PUREHONEY 87

THE MERCURY PROGRAM Marisa Gesualdi

In 1997 the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and Titan lifted off from Florida’s Space Coast, a pioneering joint effort between NASA and European counterparts. CassiniHuygens also stood out for a piece its payload: 73 pounds of superradioactive plutonium-238 to fuel the orbiter and companion moon lander. What would happen if the rocket carrying that package were to malfunction and explode in the atmosphere, people could only wonder.

Florida music fans may note in that same year, in the nearby space hamlet of Gainesville, brothers Whit and Sander Travisano, along with David Lebleu and Tom Reno, launched The Mercury Program into the vacuum of indie music — similarly with no guarantee of success.

THE MERCURY PROGRAM

Cassini-Huygens got off the ground intact and went about its nuclearpowered work for almost a decade longer than the space agencies had planned, sending back new data and poster-worthy photos right up until its swan-song plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere in 2017.

Amazingly, The Mercury Program has lasted even longer and shows no signs of pre-scheduled atmospheric burn-up. It’s quite a run given the life expectancy of bands and the potential for toxic fallout among people who spend years together in the close, intense quarters — tour buses and recording studios — of creative work.

“We grew up in the Treasure Coast area, and starting playing music in the early ’90s,” guitarist Reno tells PureHoney. “As kids we were influenced by and played in hardcore and punk bands.”

Tuned into punk movements that stretched from Gainesville to South Florida, The Mercury Project’s four were also channeling what they heard from kindred scenes in Washington, D.C. and Chicago. The result over time would be a heavy, toughas-nails variation on genre — ambient post-rock psych-jazz, in the collective nomenclature of Program fans and observers.

The band’s self-titled 1999 debut and the 2000 follow-up, “From the Vapor of Gasoline,” with their sparse approach to vocals, were, in hindsight, steps in an evolution. The album that secured their reputation and clarified their sound was 2002’s “A Data Learn the Language” on Tiger Style Records.

Acclaim for the record begat tours and more tours that took their toll. After a 2003 split release, “Confines of Heat,” The Mercury Program’s recorded output stopped for six years.

KILL YOUR IDOL

It would be cute to liken this interval to a lost signal from a spacecraft adrift in the void.

The reality is more mundane: Band members don’t all live in one place anymore. “We’ve operated at a distance for a long time,” says Reno. “It’s part of what takes us so long to write and release new material. There is usually two of us in one city, and the other two are spread out somewhere on the East Coast.”

Almost: Whit, the sibling on keyboards, is in Minneapolis. Sander, the sibling on bass, is in New York City. Reno and drummer Lebleu live in Gainesville. Lebleu is part of The Album Leaf ambient music project with Jimmy LaValle of Tristeza and recently finished a record with Sander as Private Beaches.

Reno notes the band has operated in bursts since the “Data” record. The album “Chez Viking” arrived in 2009 and well after that, in 2016, came the “New Myths” EP. It’s a testament to the connection between band and fans that over two decadesplus, with a discography you could tuck under one arm, The Mercury Program is as relevant as ever.

A short East Coast tour in November will consist of two sets a night: the first comprised of “Chez Viking” and “New Myths”; the second devoted to “A Data Learn the Language.” On November 2, Lovitt Records will issue a double-LP reissue of the latter, long out of print in vinyl.

“Right now it feels pretty good to be reacquainting ourselves with the ‘Data’ record,” Reno says. “Fortunately we’ve remained friends over the years and we’ve somehow managed to still enjoy making music together. Our biggest success is still wanting to make and perform music together. Twenty-one-year-old bands are definitely not the norm.”

Think of theirs as a mission that has thrived beyond all expectations. The Mercury Program still has fuel in reserve to keep doing what it does, with few restrictions on time and space, and with new discoveries still to be made.

The Mercury Program performs with Transkam (Japan), Remember the Ocean and One Dog’s Opinion, 8pm November 9 at Voltaire in West Palm Beach. mercuryprogram.com ~ Abel Folgar

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TRANSKAM from TOKYO The Transcaucasian Highway is a hundred-mile mountain pass connecting Russia with two republics to the south. No worries if you’ve never heard of it. I only mention this Soviet-era ribbon of concrete because a band from yet another part of the world — Japan — decided they liked the highway’s nickname for themselves.

So give a bow to Transkam, a five-year-old instrumental duoturned-trio from Tokyo with a TRANSKAM (Tokyo, Japan) minimalist but deliberate style of composition that ties together numerous genres. “Minimal music, alternative rock, junk rock, post-rock, indie rock, hard core punk, krautrock, industrial,” guitarist Ryo “Tune” Hisatsune tells PureHoney, reeling off Transkam’s myriad influences.

“Etcetera really, so many!”

Even with a new EP in the offing, the band’s available body of work so far is also, well, minimal — the one previous release being 2016’s “Blueshade of the Omegasound,” six tracks totaling less than 30 minutes but decisively covering all the sonic and weighty emotional territory Transkam occupies. That it never feels like “just” an instrumental record is a credit to the band’s deep vision and musicianship.

Transkam is an offshoot of Japan’s own sprawling underground. Tune hails from the experimental synth-punk collective Alan Smithee’s MAD Universe, bassist Yukiyo from the psych-rock combo Tacobonds, drummer Yana from Numbs. “There are really many music genre scenes in Tokyo,” says Tune. “Everyone is connecting.”

To my everlasting joy he also gives a thumbs-up to a particular Japan obsession of mine, the witty ’90s retro punk band Teengenerate, You’ll find some argument among observers over just how minimalist Transkam really is. Their self-descriptions on social media — “minimal junk” or “minimal rock,” with “emphasis on riff and rhythm” — add to the ambiguity. Whatever the degree, it will be great to have Transkam playing here and showing reciprocal love for a scene far from theirs. “I know there are emo legends and many unique bands from Florida,” says Tune. “I watched The Mercury Program on the 2003 Japan tour.

It was so great!” Transkam are proof of the rewards for listening without borders.

Transkam opens for The Mercury Program, with Remember the Ocean and One Dog’s Opinion, 8pm November 9 at Voltaire transkam.bandcamp.com ~ Abel Folgar

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1

ROBOT BREWING CO: Dr. Bacon, Xotic Yeyo, Tame the Lyons VOLTAIRE: Church of Dub: Weird at First, Kelly Blanx DADA: Citizen Badger HULLABALOO: Trivia Night KILL YOUR IDOL: Karaoke with Shelley Novak CWS: NYNE2FIVE

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2

VOLTAIRE: ECO PRO SURF PARTY: Johan Danno, Jesse MonroeRaised by Wolves, A Good Rose, The Metropolitan ARTS GARAGE: Wanderlust Art Exhibit Opening, Robbie Elias MATHEWS BREWING COMPANY: Girlfriend Material ROBOT BREWING CO: VIBEAT, The Ricca Project DADA: Jonathan Auerbach Trio KILL YOUR IDOL: Bassline Miami RESPECTABLE STREET: Days N Daze SUBCULTURE DELRAY: Xotic Yeyo KELSEY THEATER: Waterparks O’MALLEY’S: Seven Kingdoms STACHE: 9th Annual Florida Day of the Dead CWS: Future Prezidents

ROBOT BREWING CO: Back Burner Burlesque DADA: Florida Euphoria HONEY: I Want My 80s Back with Lime KILL YOUR IDOL: Bermuda Beach RESPECTABLE STREET: Koffin Kats, Carrie Nation and the Speakeasy STACHE: FUSIK REVOLUTION LIVE: Haken, Leprous, Bent Knee CWS: Bonn E Maiy

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3

ARTS GARAGE: Nestor Torres MATHEWS BREWING COMPANY: SpiderCherry ROBOT BREWING CO: Tasty Vibrations, Supergold, Couch Talk VOLTAIRE: JEAN MARC, Michael Mayo DADA: A Good Rose HULLABALOO: The Cravens Album Release KILL YOUR IDOL: Immersed Music RESPECTABLE STREET: Be Kind: Dan Popejoy Memorial STACHE: Retro Wave with DJ Lindersmash REVOLUTION: Dark Star Orchestra, Galactic, Bobby Lee Rogers Trio CWS: Periphyton

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4

ARTS GARAGE: Trey Wanvig VOLTAIRE: Ray’s Downtown presents Medicine Hat MATHEWS BREWING COMPANY: Justin Jeffreys DADA: Karaoke KILL YOUR IDOL: Gameshow Sundays RESPECTABLE STREET: Blac Rabbit, Heller Floor, Coral Canyons O’MALLEY’S: Kurt Travis REVOLUTION LIVE: Allen Stone, Nick Waterhouse CWS: The Basement Presents Funk Brunch

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5

DADA: Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Drag Mondays REVOLUTION LIVE: Kyle, Marc E Bassy, Tobi Lou

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6

VOLTAIRE: UNWED SAILOR, Glass Body, Nervous Monks DADA: Spoken Word Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Open Jam REVOLUTION LIVE: Emmure, Stick to Your Guns, Wage War, Sanction

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7

DADA: Jose Perez KILL YOUR IDOL: Chris Rod Trio RESPECTABLE STREET: The Basement Presents

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8

FILLMORE MIAMI: Simple Minds VOLTAIRE: Flavours hosted by Mood Swing feat. Balatovis ROBOT BREWING CO: Shaw Davis & the Black Ties DADA: Big Chief KILL YOUR IDOL: Karaoke with Shelley Novak RESPECTABLE STREET: Solar Reef O’MALLEY’S: Unearth, Fit For An Autopsy

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9

VOLTAIRE: The Mercury Program, Transkam (Tokyo), Remember the Ocean, One Dog’s Opinion ARTS GARAGE: Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal MATHEWS BREWING COMPANY: Crazy Fingers

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10

THE PROJECTS FTL: Spf’18 Small Press Fair Fort Lauderdale FILLMORE MIAMI: Ray LaMontagne VIRGINIA KEY: HOC FEST: Foster the People, Chromeo, Sofi Tukker, Pond, Lonecly C, Night Driver, Mr Pauer and more!

ARTS GARAGE: Frank Vignola’s Hot Jazz Guitar Trio MATHEWS BREWING COMPANY: Bryce Allyn Band ROBOT BREWING CO: Robot Comedy Fest with Richy LaLa VOLTAIRE: Mark III, Michael Mayo, Nikitin DADA: Remember the Ocean HULLABALOO: Poparrazi KILL YOUR IDOL: Breaks Yo! O’MALLEY’S; Mychildren Mybride CWS: Spred the Dub

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11

VOLTAIRE: Ray’s Downtown presents Slide Brothers VIRGINIA KEY: HOC FEST: M.I.A., Little Dragon, SAINt JHN, Allah-Las, Amtrac, Pillowtalk, BAG, Jaalai, CesarSantalo, Millionyoung, & more!

ARTS GARAGE: Martin Bejerano Trio MATHEWS BREWING COMPANY: Altered Roots DADA: Karaoke KILL YOUR IDOL: Gameshow Sundays REVOLUTION LIVE: Mae, Alex Di Leo CWS: 432 Vibes Band, The Basement Presents Funk Brunch

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12

DADA: Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Drag Mondays

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13

VOLTAIRE: SQUID TUESDAYS, NO COVER ARTS GARAGE: All Arts Open Mic Night DADA: Comedy Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Open Jam REVOLUTION LIVE: Machine Head

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14

KILL YOUR IDOL: Holy Dances RESPECTABLE STREET: The Basement Presents

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15

VOLTAIRE: Funktion w Public Sound Collective ft TBA ARTS GARAGE: 3rd Thursday: Art Meets Music ROBOT BREWING CO: Dead Winter Carpenters, Citizen Badger KILL YOUR IDOL: Karaoke with Shelley Novak RESPECTABLE STREET: Ghost Lion REVOLUTION LIVE: The Main Squeeze CWS: Victoria Cardona

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16

VOLTAIRE: Analog, Holy Dances, Sun City Riot, Lonewolf ARTS GARAGE: Judy Carmichael MATHEWS BREWING COMPANY: Beauregard and the Downright ROBOT BREWING CO: Splitsville DADA: Del Pelson KILL YOUR IDOL: American Grime’s Proper RESPECTABLE STREET: Beastie Boys Tribute O’MALLEY’S: Ingested, Enterprise Earth STACHE: Punch Drunk Love REVOLUTION LIVE: Atreyu, Memphis May Fire, Ice Nine Kills, Sleep Signals CWS: Tasty Vibrations

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17

FILLMORE MIAMI: John Legend ARTS GARAGE: Bobby Ramirez MATHEWS BREWING COMPANY: Bark Back Benefit ROBOT BREWING CO: The Standard Americans, Bianca Jazmine VOLTAIRE: KASHA, Michael Mayo, Deb Silver DADA: Int’l Language HULLABALOO: Electric Red KILL YOUR IDOL: Keep It Deep RESPECTABLE STREET: Killed By Florida O’MALLEY’S: Fero Lux: The Final Show CWS: Poor Life Decisions

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18

VOLTAIRE: JM & the Sweets w Horns!

ARTS GARAGE: The Wolfepak Band MATHEWS BREWING COMPANY: Bryce Allyn Duo DADA: Karaoke KILL YOUR IDOL: Gameshow Sundays REVOLUTION LIVE: Big Gigantic, Flamingosis CWS: Marcus Amaya, The Basement Presents Funk Brunch

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19

DADA: Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Drag Mondays

ROBOT BREWING CO: A Good Rose DADA: Solar Reef RESPECTABLE STREET: Mass CWS: SoleMark

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24

FILLMORE MIAMI: GHOST ARTS GARAGE: The Five Boroughs MATHEWS BREWING COMPANY: Girlfriend Material ROBOT BREWING CO: Robotic Comedy with Dexter Angry VOLTAIRE: HARRY ROMERO, Michael Mayo. Geenius Trio DADA: Milkspot KILL YOUR IDOL: The Wire O’MALLEY’S: Spite, Shadow of Intent & more STACHE: Stache All Night REVOLUTION LIVE: Mayday Parade, This Wild Life, William Ryan Key, Oh, Weatherly CWS: NYNE2FIVE

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25

VOLTAIRE: Ray’s Downtown presents Terry Hanck Band ARTS GARAGE: Spencer and Seqouia: Live in Florida MATHEWS BREWING COMPANY: Crazy Fingers Trio DADA: Karaoke KILL YOUR IDOL: Gameshow Sundays O’MALLEY’S: Seaway, Trophy Eyes, Hot Mulligan CWS: JBLUE, The Basement Presents Funk Brunch

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26

DADA: Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Drag Mondays

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27

VOLTAIRE: SQUID TUESDAYS, NO COVER ARTS GARAGE: Jam Session DADA: Comedy Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Open Jam

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28

DADA: Of One Mind KILL YOUR IDOL: The Hoy Polloy RESPECTABLE STREET: The Basement Presents

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29

VOLTAIRE: Ella Herrera, WomanMay, Turtle Grenade, Eden iTernal ROBOT BREWING CO: Preservation Road DADA: Holy Dances KILL YOUR IDOL: Karaoke with Shelley Novak O’MALLEY’S: Safe Bet, Northbound REVOLUTION LIVE: Atmosphere, Dem Atlas, The Lioness, DJ Keezy

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20

VOLTAIRE: BOB DYLAN Tribute w Last Pew, Anti1, Turtle Grenade and more!

DADA: Comedy Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Open Jam

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21

FILLMORE MIAMI: Playboi Carti DADA: Guavatron Duo RESPECTABLE STREET: The Basement Presents

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22

VOLTAIRE: SWEET SWEET SONGWRITER SESSIONS KILL YOUR IDOL: Karaoke with Shelley Novak RESPECTABLE STREET: Yo Flaunt Jams

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23

VOLTAIRE: A SOULFAM THANKSGIVING w guests Toledo, Ghost Flower ARTS GARAGE: Lauren Mitchell MATHEWS BREWING COMPANY: Mark III Band

VOLTAIRE: THE HEAVY PETS, Lindsey Mills ARTS GARAGE: Mike Cady Experience MATHEWS BREWING COMPANY: Brass Knucklehead ROBOT BREWING CO: Spiral Light: Grateful Dead Tribute DADA: Raised By Wolves KILL YOUR IDOL: Shameless Burlesque RESPECTABLE STREET: Mod 27 Improv Troupe O’MALLEY’S: Loaded Guns Farewell Show CWS: Mitch Herrick & the Homegrown Sinners

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1

REVOLUTION LIVE: Lil Xan, Steven Cannon, Phem VOLTAIRE: Deb Silver, Val Verra, Michael Mayo

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2

VOLTAIRE: Ray’s Downtown presents JP Soars & the Red Hots

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4

SQUID TUESDAYS: Treeswifts & Friends

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6

Weird at First, Kelly Blanx, Church of Dub

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8

RESPECTABLE STREET: D.R.I., Deathwish

SMALL PRESS FAIR 2018 There is poetic justice in the marketplace writing obituaries for media such as print: left for dead by the masses and corporate interests, they become the province of creators who step in and take over the means of production.

The Small Press Fair was founded in that spirit of restoration: to support artists and makers and anyone else into small-batch printing, ’zines, comics, posters, books and the like.

SMALL PRESS FAIR With the third annual installment, SPF’18, coming up, the investment in a local expo of tactile, non-digital artistry and craft is paying off.

“We’ve hit some really great milestones,” Sarah Michelle Rupert, co-founder and co-director with Ingrid Schindall of SPF, tells PureHoney. “Each year our attendance and exhibitor participation has increased. It’s on track and growing nicely. And what’s surprised me is the amount of people from outside of South Florida who are participating.”

SPF organizers are expecting around 80 exhibitors this year, up from 60 last year and 50 the year before. The fair will take place in the 10,000-square-foot space, The Projects, that anchors the FATVillage arts warehouse complex in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Previous attractions included a live printmaking session with a giant steamroller — a witty rejoinder to the idea of the medium as pixel-era roadkill. The steamroller is back for the expanded 2018 edition, along with creation stations for first-timers and other celebratory-yet-practical demos of all things paper and ink.

SPF was born as a collaboration between two Fort Lauderdale ventures that combine creative entrepreneurship and education, Rupert’s Girls’ Club art gallery, and Schindall’s IS Projects printmaking and bookbinding studio. This year SPF became its own nonprofit, able to pursue a bigger slate of supporting grants. It has become a driver of Fort Lauderdale’s emerging profile as an arts and culture destination.

The makers are all in. “They know they can do this easier and cheaper digitally,” Rupert says, “They’re choosing to take the time, choosing to hand-craft these things. It’s a deliberate decision. That forethought and sweat equity isn’t going away, and we can see that in SPF.”

MUSIC

SPF’18 runs noon-6pm on November 10 at The Projects of FATVillage in Fort Lauderdale. Admission is free. spf-ftl.com ~ Tim Moffatt

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5

SIMPLE MINDS

If any song just sounds like the 1980s, the decade when rock and disco — guitars and synths, drum kits and drum machines — figured each other out, it would have to be “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” by Simple Minds, a worldwide smash and the signature track of “The Breakfast Club,” director John Hughes’ 1985 high school confidential.

SIMPLE MINDS It was, and is, one of the most eighties-ish of ’80s songs — big, yearning and danceable. And there were more where that came from: “Alive and Kicking” and “All The Things She Said” were follow-up singles in a similar vein — open-hearted unions of new wave, rock and soul, with lots of sonic space for singer Jim Kerr and his stretchy voice.

But for all their hits, and even with the advent today of the streaming playlist, tailored to every listener whim, co-founding guitarist Charlie Burchill tells PureHoney in an interview that Simple Minds will always be an album band.

Making albums “makes you relevant,” he says, “and people also appreciate the fact that you invested in it.”

Burchill calls the band’s 18th studio album, “Walk Between Worlds,” optimistic music for dark times. “There’s enough misery out there,” was the band’s attitude, he says. “Let’s not focus on that. Let’s focus on what can be positive and uplifting.”

Before Simple Minds, Kerr, Burchill and their mates were Johnny and the Self Abusers, an entertaining punk band from 1970s Glasgow. The group joined a label, released a single and promptly fell apart, but the implosion left an indelible smudge. The Cocteau Twins got their name from one of the band’s songs. More importantly, Kerr and Burchill moved on from the wreckage to become what they are today.

Simple Minds was not immune to changing times and tastes that sooner or later push every band off its peak. But Kerr and Burchill still flew the flag.

“Jim and I just kept going, kept going, and we kind of had a resurgence in the late 2000s,” says Burchill, who is his first cross-country U.S. trek in two decades. “People were saying its a comeback. We were saying no, we never stopped.”

Simple Minds play 7:30pm November 8 at the Fillmore Miami Beach. simpleminds.com ~ Tim Moffatt

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ATMOSPHERE

ATMOSPHERE

If you think of raw DIY creativity in hip hop, you think of Atmosphere. With their blunt lyricism and bracing homemade beats, twin pillars Slug and Ant (rapper Sean Daley and DJ/producer Anthony Davis) have been vertebrae in hip hop’s spine almost since they were highschoolers in Minneapolis in the ’90s. With their new album, “Mi Vida Local,” they deliver hard truths and old-school energy at a moment when both are sorely needed.

From this duo’s founding insight and creative need came one of the most innovative and uncompromising indie record labels around, Rhymesayers. It took the brainpower, drive, passion, and certainly the desperation of Slug and Ant, along with partners Musab and Siddiq, to show future self-starters a way forward. That same burning ingenuity fuels every Atmosphere album and their live show.

Hip hop is a monster of its own making. It reveals itself in endless forms, finds you through defenseless eardrums, and takes over like nerve damage. More than a genre, it is an elemental, boundless expression that can’t be controlled or steered, only ridden like a wave in heavy weather. The forerunners of the movement are the pioneers who, like rogue scientists, experimented on themselves. Atmosphere are inheritors and extenders of this methodical madness.

If you’re a stranger to their work, know that you can expect everything your aching soul needs. A model Atmosphere song is unapologetically dark and unequivocally real. Slug and Ant speak through lyrics and smoldering beats to the endless struggle of getting through this thing called life. “I’m certain all that pain is for a purpose,” Slug quips on a new track, “Stopwatch,” that seesaws between resolve and self-doubt: “Someday your work will find its way to get observed/It’s just there’s too many words/And nobody’s gettin’ heard.”

Almost nobody. Slug and Ant have built and held an audience. That they did it by their own lights, from inception to evolution and beyond, makes it easy for listeners to be inspired: Everything they’ve created, all of their art, is absolutely what it’s supposed to be. Atmosphere is the anti-sellout.

Atmosphere performs with deM atlaS, The Lioness and DJ Keezy, 7pm November 29 at Revolution. atmosphere.bandcamp.com ~ Freddie Zandt

BLAC RABBIT at respecs Angel Boyd

The identical twin brothers who founded Blac Rabbit are at first glance outliers. Born and raised in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, Amiri and Rahiem Taylor grew up in a community of hip-hop icons: Notorious B.I.G., Mos Def, Jay-Z, Big Daddy Kane, Talib Kweli, Ol’ Dirty Bastard and many more.

But “Bed-Stuy Do or Die” claims a whole galaxy of greats: Lena Horne, Bobby Fischer, Jackie Gleason, Frank McCourt are just a few notables on an amazingly long roster connected to this 2.8 square miles of outsized culture clout. It’s a reminder that in music, nature and nurture both can be selective: The Taylors had hip-hop in the air — and access to a grandparental record collection rife with pop, funk and soul from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, plus a heavy dose of the Beatles.

Musically, that’s where they wound up, as anyone knows who ever saw them playing Beatles duets in the subway or going viral after an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” From busking they’ve moved on to their band: Blac Rabbit, with a six-song EP of originals out and a debut album due in spring, is a fully realized psychedelic dream.

BLAC RABBIT

The Taylors don’t come to it from outside of black music. “It’s important to acknowledge and preserve the contribution African-Americans have made to music in general,” the siblings tell PureHoney in a joint email interview. “Rock ’n’ roll is kind of seen as a white person thing, but it really wasn’t back in the day.”

So if you start with the early Beatles as a skiffle band into blues and jazz, then fast forward half a century to find Blac Rabbit giving you familiar feels, you’re in a good place. Blac Rabbit is closing the circle of influence.

Not bad for two siblings who quit their grocery store jobs after finishing high school to concentrate on music. Along with “inspiring people that see and hear us,” the Taylors call “showing other bands that you can be successful and stay indie” as one of their prouder accomplishments so far.

Blac Rabbit plays Respectable Street November 4 w. Heller Floor and Coral Canyons. Nov. 3 at Las Rosas. blacrabbit.com ~ Abel Folgar

POND play hoc fest Pooneh Ghana

First things first: Pond is not Tame Impala; not really. Some Pond members have played in Tame Impala before, and some currently do. But while a massively, globally successful, genre-hopping art-pop band such as Tame Impala is expected to be, well, Tame Impala, Pond faces no such expectations. And they seem pretty cool with that. Pond have leeway to express themselves and grow in a way that has taken them from stoner-rock jamming to psychedelia, glam-funk and beyond. The band carries itself with an awPOND shucks demeanor that projects zero self-seriousness, which is no small feat considering the pedigree.

Pond hails from the famously (if debatably) “most remote city on Earth,” Perth, Australia — a separateness that might resonate with music makers and artists operating from here in the peninsular fringe known as South Florida. Isolation, properly managed, breeds self-reliance, independent thinking and fresh ideas; it’s fuel for inspired lunacy. Pond’s latest album, “The Weather,” is a case in point and a treatise in reckless fun, from the opening apocalyptic wish of “30000 Megatons” to the dreamy, bookending title track.

In one mad rush Pond seems to be channeling new wave, dream pop and Brian Eno through a psych-rock filter. Is this what Tangerine Dream would have heard around 1980 with some brown acid seeping into their skulls? Pond’s sense of humor, musical skill and visionary depth are inspired in combination, and carried off with a charm that most groups refuse to attempt in their efforts to be regarded as “artists.”

Pond’s seeming brashness is reminiscent of bands such as Ween, Butthole Surfers and Dead Milkmen without being musically similar at all. And isn’t that the point of being in a band? Sure, everyone wants to be creative, but it’s supposed to be fun, too, maybe with tongue in cheek and always somewhat surprising. So free yourself of expectations derived from your appreciation of that other band, which will always and forever be just that. Pond is a different animal — a new species, even. Darwin would be impressed with what isolationism has wrought.

Pond plays November 10 at the House of Creatives Music + Arts Festival at Historic Virginia Key Beach Park in Miami. Single-day passes are $79. pondband.net hocfest.com ~ Tim Moffatt