Judging Groove On (Miami New Times Battle of the Bands)

I got a call this past Friday afternoon from Notorious Nastie.  He said, "Bro, I got State of the Art and Flamingo Friday tonight and I have to judge the Battle of the Bands thing in Gulfstream.  Look, I need you to go to Gulfstream so I can stick close to my money."

The lineup was going to be: Jahfe (who Steve Imas interviewed during the 11th Annual Medical Marijuana Benefit Concert at Tobacco Road for REVMiami), King Bee, Rouse, Afrobeta (who I reviewed for REVMiami.com's Launch Party), Tristan Clopet & The Juice, and even though they weren't part of the competition, Rachel Goodrich was closing out the night.

I was really psyched - it was going to be my first time working with the Miami New Times and there were also several bands playing that I didn't know and was interested in seeing.

I got to Gulfstream and went into the Sport of Kings Room on the Second Floor.  This place is enormous, a really gorgeous venue.  I had never been to Gulfstream, but I know that it's a new location that is trying to gain more attention to themselves especially due to the unfair preferance given to the Seminole Hard Rock (which is able to offer up to Blackjack, while other casinos, like Gulfstream, can only offer Slots).

I was welcomed at the entrance by Catarina Falcone, the Marketing and Promotions Director at the New Times.  We talked for a bit about the night, and she also introduced me to her Nana - very awesome to see someone bringing their Grandmother around a music event.  I hope when I reach my Golden Years I'm half as hip as Catarina's G-ma.

After that, she brought me over to meet another judge, Read Fasse, whose Honor Roll Music was featured in the New York Times article about the Miami Music Scene.  We talked about being young managers and how to effectively work with others.  I got a really good feeling about him.  It's rare to meet someone in Miami who gets the idea of working hard.  Read has it and it's a very admirable quality.

We also chatted about Honor Roll Music itself.  It started as a project in a dorm room and they just finished construction on their own building!  He showed some pictures of the studio, and it is incredible - minimal, green, and industrial.  Very modern and chic.

After that I took a seat and enjoyed the show.

First up the MC of the night, whose name I don't remember (my bad), introduced the judges to the crowd.  Man, it could get really hard to maintain a sense of reality when someone announces you to a crowd of people, "and tonight we have Ric here from Notorious Nastie's crew."  So surreal.

The first band to play was Carribean/Reggae group Jahfe.  It always sucks to be the opening band no matter what venue you're in and Jahfe was literally playing to no crowd - but it didn't matter at all because they pulled out one hell of a set.  

Their music is really cohesive.  I would even go so far as saying that of all the bands that played Jahfe were the most consistent.  Their whole set, top to bottom, was well played.  At points they felt a lot like The Wailers and during their third song I was reminded A LOT of Jaco Pastorious' John and Mary - more of a Carribean vibe than a Reggae vibe.

King Bee was the next band to play.  I've heard about them before as a good blues-rock band.  They had a lot going for them - they're a traditional rock band (two guitars, bass, and drums), they had a great lead singer (chubby and bearded), and I was expecting a lot.

Unfortunately, when they hit the stage I got a sense that they were nervous, or off, or something.  It just didn't feel right.  The vocals were harsh and their songs felt rushed.

This may not be the right moment to mention this, but one huge flaw of Gulfstream's King of Sports room was the sound system.  It's a shame to go into a huge, beautiful venue only to be let down by bad sound. 

I'm no sound engineer but my best guess would be that they forgot to turn on their compressor.  A compressor is a piece of audio equipment that, as you can infer from the name, compresses sound so that it doesn't get out of control when a musician yells or plays a song extra hard.

It wasn't particularly noticable with Jahfe, because their style of music is so groove oriented (even though there were times when either one of the lead siners belted out a chorus), but King Bee and the other bands really suffered from it.  The vocals and sonic ranges were incredibly high and pitchy - just not a good night for sound.

The times that King Bee came off best was when they fell into a really good jam session and there were no vocals.  Not that the singing was bad, but their vocal parts had a lot of ups and downs, which really messed with the sound.

Up next was Orlando-based Rouse.  These kids must have brought 50 people with them from Orlando.  Their songs varied from straight rock songs, to Ben Kweller-esque indie folk, to ho'down country music.

I was with a friend and I kept commenting how much their fans were into their music.  Young kids get into music in a way that older crowds never can.  All their fans knew every lyric and the band had a good repore with audience.  

Musicially, for as much consistancy that Jahfe had, Rouse was the exact opposite.  Their songs bounced all over the place.  At certain moments they were outstanding and other times were bland and boring.  Considering that they had a 40 minute set (7 songs), I can't walk away saying that there was a particular "Rouse sound" to remember them by.  If I could recommend anything to them, it would be to streamline the music.  Don't suffer from self-stereotyping, but also don't stop the band from developing an identity either.

Would it be biased to say that Afrobeta is my favorite band in Miami?  They encapsulate so much of Miami music that makes it great.  Electronic, fun, danceable, etc. 

I was talking to Cuci Amador about it at (((SHAKE))) this past Thursday.  Afrobeta is really sincere about what they do.  We were talking about how the songs come together and how it's a natural progression.  They're not trying to sound like anything besides what comes out.  I've heard this from a lot of bands before, but going to Jazid three Tuesdays ago and seeing Tony Smurphio just free flow and improvise a set with his friends shows a lot of how they are as musicians.  Talent falling on the floor.

For the Battle of the Bands Afrobeta brought dummerdrummer (sorry Nabedi!  Thanks for pointing it out) Nabedi Osorio (of Steph Taylor and the State Of).  Truthfully, I'm suffering a huge bought of nostalgia when it comes to Afrobeta.  The night of the Launch Party I was so hopped up on enthusaism, endorphines, and adrenaline, that I'm not sure they can ever live up to my memories.  Also, I hate to keep harping on it, but the sound was so awful.  The end of the set had a background of feedback that was incredibly distracting.

Last to play was Tristan Clopet & The Juice (who will be playing REV Miami II, March 20 @ PS14).  I really wanted to see them play because so far I had only heard their music on Myspace.

I think that there is no better music in the world than rock n' roll.  The idea of putting together a guitar, a bass guitar, drums, and a singer is probably the absolute most brilliant idea in the history of the world.  Lately, I've been loving music that takes that concept and twists and turns and makes it grow while still holding onto that original rock n' roll essence.

Fundamentally, TC&TJ is funky in a Red Hot Chilli Peppers way. 

Halfway through their set they went shirtless, which I know I wasn't all about, but all the girls that they brought loved it.

After they finished it was time to get together with the other judges (Poplife's Aramis, Dave Daniels from Churchill's Pub, and some staff from WVUM whose name I'm unforutnately not remembering right now) while Rachel Goodrich played.

It wasn't much of a debate, one band stood out from the rest.  Even comparing them, in the point of view that this is a Battle of the Bands for Miami, made it very apparent.  There was very little discussion, we all knew who it would be.

And the winner is... Afrobeta.

Of course.  Like I said in an earlier post, their music fits in from South Beach to Downtown to the Upper East Side to just about anywhere in this city.  The music they make really represents Miami better than anyone else that night.

Congrats guys!  They'll be going to New York to play a show at the kNow Music Series at Blender Theater at Gramercy.

LINKS

Jahfe's Myspace Page (www.myspace.com/jahfejahfe)
King Bee's Myspace Page (www.myspace.com/kingbee)
Rouse's Myspace Page (www.myspace.com/bandofrouse)
Afrobeta's Myspace Page (www.myspace.com/afrobeta)
Tristan Clopet & The Juice (www.myspace.com/tristanthemusic)

If You Enjoyed This Post, You May Also Like:

• REVMiami.com Presents: PS14 Outdoor Concert Series (April 3)
• Tristan Clopet & the Juice battle it out to be the Ambassadors of Rock!
• Jahfe is Miami's favorite Reggae band
• Show Review: Arsenal 88, Furious Dudes, and Fireside Social at Jada Coles - Jan 16 2010
• Boy Prostitute @ Mausoleum (Black Sheep Bar Wednesdays)

Tags: Afrobeta, Goove On (New Times Battle of the Bands), Honor Roll Music, Jahfe, King Bee, Rouse, Tristan Clopet & The Juice

This entry was posted on Friday, March 6th, 2009 at 10:49 am and is filed under Events, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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