Tag: Miami FL

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Indy Fontaine Teams Up With Charlie Cruz on Swooning “Tú Tienes Algo”

Indy Fontaine is a Cuban-born, Miami-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, who can trace the origins of her career to her early childhood: Singing alongside her uncle and his old guitar, she fell in love with music when she was three. By the time she turned six, she was enrolled full-time at a music school in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, where she trained to be professional vocalist and musician. 

Fontaine went on to graduate at the top of her class from Havana‘s prestigious National School of Art. When she graduated, she already had over a decade of experience playing gigs all across her native Cuba, including music festivals, live radio and TV sessions, and more.

Fontaine then joined Sol y Sun, an act that has played sets across the international music festival circuit between the States and Cuba, as well as some of the most popular venues in Havana. The band was also frequently performed on national TV and radio shows.

The Cuban-born artist relocated to Miami, where she stepped out into the spotlight as solo artist. Her debut, 2024’s Moments of My Life ranged across a number of genres and styles, including Adult Contemporary, Easy Listening, Soft Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock and R&B — with songs written and sung in both English and Spanish.

The album featured “El Amor No Alcanza,” Fontaine’s subtly modern take on bolero, a Cuban genre that frequently focuses on affairs of the heart. Since then, Fontaine spent last year releasing a collection of highly successful singles including “Esta Navidad,” “Vacaciones,” “Mariposas En La Lluvia,” “Mejor Sin Ti,” “Que Te Vaya Bien,” and “Después De La Caída.”

Her latest single, the Andrés Castro and Guianko Gómez co-written and co-produced “Tú Tienes Algo,” sees her collaborating with salsa star Charlie Cruz. The new single is a swooning and euphoric declaration of passionate and complete surrender to love — even if it strikes you as being wildly inexplicable.

The song invites lovers to surrender with the same intensity they bring to the dance floor, to declare their love not just with words, but also with movement.

“‘Tú Tienes Algo’ is about that irresistible, mysterious attraction—and I say mysterious because you can’t explain what that other person has, but you know that when you’re with them, they shake your world,” Fontaine explains. “In the song, this person is asking the other to let themselves be loved because there’s resistance to fully surrendering, perhaps out of fear—that’s why they’re asking to surrender completely to love,” she says.

“This collaboration with Charlie is a dream come true,” said Fontaine. “It was a tremendous honor to share the studio and create music with an artist I deeply admire. To me, Charlie is a salsa icon who has kept the tradition alive in such an authentic way,” she adds.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Seafoam Walls Shares Dreamily Unsettling “Rapids”

Formed back in 2016, the acclaimed Miami-based indie quartet Seafoam Walls — Jayan Bertrand (vocals, guitar), Josh Ewers (bass), Josue Vargas (electronic drums) and Dion Kerr (guitar) — quickly caught the attention of underground music and art communities across South Florida with a unique sound that they dubbed “Caribbean Jazzgaze,” a mesh of jazz, shoegaze, rock, hip-hop and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. 

The Miami-based outfit exploded into the larger, international scene following a secret, all-ages matinee show with DC-based hardcore photographer Susie J. and Sonic Youth‘s Thurston Moore. Building upon a rapidly growing profile, the band released 2018’s R-E-F-L-E-C-T EP and 2019’s one-off “Root.”

2021’s full-length debut, XVI, which featured the A Storm in Heaven-meets-TV on the Radio-like “Program” was released through Thurston Moore’s The Daydream Library Series. 

The Miami-based outfit’s sophomore album Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room is slated for a Friday release through Dion Dia. The album’s title is partially derived for a metaphor for the often overlooked but significant challenges and complexes that people face in their lives. But it also is a warning about getting caught up in the details — at the risk of missing the bigger picture. “Everyone has an elephant in the room; an obvious problem in their life that everyone, including the person affected, knowingly looks past,” the band’s frontman Jayan Bertrand explains. “BUT, I say that one is standing too close, because the problem is more complex and their vision is too obstructed to see the bigger picture. So viewers are providing their skewed perspectives of the same problem. It’s an illustration of the areas in which intersectionality fails to meet.”

Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room reportedly represents a new chapter for the band: The album’s material not only showcases the band’s evolution as musicians, but it also solidifies their reputation as bounding-pushing artists, inviting the listener to a Technicolor mist of experimental influences and instrumentation. Continuing their commitment to full artistic autonomy, the band’s members took production duties, shaping an album that will reward those who will revel in its sweeping soundscapes, as thematically the material delves deeper into questioning the trappings of modern society and all of its contradictions. 

Last month, I wrote about album single “Humanitarian Pt. II,” a song anchored around glistening guitar melodies, a relentless motorik groove and bursts of whirring synths. The arrangement serves as a lush and dreamy bed for Bertrand’s meditative vocal to sing philosophical lyrics that examines the motivation that makes us choose our paths — and how we go about those paths. Some people are drawn to the attention or superficial perks of an occupation, without understanding what it really entails. Through the song, the listener must face the very shitty reality that only certain efforts, from certain people get rewarded. Certainly, whether as a musician, a writer or a photographer, these observations are familiar, especially when you see others seemingly being much more successful at what you do, than you are. 

“Before I picked up a guitar, I was simply a fan of music,” the band’s Bertrand explains. “Then, I began learning about the oppressive tactics of governments worldwide, and my world shattered. The entities of authority that assured me that everything they did was just were actually a key part of the problem. I started to believe that art was the only safe space in this cruel world. ‘Humanitarian Pt. II’ is about disillusionment. 
 
“I jumped into the music scene headfirst without realizing that the same tactics would exist. I then made it my mission to call out such tactics and question our societal norms like my favorite artists before me.
 
I’m still looking for an answer to all of my pressing questions, but it helps to be grouped with people with a similar mindset who have practical solutions. I gravitated towards Dion Dia records for our latest and upcoming releases because while everyone I admired raised great questions and awareness, Dion Dia presented a hopeful alternative.”

Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room‘s last pre-release single “Rapids” is built around a chugging, aqueous-like groove that pushes murkily sung yet hypnotic mantra-like vocals. The song manages to sound simultaneously comforting and deeply unsettling — and in a way that’s a bit difficult to pin down. “‘Rapids’ is short for white water rapids. A fast-moving body of water that cares or waits for no living being. I see time in a similar way,” the band’s frontman Jayan Bertrand explains. “Society will progress without you if you get stuck in your ways. It helps to be as fluid as the times allow.”

The accompanying video continues upon a developed glitchy and noisy VHS-driven aesthetic while focusing on bodies of water and slices of Miami life.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Miami’s Diamondz Shares a Thumping Banger

Diamondz is a Miami-based DJ and electronic music producer. As an open format DJ, who has blended genres together for crowds at clubs and venues across Miami, he has shared stages with a number of luminaries including Rihanna, Lizzo, T-Pain, Darude and Roger Sanchez. 

Last year, the Miami-based DJ stepped out into the spotlight as a producer and artist, who continues his long-held genre-blending approach to his own original music, with his work blending elements of hip-hop, electronic music and pop, influenced by producers like Diplo and David Guetta. 

His latest single, “WTF” is a swaggering and high-energy, club friendly banger featuring relentlessly driving four-on-the-floor that manages to bring Larry Levan-era house music to mind. If you’re not on the dance floor, moving your ass and breaking a sweat, there’s something deeply wrong with you.

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Seafoam Walls Share Woozily Meditative “Humanitarian Pt. II”

Formed back in 2016, the acclaimed Miami-based quartet Seafoam Walls — Jayan Bertrand (vocals, guitar), Josh Ewers (bass), Josue Vargas (electronic drums) and Dion Kerr (guitar) — quickly caught the attention of undgeround music and art communities across South Florida a unique sound that they dubbed “Caribbean Jazzgaze,” a mesh of jazz, showcase, rock, hip-hop and Afro-Caribbean rhythms.

The Miami- based outfit exploded into the larger, international scene following a secret, all-ages matinee show with DC-based hardcore photographer Susie J. and Sonic Youth‘s Thurston Moore. Building upon a rapidly growing profile, the band released 2018’s R-E-F-L-E-C-T EP and 2019’s one-off “Root.”

2021’s full-length debut, XVI, which featured the A Storm in Heaven-meets-TV on the Radio-like “Program” was released through Thurston Moore’s The Daydream Library Series.

The Miami-based outfit’s sophomore album Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room is slated for an October 18, 2024 release through Dion Dia. The album’s title is partially derived for a metaphor for the often overlooked but significant challenges and complexes that people face in their lives. But it also is a warning about getting caught up in the details — at the risk of missing the bigger picture. “Everyone has an elephant in the room; an obvious problem in their life that everyone, including the person affected, knowingly looks past,” the band’s frontman Jayan Bertrand explains. “BUT, I say that one is standing too close, because the problem is more complex and their vision is too obstructed to see the bigger picture. So viewers are providing their skewed perspectives of the same problem. It’s an illustration of the areas in which intersectionality fails to meet.”

Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room reportedly represents a new chapter for the band: The album’s material not only showcases the band’s evolution as musicians, but it also solidifies their reputation as bounding-pushing artists, inviting the listener to a Technicolor mist of experimental influences and instrumentation. Continuing their commitment to full artistic autonomy, the band’s members took production duties, shaping an album that will reward those who will revel in its sweeping soundscapes, as thematically the material delves deeper into questioning the trappings of modern society and all of its contradictions.

The album’s latest single “Humanitarian Pt. II” is anchored around glistening guitar melodies and a relentless motorik-like groove and bursts of whirring synths. The arrangement serves as a lush and dreamy bed for Bertrand’s meditative vocal to sing philosophical lyrics that examines the motivation that makes us choose our paths — and how we go about those paths. Some people are drawn to the attention or superficial perks of an occupation, without understanding what it really entails. Through the song, the listener must face the very shitty reality that only certain efforts, from certain people get rewarded. Certainly, whether as a musician, a writer or a photographer, these observations are familiar, especially when you see others seemingly being much more successful at what you do, than you are.

“Before I picked up a guitar, I was simply a fan of music,” the band’s Bertrand explains. “Then, I began learning about the oppressive tactics of governments worldwide, and my world shattered. The entities of authority that assured me that everything they did was just were actually a key part of the problem. I started to believe that art was the only safe space in this cruel world. ‘Humanitarian Pt. II’ is about disillusionment. 
 
“I jumped into the music scene headfirst without realizing that the same tactics would exist. I then made it my mission to call out such tactics and question our societal norms like my favorite artists before me.
 
I’m still looking for an answer to all of my pressing questions, but it helps to be grouped with people with a similar mindset who have practical solutions. I gravitated towards Dion Dia records for our latest and upcoming releases because while everyone I admired raised great questions and awareness, Dion Dia presented a hopeful alternative.”

Shot on VHS, the accompanying video is a lo-fi, goofy and surrealistic romp that features the elaborately costumed band members playing different instruments in the studio — and it includes the group sing-a-along, clap-a-long montage.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Prefuse 73 Shares Cinematic “Vast Wildlife Poison”

Miami-born, New York-based Guillermo Scott Herren is a pioneering electronic musician, producer and creative mastermind behind the acclaimed recording project Prefuse 73. Slated for a June 28, 2024 release through Lex Records, Herren’s latest Prefuse 73 album New Strategies for Modern Crime, Vol. 2 serves as a companion album to New Strategies for Modern Crime, Vol. 1, which was released back in March.

New Strategies for Modern Crime, Vol. 2 reportedly continues Herren’s groundbreaking take on experimental composition through the lens of media sensationalism of crime, blended with influences from lost soundtracks, musique concréte and beat-tape music to create something wholly unique yet extremely accessible.

“I always have a movie or some random visuals playing on mute behind me in the studio,” Herren says of his creative process. “It could be horror from any era or just an old Fellini film; they tend to be playing on a loop. I will turn around from the mixing board and just stare at the images to get inspired.”

He adds, “It means that when you do finally hear my music, it’s hopefully created in a way that prompts you to see a whole scene play out in your head.”

New Strategies for Modern Crime, Vol. 2‘s second and latest single “Vast Wildlife Poison” continues a remarkable run of cinematic material that would perfectly complement a true crime series — or French Connection-meets-Mission Impossible-like thriller with the song anchored around a strutting and slithering jazz-inspired bass line, reverb-drenched, plucked guitar bursts, jazz syncopated beats and intermittent synth blasts.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Previously Unreleased James Brown Track “We Got To Change”

Fittingly being released during Black History Month, Republic Records/UMe are releasing the We Got To Change EP, a three-song EP featuring a previously unreleased James Brown song “We Got To Change.”

Recorded on August 16, 1970 at Miami‘s Criteria Studios, “We Got To Change” was recorded during a pivotal period of Brown’s career and life: A few months earlier, the longtime members of his famed James Brown Orchestra had walked out. Brown quickly assembled a new backing band that he dubbed The J.B.’s anchored by two young brothers from Cincinnati, Phelps “Catfish” Collins (guitar) and William “Bootsy” Collins (bass). The Collins Brothers and company brought a harder edge and a fresh identity to Brown’s sound — with that band being backing band on beloved singles like “Get Up (I Feel Like Being) a Sex Machine,” “Super Bad” and Soul Power.”

The Criteria session featured reunions with two of Brown’s longtime sidemen — the legendary Clyde Stubblefield, “The Funky Drummer,” one of the most sampled drummers of the past 50 years, with his drumbeats appearing on countless hip-hop albums; and Brown’s longtime backing vocalist Bobby Byrd, whose inimitable voice is heard throughout.

“We Got To Change” seamlessly fits into a series of songs with powerful social and political messages and commentary, like “Don’t Be a Dropout,” “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud),” “Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved” and “King Heroin” while sounding a bit like it could have been a track cut from Sex Machine or The Payback. And much like those much more famous songs we’ve all known and loved, “We Got To Change,” sees Brown describing a hardscrabble life of struggle and deprivation, and calling out for all of us to change and to seek out peace, love, happiness and understanding.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Miami’s Diamondz Returns with Sultry “Speed Dial”

Diamondz is a Miami-based DJ and electronic music producer. As an open format DJ, who has blended genres together for crowds at clubs and venues across Miami, he has shared stages with a number of luminaries including Rihanna, Lizzo, T-Pain, Darude and Roger Sanchez. 

The Miami-based DJ recently stepped out into the spotlight as a producer and artist, and he manages to continue the genre-blending approach to his own original music with his work blending elements of hip-hop, electronic music and pop, influenced by producers like Diplo and David Guetta. 

Last month, the South Florida-based DJ released “Blind,” a song build around a slick production featuring glistening synths, skittering beats and a soulful vocal melody paired with twitter and woofer rattling house music-inspired drops. Throughout, the song’s vocalist tells a story of two people, who just can’t seem to see the love that they have right in front of them. The result is a remarkably crowd-pleasing, club friendly bop that seamlessly meshes elements of Billboard Top 40 pop and EDM.

Diamondz’ third single “Speed Dial” is a sultry, radio friendly club banger built around a pop-tinged production reminiscent of The Weeknd, built around skittering trap beats, atmospheric and twinkling synths and a yearning vocal melody. “Speed Dial” is the sort of mood-setting song that you’d hope would be playing when you’re trying to holler at that pretty young thing at the bar or the club.

It’s a nod to those late nights, leaving the party or the club and you get that call or text from someone you caught a vibe with,” the Miami-based producer explains. “The airy pads capture the aura of that late night drive to meet up while the allure of the dancing synth line captures the energy and feeling you get when you first link with that new person…the proverbial butterflies!”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Miami’s Diamondz Shares Crowd-Pleasing Bop “Blind”

Diamondz is a Miami-based DJ and emerging electronic music producer. As an open format DJ, who has blended genres together for crowds at clubs and venues across Miami, he has shared stages with a number of luminaries including Rihanna, Lizzo, T-Pain, Darude and Roger Sanchez.

The Miami-based DJ recently stepped out into the spotlight as a producer, and he manages to continue the genre-blending approach to his own original music with his work blending elements of hip-hop, electronic music and pop, influenced by producers like Diplo and David Guetta.

His second and latest single “Blind” is built around a slick production featuring glistening synths, skittering beats, a soulful vocal melody and a twitter and woofer rattling house drops. Throughout, the song’s vocalist tells a story of two people, who just can’t seem to see the love that they have right in front of them. The result is a remarkably crowd-pleasing, club friendly bop that seamlessly meshes elements of Billboard Top 40 pop and EDM.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Split Kick Shares Sultry, Slickly Produced Banger

Split Kick — Miami-based Pete Neonakis and Toronto-based Andrew Corbin — can trace their origins back to a chance meeting in Busan, South Korea. The duo quickly developed a sultry electro pop sound informed by their shared love of everything from the 80s, soft rock and nightlife.

While they developed a fast-paced creative process that allowed them to produce multiple well-crafted tracks in a short timeframe, the duo also quickly captured attention across the country, performing shows around both Busan and Seoul.

Distance and lack of appropriate technology led to a short hiatus in the duo’s creative process. Pandemic-related lockdowns led to extra free time — and it inspired a desire to stay creative, which led to the duo pursuing the music that initially brought them together.

The duo’s latest single “Fantasy” is a slickly produced, sultry, club friendly banger built around glistening synth arpeggios, pulsating tweeter and woofer rattling thump paired with falsetto vocals and a remarkably catchy hook. Sonically, “Fantasy” reminds me of a sleek synthesis of Little Boots, 80s synth funk and Giorgio Moroder‘s legendary disco productions.

“We wanted to create a minimalistic tune that pumps hard for the DJ’s, while also adding something unique and interesting with the vocals,” the duo explain. “‘Fantasy’ feels like that classic late night banger that gets you through to your second wind.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: CIAN Shares Slickly Produced and Yearning “Far From Home”

CIAN is a young and emerging Bogota-born and-based singer/songwriter and pop artist, who spent the bulk of his life in Miami. He grew up listening to Justin Timberlake, Usher and Michael Jackson, although as a pop artist, the Colombian artist cites The Weeknd, Zayn, Drake, Khalid, Majid Jordan, Justin Bieber, and Bazzi as influences on his work.

“Far From Home,” the Bogota-based artist’s latest single is a sickly produced and woozy confection featuring glistening synths, wobbling low end paired with his achingly plaintive vocals and some well-placed, razor sharp hooks. While sonically bringing the likes of The Weeknd and other contemporary pop stars to mind, “Far From Home” manages to reveal a budding star, who can express yearning and vulnerability within a turn of a phrase.

The accompanying moodily shot video follows CIAN in a Nike jumpsuit walking through a forest before we see him the a brisk job — in slow motion. Every few feet, we see him turn his head as though expecting someone or something to chase him.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Meechy Darko Teams Up with Flatbush Zombies Bandmates and Col3trane on a Breezy Banger

Brooklyn-based hip-hop group Flatbush Zombies — Meechy Darko, Zombie Juice and Erick Arc Elliot — have been friends since grade school, initially bonding over their love of Dragon Ball Z and wrestling. As teenagers, they began experimenting with psychedelics, including psilocybin mushrooms and LSD.

Flatbush Zombies’ Elliot had been making his own solo music, when he decided to bring the group together musically around 2010. The groups popular grew after the release of the “Thug Waffle” video. Later that year, they released their debut mixtape, D.R.U.G.S. (Death and Reincarnation Under God’s Supervision), Since then, they’ve collaborated with a who’s who of hip-hop, including RZA, A$AP Mob, Z-Breezy, Jim Jones, Juicy J, Danny Brown, Action Bronson, Mr. Mutahfuckin’ eXquire, Tech N9ne and Anthony Flammia among others. They’re also part of the East Coast hip-hop supergroup Beast Coast with fellow Brooklynites The Underacheivers and Pro Era.

Building upon a growing profile, the Brooklyn-based trio have made the rounds of the national and international festival circuit, playing sets at The Hudson Project, JMBLYA, Coachella, Pemberton, Afropunk, Paid Dues, North Coast Music Festival, SXSW, Roskilde, Rolling Loud Miami, and Wireless. The trio’s popularity grew even larger through the release of two mixtapes and a handful of music videos before their full-length debut, 2016’s 3001:A Laced Odyssey.

For Flatbush Zombies’ Meechy Darko, stepping out of his comfort zone to create his extremely personal full-length, solo debut Gothic Luxury was a fait accompli decided for him external forces after the killing of his father in early 2020 at the hands of Miami police. Collaborating with Dot Da Genius shook up his usual creative process, resulting in an album that includes drawn-out piano intros and laid-back funk meshed with dark mini symphonies. Throughout the album’s material there’s a through line of brutal honesty and catharsis that further cements the Brooklyn-based artist’s reputation for being among the most candid and rawest emcees out three today.

The Powers Pleasant, JULiA LewiS and Callan co-produced “Sliders,” which features Meechy Darko’s Flatbush Zombies groupmates and Col3trane is the first bit of new material since the release of Gothic Luxury. Centered around a lush and incredibly breezy production featuring twinkling keys, skittering boom bap beats and a sultry bass line, “Sliders” is loose enough for the three emcees to trade fiery and passionate bars, seemingly catching up where they last left off paired with a soulful hook from Col3trane. Arguably “Sliders” may be the most accessible and downright fun song they’ve all released to date while sonically being a slick synthesis of West Coast G-funk and East Coast boom bap.

“Wanted to release a fun song with my brothers before the year was done… Since you think all my music is scary, how’s this for a change?” Meechy Darko says.