorrow rolls around and you finally manage to tear yourself away from CNN's round-the-clock coverage of all things Michael Jackson to celebrate the birth of our nation and the day Will Smith freed us from alien annihilation. You find yourself on South Beach for some Fourth of July festivities. I know it's a stretch, but work with me here. Now let's say you've spent much of the day on the beach, perhaps sipping suds from your cooler and maybe partaking of the occasional frozen concoction from Wet Willy's. You've somehow waited out the 9pm fireworks show on 8th and Ocean, and now, your own inner child appeased by the loud reports and bright lights illuminating the sky, the wanderlust gets the better of you. It's 10pm, you've conceivably been drinking all day, and you're on South Beach. What to do now?

Well, if you're in the mood to catch live music from one of the more kick ass local bands our fair city has to offer, you could always head on over to Black Sheep, where Huma Rojo is scheduled to perform. Formed in 2005 by bassist/vocalist Damaris Vicke and guitarist Javier Guell, and later joined Daniela Bertoldi on keys and Johnny on drums, the band was named for the Pedro Almodovar flick Todo Sobre Mi Madre. With influences ranging from Radiohead to Fiona Apple to Café Tacvba to Sonic Youth, their sound is legitimate midway point between aggressive alt-rock, psychedelic and experimental.

They've been hard at work putting together their debut disc, which should be ready for release near the end of the month, but have taken a break from the dungeon-esque realm of studio recording to entertain the unruly masses tomorrow. So stumble on in and check them out.

Huma Rojo plays Black Sheep (721 North Lincoln Lane) tomorrow, Friday, July 4. Cover is $5.

I was just listening to 2008's good luck with twisted space from Swamp Valve, a.k.a. Jorge Rubiera (Down Home Southernaires), and just really enjoying the explosive high octane energy and down-right Marc Bolan-eque coolness of it.  The music is sticky good straight ahead rock. You can download it for free over on the Swamp Valve website. Supposedly there is another album in the works for this summer, but I haven't seen any news of it recently. Right now Rubiera is helping out on the ANR tour, most likely to fill it as in addition to being a fabulous musician, band member and solo artist he is a damn fine film maker as well. You can check out some of his stuff at meniscusthemovie.com or babyheadpro.com. Do you freaking job and listen to this immediately.