South Florida Jams

Steel Pulse was formed in 1975 in Birmingham, England. The founding members were schoolmates David Hinds (the primary songwriter as well as the lead singer and guitarist), Basil Gabbidon (guitar), and Ronnie "Stepper" McQueen (bass). All of them came from working class West Indian immigrant families, and none had much musical experience. They took some time to improve their technical proficiency, often on Roots inspired material by the Wailers, Burning Spear and several other prominent Jamaican artists. McQueen suggested the group name, after a racehorse, and they soon fleshed out the lineup with drummer Steve "Grizzly" Nisbett, keyboardist/vocalist Selwyn "Bumbo" Brown, percussionist/vocalist Alphonso "Fonso" Martin, and vocalist Michael Riley. The group wound up as an opening act for punk and new wave bands like the Clash, the Stranglers, Generation X, the Police, and XTC, and built a broad-based audience in the process. In 1988, Steel Pulse released State of Emergency, their most explicitly crossover-oriented album yet. They also contributed the track "Can't Stand It" to the soundtrack of Spike Lee's classic Do the Right Thing. The 1992 live album Rastafari Centennial marked the beginning of a return to the group's musical roots, and earned another Grammy nomination. The following year, they performed at Bill Clinton's inaugural celebration, the first reggae band to appear at such an event. Steel Pulse is one of Britain's greatest reggae bands, in terms of creative and commercial success. Steel Pulse started out playing authentic roots reggae with touches of jazz and Latin music, and earned a substantial audience worldwide. Their 1978 debut, Handsworth Revolution, is still regarded by many critics as a landmark and a high point of British reggae. By the late '80s, Steel Pulse had won a Grammy and were working full-fledged crossover territory. They subsequently returned to a tough-minded, rootsy sound and have added touches of dancehall and hip-hop along the way. For more information please visit www.steelpulse.com

Dynamic, scene-setting electronica youngsters The Pnuma Trio have been known for their forward-thinking compositions and moving, powerful improvisations since their explosion onto the scene in 2004. Not so young anymore, Ben Hazelgrove, Alex Botwin, and Lane Shaw are proud to call STS9's very hot 1320 Records their new home as they release their debut studio album, 'Character'. With a refined, glitch-informed electro/hip-hop feel and all the dynamic energy of their DJ-killing live show, this new album represents a significantly evolved version of Pnuma's futuristic sound; tighter, more focused, and higher resolution. The long synth solos have been replaced by careful layering; instead of building each song to it's climax the band percolates on hot remixed urban ideas, letting the production create the spacious atmosphere. Self-produced by the band and sporting a special bonus track that features Crown City Rockers MC Rashaan Ahmad, 'Character' is ready to take the scene by storm with it's vst, open feel and deep 808-driven grooves. The band will be hitting the ground running to support the new album with high-profile summer performances at Rothbury, All Good, Camp Bisco, and many more dates to come. The rest of the world can only watch and listen as these talented artists come of age and discover the depth of their 'Character'. Download the new album now from 1320records.com and hear the future as it happens! For more information please visit www.pnumatrio.com

Rodrigo and Gabriela are two fast-fingered, Dublin-based, Mexicans with a unique sound created on acoustic guitars. Their music is difficult to define, straddling both world and rock, and often imbued with timeless Hispano--classical influences. The fire in it comes from their life-long passion for metal music. This spring, Rodrigo y Gabriela beat both the Arctic Monkeys AND Johnny Cash to number one in the Irish charts. Rodrigo is a deft finger-picker who can move from raging speed to sensual soul in the space of a fret, while Gabriela employs fast, rhythmic techniques. Her percussionist's thrashing of strings and drumming of the instrument's body inevitably raises comparisons with flamenco -- which they acknowledge as an influence but swerve as a pigeonhole. The duo's repertoire flies beyond familiar Latin folk guitarists' styles because of the metal connection: their re-workings of Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven' and Metallica's 'Orion' are musts, and the presence, on 'Ixtapa,' of the fiery Hungarian gypsy violinist, Roby Lakatos, is inspirational. For more information please visit www.rodgab.com

Presented by Aura Music Events

As 2009 begins historically in America, so begins what is shaping up to be another historic year for the Chicago rock band Wilco -- the group formed by guitarist and songwriter Jeff Tweedy in the mid-1990s. 2009 will see the release of a new studio album – their seventh. It follows their Grammynominated 2007 recording Sky Blue Sky (which followed their 2005 double Grammy winner A ghost is born.) Recordings have been underway at the band’s Chicago studio, The Loft. The current plan is to emerge from Chicago’s deep freeze with a completed album by the spring thaw (which in Chicago could mean summer….) Before the new studio recording, Nonesuch Records will release Ashes of American Flags, a new film presenting the band live in concert during their 2008 tour. Culled from concerts in five quintessentially American venues - Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Tipitina’s in New Orleans, The Mobile Civic Center, The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. – the film captures the energy, poignancy and musicality of a Wilco concert and tour. Ashes of American Flags is a Trixie production in association with Nonesuch Records and dBpm, Inc. Shot in HD and directed and produced by Brendan Canty (Fugazi) and Christoph Green, it intersperses interviews with band members and day-in-the-life footage as the band travels across the U.S. It sees worldwide release on Nonesuch Records this April. For more information please visit www.wilcoworld.net

G. Love and Special Sauce’s Superhero Brother is their third album for Jack Johnson’s Brushfire label, and 10th overall (counting their 2002 best-of and last year’s live CD/DVD) in a career that now spans 15 years. It’s been a long, successful run for the Philadelphia native and self-described “hip-hop blues artist,” whose self-titled 1994 Okeh/Epic Records debut was certified Gold on the strength of the MTV hit, “Cold Beverage,” and a non-stop performing ethic that still has them playing more than 150 shows a year. In fact, the group just recently returned from a headline tour in Australia that was highlighted by some shows with Jack Johnson, and will accompany him to Europe this spring. Upon their return to the U.S., the band will be headlining their own outdoor amphitheatre tour with John Butler Trio later this summer. “We’re a hard-working band,” says G. Love of the group’s turnaround over the last two albums, 2006’s Lemonade and 2004’s The Hustle. “Every time we hit the stage or the studio, we make sure we give 150%. Playing in front of people is just such an integral part of the experience for us. We love to ride that energy and get that instant reaction.” Superhero Brother, recorded in Philadelphia at The Studio and the band’s own Philadelphonic Studios, as well as Longview Farms Barn in Sturbridge, MA, combines both political and party songs. The album is a reflection of the band’s eclectic recipe for its Special Sauce, from tasty, post-hip-hop Beatles-influenced blues-rock (“Communication”), spicy tropical island rhythms over an Archie Bell and the Drells “Tighten Up” groove (“City Livin’”) and well-seasoned Chambers Brothers-style funk-rock crossed with Cream’s “I Feel Free” (“What We Need”) to sweet, blue-eyed Philly soul (“Crumble”), a red-hot Stones-y “Sympathy for the Devil” vibe (“Peace Love and Happiness”) and homemade, rappin’ blues layered on top of a John Lee Hooker Delta stomp (“Superhero Brother”). “I think of us as a rock and roll group,” explains G. Love. “We definitely incorporate a lot of different flavors, which is why we tried to focus on what we’re known for this time… Making sure the backbeats are funky. Each song tells a unique story, both in subject and musical style.” For more info visit www.philadelphonic.com

Recording artist Julian “JuJu” Marley is excited to announce the release of his highly anticipated record, Awake, on May 26 via Ghetto Youths/Universal. Recorded at the Lion’s Den in Miami, Florida, and Tuff Gong in Kingston, Jamaica, the music and message presented throughout Awake is rife with the inspiration of all the family who have come before. This set of hypnotic beats and soulful vocals was inspired by life and spirituality and incorporates the roots-reggae sound that Julian has made his own, infused with street-energy hip-hop, bubbling dancehall, and a smooth combination of R&B and reggae. The album features collaborations with brothers Stephen Marley on “Little too Late” and Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley on “Violence in the Street” and rapper Mr. Cheeks on “Oh Girl.” First single “Boom Draw,” an easy roots-dancehall tune will impact radio on XX and is now available exclusively on iTunes. The release of Julian’s 1996 debut album, Lion in the Morning, launched the talented musician into the public eye. The record was followed by a successful international tour with The Uprising, performances with the Ghetto Youths Crew, an opening act slot with the Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers world tour, a Marley Magic family performance during New York City’s Central Park Summer Stage series and a featured artist position on the 1997 rock-oriented Lollapalooza tour. Julian has toured extensively with Damian and worked together with Stephen and Damian on the 1999 production of the platinum-selling Chant Down Babylon, a remix album by various hip-hop and rock artists covering Bob Marley & The Wailers songs. For more info visit www.myspace.com/royalmarley

By distilling the sounds of Franz Ferdinand, the Clash, the Strokes, and the Libertines into a hybrid of swaggering indie rock and danceable neo-punk, Arctic Monkeys became one of the U.K.'s biggest bands of the new millennium. Their meteoric rise began in 2005, when the teenaged bandmates fielded offers from major labels and drew a sold-out crowd to the London Astoria, using little more than a self-released EP as bait. Several months later, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not became the fastest-selling debut album in British history, entrenching Arctic Monkeys in the same circle as multi-platinum acts like Oasis and Blur. Frontman Alex Turner and guitarist Jamie Cook began their music careers in 2001, when the friends both received guitars for Christmas. Two years later, they began performing shows around their native Sheffield with drummer Matt Helders and bassist Andy Nicholson, two fellow students at Stocksbridge High School. A series of demo recordings followed, and Arctic Monkeys' audience swelled as fans circulated those recordings via the Internet. The musicians soon found themselves at the center of a growing media circus, with such outlets as BBC Radio examining the band's music and mounting hype. By distributing their homemade material on the Internet, Arctic Monkeys were able to build a rabid fan base without the help of a record label, effectively circumventing the usual road to superstardom. They continued to buck tradition by signing with Domino Records in 2005, eschewing a major label's help for Domino's D.I.Y. mentality and hip roster (which also included Franz Ferdinand, a touchstone for the band's sound). The smart moves paid off as Arctic Monkeys' first two singles -- "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down" -- both topped the U.K. charts. For more information please visit www.arcticmonkeys.com

The brainchild of singer/guitarist Kevin Barnes, Of Montreal was among the second wave of bands to emerge from the sprawling Elephant 6 collective. A native of Athens, GA,Barnes was inspired to form the euphoric indie pop group in the wake of a broken romance with a woman from Montreal. From the start, the band buoyed its bright, flamboyant indie pop sound with elements of psychedelia and vaudeville; Of Montreal's earliest records also exhibited a lo-fi sound that bordered on twee pop, although the band steadily shed those influences throughout the early 2000s. Early 2004 found Barnes exploring a bouncier, synth-driven avenue with the release of Sunlandic Twins, but things began to get complicated in his personal life at the same time. Through the emotional turmoil, Barnes concocted what was to be his darkest, most personal, and ambitious album yet -- Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? -- in 2007. Arriving one year later, Skeletal Lamping furthered that ambitious sound by emphasizing Barnes' outrageous alter ego, "Georgie Fruit," whose influence pushed the album toward funk and prog territory. For more information please visit www.ofmontreal.net

Wanee Music Festival

The Akron, Ohio-based duo The Black Keys is well known for its concentrated, hermetic approach to recording, hunkering down with rudimentary equipment in an unfinished basement or commandeering the floor of a vacant local rubber factory to create terse but soulful rock that seems to have time-traveled into the pair's amps from some long-ago radio show. But guitarist-vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney now admit they were ready for a change of scene-as well as some company. So when they got the opportunity to work with Grammy Award-nominated producer-musician-provocateur Danger Mouse, a/k/a Brian Burton (Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz, The Grey Album), they agreed, for the first time, to leave their familiar environs. They weren't quite willing to cross state lines yet, though. Dan and Patrick were childhood buddies who grew up in the same Akron neighborhood and attended the same schools. But they didn't recognize their natural musical affinity until well into high school when they started jamming together with other aspiring musician friends, who they soon ditched. Early demos of The Black Keys featured a third member, who played a moog bass, but he didn't last long either, and they subsequently carried on as a duo. Says Dan, "Pat and I just click. We walk in to a groove quite easily. It's kind of hard to describe." Their minimalist approach to rock is similar to what the late-70s New York City duo Suicide's has been to electronic dance music: The Black Keys have been able to make something ferociously noisy, deceptively melodic, and surprisingly sincere out of the simplest tools and riffs. (Unlike Suicide, though, they're more congenial than confrontational with their audiences.) "I'm more pleased with the sound of this record than any we've ever made," Pat concludes. "Rather than mask things in, like, a low-fi fog, we can make things sound big and fucked up at the same time." For more information please visit www.theblackkeys.com

Founded in 1982, SunFest is Florida's largest waterfront music and art festival. SunFest takes place in downtown West Palm Beach along Florida's Intracoastal Waterway, extending along Flagler Drive from Banyan Boulevard to Lakeview Avenue. Artists performing at Sunfest 2010 include:

Emerging in 2004 with a woodsy blend of midtempo rock and reverb-laden vocals, Band of Horses quickly gained an audience in their native Northwest before Everything All the Time made them indie rock darlings. Multi-instrumentalists Ben Bridwell and Mat Brooke founded the group after an eight-year run with Carissa's Wierd, and an early performance alongside future labelmates Iron & Wine caught the attention of Sub Pop Records. The Seattle-based label signed the group in 2005 and reissued their self-released EP later that year, while Band of Horses retreated to the studio to record their full-length debut. Everything All the Time emerged in March 2006 and was warmly received; however, Brooke did not tour in support of the album and had officially left the group by July, choosing instead to devote his time to another Sub Pop act, Grand Archives. Nevertheless, Bridwell solidiered on with now-permanent bandmates Rob Hampton (bass) and Creighton Barrett (drums), playing stateside shows and touring Europe in support of the band's debut. The group returned to the States and relocated to Mt. Pleasant, SC, to be closer to their families; soon after, Band of Horses entered the studio with producer Phil Ek (who also helmed Everything All the Time) to record their sophomore album. Cease to Begin was released in October 2007, and the band set off on another stateside tour that same month. For more information please visit www.bandofhorses.com

The Swell Season, the Oscar-winning duo of Frames frontman Glen Hansard and Czech ingénue Marketa Irglova, are putting the finishing touches on 'Strict Joy,' the follow-up to their beloved, surprise hit 2007 film and gold-certified soundtrack 'Once.' The twelve new, original songs on 'Strict Joy' were recorded last year and document a time of great change and tumult. 'Strict Joy,' which borrows its name from a work by Irish poet James Stephens, was co-produced by Hansard and Peter Katis (The National, Interpol), and recorded mostly at Katis' Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT. The Swell Season generated a wave of acclaim during the 2008 awards season including two Grammy nominations and an Oscar win for Best Original Song, for their hit single 'Falling Slowly.' The duo performed the song on the Oscars telecast, and Irglova provided one of the most memorable and poignant moments of the evening when host Jon Stewart called her back to the stage after a commercial break to give her acceptance speech. The success of 'Once' also led to a sold out world tour for The Swell Season which was captured for an upcoming documentary. For more information please visit www.theswellseason.com