Come out to Uncle Sam’s Monday, May 3rd at 6PM and catch a live acoustic performance by NONPOINT in support of their new release, “Miracle”. The band will be performing songs from the new album (which comes out the following day) and you’ll also get a chance to listen to and pre-order the new album while you’re at the store. And as a special Uncle Sam’s bonus, the FIRST 50 folks who pre-order the CD will get a FREE T-Shirt commemorating the show! So come on out, meet the band, listen to them jam, pre-order the CD  and get a free t-shirt. Does it get any better?

Click here to check out the event details on FACEBOOK

Miami’s VCRolab is a Multimedia collective who uses all their tools to bring to life a deep and colorful universe that you can experience through art. MECANICA ORGANICA is this trio’s debut, where they capture the concepts they have been developing in studio and live performances for the last 2 years. It is undoubtedly, the very essence of the collective.

More than a pocketful of songs, MECANICA ORGANICA is a concept album; a tasteful blend of rock, folklore and electronic music.

VCRolab is one of the is undoubtedly one of the more unique indie projects you’ll run across this year, bringing new ideas to the mainstream. They will certainly give everyone a lot to talk about!

The band is promoting the single “M1″ with an incredible video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cpYMOblNbA) and also putting together a promotional tour this summer trough South and North America. This will certainly include a date in Miami…

It’s finally here!! The almost complete list of all the exciting exclusive releases for this year’s Record Store Day (April 17, 2010). Check em out…Just remember, all are EXTREMELY limited. There are no Pre-orders or holds; it will be first come first served. There will be treats and sweets all day on April 17th, so come on by Uncle Sam’s on South beachand say hello!!

HOLD STEADY / HEAVEN IS WHENEVER LP
BLACK LABEL SOCIETY ( WYLDE,ZAKK ) / SKULLAGE LP
LENNON,JOHN / SINGLES BAG: 7 INCH BOXSET 7”
SEX PISTOLS / GREAT ROCK N ROLL SWINDLE LP
SICK PUPPIES / LIVE & UNPLUGGED CD
BIRD & THE BEE / INTERPRETING THE MASTERS 1: A TRIBUTE LP
GABRIEL,PETER / BOOK OF LOVE 7”
GOLDFRAPP / HEAD FIRST LP
LACUNA COIL / SHALLOW LIFE: ACOUSTIC… 7”
MARY ONETTES / NIGHT BEFORE THE FUNERAL 7”
BAEZ,JOAN / JOAN BAEZ LP
MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT / TODAY LP
FAHEY,JOHN / YELLOW PRINCESS LP
WATSON,DOC / DOC WATSON LP
GUY,BUDDY / MAN & THE BLUES LP
PLANTS & ANIMALS / LA LA LAND LP
RADIO GALAXIA / VARIOUS LP
BIRD SONGS / VARIOUS LP
CYPRESS HILL / RISE UP LP
SPRINGSTEEN,BRUCE/WRECKING BALL,GHOST OF TOM JOAD 10”
COHEED AND CAMBRIA/GUNS OF SUMMER 7”
MATTHEWS,DAVE-REYNOLDS,TIM/SQUIRM-LYING IN… 7”
PRESLEY,ELVIS/THAT’S ALL RIGHT 7”
FUN/AIM AND IGNITE 12”
GOGOL BORDELLO/WE COMIN’ ROUGHER… 7”
DYLAN,JAKOB & COURTYARD HOUNDS/SEE YOU IN
COSTELLO,ELVIS / LIVE AT HOLLYWOOD HIGH 7”
GODSMACK / GODSMACK RECORD STORE DAY 7”
LA ROUX / BULLETPROOF: LIVE & REMIXED 7”
OWL CITY / OWL CITY RECORD STORE DAY 7”
POTTER,GRACE & NOCTURNALS / LIVE IN SKOWHEGAN CD
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE / FEEL GOOD HIT… (PICTURE DISC) LP
REM / CHRONIC TOWN LP
SONIC YOUTH / HITS ARE FOR SQUARES LP
THEM CROOKED VULTURES / MIND ERASER…(PICTURE DISC) LP
TV ON THE RADIO / DEAR SCIENCE LP
WEEZER / WEEZER RADITUDE: HAPPY RECORD STORE DAY CD
WHITE LIES / REMIX EP CD
YEAH YEAH YEAH’S / SKELETONS 7”
PHOENIX / FENCES (X2) 12”
DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS / YOUR WOMAN IS A LIVING THING… 7”
CAGE THE ELEPHANT / LIVE AT GRIMEY’S CD
JENNINGS,SHOOTER & HIEROPHANT / DON’T FEED… CD
WHITE RABBITS / ANTLERS / LIVE FROM DAYTROTTER 7”
ASTEROIDS GALAXY TOUR / FRUIT LP
KUTI,FELA / FELA KUTI (10”) 12”
INFECTED MUSHROOM / KILLING TIME (X5) 12”
JACOB FRED JAZZ ODYSSEY / SENSATION OF SEEING LIGHT 7”
JENNINGS,MASON / FINGER PRINTS: SEPTEMBER 20 2009 CD
GET UP KIDS / SIMPLE SCIENCE CD
ROYCE DA 5’9” / STREET HOP LP
DIFRANCO,ANI / LIVE AT BULL MOOSE 4-17-2009 CD
RODRIGUEZ / INNER CITY BLUES / I’M GONNA LIVE TILL I DIE 7”
DIOS / WE ARE DIOS CD
CASABLANCAS,JULIAN/11TH DIMENSION-LONG ISLAND BLUES 7”
MANCHESTER ORCH/LIVE AT PARK AVE CD
MGMT/SIBERIAN BREAKS 12”
MODEST MOUSE/MOON AND ANTARCTICA LP
HAWKINS,TAYLOR & COATTAIL RIDERS/RED LIGHT FEVER LP
PASSION PIT/LITTLE SECRETS 7”
SOUNDGARDEN “HUNTED DOWN” 7”
VARIOUS ARTISTS • FRAGMENTS FROM A WORK IN PROGRESS 12”
THE MOUNTAIN GOATS • THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME: DVD
ARTHUR RUSSELL • CALLING OUT OF CONTEXT LP
FUCKED UP • DAYTROTTER SESSION 7”
TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS • THE OLDEST HOUSE 7”
PAVEMENT • QUARANTINE THE PAST: THE BEST OF PAVEMENT LP

Twelve years ago, Blur frontman Damon Albarn and Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett formed Gorillaz — a ”virtual band” whose animated avatars and woozy beats pastiche seemed custom-fit for a dawning era of smartphones, iPods, and other Jetson-y gizmos.

”I’m useless, but not for long / The future is comin’ on,” Albarn drawled on their first single, the dubby alt-chart hit ”Clint Eastwood.”

He was right: Gorillaz’ self-titled debut sold 
almost 2 million copies in the U.S. and made them stars, albeit in physical absentia (even in live performances, they are hidden behind 
 giant cartoon projections). A half decade after their last release, 2005’s multiplatinum sophomore outing Demon Days, the band has returned, once again gilding their four-character core with a delightfully random roster of guest stars: Snoop Dogg, legendary soul smoothie Bobby Womack, Lou Reed, and the Clash’s Mick Jones among them.

Like its name, Plastic Beach has a sharp tang of cognitive dissonance — its songs sound like dispatches from a crew of hip-kid astronauts, unmoored in some space-dust ether.

• Album $9.90 • Wishlist

Like all great stories, San Diego’s The Soft Pack’s begins with two friends called Matt and Matty. Matty McLoughlin played guitar obsessively, Matt Lamkin also played guitar but fancied himself as a singer/wordsmith too. Armed with conviction and a fraternal dedication, the band returned to their adopted home of Los Angeles in the summer of 2009 to write songs for their self-titled debut. Highlights include the perfect one-two punch of the first two singles, “Answer To Yourself” and the rallying call, “C’mon,” The Vaselines-inspired “Down On Loving,” live favorite “Parasites,” “Tides Of Time,” “Flammable” and the hypnotic sway of “Mexico” — a song directly paying its respects to The King (Matt was listening to Elvis’ Blue Hawaii album). But perhaps the most arresting song onboard The Soft Pack arrives with “Pull Out” loads: A song, among many on this fine debut, that young boys in bedrooms will play on repeat when dreaming of forming their own perfect punk-rock-garage-rock band. Check it out!

Magnetic Fields’ third Nonesuch disc, Realism, is the flipside to the industrial pop of Distortion, the quartet’s brilliant 2008 homage to, of all things, the clangorous sound of the Jesus and Mary Chain. While Distortion was recorded quickly and noisily in the stairwells and rooms of the New York City apartment building to which singer-songwriter-bandleader Stephen Merritt was about to bid adieu for California, Realism was cut in the distortion-free environs of a Los Angeles studio, and its sound is as pristine as a plein-air painting. There are no drum kits to be heard, and the fascinatingly varied instrumentation – guitars, accordions, violins, cellos, tablas, banjos, tuba, even a smattering of mellifluous falling leaves – did not need to be plugged in.

And, as with Distortion, the album credits emphasize: No Synths.

With tongue only slightly in cheek, Merritt has taken to declaring Realism his “folk” album. To get the point across, there is an upbeat, sing-along number early in the set called “We Are Having a Hootenany.” Merritt’s inspirations, however, were the orchestrated, mostly British folk of the late sixties/early seventies–which owe as much to sixties psychedelia as to traditional music–and the work of Judy Collins, who stretched the boundaries of “folk” with the chamber-pop arrangements of such albums as In My Life and Wildflowers. read more »

“Transference,” the follow up to Spoon’s 2007 effort “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga,” is as driven and manic as it’s predecessor, if not somewhat more sour.

There’s plenty of tracks that are signature Spoon, with uptempo staccato chords and singer Britt Daniel’s sandpapery whelps. But “Transference” brings it down a notch with a less polished sound that comes across more like a demo, which gives it more of an organic feel.

“Who Makes Your Money?” challenges the appeal of the overproduced track. “Is Love Forever,” echoes a chord progression that would solicit a smile from Queens of The Stone Age, but is arguably the best example of the standard Spoon track. read more »

It is almost impossible for us to imagine the pain and suffering going on in Haiti right now. As members of the South Florida community, it is especially close to our hearts and our lives each day bringing with it the incredible stories that literally hit close to home. In the coming weeks it will be easy for most of us to return to our daily lives of worrying about the relatively inconsequential; the rhythm of music and tweets and Facebook statuses insulating us from the continuing trauma o our neighbors to the south.

But we are hear to help fight compassion fatigue, and we hope you will commit to this battle with us.

This is the worst thing that has ever happened to Haiti. Think about that statement for a moment. The political corruption, coups, political likings, AIDS, poverty, umpteen hurricanes, tropical storms and floods are all overshadowed by the depth and scope of the January 12th earthquake.

So how do you help? Here area few ways.

• The easiest thing to do is to donate to the Red Cross. You can visit their website at www.redcorss.org or text the word “Haiti” to 90999. This will automatically donate $10 on your behalf to the Red Cross.
• If you are concerned about the political/corporate ramifications of supporting the Red Cross, you can also contribute to a great organization we believe in call Partners In Health. They have been working n Haiti for some time and know the lay of the land logistically and culturally. They also don’t cozy up to the big pharmaceutical companies and the like. We have a link on te fron page of our website to donate to them, and you can vist them and learn more at www.pih.org
• Yéle is a charitable campaign started by Haitian musician Wyclef Jean which is also heavily involved in disaster relief. You can find more information on histhis organization at www.yele.org

Lastly, we wanted to leave you with an article written by Régine Chassagne.  Régine is a member of one of our favorite bands, Arcade Fire. She was also born in Haiti and shares her perspective on the turmoil facing her homeland.

I let out a cry, as if I’d heard everybody I loved had died

by Régine Chassagne
from www.guardian.co.uk

Somewhere in my heart, it’s the end of the world.

These days, nothing is funny. I am mourning people I know. People I don’t know. People who are still trapped under rubble and won’t be rescued in time. I can’t help it.

Everybody I talk to says the same thing: time has stopped.

Simultaneously, time is at work. Sneakily passing through the cracks, taking the lives of survivors away, one by one.

Diaspora overloads the satellites. Calling families, friends of families, family friends. Did you know about George et Mireille? Have you heard about Alix, Michaelle etc, etc? But I know that my personal anguish is small compared to the overwhelming reality of what is going on down there.

When it happened I was at home in Montreal, safe and cosy, surfing the internet, half randomly, like millions of westerners. Breaking news: 7.0 earthquake hits Haiti near Port-au-Prince.

Such emotion came over me. My breath stopped. My heart sank and went straight into panic mode. I knew right away that the whole city is in no way built to resist this kind of assault and that this meant that thousands were under rubble. I saw it straight away.

I ran downstairs and turned on the television. It was true. Tears came rushing right to my eyes and I let out a cry, as if I had just heard that everybody I love had died. The reality, unfortunately, is much worse. Although everything around me is peaceful, I have been in an internal state of emergency for days. My house is quiet, but I forget to eat (food is tasteless). I forget to sleep. I’m on the phone, on email, non-stop. I’m nearly not moving, but my pulse is still fast. I forget who I talked to and who I told what. I leave the house without my bag, my keys. I cannot rest.

I grew up with parents who escaped during the brutal years of the Papa Doc regime. My grandfather was taken by the Tonton Macoutes and it was 10 years before my father finally learnt he had been killed. My mother and her sister returned home from the market to find their cousins and friends murdered. She found herself on her knees in front of the Dominican embassy begging for her life in broken Spanish. Growing up, I absorbed those stories, heard a new version every year; adults around the dinner table speaking in creole about poor Haiti.

When I was growing up, we never had the money to return. Even if we had, my mother never could go back. Until she died, she would have nightmares about people coming to “take her away”. My mum passed away before she could meet my future husband, or see our band perform and start to have success, and though I have dreamed of her dancing to my music, I know she would have been very worried to hear that I was travelling to Haiti for the first time last year.

It is strange that I was introduced to my country by a white doctor from Florida called Paul Farmer who speaks perfect Creole and knows how to pronounce my name right. He is the co-founder of an organisation titled Partners in Health (Zanmi Lasante in Creole). There are several charity organisations that are doing good work in Haiti – Fonkoze is a great micro-lending organisation – but in terms of thorough medical care, follow-up and combining of parallel necessary services (education, sanitation, training, water, agriculture), there is none that I could ­recommend more than Partners in Health. It takes its work for the Haitian people very seriously and, indeed, most of the staff on the ground are Haitian. PIH has been serving the poorest of the poor for more than 20 years with a ­curriculum that really astounded me, given the limited resources available in the area.

Visiting its facilities, I was overwhelmed by, and impressed with, the high-level, top-quality services provided in areas where people own next to nothing and were never given the opportunity to learn how to sign their own name. I was delightfully shocked to see the radically positive impact it has had in the communities it serves. Of course, during my visit, I saw some clinics and hospitals that were at different stages than others, but through it all, I could clearly see that PIH staff are very resourceful and set the bar extremely high for themselves. I know that, right now, they are using their full ­capacities to save as many lives as possible.

So in these critical times where death comes every minute, I urge you to donate to Partners in Health (www.pih.org) and be as generous as you can. I know from having talked to some staff that they are on the ground right now, setting up and managing field hospitals as well as receiving the injured at their clinics in the surrounding areas.

I realise that by the time you read this it will be Sunday. The cries will have died out and few miracles will remain possible. But the suffering survivors should not be abandoned and should be treated with the best care countries like ours can offer.

Many Haitians expect to be let down. History shows they are right to feel that way. Haitians know that they have been wronged many, many times. What we are seeing on the news right now is more than a natural disaster. This earthquake has torn away the veil and revealed the crushing poverty that has been allowed by the west’s centuries of disregard. That we must respond with a substantial emergency effort is beyond argument, but in the aftermath, Haiti must be rebuilt.

Ultimately, we need to treat Haiti with compassion and respect and make sure that the country gets back on its feet once and for all. Haiti’s independence from France more than two centuries ago should be thought of as one of the most remarkable tales of ­freedom; instead, she was brought to her knees by the French and forced to pay a debt for the value of the lost colony (including the value of the slaves: the equivalent of $21bn by current calculations). We cannot ­overestimate the strength and resilience of the brave people living in this country whose ancestors had to buy their own bodies back.

The west has funded truly corrupt governments in the past.

Right now, in Haiti, there is a democratically elected government.

Impossibly weak, but standing.

This is the moment where we need to show our best support and solidarity.

Since Haiti shook and crumbled, I feel as if something has collapsed over my head, too. Miles away, somehow, I’m trapped in this nightmare. My heart is crushed. I’ve been thinking about nothing else.

Time has stopped – but time is of the essence.

So I’ve been sitting here at my computer, food in the fridge, hot water in the tap, a nice comfy bed waiting for me at some point… but…

Somewhere in my heart, it’s the end of the world.

Régine Chassagne is a member of the rock band Arcade Fire