CHAPPO talks inspiration, plans for future in our interview
By Cody Smith | Aug. 27, 2014Gainesville may not attract too many popular musicians, but the city’s music scene thrives on up-and-comers and experimental outfits.
Gainesville may not attract too many popular musicians, but the city’s music scene thrives on up-and-comers and experimental outfits.
Magic Man has grown a bit since its inception in 2010. Originally consisting only of vocalist Alex Caplow and guitarist/keyboardist Sam Vanderhoop Lee, Magic Man expanded to a quintet for the 2013 EP, "You Are Here." Their new studio album "Before The Waves" caters to the indie pop and synth pop crowd but fails to stand out among their contemporaries.
You may not have heard of new reggae pop outfit MAGIC! until this summer, but you’ve known lead singer Nasri Atweh’s catchy lyrics for years.
It was 6 a.m. in the Butler Plaza Publix bakery when a co-worker said something I never thought I’d hear: “I’m glad ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic is doing well again.”
High Dive Bar & Venue is giving people a chance to take advantage of its concerts while still saving some extra cash.
The indie-pop band Fun. set the charts ablaze with its hit singles “We Are Young” and “Some Nights.”
Former (for now) Dashboard Confessional frontman Chris Carrabba is appearing at 1982 Bar on July 24 with his latest project, a seven-person folk-rock outfit called Twin Forks. Just like Dashboard Confessional, you’ll want to belt their songs as you drive with the windows down — but for different reasons. Where Dashboard songs spoke of vulnerability edged with mid-2000s emo self-consciousness, Twin Forks sheds those feelings in favor of folksy, uptempo good times. And yes, there’s even some whistling.
You may not know the band Woman’s Hour, but you will soon. Its debut LP, “Conversations,” teases the early makings of a beloved indie-pop band.
When indie-rock giant Built to Spill decided to perform in Gainesville last October, it wanted an intimate, scaled-back show. So Pat Lavery, owner of local booking company Glory Days Presents, booked them at High Dive.
Bedroom producing has become all the rage these days. The rapid advancement of music production technology allows musicians access to less expensive programs and tools, sparking a Renaissance of sorts.
After successes of festivals like Big Guava Festival and Sunset Music Festival, Central Florida has rapidly become a formidable market. Luckily for live music lovers, Live Nation Florida announced the lineup to a new festival called Coral Skies Music Festival on Tuesday.
After much album-date release confusion and pandering to white girls on Twitter to revamp excitement, Houston-based rapper RiFF RAFF finally released “Neon Icon” on June 24.
On Monday evening, lo-fi Motown-soul duo III BONES held one of its final rehearsals in Ocala on American Eagle Farm. Light from the setting sun streamed in through the farmhouse’s floor-to-ceiling living-room windows as guitarist/singer Victoria de Benedicty, guitarist/singer Dalton Jacob and fill-in drummer Jared Reddick practiced for III Bones’ farewell show at High Dive on Saturday night.
While national music festivals attract people from across the world, their high price tags often prevent college students from attending. Luckily for Gainesville, a local alternative has emerged to satiate the music lover’s hunger for live music.
Electronic dance music now rests at the forefront of dance music worldwide. With millions of dollars invested in the genre, EDM has quickly altered the status quo of the music industry, but it seems to have hit a glass ceiling: The artists who dominate local and national bookings are primarily male.
Lana Del Rey’s career skyrocketed with her 2012 release, “Born to Die,” where she wrote songs of love, heartbreak and alcohol addiction at an early age. The album had strong hip-hop influence in its quick-tempo production and moments of rap from Del Rey on songs like “National Anthem” and “Diet Mountain Dew.” While her latest record, “Ultraviolence,” doesn’t vary much in lyrical content, it is a bigger, more cinematic experience than her previous effort thanks to the change in production and attention to Del Rey’s voice.
The L.A.-via-Gainesville electro-indie group Hundred Waters will perform at the High Dive on June 27 at 9 p.m. Tickets can be purchased for $10 online, at Hear Again Music and Movies or the High Dive box office and are $12 at the door. Hundred Waters’ tour comes off the tails of the release of “The Moon Rang Like a Bell,” which dropped on May 27 under Skrillex’s record label, OWSLA. The Alligator caught up with electronics/guitarist and former UF architecture major Paul Giese for a brief Q&A.
Phoenix-based folk-punk outfit Andrew Jackson Jihad proved on Sunday night at High Dive that punk isn’t dead. What’s more, it can be all at once smart, sincere and totally delirious.
Justin McKenzie, 25, asked a crowd of about 100 dancing, sweaty concertgoers at The JAM on Saturday night, “Who’s thirsty?”
Hundred Waters, a band formed in 2011 with roots in Gainesville, has covered genres from electronic to indie to folk to hip-hop with their tempos and drums over their last couple projects. Though their self-titled album, released in 2012, introduced the ability to cover those genres, the band’s most recent effort, “The Moon Rang Like A Bell,” enhanced and honed in on those sounds.