Skampida

MP3: Skampida — Casteneda

From Bogota to Boca Raton, Skampida has been performing its Latin-influenced ska sound since forming in 1998.

The band, which came together in Colombia, moved to South Florida 18 months ago. The aim was to play and land a record deal, said guitarist Juan Pablo.

Since arriving in the States, Skampida has performed more than 80 gigs in New York and South Florida. Its shows feature a diverse fusion of reggae and folkloric rhythms intermingled with hip-hop, punk, gypsy influences, cumbia and champeta.

Skampida’s energy hasn’t gone unnoticed: The band was voted best local rock band for 2006 by New Times.

Members were also nominated for best ska and reggae band and best live performances in 2004 by Shock magazine. The group won an award for best ska and reggae video from Much Music in 2005.

Pablo is joined by band members David Mujica on bass and lead vocals, Esteban Rivera on keyboards, Pedro Vega on saxophone and Nacho Segura on drums.

In between performances, the band is working on completing its second disc at what Pablo calls “a fancy studio in Miami.” Its first CD, Stereoblaster, was released in 2004. Visit skampida.com.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Webpage: http://www.drewtichnell.com
Location: Austin, TX,
Description: Drew’s influences began at an early age from listening to her parents LP collection of great artists such as Otis Redding, Albert King, Janis Joplin, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers etc.
Biography: When Drew began playing on 6th St. in Austin Texas, many locals did not recognize the name or the attitude slinging melodies flowing into the street. However, that did not stop them from walking in and finding a fresh 19 yr. old skinny white chick on stage belting out her original tunes. Drew’s determination to share her music with the world started shortly after she recorded her debut album, Unfolding on Orange Stone Records in 2005. She packed her guitar and drove out of the Piney Woods of East Texas in search for a band. Drew’s prolific writing ability allowed her to record her first album before she graduated from high school. Now with an original set of catchy melodies, Drew’s show is best described as a diverse power pop/rock  blend of the past and present with soulful sultry vocals and a bad-ass attitude .
Press Release: An avid songwriter and love for rock and soul, Drew’s set of original songs is an eclectic mix of powerful melodies so original with a great cross over appeal.  Drew will be recording her 2nd album in the Fall of 2006 with producer Tommy Spurlock.  A new set list and album will be available by 2007 as this 20 yr. old prodigy takes off with her musical career with touring and promoting in 2007.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Alexx Calise

MP3: Alexx Calise — My Song

If music were a meal, then Alexx Calise’s childhood was like dining at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

“I was brought up with a smorgasbord of different artists,” Calise said. “My family is extremely musical. They raised me on blues, jazz, rock, new age, world music.”

Listening to her parents’ extensive music collection and watching as her dad played the James Bond movie theme on his guitar has greatly contributed to Calise’s career trajectory. A former entertainment writer for several publications, Calise is putting journalism on the back burner to pursue the life of a rock ‘n’ roller.

Calise describes her original compositions as a reflection of her persona — passionate, biting and with an edge.

“I write from life,” said Calise, whose musical influences include Buck Cherry, Aerosmith, Heart, Joan Jett and Stone Temple Pilots.

Calise is completing her debut CD, Morning Pill. She began writing songs for the album in 2003. Visit alexxcalise.com.

– Beth Feinstein-Bartl

Popularity: 4% [?]

Webpage: http://www.vonnellonline.com
Location: Miami, Fl, USA
Description: Vonnell With His Debut Album 31 de Febrero
Biography: Singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and multilingual& These are 5 words which describe Vonnell, a young artist who launches himself into the music industry with his debut album “31 de Febrero” (February 31), which comes from a rich, diverse and interesting angle; pop/rock, ballads, and songs with modern and exquisite Cuban as well as Brazilian energies. Vonnell was born in Havana, Cuba and migrated with his parents to the U.S. at the age of 9,When he was 11, he began studying saxophone and piano and quickly made his way up to leader in both, jazz and symphonic bands, which is where he stayed throughout most of his teenage years. At the age of 18, he steps away from the music world to pursue a career as a pilot. A few years later, when his turn came for the airlines after working for Comair/Delta Airlines as a flight instructor and achieving a senior status at the University of Miami in Aerospace Engineering, he hangs his pilot uniform and returns to what had been constantly calling him for years: music. This time, however, he would add two additional ingredients; singing and composing. Facing difficult, adversity-filled times in the music industry, towards the end of 2004, Vonnell founded his own record label VIMmusic with the help and support of his familygiving way to his first production 31 de Febrero. In this project, Vonnell not only acts as Singer/Songwriter/Instrumentalist, but also as Producer side- by-side with Brazilian guitarist Jucimar de Oliveira and Grammy-winner Roberto Morales who produced Vonnell’s vocals and brought great ideas to the table in diferents songs This album has been considered by critics “a break through album”.Everything from sensual and flirtatious up-tempo songs, to thought provoking ballads is included in this album, as well as the saxophone and piano playing sounds of Vonnell himself (which is a rarity in its genre).
Press Release: Press Reviews American Idol Underground Y Despues 1st place on Big Push - World VONNELL with “Y Despues” 1st place on Big Push - World competitions of American Idol Underground: http://www.idolunderground.com/pages/BigPushWinners.aspx 16 th Annual Los Angeles Music Awards - Los Angeles, CA USA 5 Nominations and 4 Awards Recipient: 1.-Album of the year “31 d Febrero” Laitn Category 2.-Artist of The Year Unanimous Choice Award Latn Category Song: “Cara de Caramelo” 3.-Artist of the Year World Category Song “Y Despues” 4.-Male Singer/Sonwriter of the Year “Luna” Latin Category http://www.lamusiconline.com/newnom.pdf The Canary Islands International Song Contest - 2006 - 6th Edition Finalist Songs Noche Escondida and Y Despues http://www.festivalinternacional.com/framesetingles.htm Vonnel at the record pool Vonnell is quickly rising to the top in national and international record pool http://www.vonnellonline.com/RecordPool.html Vonnell’s Video “Cara de Caramelo” now at Yahoo http://music.yahoo.com/ar-27184331—Vonnell

Popularity: 4% [?]

Aboriginal

MP3: Aboriginal — Love Hate City

With influences ranging from Led Zeppelin to the Beastie Boys, it’s hard to put a label on Aboriginal.

“We don’t follow trends,” said Helms De Armas, drummer for the five-member band. “We’re making our own sound. It’s honest. There’s no mask.”

The Kendall-based group has been honing its sound for seven years. De Armas, who goes by the stage name Helms1, describes Aboriginal’s music as “urban experimental.”

Other members, and their stage names, are: guitarist Andres Morales (Mono), vocalist Miguel Kitrell (Discrete), bassist Rodolfo Keyloun (Habbibi) and Gianni Perocarpi (DJ Geography) on percussion and keyboards.

“We fuse hip-hop vocals with live instrumentals,” De Armas said. “There’s rock. There’s jazz. There’s Latin. There are so many different styles that we use. You can’t sum it up in one description.”

Whatever it is, Aboriginal intends to reach more listeners with plans to release its first CD this summer. The disc’s title, 4.656%, uses the address of their Miami recording studio.

“As a joke, we added the decimal point and a percentage sign,” De Armas said.

One of the tracks on the debut, Love/Hate City, is dedicated to Miami.

“It’s about what people perceive Miami to be and what Miami really means to us,” De Armas said. “It’s where we grew up and how we’re a bunch of musicians trying to make it in a city saturated with glamour and glitz. It’s kind of hard.”

Love/Hate City is on a three-song sampler CD the band gives away to fans at concerts.

“We’re pretty known for our live shows,” De Armas said. “I don’t think there’s a venue in Miami that we haven’t played.”

Aboriginal has ventured into Broward County, too. Past dates include Young Circle Park in downtown Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale’s Poor House.

On the Web, visit myspace.com/aboriginal.

– Beth Feinstein-Bartl

Popularity: 7% [?]

Popularity: 4% [?]

Zune.net | The Good, The Bad & The Queen - Artist Profile Page

The Good, The Bad & The Queen began life in the Aphrodisia Studios in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2004. Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) and guitarist Simon Tong (The Verve) had travelled to Lagos to record with veteran drummer and Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen (Africa 70, Fela Kuti). Working with local musicians, the trio recorded an album’s worth of material. Back in England, Damon was finishing off Gorillaz’ Demon Days album and the project went on the back burner.

By the time they came back to it−and when Damon gave the recordings to producer Brian ‘Danger Mouse’ Burton−feelings about the record had changed. “When Brian came on board it really started to become, The Good, The Bad & The Queen. I started writing about this area−West London−and coming to define here and why I think it’s such a special place to live,” said Albarn.

The final collaborator to come in to the studio was Clash bassist−and West London native−Paul Simonon, and the album was finished by early summer 2006.

The result is a record specific to a place and a time but with a background that is geographically wide-ranging and stretches far back into a glittering musical past. The Good, The Bad & The Queen traces a journey from the English music hall tradition, over to West Africa for Afrobeat, zigzagging through the West Indies and its reggae and dub, back to England and London’s punk scene, all the while taking in a strand of British beat music from the ’50s right through to Britpop.

Preview and download their self-titled album, The Good, The Bad & The Queen, on Zune Marketplace today.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Dainamite and Gaby

MP3: Dainamite and Gaby — Quiero Sen

Dainamite and Gaby infuse their mix of reggaetón and Spanish hip-hop with bilingual lyrics and positive messages.

“I believe in having the music so that everyone of all ages can enjoy it,” said Julio Santiago (Dainamite). “I want to prove that music can be positive without cursing, denigrating women and talking about drugs.”

The men are both from Puerto Rico and now live in Miami. They merged their talents 8 months ago. Gaby Quintana provides vocals. Dainamite is the rapper, producer and composer.

“[Gaby] has an original voice,” Dainamite said. “I like that people are enjoying our music.”

Dainamite (pronounced dynamite) had been performing as a solo reggaetón artist for 12 years before deciding to team up with Gaby. The pair is working on a bilingual CD, due out early next year. It will include romantic ballads that have a Spanish/r&b beat written by Dainamite. The disc is being created at his production company and recording studio, YC Entertainment.

Fans can get a preview by downloading several songs from trackfinders.com.

Visit the duo at prfiestas.com, myspace.com/dainamiteandgaby and elhood.com/ycentertainment.

– Beth Feinstein-Bartl

Popularity: 3% [?]

sosos

MP3: sosos — Should’ve Wandered

The guys who make up the sosos don’t need electricity to rock the house. With what they refer to as “100 percent dead dry acoustic music — free of amplifiers, reverbs, delays and so on,” the Fort Lauderdale-based band generates its own brand of energy.

“We base our band’s premise around that if the power goes out, we should still be able to play and be heard,” said Chris Monteleone, who plays guitar and melodica.

The sosos, pronounced so-so’s, have been together since 2003.

Monteleone’s brother, Kerry, plays acoustic bass. Other members include Chip Staples on drums and percussion; David Klein playing a West African drum called a djembe; and Josh Foster on piano and an old church pump organ.

Mandolin, dumbek, harmonica, skeleton keys, shakers and other miscellaneous instruments are used to round out the blend of folk rock/funk tunes.

The band has been busy of late with the recent release of its first CD, abigail. Chris Monteleone wrote and produced the album’s 12 songs. The title track refers to a recurring dream Monteleone said he’s had for 15 years.

The disc is available at myspace.com/sosos and sososmusic.com.

– Beth Feinstein-Bartl

Popularity: 5% [?]

Zune.net | Animal Collective - Artist Profile Page

Friends and musical partners since 1992, core members Avey Tare (a.k.a. David Porter) and Panda Bear (a.k.a. Noah Lennox) came together in 2000 with the intention of moving pop music in a direction that would place heavy emphasis on sonic experience. Soon after this, they began operating as Animal Collective, an umbrella name now used for a grouping of four people.

Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Geologist (a.k.a. Brian Weitz), and Deaken (a.k.a. Conrad Deaken) play together under different names and in different configurations. Their releases are always prone to continual musical change: from beautifully skewed pop ballads to fiercely ruptured noise-squalls to tribal rhythmic work-outs to simple folk songs, to who knows where; from fully orchestrated group freak-outs to the intimacy of an acoustic duo.

In whatever formation, Animal Collective is a genuinely thrilling live unit, passionately committed and unafraid to put themselves on the line.

The Collective’s first offering was a stunning collaboration between Avey Tare and Panda Bear called Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished, released on their own label Animal in August of 2000. A second album, Danse Manatee was released by Catsup Plate in July 2001, which was accompanied by a month-long U.S. tour with their friends Black Dice. The next year they released a limited-edition, vinyl-only on St.Ives (a sub-label of Secretly Canadian) called Hollinndagain, which was made up of recordings from live shows.

In 2003, they released Campfire Songs, a collection of songs recorded live on a screened-in porch in rural Maryland on Catsup Plate, Here Comes the Indian on Carpark’s imprint label Paw Tracks, and three tracks from Avey Tare also appeared on a Split 12″ shared with David Grubbs. The next year, the group released their twisted yet masterly pop album, Sung Tongs, and followed it with the album Feels, which was released in October of 2005.

The group’s first release of 2007, People, features three previously unreleased tracks (plus one live version), which were recorded at the same sessions as the band’s hugely successful Feels album.

Preview and download Animal Collective’s songs on Zune Marketplace today.

Popularity: 19% [?]