Tampa Calling

Now in its 24th years, the Winter Music Conference brings industry professionals and electro acts from around the world to Miami for all manner of networking, panels and performance opportunities, from private parties to slots at WMC’s Ultra Music Festival. Ultra  continues with its usual roster of traditional DJs, producers and electronica acts — The Prodigy, Paul Van Dyk, Booka Shade, Moby, Tiësto, Carl Cox and the like — but expands upon the definition of electro music with offerings that include newer groups like Cut Copy, MSTRKRFT, Simian Mobile Disco, Crystal Castles and The Whip, and groups that aren’t necessarily electro, but include electro elements in their music: The Ting Tings, Bloc Party, Black Eyed Peas, Santigold and Hercules and Love Affair. Luckily for Tampa folks, the state is so oversaturated with this influx of artists that we get much of the runoff as many stop in or around town to play a show while on their way to or from the fest. The following is a breakdown of electro shows within a 2 1/2-hour radius that are worthy of your attention.

Friday, March 27
WMNF presents Synthetic Pleasures w/Girls on Film/Genre Baptist/I Kill Pxls/DJ Curse Mackey. ’MNF has joined the electro bandwagon with its own Florida-grown bill headed up by all-female Tallahassee fourtet Girls on Film (pictured), who do the glam ’80s thing complete with computer drums and programming, shrill vocals, teased hair and cakey make-up, and retro prom outfits. 9 p.m., Orpheum, Ybor City, $7.

Kraak and Smaak w/Special Guest DJs Mighty White and Willyvegas Kraak and Smaak (direct translation: “crunchy and tasty”) are a new but rather well-regarded Netherlands electro trio that combines pimplicious funk grooves with breakbeats and loungey house. 9 p.m., Crowbar, Ybor City, $12 in advance/$15 day of show.

Cut Copy w/Matt & Kim The Melbourne, Australia trio marry Dark Wave punk (affected vocals, theatric synths) with a healthy dose of digi-electro dance fun. Definitely worth the drive. 7 p.m., Club Firestone, Orlando, $19.99 in advance/$22 DOS. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve written different variations of the following caveat for years, but I think it establishes an important distinction: The following is a list of my favorite albums of 2008. This is not to be confused with what’s important or hip or widely acclaimed by the critical community. If some of the titles below happen to be important or hip or widely acclaimed by the critical community, it is purely by chance.

1. My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges (ATO). 2008 was the year I finally got pulled into My Morning Jacket’s orbit. It started with their appearance on Saturday Night Live and continues with Evil Urges, a rock album that I still don’t know quite what to make of, other than it constantly fascinates and delights me. Jim James and his Louisville compadres wantonly hop around through different styles — bracing riff-rock, terse funk, jam-band ooze, sweet balladry, twang, power-pop, neo-folk, prog and more — and somehow make it all sound so perfectly at home.

2. Al Green: Lay it Down (Blue Note). A lot of artists tried their hand at the vintage soul sound this year, but the master schooled ’em all. Coproduced by Green, ?uestlove and keyboardist James Poyser, Lay it Down lovingly evokes Green’s early-’70s heyday, with the easy sweep of the grooves and organic arrangements that allow the singer ample room to rifle through his whole bag of signature techniques: the shaping of a line, the slipping in and out of falsetto, the melismatic flourishes. Younger vocalists Anthony Hamilton, Corinne Bailey Rae and John Legend go to school with the professor and end up getting good grades.

3. Shelby Lynne: Just a Little Lovin’ (Lost Highway). One of the best singers of her generation, and certainly one of the lesser appreciated, caresses a program of songs made famous by the late Dusty Springfield. Backed only by a bare-bones quartet of veteran studio musicians assembled by producer Phil Ramone, Lynne carries the entire affair, singing the likes of “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,” “The Look of Love” et al with subdued radiance. Lynne and company transform all of the tunes into sexy ballads, and overall the vocalist puts her firm imprint on these time-tested gems.

4. Firewater: The Golden Hour (Bloodshot). Tod A., singer, songwriter and one-man brain-trust of Firewater, wandered through India, Pakistan, Turkey and elsewhere, recruiting local musicians along the way and recording them with a single microphone and laptop. The results are an astounding fusion of punk-infused rock with indigenous Eastern sounds, anchored by Tod A.’s rag-and-bone voice and angry, sardonic lyrics. Overall, The Golden Hour sounds as rugged as the artist’s trek. Read the rest of this entry »