WFK had the pleasure of interviewing one of the most talented and true musicians from Miami, Raffa Jo Harris. Every music lover from this latitude should know the girl with a beautiful voice, who is not afraid of standing in front of crowds and opening her heart out. Raffa and her partner in crime, Rainer, had influenced many local songwriters who explore into folk and soft rock melodies.

On February 9^th, Raffa and Rainer will be performing at The Virginia Key Grassroots Festival representing Miami’s very own music talent.

WFK: Minimal, beautiful and deep songs are some of the principal elements of your music.Can you describe, what’s the ideal scenario for composing a song?
I have to be alone…there can’t even be anyone in the next room. I only ever pick up my guitar when I have an empty house or apartment. And I usually have to be a little heartbroken. Or a lot heartbroken if its gonna be a really good song.

How did your love story with music start?
Same as everyone’s, I suppose… Mama singin’.

What was the first song you ever wrote? Are you still playing it in your live shows?
The first song I ever wrote was for a high school theater project. And no, I would never dream of singing it in front of people. I write a lot of crap. I try to keep the worst of it to myself.

When did Rainer come along? What’s it purely musical attraction at first sight?
Rainer and I met around 2000 we didn’t start playing regularly together till 2005.  But yes, as soon as we played that very first show together at the old Tree of Zion restaurant in ’05, Raffa and Rainer was born.

How do you complement each other artistically?
I make songs, Rainer makes magic.

Listening to your folk, soft-rock and tender songs, it’s hard to guess your roots where planted in Miami. In spite of that, is this flashy city reflected anyhow in your music?

There is a lot more to Miami than just the flashy part of it… Same as there is more to us than tender folk songs.

“No mercy”, an album of 11 great songs which also features over 30 other artist, had a strong impact in Miami’s music scene. Are you planning to release a new album anytime soon?
We’d really like to. Realistically though, right now we basically can buy a tour van or make an album. The road is beckoning…..

On February 9th you will be performing at The Virginia Key Grassroots Festival. What’s your favorite thing about playing live? What do you guys have planned for the show?
The best thing about playing music live is its the purest way to share it. We get to open our mouths, strum and bang on things, and people get to hear it. There’s no middle man. We’ll be playing with a full band for the festival which is always fun.

::Wasabi Quizz ::

Miami tastes like… El Palacio de los Jugos
What inspires you? Miami, bro.
What’s your heaven like? I wouldn’t have to choose between buying a tour van, recording an album, and rent. I’d have more time with my family. And we’d all dwell in a connected paradise of caves…like Fraggle Rock. Otherwise, I’m pretty much living in it.
Cassette, CD, vinyl or mp3? Vinyl
The first record ever that you remember buying: Debbie Gibson Electric Youth
The last record that you purchased or downloaded: I found the Cranberries, No need to argue at Red, White and Blue for 95 cents. I remember almost every lyric from middle school. So good!
Raffa’s top 5 music wise :Tom Waits, Johnny Cash, Denny Denny Breakfast, Jenny Lewis, Jesse Jackson our very own.
What song, from other artist do you admire,  you’d wish you have composed it yourself? There are too many to name. People are really effing brilliant.
You would kill to play in the same stage with: I’d settle for just seeing Tom Waits. He’s been running around my heart since high school and I’m sure that I’m a better person for it.
Freedom in your own words: see #3

 Raffa and Rainer will be playing on February 9 at 8.45
@ The Virginia Key Grassroots Festival
 

The Hongs is a multicultural band based in Miami since 2006. Their sound flirts with calm, deep, but powerful and progressive melodies at the same time.  Their main purpose is to explore the space between the electronic and organic.This Sunday, January 29 the Hongs will be playing at The Armory Studios during a cultural “varieté” that will include the performance of Krisp and live fashion sculpture powered by Wasabi Fashion Kult.

Days before the event, WFK inquired Gordon Myers, The Hongs’ mentor, to dig into the band’s music essence. Let’s see what Gordon has to offer:

WFK: When did your affair with music start?
The affair started in Discovery Bay, Jamaica 1977. Strapped to Mums back, I slept through Bob Marley and the Wailers!

What’s the story behind The Hongs?
The original band started in Brooklyn NY in 2004 as an acoustic song writing duo with my video artist Sue Mi Ko . In 2006 I moved to Miami. Eric Escanes (Suenalo) and I began 9:30am rehearsals and the modern version of the band was born.

You state that The Hongs are a ‘multinational dance conglomerate’, what do you mean by that?
The band has always been an expression of diversity. Quite accidentally, band members have been Jamaican, French, Mexican, Jewish, Costa Rican, Scottish, Cuban and Argentinean. We are currently exploring dance music hybrids. Jesse Murphy coined the term ROCKDISCO.

Your songs blend a calm atmosphere with a tense an obscure vibe. Where do you get your inspiration from?
I try taking inspiration from all around me. Personally song writing became an outlet to block depression and mental illness. It worked…I think.

Is Miami anyhow reflected in your sound?
Our sound is the collision of multiple genres. Miami being one of a few truly cosmopolitan and diverse cities in the United States could be viewed comparatively. Miami was the perfect back drop for the Hongs to come into existence.

On January 29 you will be playing at The Armory Studios. What are the essential elements of The Hong’s live shows?
Our live shows tend to be High Energy, Uptempo and LOUD. Currently the band is triggering “electronic effected sounds” with traditional instrumentation. We use traditional songwriting formats combined with untraditional sounds.

The Hongs will be playing @ The Armory Studios

on January 29

 

Bullets and Lace, an avant-garde accessory line, based out of Miami by stylist and designer, Ace Lethal. If we open the door to this collection, a whole Alice in Wonderland world will fall at our feet. However, I would make Alice a li’l bit older, bleach her hair, and borrow all the pink and blush from the 2006 Marie Antoinette movie. And that’s just scratching the surface.

Bullets & Lace offers hand made, one-of-a-kind pieces, ranging from shoulder pads, to hats, brooches, and body chains, all caked in color, and glitter and glam. The designer, Ace Lethal, uses all types of materials giving each piece enough volume, edge and sensuality. Find in this fashion constellation an array of feathers, pearls, chains, trims, studs and fabrics.

B&L accessories has a very 50s feminine retro feel, however, we can throw in a pinch of 80s punk, 90s grunge and a XXIst century girl-power attitude.

The collection can be found only at bulletsandlace.com, where the designer customizes orders according to your fashion sweet tooth.

A delicious, “wow-factor” collection, as the designer likes to call it,  hot and local.

Yummy!

CRAVE YOU by mokilynn featuring a gold cocktail ring

The Closet Boutique

The closet, a girl’s treasure and magical tiny room, where the night awaits by the door, where the feet get raised into 6 inches of golden happiness by mischievous heels. Where the dress decorates the body and protects it just like a super-heroine-armor. The closet, a women’s way of make life, less mundane and more colorful.

The Closet, Loretta Armada Vengoechea’s boutique on Bird Rd and 63rd St, once a tiny little room in her mom’s apartment, now an established business opening the doors to all Miami’s ladies and super heroines.

Keeping it loyal to her own style and intertwined by her living in the New York era while working for Etro, The Closet Boutique is a splash of color and prints. The silhouettes are loose and flowy, the prints are out of a water-color paint brush, undefined and abstract, yet all the collection is pulled down to earth by her staple basics: solid color tanks, shirts and denim –just like your own closet where you can mix and match, go a little bit more casual or eccentric.

For all of those that like shopping at Nordstrom’s, here’s a similar alternative, were the service is more personal, your needs taken care of, and your feet thankfully. To keep up with her ever-evolving collection, check The Closet Boutique’s facebook page where outfit’s pics are uploaded every week after her weekly shipments.

We met with Loretta last week, amongst some holiday shopping (that ended in her store.) While waiting for her to finish with her customers, we noticed her big smile at all times and her ability to serve her customers and their demanding fashion needs. She finds a solution for everything.

Check out a quick Closet Boutique profile:

WFK: Describe your store in three words:
Loretta: Glitzy, boho, affordable.
What’s the best thing of being located at Bird Rd?
There’s a lot of traffic around us, we are in the center of South Miami and Coral Gables, a very central location.
Fav cities in the world?
Paris because it’s just fabulous, and New York because it made me grow up.
Your fashion icon?
Rachel Zoe
The Closet Boutique’s staple items?
Besides the basic tanks, color jeans, color and prints… leopard, I love leopard!
First brands you thought of when opening the store?
Collective Concepts with its silks, prints and loose tops.
Any Local Designers?
Gold Saturn, and Heartbreak, both local T-shirt companies.
Your motto?
I believe in Karma. What comes around goes around. I just believe in being

nice to my customers, feel happy and make them feel happy as well.
Fav store?
Etro, Missoni.
The Closet Boutique’s New Year’s Fashion Breakdown:
Necklace $40
Pink Clutch $37
Bangles $30
Lush’s Black Blazer with opened back $63
Hot and Delicious sequined Jumper $65

www.lonomada.com

Like a Hansel and Gretel house, hidden inside a forest’s heart, painted and decorated with candy, LoNomada, located at the 55^th Station, brings the same kind of attraction and curiosity.  This chic boutique is a giant aluminum-covered caramel caravan, a 1979 Airstream to be more exact. Once inside, the satisfaction candy is for the mouth, LoNomada is for the senses, the smell, the sound, and the eye.

The mobile fashion boutique is like an extremity of owner and fashion wizard Valeria Rivera, a nomad that hasn’t stopped evolving in the art and fashion worlds, getting her hands into any creative project she can. With an extensive curriculum filled with positions like art director, hair and make-up artist, and stylist. The result of her LoNomada art center reflects the many shapes and tastes of the owner. Find in this fashion and art, treasure-chest, vintage and new designer clothes, film, photography, artwork and unthinkable found objects.

Lo Nomada
305.484.5399
55th ST. Station
Miami, FL 33137

Power Corruption & Lies by mokilynn featuring printed scarves

In this interview, the lead singer and composer of one of the weirdest and most talented groups from the last decade tells WFK how he fell in love with art and the dark side of being a true artist.   

WFK: Everybody knows the story of your musical career after you joined the Elephant Six Collective, but what happened before that? When did you start feeling passionate about music?
I guess when I was about 13 or 14. I started making songs and recording in my bedroom. By then I was inspired by heavy metal music but my inspiration has changed a lot over the years.

What was the primordial musical intention when you created of Montreal, back there in 1996, is it still the same?
Yes, pretty much is a labor of love to me. I made it pretty much by myself and I got inspired by different things; I wanted to made something personal, exceptional and interesting and the essence stayed kind of the same from the beginning.

Both your music and performances are notoriously influenced by other art disciplines such as theater, cinema and literature; you were even involved in the A Pollinaire Rave comedy tour. Is there any other artistic discipline that you would like to explore or combine with your music?
You kind of name most of them, you can definitely try to incorporate different things like gardening or other unconventional ideas. We also have lots of pretty strong visual elements on our live productions over the past four years, as far as projecting images and putting thought into the lightning and the stage. But for this future we are actually spending a lot of attention on the visuals and the projections and trying to create a sort of transportive experience for the audience.

You are an artist that was never afraid of opening up and singing to your deepest feelings, in one of the songs that is going to be included in your upcoming album you even declare: “I spend my waking hours haunting my own life / I made the one I love start crying tonight / And it felt good”.  Did you ever get involved into serious trouble because your conception of art?
Yes, definitely it creates some issues with the people I’m in a relationship with because I incorporate a lot of my personal life into my songwriting and people, understandably feel sort of victimized in a way to see that they are displayed in front of the world like that because especially is only my perception, it’s only from my advantage point which is not a real fair thing to do. I mean is not fair to the other people involved but in the same time I think that art really has to come from a very personal place if not it doesn’t have much value and it feels superficial, in my mind.

I think that you are one of the few artists left who are so true and sincere in your songs, although, as you said before, it can get you in trouble. So, have you ever thought about changing that way of making art?
Well, I have done some roll playing and I have definitely written songs to fantasy, I have created characters and you know in a way that is more a fantasy based line rather than personal. I guess sometimes you got trough phases were nothing really dramatic is going on in your life but you want to keep on writing songs and creating this “personas” allows you to stay productive without a soap opera happening in your life.

Paralytic Stalks –of Montreal’s upcoming album- is probably one of your darkest albums so far; are the Georgie Fruit days gone?
I think that I will keep on playing some of those songs, I don’t think that I need to have a funeral for Georgie Fruit or anything like that but this is just a period of me needing to do something different. I don’t worry that much about the things of the past, I’m just only interested in moving forward and trying to live in the present moment and do whatever feels right in that moment.

In the past, of Montreal released many conceptual albums such as The Gay Parade, The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy and Coquelicot. It’s Paralytic Stalks a conceptual record? If so what is the concept behind it?
I think there are lots of recurrent themes but I don’t know if you can really consider it a conceptual album just because there is not real narrative or a story necessarily, it’s almost like general scenes from a period of my life.

of Montreal is one of the few bands that still support cassette, Paralytic Stalks is going to be release in this format among others, and you even have released your own Cassette Box Set.  What do you find so enchanting about this format?
I think I’m fond of it because it’s something different that it used to be extremely popular and then it completely fell off. Now nobody even considers it as a possibility but they are so cheep to get, you can go to any thrift store and get a cassette for 10 dollars, I mean they are still around but … I think they are kind of cute in a way, this little plastic things.  And also when I first started recording I was recording in a cassette four tracks so all of my early demos were on cassette, so I definitely have a sort of connection with them, pleasant memories about them.

On December 10 you will be performing in Miami with a DJ set. Can you tell us about some of your favorite tunes that you will be playing that night?
I will probably play some Parliament and some Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder and then some more contemporary stuff like Erykah Badu, mostly some kind of funky soulful songs.

 MUTE MIAMI PRESENTS: AU REVOIR SIMONE,The BLOW, DJ KEVIN BARNES (of Montreal)
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10
@ GRAND CENTRAL 

“Frankly my Dear… I don’t Give a DAMN” by mokilynn featuring studded shorts

OFF WITH HER HEAD!! by mokilynn featuring printed tank tops