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.
Mac Miller, also known as “Easy Mac with the Cheesy Raps,” capitalized in his teenage years as a party rapper with chorus-driven songs of low lyrical depth like “Nikes on my Feet” and “Donald Trump.”
Memorial Day weekend marked Sunset Music Festival’s third invasion of the North Lot of the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
If traveling to Tampa is not in your itinerary for the Memorial Day weekend, you’re in luck: You can still bust out your flower crown for the Follow the Sun music festival, coming to Gainesville on May 24.
Central Florida’s music scene continues to grow as yet another festival graces Tampa. Sunset Music Festival, the aptly titled event scheduled to take place May 24 and 25, will bring some of the biggest names in electronic dance music to the North Lot of the Raymond James Stadium.
Bright stage lights suddenly dimmed as thousands of people yelled and screamed in anticipation. A cube lit up, which revealed a kitchen table and gray smoke. Suddenly two silhouettes appeared and burst to life as everyone sprung from their seats and cheered in utter glee. The energetic notes of “Bombs Over Baghdad” played over the speakers — Outkast had finally returned to Florida.
Swedish singer-songwriter Lykke Li may have just released one of the best albums of 2014 thus far.
“Call Me Maybe” and “I Love College” are expecting.
Since its debut in 2009, Best Coast has been the soundtrack of our breakups, beach-road-trip drives and hazy summer nights. If Taylor Swift is the pop queen of heartbreak and love lost, Bethany Cosentino is her cooler home-from-UC-Berkeley-for-the-summer older sister who always brings joints to the party. Florida fans of Best Coast can see Cosentino & Co. on Friday as part of Reitz Union Board Entertainment’s inaugural Big Orange Festival at 7 p.m. in the Reitz Union.
Tampa will soon be home to a new music festival that could rival events like Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza.
The debut album from Danish singer/songwriter Mø, “No Mythologies to Follow,” adds yet another exciting entry to the growing synthpop genre. Comparable to artists like Grimes and Purity Ring, Mø creates a unique vision accentuated by brilliant production and lyrics filled with pathos.
Tess Druckenmiller is a self-proclaimed singer/songwriter who balances both college life and a career in music. This New York City native credits her environment for her start in the industry and multiple producers for her pop, folk and indie sound. With the recent re-release of her first album “Storyteller,” featuring her new single “Black & White,” she hopes listeners find the songs relatable and appreciate the album’s variety of genres. We caught up with the up-and-coming artist, and here’s what she had to say:
“If You Wait,” the debut album from British pop-indie collective London Grammar, stands to be one of the best debut albums of the past few years. The group combines the powerfully sultry vocals of singer Hannah Reid and nuanced production from Dan Rothman and Dominic “Dot” Major to create a truly unforgettable album.
Even though Led Zeppelin may never reunite, Gainesville residents will soon have the next best opportunity to hear the band’s iconic songs live.
Solutions by The State News
