Miami Music Blog

​Despite the hordes of electronic dance music artists living and working out of Berlin -- natives and foreign transplants alike -- few embody the spirit and sound of Berlin's contemporary EDM scene as fully as DJ/producer Cassy. Born Catherine Britton in England to a Caribbean father and Austrian mother, Cassy got her start performing as a guest vocalist on Elin's "Music Takes Me Higher" on Sabotage Records in 1999. Soon after she got bit by the techno bug and began honing her skills behind the decks.

By 2003 she made the move to Berlin, where she's staked her reputation as one of the city's most formidable DJs and most forward-thinking producers, with releases on the Cocoon, Minus, Get Physical, and Perlon imprints. Blending elegant atmospheric textures with understated rhythms and a distinctive soulful vocal style, Cassy sounds something like a futuristic minimal techno Sade. Her residencies at the esteemed Berghain and Panorama Bar nightclubs have made her a staple of Berlin's late-night scene, and in 2006 she was invited to mix Panorama Bar's debut club offering. Fast-forward to 2009 and Cassy is once again spearheading a new compilation mix, In the Mix - Simply Devotion, this time for the prestigious Cocoon label, and supported by a North American tour that fortunately for us includes a stop by the Electric Pickle on Saturday. This one's an early bird special starting in the afternoon, so be sure you make it in time for Cassy's set!

Cassy at Electric Pickle, with Will Renuart, Alejandro Sab, Michael Christopher and Basti. Saturday, November 21. 4 p.m.-10:30 p.m. 2826 N. Miami Ave., Miami.  

Check out Crossfade's brief Q&A with Cassy after the jump.

The Golden Filter's take on late-'70s downtown glitz has taken Manhattan's club scene (and the blogosphere) by storm. Consisting of record producer Stephen and vocalist Penelope, the duo is notable for its chilly arpeggios, pulsating beats, and plush vocals -- as well as their elusive personas. (No, those aren't their full names.)

What is known about the Ohio-born knob-twister and the Australian chanteuse is that they met in New York through a mutual appreciation for photography. After putting out a sensational debut single, the disco-noir cut "Solid Gold," the Golden FIlter cemented its reputation with brilliant nu disco remixes of Cut Copy's "Far and Away" and Peter, Bjorn and John's "Lay It Down." Couple that with a successful opening slot for the Presets on a recent North American tour, as well as a highly anticipated follow-up single "Thunderbird." In its physical form, it's a limited-edition 12-inch with a glittering disco-pop cover of The White Stripes' "The Hardest Button To Button" on the B-side. 

Crossfade caught up with the enigmatic duo by e-mail a day after they played Iceland's Airwaves Festival. Read the Q&A after the jump.

The Golden Filter. Saturday, December 5. Poplife at Electric Pickle, 2826 N. Miami Ave. Doors open at 10 p.m., tickets cost $10 in advance from wantickets.com. Ages 21+ with ID. 305-456-5613; epoplife.com

​AFI has been on an upward trajectory since its inception in 1991. Starting out as a hardcore punk band out of the Bay Area, building its cred at 924 Gilman Street, AFI has evolved from its earlier punk approach to now incorporating occasional dance music, metal-tinged raucous, and goth sensibilities. The black-clad quartet hit a nerve in 2003 with the Hot Topic youth, who felt at home in the dark recesses of Sing the Sorrow -- Rolling Stone called the band "the Damned for the new metal generation." Their next album, 2006's Decemberunderground, hit No. 1 on Billboard, bumping the Dixie Chicks from the top.

Lead singer Davey Havok spoke with New Times yesterday about AFI's latest album Crash Love, which came out in September. AFI will perform at Revolution tomorrow. Doors open at 7 p.m.

New Times: Was there pressure after Decemberunderground to meet the same level of success with Crash Love?

Davey Havok: Not really we experience a ton of pressure when we make any record, but it's an internal pressure. We always want to move forward artistically in what we do and create a record we find interesting and exciting and that shows growth from what we've done in the past. And having been really happy with Decemberunderground, that was pressure was pretty strong for us on during the making of Crash Love. As far as any sort of look at what was or wasn't expected of us commercially, we've never been concerned with that.

 

via Purfiya's myspace

Diamond and DJ Purfiya

​DJ Purfiya is on the streets grinding.

Not only is the team Slip-N-Slide DJ from southwest Florida not dead, he's living with purpose.

Last week we brought you news of the Purfiya death hoax that was circulated via Twitter.

We also interviewed his former boss, Howard Roberts, CEO and founder of Firmlife Entertainment, who claims to have fired Purfiya over disputes on money and loyalty.

We got an email from Purfiya saying he wanted to respond to those allegations. Here's what DJ Purfiya had to say.

​
In this age of laptop-toting faux live electronic dance music acts, an actual band employing actual live instrumentation and vocals is a rare thing, especially when said band is delivering funked-out dancefloor bangers like 2020Soundsystem. The musical brainchild of Leeds-based DJ and esteemed 2020Vision label owner Ralph Lawson, the Soundsystem was formed in 2003 as a means of interweaving live electronics with his DJ sets and transcending the tried-and-true record-jockeying formula at the clubs.

Originally a duo comprising Lawson and percussionist Danny "Dubble D" Ward, the project became a quartet when Argentine transplants Fernando Pulichino and Julian Sanza where invited to join on bass and keyboards, respectively. Furthermore, the band began to experiment with guest vocalists, including an early collaboration with singer Diane Charlemagne, of Goldie's "Inner City Life" fame, although Pulichino himself has since taken up lead vocal duties.

The band has enjoyed increasing recognition since 2005, when they closed the Sonar music festival in Barcelona to an audience of 10,000 people, the live recording of which became disc 2 of their first album, No Order. The Live at Sonar disc is now widely regarded as a seminal work of live electronica and DJ/musician collaboration, and gave the band's sound more cohesion as they worked towards the completion of sophomore album, Falling, released in September 2009. Crossfade had a chance to catch up with DJ Ralph Lawson on the cusp of 2020Soundsystem's live performance at LIV on Saturday night and ask him what they're all about.

2020Soundsystem at LIV. Saturday, November 7. Doors open at 10:30 p.m. $25 cover. 4441 Collins Ave. (Fontainebleau Hotel) Miami Beach. 305-674-4680.

Read the full Q&A after the jump.

William Murderface, Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Nathan Explosion, Pickles, and Toki Wartooth

Late Generation X'ers and Gen Y blasted the notion that cartoons are only for kids. Maybe we didn't want to grow up, or maybe we just didn't want to trade creativity and imagination for the drudgery of every-day adulthood. Either way mature themes have been mainstream on animated series since MTV's Liquid Television or The Simpsons. Adult Swim, seemingly run by a bunch of stoner geniuses, has since picked up the torch for the late-night set, and its series Metalocalypse is quite possibly the most violent (translate awesome) show on television.

If you haven't seen it, Metalocalypse follows the misadventures of Dethklok, a melodic-death-metal fivesome who are as much genre cliches as they are hilarious. The show subtly injects (if you can call mass slaughter subtle) social commentary about society's obsession with celebrity. But at its gory core, it's mostly just epic and fun.

Yet the music is no joke. Show co-creator Brendon Small is a Berklee College of Music grad, writes all the music, and plays all the punishing riffs as the lead guitarist. He's also the gut behind lead singer Nathan Explosion's growl. to his credit, Dethklok's first album debuted at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 and, because it was a limited release, will run you at least $500 if you can find it. The band's latest, Dethalbum II, debuted at 15, making it the highest charting death-metal record ever. The band is currently on tour with Converge and Grammy-nominated heavy-metal group Mastodon. The tour will stop by Pompano Beach Amphitheatre Sunday. Brendon Small recently spoke with New Times about scoring drum-god Gene Hoglan, the lack of females in metal subculture, why This is Spinal Tap rules, and why Metalocalypse had to distance itself from the glorious film.

See interview after the jump:

Jewel's new album Lullaby

​Although Jewel became commercially successful at the age of 19 after releasing her thoughtful, melodic, and grrrly brand of Americana folk Pieces of You in 1997, she had already attained a lifetime of experience to draw from. Since her days hobo-ing around (she carried a knife and would totally cut you) to her angel-of-rock (albeit rock of the softer variety) status, she's released six albums since Pieces, has been nominated for three Grammys, and is now on tour for her latest album Lullaby, a compilation of tunes that can be described as anxiety-defusing, tranquilizer darts to soothe the soul. She'll stop by the Fillmore in Miami Beach Tuesday, November 3.

New Times: A lot of people don't know how tough you are, they hear these sensitive, thoughtful songs, and they make assumptions that you're a softy. But you're a misfit in many ways. Do you ever miss your vagabond lifestyle?

Jewel: My childhood was difficult in a lot of ways and really great in a lot of ways. I feel really blessed that I was able to be raised outdoors, and be raised in Alaska with music as an outlet. Writing always gave me an outlet that I think kept me from doing drugs and helped me deal with a lifestyle that was kind of difficult. I moved out when I was 15, and I was raised by a single father who did the best that he could with three kids by himself. And I grew up singing in bars.

I've always been a very observant person, I've always had a writer's heart, I think. I've always really enjoyed watching people and kind of watching them closely, and I guess I was always drawn to writers who were really honest. And so I became, at a young age, attracted to writers like Bukowski... I really appreciated their honesty and their willingness to show their flaws as much as their talent.

I think a lot of people tend to use the media or talent as a sort of propaganda machine to make themselves seem more perfect than they are. And I think that alienates the people watching or listening. It did to me at least as a kid. And I thought, you know, I gotta tell the truth somewhere and I might as well tell the truth in my writing. I tried to find a balance being tough in an environment that kind of required me to be on my toes and a little bit street smart and at the same time without letting it harden the sensitive parts of me that I really liked and that made me feel happy.

And so my life kind of became a balance, trying to learn how to balance, but I wasn't always great at it. I've always been kind of a little bit, I wouldn't say scrappy is the right word, but it's [like] a certain type of pride. Not the type of pride that would keep me from cleaning toilets for money because I would do anything to try and support myself and figure out a way to make a living. But at the same time I wouldn't take anything. Like if a boss wanted to fire me, because I wouldn't sleep with him. I was like, "Fire me." I've always kind of had a real fighter's attitude and fighter's spirit of "I won't be beat." I didn't want life to make me bitter, because I really felt like that would be like letting life beat me twice. I felt like I wanted to go through my life and still figure out how to be a happy person instead of being a statistic that would have ended up a drug addict.

With his Lights Out parties and releases, British super-DJ Steve Lawler ruled dance floors with a sound that lived up to that name. It was thumping, dark, and almost fiercely inward-looking -- it was no surprise, really, that Lawler cited Depeche Mode and the Doors  as influences. But just as things were getting to their heaviest in the real world, Lawler seems to have lightened up, channeling a sunnier, perhaps more South American influence. Certain scribes have dubbed it "carnival house," which is a frankly horrifying term; but it does begin to get at the more celebratory, festive mood of Lawler's recent mixes.

Perhaps the change came was thanks to the world of possibilities opened up with the launch of his new record label/DJ agency/production company/everything-but-the-kitchen-sink music juggernaut, Viva Music. Or maybe it was just, you know, musical boredom. Whatever the reason, in the last couple years, Lawler has done a 180 that's stymied those who would put him in a little "dark progressive house" box. Check out the changes for yourself tonight, when Lawler's Viva Music tour lands at Gryphon, in the Seminole Hard Rock complex. New Times caught up with him last month to chat about his latest developments. Check out what he had to say, after the jump.

Steve Lawler. Thursday, October 29. Gryphon, 5711 Seminole Way, Hollywood. Doors open at 10 pm., tickets cost $20 in advance from wantickets.com. Ages 21+ with ID. 954-581-5454; gryphon-club.com

We last spoke to local hip-hop shooter Derick G. back in June when he had just leveraged his still image work into the world of moving pictures, in high definition.

Derick recently hit a new phase in his career when he gained unprecedented access to roll with Cash Money Records as a documentarian starting with Lil Wayne's 27th birthday and continuing with a European tour, and, from what he tells us, a recent trip to NYC.

Here's the story of how he did it from a recent phone interview.

​In the techno-centric dance capital of Berlin, DJ/producer/label owner Steffen Berkhahn a.k.a. Dixon has played no small part in bringing about a broader stylistic eclecticism to electronic dance music, while paving the way for the current deep house revival. A veteran of Berlin's early '90s scene with roots in drum 'n' bass and downtempo, he has a long-standing association with Jazzanova and the esteemed Sonar Kollektiv, while his own Innervisions imprint has emerged as a pivotal touchpoint for the deeper sounds of house coming out of Europe in the late 2000s.

A masterful tastemaker with a penchant for the more accessible melodic songcraft of house music, running against the prevailing current of German minimal techno, Dixon's singular musical ear is evidenced on original releases as Wahoo, with producer Georg Levin, and on such acclaimed compilation mixes as Get Physical's Body Language Vol. 4 from 2007. Dixon is currently touring North America in support of his upcoming Temporary Secretary compilation CD and Crossfade had a chance to catch up with the man on the heels of a highly-anticipated DJ set at the Electric Pickle. Read the full Q&A after the jump.

Dixon at Electric Pickle. Friday, October 2, 10 p.m.-5 a.m. 2826 N Miami Ave., Miami.    

photo by Stephanie Rosenblatt via myspace.com/thestateofmusic

Nabedi Osorio (left) and Steph Taylor

​One of my favorite South Florida groups, the dark indie-pop duo The State Of officially start a national tour for their new record Day of Abandon October 1. I e-mailed the pair, made up of pianist/vocalist Steph Taylor and drummer/vocalist Nabedi Osorio, a few questions about their influences, background, and what to expect from the new album. We'll be keeping track of them for the next month, so stay tuned. Read the full Q&A after the jump.

​No one gets to the top of the pop charts by being a complete idiot. Well, of course it happens for some folks once or twice. But besides a knack for hooks, it takes some serious sharp thinking to stay there. So don't make the mistake of thinking the rapper/producer/all-around svengali Lil Jon is a clown or a buffoon. His entertainment persona is definitely larger than life; even your parents can probably identify his trademark one-syllable yells. 

To understand up-and-coming MC Termanology's commitment to the golden age of hip-hop, just take a look at the production credits on his new album, Time Machine. It's enough to make you cry: the Alchemist, Large Professor, Pete Rock, and even the untouchable DJ Premier all lend beats to this sophomore effort. And of course, the Puerto-Rican-extracted MC didn't get to work with top talent out of nowhere.

As a teenager in his heavily Latin hometown of Lawrence, Massachusetts, he started his climb to the top in the traditional way - through a series of underground mixtapes. Luckily, he became closely associated with a fellow Lawrence native, the DJ/producer Statik Selektah, whose star eventually also began to quickly rise. Eventually, Termanology was scoring appearances on his Hood Politics mixtape series by leading underground lights like Royce da 5'9" and even Guru.

And from Guru, it wasn't such a big leap to work with that MC's partner in Gang Starr - DJ Premier. Primo finally handed Termanology a beat in 2006, and from there came the other marquee names. Termanology does them all proud. His flow is pure classic east coast, able to rock street-ready beats with intelligence, but without the dreaded backpacker's nerdiness. He cites Big Pun as a huge influence - he even declared himself Pun's successor in his underground hit "Watch How It Go Down" - and  a local audience will appreciate his occasional Spanish rhymes. Nearly all the best local acts perform at this PS14 show too, notably Garcia, Saheed, LMS, and Alphanum3rics, so Miami hip-hop heads, don't sleep on this one.

Read a full Q&A with Term after the jump.

​Rat Bastard is unquestionably one of the most ubiquitous presences in the local music scene. And he has been for well over two decades. When Rat's not fronting conflagrations such as Laundry Room Squelchers or Scraping Teeth, he's heading up The International Noise Conference, a weeklong racket of cacophony that's been blasting Miami for five years.

Most of what Rat does is from the stage at Churchill's Pub, which, as everyone knows is now celebrating its 30th anniversary. To mark the occasion, he's decided to unleash a six hour set of what will undoubtedly be the brashest sounds ever produced by man or beast. That's right, Rat and a few of his nefarious friends will hit Churchill's stage Thursday night, and they won't leave until your ears bleed. New Times caught up with Miami's noisiest operator and asked him what was up.

Here's how he answered, after the jump.

Awesome New Republic

Michael John Hancock, better known as MJ, from Miami's soul-punk group Awesome New Republic, talks about the band's new release coming in October, settling in Miami, and band breakups. Awesome New Republic will perform Tuesday, September 8 at Roxy's in West Palm Beach and Saturday, September 12 at Soho Studios in Miami. Visit the band's MySpace page for more details

New Times: You studied music at University of Miami. How did your studies inform your composition style or musicianship?

Michael John: I was a music major in the [Frost School of Music], but I could study outside of the music school. It wasn't narrow. I came in pretty narrow, doing music business. I had a scholarship for classical voice. It certainly stretched out my range. We move around a lot with our music as far as the range.

​Being a Miami native, I'm always curious to hear what folks think about my hometown. And, as you might suspect, I'm not afraid to ask. When it's bold-faced name folks, I get even more curious. Not that their thoughts are any more or any less important than those of plain text folks, mind you; but that their thoughts do seem to get around more. And they're much more likely to have an impact too.

So here is  what I hope will be the first in an occasional series called Mad About Miami, where I ask some bold-faced names to come clean about Miami. And it is with great good pleasure that I begin with no less a name than Moby.

Here we go now, after the jump -- and get a free MP3 from Moby, too.

​
Canadian-born producer Mathew Jonson is one of the more virtuosic and boldly innovative figures of contemporary techno. Boasting a masterful and nuanced command of electronic studio production, early breakthrough tracks like "Decompression", released on Richie Hawtin's Minus label, earned Jonson worldwide acclaim as a producer in the early 2000s, when he staked his pivotal role in the burgeoning minimal techno scene.

His experimental forays into jazz and live electronic improvisation have led to genre-bending collaborative work with The Modern Deep Left Quartet and Cobblestone Jazz, and as co-founder of Berlin's esteemed Wagon Repair label, he continues to impact the sound of international techno as both a producer and cutting-edge tastemaker.

Mr. Jonson will be performing live this Friday night at the Electric Pickle, along with resident DJ Will Renuart, and LINK residents Danyelino and Simon Wish. Crossfade had a chance to catch up with the man on his way back from a summer date in Ibiza and headed for the Americas. Read our Q&A with him after the jump.

​Judas Priest is so influential, so part of the original heavy music, that the band was already rocking when the term "heavy metal" was invented. Formed by guitarist K.K. Downing and bassist Ian Hill, the band originally came together in 1969 over a shared love of bands like Cream. Their hometown of Birmingham, England, though, is not exactly a pastoral place -- it's industrial gothic, and the sooty gloom eventually penetrated their heavy blues rock. (It's absolutely no surprise that Black Sabbath also came out of this environment.)

The addition of iconic frontman Rob Halford 1974 cemented the band's newly forged musical path. The songs were getting heavier and heavier, and more epic, and an appearance at the 1975 Reading Festival started Priest's trajectory into stardom.

It was with the 1980 classic British Steel, though, that the band entered superstardom. The music, now, had morphed into a sound sort of like the revving of the motorcycles the band so adored -- revving, short, loud blasts of pure power. Halford's voice was well-oiled and elastic, and the leather-clad look he favored in this era forever stamped metal fashion.

photo by Mark Seliger

​For all his band's purported fascinations with life's uglier aspects, Slayer frontman Tom Araya sure is a cheerful guy. Calling from a moving bus in rural Washington state, Araya laughs seemingly every couple of minutes. Surely, though, it's this laissez-faire sense of humor that's gotten him through almost three decades of leading one of the most notorious, most influential metal bands on the planet.

That's not an understatement. Nor should one take Araya's relatively chipperness as a sign that he or his band has gone soft. The swift kick in the ass that is Slayer's latest album, World Painted Blood, should disavow doubters of any of those notions. Yes, the title echoes the band's seminal 1986 record Reign in Blood, and that's got to be on purpose -- the new work is, as Araya points out repeatedly, classic Slayer.

The band's collaborative, off-the-cuff songwriting and recording process this time around has clearly been a revitalizing force. The songs explode with fierce, classic thrash energy, propelled by a youthful ferocity but composed with expert chops. And although Araya and company are carefully shielding most of the material from the public before its release, just check out the song "Psychopathy Red," which has been circulating for the last year or so on the Internet. Then re-hinge your jaw and wait for the rest. After the jump, read what Araya had to say about World Painted Blood and the band's current national outing on the Mayhem Festival tour. 

Ever the teller of cinematic stories drawn inspired by his own dark life experiences, listening to Mickey Avalon's music is like watching a movie with your eyes closed -- part Drug Store Cowboys, part Wonderland with some Boogie Nights (you know the parts), and a little Trainspotting mixed in for good measure. It's not a pretty story, but it's not one he shies away from either. Instead he plows headlong into it, confronting both past tragedies and fears of the future with equal aplomb. It seems almost as though he relishes recounting in his music tales sordid enough to make the most depraved whores blush.

Even if he doesn't share that same enthusiasm for doing it in interviews. Still, in a recent phone call with New Times from his tour bus as he hits the road, he shared with candor (and, unexpectedly, the politeness of a boy scout) his inspirations and the obstacles he faced in preparing his as-of-yet untitled sophomore release, the life changes for a street walker/urchin turned underground sensation, and even his bet on who's win in a smoke out between Snoop Dogg, Slightly Stoopid and Stephen Marley.

New Times: Let's talk about your new album. We heard you worked with Travis Barker?

Um, the album is pretty much done. It just needs to be mastered. I just did one song with Travis Barker, and hopefully it'll make it on the album, which I did about six months to a year ago, and he just finished that. It's a good song. I think I'll be performing it on tour [this summer].

Snoop Dogg is straight up the smoothest motherfucker in the business. Pardon the French, but there's just no description more fitting. The Dogfather can pretty much take credit for defining what rappers and hip hoppers across the board tout these days as their swagger, and it's doubtful anyone would dispute that.

Since exploding onto the scene with his breakout feature on Dr. Dre's "Nuthin' But a G Thang," and his groundbreaking debut record Doggystyle, Snoop has consistently put out one chart-topper after another for close to twenty years, selling over 30 million copies worldwide and "shitting hits," as he puts it.

And he's still at it, showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Snoop finds himself in the midst of a summer tour that'll feature a SoFla stop on August 1, and drops a new record titled Malice in Wonderland later this year.

John Digweed is not only one of the biggest superstar DJs ever, but he's got a heart just as extra-large. The man has spun to thousands at the biggest venues and festivals in the world, but tonight he touches down at the Vagabond for a more intimate, down-to-earth event. He and Vagabond co-owner Carmel Ophir put together tonight's party -- for which entry costs just $10, cheapos -- to benefit the local charity Community Partnership for Homeless. (Click here to read more about Digweed and the event.)

New Times caught up with him to ask about his ties to Miami and the Vagabond, how he got involved with this event, and his current projects. After the jump, check out what he had to say.

Click here for a free Harvey Milk MP3.

Harvey Milk, like most if not all other bands, has been the subject of only semi-accurate comparisons to the influential groups that have gone before them during the course of the career.  

Most frequent among these has been a comparison to the power trio the Melvins, which started out in Washington in the early '80s. But even that infers other comparisons to older-still godfathers like Black Sabbath and Black Flag. While some of the distinguishing characteristics are there -- the slow, steady grind of creamy distortion-laden guitars, deep, guttural vocals, more snarling than singing, and thundering bass notes and drums reminiscent of that scene with the T-Rex in Jurassic Park -- the similarities end there.

via nakedeyesmusic.com

With 1980s playlists all the rage these days, you don't have to be of a certain age to appreciate the tuneful joy of Naked Eyes' 1983 "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me." But it helps. If only for the fact that you can count yourself among those who were there when the song first exploded across America.

Then again, since the song was originally written in the 1960s by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, originally recorded by Dionne Warwick, and originally became a hit when British singer Sandie Shaw got a hold of it, even you who were there when can't officially count yourselves among the first where that tune is concerned.

Not so with Naked Eyes' second smash hit, "Promises Promises," even though that track shares a title with a Bacharach/David musical. No, "Promises" is pure Naked Eyes -- resolutely tuneful and relentlessly upbeat. In fact it remains such a catchy representation of the era that Lady GaGa herself sampled it for 2008's "Poker Face."

Of all the out of town head-spinners to hit South Beach, the one who would seem most perfectly suited for LIV has gotta be DJ Chachi. Yeah, we know. His primary residency is at New York's ultra-hip Ten June, which might boast a similar clientele, but it in no way resembles the Vegas-like feel of The Fontainebleau. The Borgata's Mur.Mur does though, as does Shrine in the MGM Grand, despite the fact that one's in Atlantic City and the other's in Connecticut. And yes, Chachi's a resident at both those venues too.

New Times got with the world's busiest 24 year-old DJ prior to his June 26 stand at LIV and asked him to answer a few questions.

Here's what he had to say, after the jump.

A number of rootsy rock bands from throughout Florida have banded together to carpool through the state, dubbing their rolling musical caravan the Citrus Circuit tour. It lands tonight in Miami at Tobacco Road, and Saturday at Propaganda; click here to read more about it.

New Times recently spoke with Lauris Vidal, the troubadour who got the whole thing together. Here are the Qs and the As.

New Times: What gave you the idea of the tour?

Lauris Vidal: The bottom line is Florida loves and supports its music. It's wild the way the rest of the U.S. doesn't really think of Florida as a rich musical state, but its heritage is unbelievably rich. As I was touring nationally, I kept looking back at Florida and realizing how amazing our bands and musical community really is. So I took a hiatus on national touring to focus solely on Florida for a while. In the course of doing that, I realized that Florida has enough great artists, music lovers, venues and people who come out to shows to support its original artists full time.

After a final album together, 2008's Go Away White, Peter Murphy and his former bandmates have finally hammered the last nail in the Bauhaus coffin. But that's actually good news for the group's rabid fans. Its erstwhile frontman is finally comfortable performing these songs on his solo tours, which have become surprisingly, pleasantly frequent. Wednesday's show at Respectable Street Café in West Palm Beach comes less than a year after his last South Florida performance, in July 2008 at Revolution.

"I wanted to come out and work on the new material and play, basically, to a hard-core audience that would be loyal," Murphy says. "I'm not into doing tours only when there's an album. Playing live is as much as what I do as is making music."

Still, his official Retrospective Tour was last year, and as pioneering as his musical past may be, Murphy isn't content to just dwell on it. A new solo studio album, his first in five years, is due out later this year. He won't reveal too much about its sound, but he has continued to work with his sometime collaborator, producer David Baron. He will, however, reveal that the forthcoming work comprises all original tracks.

image via derickg.com

Akon "So Paid" Video Shoot

image via DerickG.com

"For the most part I just get hired to shoot."