Via facebook.com/brentonbrownmusic

​Brenton Brown knows how to hustle.

Having come back to his native Miami after graduating from the University of Florida, he doesn't let the haters throw him off his quest to be the next big rapper. Signed with new management, he just made a video for his song, "Lemme Know," with Ghostwridah, and it's gotten a lot of blog love.

We talked with him about the struggles of being almost famous as he gets ready to release his debut LP, The Brenton Brown Affair, and we're letting you snag a couple free downloads.
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​Every musician dreams of making it big.

Of course, it doesn't usually work out that way -- unless you're Miami-based electro duo GTA.

Matthew Toth and Julio Mejia, AKA Van Toth and JWLS respectively, have been working together for only about a year and half. But already, their work has been featured by EDM giants and Laidback Luke has made himself their mentor.

We here at Crossfade recently caught up with Toth to get the skinny.
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​Yes, disco follows a formula. But Belgian-Italian producer Aeroplane (AKA Vito De Luca) isn't thinking small when it comes to the genre.

He's not even concerned with floor fillers. In fact, he's aiming for nothing short of cosmic disco rapture, taking his cues from the '70s prog rock giants like Pink Floyd just as much as Italo-disco masters like Giorgio Moroder.

The epic musicality of De Luca's productions is apparent in 2010 debut long player We Can't Fly, which garnered rave reviews from both the mainstream music press and underground EDM critics. In other words, he's found that rare balance between pop accessibility and underground cred.

But fluff aside, Aeroplane's product is still disco, which means he's here to make you boogie. And that's exactly what he intends to do when he stops by Bardot on the first leg of his current North American tour on Saturday.
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There's something almost mythical about DJ Lee Burridge. He's like the Johnny Appleseed of electronic dance music -- a wide-eyed nomad roaming the Earth and planting the seeds of quality sound wherever he goes.

Over the years, it's a journey that's taken him from the grassy fields of UK raves to Hong Kong's cosmopolitan urban scene to Nevada's dusty Burning Man festival.

And at this point, the holy man can gather his hordes of fans at the drop of a club flier. Because when Burridge gets behind the decks for one of his famous marathon sets, you're guaranteed to get a body-jacking roller coaster ride. Like the one he'll be treating Miami to with SAFE at the Electric Pickle on Friday.
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¡Mayday!'s Bernz.

​The rap game is all about grind. Just ask local six-dude rap crew ¡Mayday!

After scoring a deal with Kansas City spitter Tech N9ne's Strange Music label last year, Bernz, Wrekonize, Plex Luthor, Gianni Ca$h, L.T. Hopkins, and Nonymous took off with their new boss on the All 6's and 7's tour. They played 82 shows in just 12 weeks. As Bernz says, "Just grinding every day."

Yet despite that insane road sked, the ¡Mayday! dudes still found a way to start pounding out tracks for upcoming album Take Me to Your Leader (street date March 27), the follow-up to 2009's Stuck on Island and the band's debut slab for the Strange imprint.

Yesterday, Crossfade talked to Bernz about Tech N9ne, the Strange Music family, post-apocalyptic visions, the new album, and stayin' on that grind.
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​Laptop DJing and mixing MP3s with the help of a sync button have become the norm in live electronic music. And it's tragic, given the next-level sonic possibilities offered by instrumentalist virtuosos like Detroit's Jeremy Ellis.

His live performances are the one-man electronic equivalent to seeing a bebop jazz ensemble. And it's no surprise, given the fact that Ellis started out as a jazz player before embarking on his "electronic freestyle" adventures, fusing jazz, funk, hip-hop, techno, and more via the MPC and other assorted gadgetry.

You'll have to see it to believe it when Mr. Ellis throws down with long-time collaborator John Arnold and Reset at The Garret at Grand Central on Saturday. To quote the man himself: "You may think you've seen people play live electronic music, but you need to come see people play live electronic music."
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Via TheBocaScott on YouTube

Fired up

​Any given night in Miami, hundreds of bottles of overpriced champagne and vodka are marched out to a perpetually revolving cast of douchebags, rich folks, once-a-year-spenders, depraved attention-starved nightlifers, sparkler fans, and the women who love to be seen with them.

But Off The Hookah Miami takes the cake for presentation with its "flair bartenders" who juggle, breathe, and generally cavort with real live fire. Do they get workman's comp if they set their hands ablaze? Is creating an unforgettable night for a tourist from Milwaukee worth the possibility of a third-degree face burn?

See the cut for some videos and Crossfade's interview with fire-juggling drink slinger Jeff "Flip" Fralich.
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No Loves' Jim Putney yearns for a rock 'n' roll America.

​We may not have known it then. But Florida in the 1990s was a bonafide punk rock factory.

Down in South Florida, labels like Starcrunch, 4 and Half Finger Records, and Far Out were pressing soon-to-be classics by the Stun Guns, Chickenhead, and the Crumbs. Our not-too-distant neighbors in Tampa Bay delivered the goods via Stiff Pole Records, home of the Pink Lincolns, the Gotohells, and a noisy outfit called Pull.

Long after our labels folded, the folks at Stiff Pole continued to carry the everlasting flame -- until founder Richard "Stiff" Konwinski suddenly died in 2010. Fortunately, his business partner Tim Hubbard has decided to keep the label going and the label's latest release will be by St. Petersburg's No Loves.
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Graham Wood Drout, AKA Reverend Deadman.

​When Graham Wood Drout and Iko Iko first started playing Tobacco Road in 1981, "the owner, an ex-cop named Neil, kept a shotgun behind the bar, couldn't get any strippers to work for the club, and hired us to play for Mariel refugees under a disco ball till four in the morning."

In the '80s and '90s, Tobacco Road was ground zero for live music in the city. But "it was pretty lawless. There was a dirt road, and the bridge was broken and stuck in the up position."

Times have changed, but Drout remains. Here's what he had to say about his first guitar, livin' in Rio, and his Tuesday night residency at The Road.
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​Anjuli Stars sings like an angel, raps like a gangsta, and writes songs by the thousands. She plays the keys and strings. She owns her own record label. She's collaborated with Pitbull. This Latin mami from West Kendall even holds a degree in Music Business and Songwriting from Berklee College.

On January 31, Stars will drop her pay-what-you-want Starvation Vol. 2 mixtape via anjulistars.com. Featuring full production from Salaam Remi cohort Stay Bent Krunkadelic, this slab sets the stage for her international takeover.

Here's what Anjuli had to say about South Dade Records, upcoming shows, and the job she quit to chase her dreams.
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