Miami Music Blog

A.F.I. is playing in South Florida on November 18, at Pompano Beach Amphitheater. Longtime fans of the band are in for a treat, as recent fan reviews show the band's set list has spanned its (long!) career. Also excellent is the opening band, Gallows, probably the best straight-up hardcore act to come out of the U.K. in a long, long time.

Crossfade is giving away a pair of tickets to the show -- which comes with admission to a private meet and greet with the band before the show. Davey Havok fans, you should be quaking with excitement.

To enter the drawing, leave a comment on another recent post here on Crossfade -- OTHER THAN THIS ONE. Then send an e-mail here with "AFI TICKETS" in the subject line, a link to your comment, and your full name and phone number in the body of the message.

Although this seems obvious, please only enter if you are local to South Florida and/or will be in town for the show. (Random Paolo Nutini fans from far away who entered my giveaway for his show, I'm looking at you.)

We'll run the contest until a week from today, Wednesday, November 11, at noon. Then we'll randomly draw a qualifying name and notify the winner by phone that week. Good luck!

​DUB magazine events always feature the craziest custom cars, and random celebrities coming out of the woodwork. This Saturday's local edition of the DUB Show tour, at the Miami Beach Convention Center, is also largely a concert. The line-up features an all-star cast of the usual local suspects: Rick Ross and his current constant companions the Carol City Cartel, Pretty Ricky alum Pleasure P, and Brisco. Support comes from up-and-comers, among them Rydaznrist (nooo idea how to pronounce that one), J-LP, Amore, and Tausha. On the wheels of steel (well, more likely on the MacBook Pro and Serato combo) is DJ GQ.

We're giving away two pairs of tickets to the event. To win, just leave a comment below naming three people Rick Ross has beefed with over the past year. Please include your e-mail address IN THE E-MAIL LINE OF THE COMMENT BOX -- do not put it in the comment text, that's leaving you open for spammers.

We'll select two random winners from the correct entries, and notify them on Friday morning.

photo by Kevin Westerberg

​The 22-year-old singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini confounds most expectations, from his name on up. Despite its Mediterranean sound, Nutini hails from Paisley, Scotland (though his father's side of the family is Italian, a few generations back). And despite his early shaggy, long-haired image, Nutini is not yet another dour rocker from his rainy homeland.

Rather his 2006 debut album, These Streets, released when he was just 19, displayed a precocious knack for riding the "pop" side of indie pop. "New Shoes," the breakout single from that album and his biggest hit to date in the United States, was an inescapable, hummable slice of cheerful acoustic-propelled soul. Not that he was incapable of seriousness, either. Deeper cuts from that album tackled heavier autobiographical matter with a relatively rough, bluesy sound. Take, for example, "Jenny, Don't be Hasty," a first-person account of a failed affair with an older woman.

via myspace.com/dmx

​It's been three years since the last studio offering from the famously volatile DMX. That seeming artistic dry spell starting in 2006 saw just a couple of greatest-hits type releases and a few film appearances. The last we really heard of DMX locally was this past December, when he was arrested at Scott Storch's house and extradited to Maricopa County, Arizona. There he pled guilty to charges of animal cruelty, drug posession, and theft, and served a little over three months in prison before good behavior scored him an early release this past May.

Still, DMX has never exactly professed to be an angel, and his ongoing struggle with his demons -- expressed sonically in his trademark jarring whisper-shout -- is what has attracted many of his fans. And now that he's once again a free man, he seems bent on recapturing his erstwhile stardom. Two new studio albums, Walk With Me Now and You'll Fly With Me Later, are due out next year, and the past month has seen a spate of live DMX performances. As part of this, he'll appear on Sunday at Revolution, and this is a bona fide, full-set concert -- not just a couple of songs tossed off at a club like usual.

Not to be totally outdone by all of Live Nation's various and sundry discount deals of late, rival concert promotions titan AEG Live is announcing its own special deal. It's good on this Friday, only, for one show -- the Blazed and Confused tour date on August 1 at Bicentennial Park in Miami. The show, of course, is headlined by Slightly Stoopid and Snoop Dogg, with other performances by Stephen Marley, Mickey Avalon, and Beardo.

If short-term memory loss or lack of motivation have prevented you from snagging a ticket, you can grab one for just $10 this Friday, starting at ... 4:20 p.m. The promotion ends at 8:40 -- yes, four hours and 20 minutes later. Rimshot!

click for fullsize flyer

We never thought we'd ever live to see the day when prolific LA experimental electro darling Deadalus would be co-headlining a party with Will.I.Am of the Black Eyes Peas, but we're living in strange time folks.

The Hello Miami party (Friday starting at 9pm at Dolce Ultra Lounger), put on by the good people at XLR8R and Terrorbird, also features a grab bag of other treats to satisfy any electro-sweet tooth, including Villains, Jokers of the Scene, Steed Lord, Gaslamp Killer ...and well you can read the flyer.

It's also Fergie's birthday party, making this the only party this week that both subscribers of XLR8R and US Weekly would die to go to. Luckily we have two pairs of tickets to giveaway to those of you 21+!

Just send your answer to this particularly easy (or easy to find) question to this email, the first two correct answers win!: What are two record labels that Daedelus has released material on? Just name any two experimental hip-hop/electro inclined labels and you'll probably get at least one right.

Congratulations to our winners! Tickets are still available on Want Tickets for $20, or $100 for VIP.

via www.myspace.com/matesofstate

Mates of State: Playing SunFest with 311? Possibly....

Crossfade reported recently that Palm Beach County festival staple SunFest had announced the first phase of its lineup, and that among the major acts was the improbably long-lived 311. The Omaha reggae-hip-hop-whatever act headlines the first night of the festival, the "new music" night, on Wednesday, April 29.

SunFest has been known for drawing big-name acts in a really unusual array, and things should get even more interesting with its latest development: letting Internet voters pick the opening night's supporting acts. Voting is open online until March 3, and candidates come from a wide, surprising swath of the current indie-ish spectrum, comprising everything from blog-beloved hip-hop, to pop-punk, to obscure dream pop, to -- just follow the jump, trust me. Ever imagined Mates of State sharing a stage with 311? Well, you could potentially make that happen!

We aren't kidding when we say times are tough. Money isn't as disposable as it once was, and we're all just praying that we'll come out alive once the recession is over. So to make sure you still have one rockin' New Year's Eve we decide to do a little giveaway, because even in these hard economic times you deserve to have a little fun.

The Raleigh Hotel has been kind enough to offer us two passes to give away for its Burlesque New Year's Eve. The event is hosted by '80s New York club icon Susanne Bartsch, as well as Amanda Lepore, Tara Solomon, Patricia Field and more. And yes, there it will be a burlesque-themed night with performers showing you a good time as you ring in the New Year.

Interested? All you have to do is sign up and register as a New Times Insider. The winner will win two passes to the event. Hurry up, because the contest closes Monday, December 29.

Oh, and you're welcome!

-- Jose D. Duran

Listen up: With all of the hush-hush hullabaloo around Langerado's revamped location and lineup in 2009, there's going to be a lot of attention on the festival and its new incarnation. So wouldn't you, member of a fledgling local band, want to get in on the action? Of course you would. And you have a shot, by entering the New Times-sponsored Battle of the Bands series, to be held at Gulfstream Park next January and February.

The contest is open to bands from the entire state of Florida. Those interested should submit their demos to the address below. All of those demos will be evaluated by Langerado staff, and then whittled down to nine finalists (three sets of three).

Friday night's No Age/Panda Bear show at Karu & Y, sponsored by Nike and ANP Quarterly, is still, as we reported, invite-only. But the nice folks at Nike have given us a number of free passes to give away to our readers.

So here's a little contest. Answer the following question, and e-mail the answer with "NIKE GIVEAWAY" in the subject line. The first 10 people to respond with the right answer will each win a set of two passes to the show. The contest ends tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 4, at 2 p.m.

At what L.A. underground venue did No Age get its start?

E-mail your answer here. Remember, "NIKE GIVEAWAY" MUST BE in the subject line. Good luck!

WHOA, those went fast. Congrats to the winners!

-- Arielle Castillo

(No Age photo by Ed Templeton, via Sub Pop)

This Saturday, December 6th, the always popular Buzz Bake Sale is taking place at the Cruzan Amphitheater in West Palm Beach. There's a ton of good bands on the show as usual and between the Celtic punk of Flogging Molly, the harder metal sounds of Atreyu, and the rebellious hip-hop of the Flobots, there's going to be something for everyone who attends.

If you listen to Buzz 103 and like hard rock with an edge, then this is definitely a concert you'll want to check out. The only problem is making sure you can get your hands on a pair of tickets. Of course, CrossFade has to tix to give away right now to the first person to correctly answer a bit of Buzz Bake Sale trivia.

This is the 13th year that the concert series has existed. The question is: Why is the concert called the Buzz Bake Sale? Anyone who was around for the first concert might have a better shot at getting this right, but I promise you, the answer isn't as hard as it seems.

The first person to email me back at the address below (or leave a comment) with the right answer will win two tickets for the show this Saturday. After the jump, check out a video for the group Hawthorne Heights, who fall into the emo category for good reason after their bandmember, Casey Calvert died last year from an accidental overdose. The video is for the song "Rescue Me" and, given the circumstances, it's touching. If you win the tickets, you'll get to see the band perform this live for free.

Contest closes tomorrow! Sign up now.

With Rock The Bells only a few weeks away happening Saturday, we here at the New Times are feeling a bit generous. We are giving away a pair (read 'em, two) of tickets to the show at Bicentennial Park, Saturday, August 2. Scheduled to perform are A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Mos Def, The Pharcyde, Method Man & Redman, Reakwon, Ghostface, De La Soul, Immortal Technique, Dead Prez, Murs, Wale, The Cool Kids, Santogold and more.

Click here to sign up for your chance to go to the festival on us! You must register as a New Times Insider to enter. Contest closes Wednesday, July 30.

- Jose D. Duran