Florida’s Best Live Acts of 2019
With a new year, and new decade ahead of us, we recap the best Live Acts Statewide of this past year
Florida- 2019 has been a prosperous music for local music in the state.
With a plethora of albums, EP’s and concerts released before the new decade, in addition to new acts emerging from the already electrified soil, we decided to take our focus on the medium that we believe best proves the true mettle of a band: our selections of the Top 10 Live Acts in Florida.
This proved to be a much harder list than expected, with a great many acts having captured our heart in 2019. However, we stand by this list, and feel that these acts should be the ones you keep your mind, ears and excited soul on in 2020…
(photo: Jenelle DeGuzman)
Having formed in just 2019, the duo, composed of Brennan Curtin (drums) and Adam Sheetz (guitar/vocals) perform with the intensity of an act that have been honing their craft for 10 years. Debuting at Bumblefest, their live performances are something inexplicably powerful; with just a guitar, drums and a vox microphone, they can draw in a crowd like flies to sugar, and it helps that the sound coming from the amps is a honey suckle drawl of perfect Southern inspired rock meets the grit of Detroit distortion, all wrapped up in West Palm Beach flair.
They are an act that increasingly better themselves after every viewing, and for that reason and many more, we believe the duo to be one of the best on this list.
https://www.facebook.com/theGutterTones/
Spirit & The Cosmic Heart (Dreampop/Shoegaze)
The Lakeland based act has been one we’ve kept on both your radar, and ours, since early this year. Churning and evolving like the Atlantic itself, the group made continued evolving and with each new emergence, seem to just keep getting better.
With their 2nd EP, “Memories” released mid-2019, they are one of the few acts, both locally and internationally, that can sound just as good on record and yet somehow, different. Our best example of this being our personal favorite, “Endlessly”. While the track is an intense Cure meets Mama’s and Papa’s build-up of dreamy romance live, the 5 piece have created an almost alternate reality version of the track on record that explodes just the same, in a different way. And it’s truly the best way to describe the act; something haunting that sparks something individually different, upon every song and every viewing.
https://spiritandthecosmicheart.bandcamp.com/
Another of our unabashedly favorite local acts, experiencing the 5 piece in any of the five senses, is akin to visiting one of the great art museums of the world- each time.
With visuals being orchestrated by frontwoman Jenna Balfe, a whirlwind mixture of Siouxsie Sioux and Poly Styrene, every performance Donzii puts on is a different painting, in a different time, all along the already powerful hypnotic music that follows from the chemistry of the act themselves. “Sand”, to our ears, is one of the best tracks of this decade by any artist in recent memory internationally. It’s a large claim to make, but an act like Donzii truly come every once in a lifetime, and we are grateful to be living in the same era of music as this incredible band.
https://donzii.bandcamp.com/
Jaialai (Psychedelica/Alternative)
While the sound have been a local flavor favorite, we got our first powerful dose of the sound live, at 1306 Miami earlier this year and it was something unlike anything else we’ve seen. Carrying the force of a hurricane inside of a tornadic explosion of guitars, drums and build-up, the performance we viewed consisted of moshing, dreamy visuals and near Renaissance punk vibes, something that is hard to duplicate not due to the sound, but the sheer amount of power it takes to carry such a beautiful weight.
If you have the chance, we highly recommend catching this act in any venue, and watch as you leave out of breath and captivated.
https://jaialaiofficial.bandcamp.com/
The Spoondogs (Rock/Punk)
The Orlando based sound helped to close out Bumblefest 2019, and demonstrated a performance so great, it never left our mind.
Take The Rolling Stones, Warsaw and just a touch of surf-esque orchestration and you have a truly potent mixture that could fit in any decade and still bring the crowd to a absolute frenzy, something they did to a full house of the Patio Stage in Respectable Street, having those in attendance so enthralled, some stood on tables just to get a glimpse of the hailstorm of guitars that the act wield so well, both live and in recording. If you’re a fan of the above examples, Robert Plant in his prime or classic punk in general, we recommend listening in all methods, ways and feelings possible.
https://spoondogs.bandcamp.com/releases
Tape Studies (Post/Instrumental Rock)
Let us tell you a story of romance, ambition, love, the feeling of falling and a thousand sunsets; or better yet, let Tape Studies do it for you. We have expressed our endless respect for the post-rock genre due the basis of composition being that of a storybooks. The unspoken words of feeling itself, and all those moments you didn’t quite know what to say, wishing instead that music would flow out of your lungs. The Northern Florida trio are this exactly, and after watching them perform at Will’s Pub, they also embody the belief that while an orchestra can fill a room, a group with passion can act as a hundred orchestras; something they do effortlessly. With a new album in the works, we greatly look forward to the opportunity of seeing the act again, and we await for you to do the same.
https://tapestudies.bandcamp.com/releases
In Motion (Post-Hardcore/Emo)
While the trio have been on our list since mid-2019, they are also our pick for the Best Album of 2019. The post-hardcore genre is one that, while often seen, is very scarcely done right justice and we are proud to say that it’s one they not only excel in, but have brought back incredible light back into. Having seen the act perform as both an unplanned trio and in it’s complete package, we have been thoroughly astounded each and every performance by the wall of enormous sound the Hobe Sound based produce. It’s not hard to see the trio truly love what they do, and we love watching them.
https://inmotionfl.bandcamp.com/
This Miami sound is one you read about in the history books. The kind you see in black and white pictures of bands you wish you were able to see, giving performances that seem to bleed sound from image alone and you wish on the stars above you could have viewed. And we’re happy to say, you can and you must. Performing in the small, intimate space of Kismet Vintage in West Palm Beach, the trio are pure, and pardon our language, fucking amazing punk. With incredible Pixies-esque drones meets Sex Pistols explosion, frontwoman/bassist Bridget helps orchestrate performances that are a legendary joy to watch, and one we hope you’ll carve into your concert tablets in 2020…
https://glassbody.bandcamp.com/
(Photo: Keith McCullough)
With the debut EP freshly released, and wonderfully, darkly seductive, the Winter Haven group while fresh on our list, are not one to be taken lightly. Having made their powerful debut performance at Jessie’s Lounge (the videos of which can be seen on their Facebook page), they became one of our Florida Project acts simply due to the intensity of the performance. Bringing 70’s post-punk, doom and just the slightest touch of psychedelic elements in an impressive whirl, they are an act we cannot wait to get more in the coming year and are grateful we can jam to on our earbuds in the meantime…
https://kalistik.bandcamp.com/releases
Death of a Deity (Thrash/Metal)
(Photo: Jenelle DeGuzman)
The metal scene is one that thrived in 2019, due in part of the incredible acts that have emerged in genre in the past year alone. And while our next picks have been favorites of the South Florida scene, after having the pleasure of seeing the Loxahatchee based act perform at Propaganda Lake Worth late this past year, they make our list for the sheer of power they hold in their ferocious chemistry.
With a swirling, impressive storm of guitars and Abe Cunningham meets John Bonham-esque drums, they succeed in the difficult task of checking of not just one, but all marks of a great rock show: Heavy, orchestrated chaos, headbanging worthy composition and most importantly, enjoying every moment of it, while having all those in their grasp feel the same. With a new album on the horizon, and the preview of those tracks shared during their live performances solidifying our belief in DOAD being one of the great live acts in Florida, we cannot wait to headbang again.
https://deathofadeity.bandcamp.com/
One of the last, great and most promising examples of the power of, to quote Prince’s album, a piano and a microphone, the effortless composition that radiates from the Port Saint Lucie duo is an unforgettable of Fiona Apple earnesty, Regina Spektor vocals and the soul of Nina Simone, they are an act that are vastly underrated and incredibly potent. If you have a chance to see the act perform, it’s one we highly advise not passing, as they offer experience in the shape of sonic roses you’ll never forget the scent of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op53J4l1TV4
Makoto (Instrumental/Math Rock)
Our final selection for this list, will not be met with the usual “last but not least” blush response but calculated reasoning. The Southern Florida based act are the final cut on our list for the same reasoning that fireworks cap off another rotation around the Sun; for the power lightning storm that roars into the night, and what better way to describe the act than this? As we spoke of in our review of Bumblefest, we thoroughly believe that they should have been given a headline set and we believe 2020 will see them perform that slot at festivals both near and far, for the incredible, anthemic performances they emanate both in record and live. Makoto deliver the types of performances that have your feet sore from jumping, hair in a tizzy from rocking out and most importantly, leave you breathless. It’s a talent they are as skilled at as they are in composing near perfect rock orchestrations. And one we know, will leave you in awe.
https://makoto.bandcamp.com/
We hope you fill your heart with great, new and wonderful music in the new decade. And now, to quote a certain wizard, “ Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.”
