I recently had a great opportunity to work with Rhymesayers artist, Toki Wright to design the album for his most recent release, BlackMale. Not only was it awesome to work with Toki for the first time, but the project itself was focused on prevalent culturally charged issues. The EP is free for download with the option to donate to a Haiti relief effort as well. Great cause, great music, great outcome. Make sure to check out Toki’s previous release, A Different Mirror as well.
Mike Swoop is throwing a release party for his New Love album, set to drop 02.02.2010. The event is February 5TH at Sauce in Uptown Minneapolis. Featured guest include Espada & Booka B. Rumor has it that there could be some special appearances as well.. more on that soon as I get word.
The artist line up and location for ARTCRANK 2010 have been announced for the Minneapolis event. After talking to Charles on and off over the past few months it sounds like this year is going to be a huge step up in a couple of ways. One of the most definitive of those will be in the location of the opening night. This year ARTCRANK will be held at Shelter Studios in NE Minneapolis with about 3 times the original capacity. We’ll be seeing a slew of new faces in the show this time around as well (see below). I’m sure chiseling the list down to a reasonable size was an eronious task all by itself.
Artists include: Aaron Pumort • Aaron Shekey • Adam Brackney • Adam Turman • Aesthetic Apparatus • Allan Peters • Amy Campbell • Amy Jo • Angel Bomb • Andy Skoglund • Anthem Heart • Ben Levitz • Bjorn Christianson • Brian Hartley Sago • Briana Auel • Broken Crow • Chelsea Brink • DWITT • Elizabeth Mullen • Erik Anthony Hamline • Gregory Hubacek • Jennifer Davis • Jessica Hall Burns • Johnny Slocum • Joseph Duffy • Katherine Lamm • Kelly Munson • Lovely Mpls • Lure Design • Maranatha Wilson • Paul Gardner • Rob Angermuller • Ross Bruggink • Scott Agrimson • Scott Neff • Spencer Haugh • Tara Costello • Tonja Torgerson • Zara Gonzalez
Opening Night Party: Saturday, April 10
7:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.
The Brainfeeder camp dropped some holiday goodies on Christmas day… A Decade of Flying Lotus mixed by the platter pirate Gaslamp Killer. GLK strings together a 40 minute set of unreleased Flying Lotus tracks that span across the last 10 years. The set is available via free download over on the Brainfeeder site.
On some other Brainfeeder bits… Flying Lotus is dropping a new album titled ‘Cosmogramma’ on Warp records April 20th of 2010… and Gaslamp Killer is rolling through both Denver & Minneapolis with Prefuse 73 in the upcoming year.
Gaslamp Killer Dates: Denver : Prefuse 73, The Gaslamp Killer, Pantyraid (Feat. Ooah of the Glitch Mob) : Saturday February 06 at Cervantes’
- - Minneapolis : Prefuse 73, The Gaslamp Killer, Voices Voices : Monday January 25 at Triple Rock Social Club
Celeste and I went on a quick adventure to check out the King Mini show Saturday at Pink Hobo. We were both happily satisfied with the array of affordable pieces and the genuine creative output on this one. Not that the previous shows haven’t been awesome as well, but I feel like this one had all the parts in the right places. The sculptural installation and the unfamiliar but very obvious choice of music, matched the tone of the art perfectly. The whole thing made me feel like I was looking at photos of a creepy little creature’s life. Very telling indeed.
We recently got word from the chaps at Check Your Six Clothing about their Fall/Winter 2009 lookbook. After taking a quick peek I was refreshed to see some smashing original artwork and read about some of where they’re putting their focus. It’s nice to see these guys are getting some deserved placement not only here in Minneapolis at VS but in Florida, Texas & in Illinois at St Alfred. Pretty good start if I do say so my self. Keep em comin’ gents. Holler at us if you want a hand inking up some blanks. Yeh!
Just what I’ve been waiting for! Pink Hobo is having a Monster Poster show this Halloween… Make sure to swing by the Pink Hobo site for additional details.
One of the finishing touches to any identity project or space redesign would be a sign. Saying that, I would like to share the new Fifth Element identity and sign for the shop on 24th & Hennepin here in Minneapolis. The sign went up a few weeks back and the space is being slowly being finished as the last few fixtures are being rolled in.
Aside from the identity redesign and space build out, they will be carrying the look/feel over to the online store as well. Which if rumor serves me right, is being hammered away on as we speak. For a quick peek at my proposed version of the site please swing over to the Lifter Baron site and check it out for yourself.
Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer
You can find Greg in an awesome retrospective on pop surrealism called EdgyCute. It’s full of some pretty amazing artists — just came out this September.
Join Big Quarters to celebrate Zip Disks Break 2009:
Saturday, October 10th @ Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis MN
18+/ $8 adv $10 door / 10pm doors & music
Get the new installment of Zip Disks Break CD & Sticker FREE w/ entry
Performances by: Big Quarters, Benzilla and Special Guests.
Last of the Record Buyers Production Exhibition featuring live beatmaking by G-Mo, Mike Swoop and Greg Grease.
Noam the Drummer & DJ Nikoless on the turntables.
**Pre Sale Tickets Available @ Triple Rock Social Club, Fifth Element and Electric Fetus**
Minneapolis’ very own Pink Hobo gallery is hosting an exhibition entitled “Pine Wood Derby Art Car Show” on September 19th. The past few have events have been outstanding, no doubt this one will follow suit. Make sure to mark your calendars and swing in camera packed tightly, ready for fanciful shenanigans.
Word has it that they still have a few spots open and are accepting submissions until September 15th.
Who: Pink Hobo Gallery
What: Pine Wood Derby Art Car Show
Where: NE – 507 E. Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis
When: September 19th, 7PM
DOOMTREE’s new site just went live last night and already seems to be getting a good response! I (Lifter Baron) had the chance to work with DOOMTREE in collaboration with Sevnthsin over the past couple months to work out some great additions and adaptations to their previous site as well as help the crew pro up their image a bit. They are using a handful of social apps and services to share info and promote shows, releases and merch. Underneath the clean aesthetic, we tied in all of those social media tools to easily update fans with minute to minute information and refreshes. We also built a mobile site and downloadable widget to get that content wherever you might be to make sharing simple. Flexibility and adaptation was the key factor in this whole project; and with time and use, the site will grow and evolve into an uber dynamic sharing tool for the group and their fans.
Celeste and I took a quick adventure across the Mississippi to the NE side of Minneapolis to check out what the gentle people of Pink Hobo had up their sleeves this time. The venue has had some really great shows and there was no doubt that this one would have some interesting things to check peruse. We didn’t have much time to stick around and hi-five or slap ass, so we popped in, took some flicks, winked at the DJ and sneaked out the back. We had a 9:15 appointment to catch MOON so our mission was succinct. (Awesome by the way.) If you haven’t, make sure to pop in and take a peek for yourself. It’s most definitely worth a visit.
