Lazer Sword – Debut Album Teaser
Lazer Sword has released some pretty hot mixtapes and a few equally electrifying remixes. This self titled release is the first full length to drop and will feature some extremely talented contributors, including M.Sayyid, Myka Nyne, Turf Talk & Zackey Force Funk. The artwork for the video and presumably the album itself, was done by Killian Eng aka DW.
Unfortunately the album is still a few months out — drops November 2nd of this year — but there is no doubt in my mind that the collection of smarts presented so far, is a combination certain to produce a bangin’ full length.
Sibot & Spoek are Playdoe
South African diabolical duo, Sibot & Spoek are Playdoe — big ass basslines and electro cuts smashed together in an fiery array that get you up and make you shake it. I came across Playdoe via the most recent video release from Spoek Mathambo‘s forthcoming album, Mshini Wam, which, although it has a bit of a different feel, is equally as action packed and worth a listen.
Baths – Lovely Bloodflow
Although this colorful and melodic musical adventure isn’t far from my regular fix, Baths took a few listens to grow on me. The majority of the album is comprised of dreamy tracks laced with subtle beats and ambient effects. Which, in any case, is a great combination for a interesting album. Of all the tracks on Cerulean, Lovely Bloodflow is undoubtedly my favorite so far and stands out from the rest as a more straight forward and sober version of some of the others I’m into. Either way, it’s worth a listen, from start to finish. Check it out.
Directed By: Alex Takacs and Joe Nankin
Eskmo – Cloudlight
Eskmo‘s “Cloudlight” is an undoubtedly great follow up to the recently discovered Ninja Tune label mate, King Cannibal. Both artists stray outside of the expectant boundaries of the label’s catalog and climb into my possible favorites list for 2010.
For more information on Eskmo and his upcoming release — expected to drop October 4th — please check out his site.
Director: Dugan O’Neal
Director of Photography: David Myrick
Visual Effects and Motion Design: Brandon Hirzel (BEMO)
Producer: Jack Richardson
Still Photographer: Brice Matson
Jimmy Edgar
I’ve known about Jimmy Edgar for a couple years now — via a Hefty compilation album I picked up called, “History Is Bunk, Pt. 1″ — and have a couple of his full length albums. But it wasn’t until I recently picked up XXX that I found myself really appreciating his music to the extent I think it warrants. All of his releases have had a unique House/Electro sound, undoubtedly inspired by his Detroit roots; though XXX has a bit more of a charismatic future-funk quality that I think led me into being so struck. I think it’s safe to say, that it’s on par with the likes of one of my personal favorites of the year, Onra’s “Long Distance” as well as some of the goodies that Dam-Funk has dropped.
Make sure to check out Jimmy Edgar’s side project called Her Bad Habit as well… super good. You can find tracks on his site.
Ms Dynamite – “What you talking about!?”
I just came across the video for Ms Dynamite‘s new track “What you talking about!?”. It’s been almost eight years since I’ve heard anything from this London emcee, who actually used to be a bit more of an R&B vocalist. Her new grime/dubstep feel is sort of catchy and relieving all at the same time.
The track (alongside album?) is set to drop the end of this month and is doing a show with Redlight, Hatcha and Cyantific at Fabriclive on the 20th of August.
Kanye West Comes Clean on Ustream
I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve never really held Kanye West high, as a musician or an artist. But, after watching his first Ustream, and seeing his genuine excitement to share, unscripted and out of the spot light, I think I’ve misinterpreted his persona and ambition, entirely. He covers a lot of interesting topics in the short video. Everything from inspiration, the importance of abstraction, collaborating with other artists, blogging and using social media. Definitely worth a quick watch, and actually sort of inspiring.
M.I.A. – XXXO
M.I.A.‘s video, “XXXO” is full of subtle references and has little to no action, yet still seems to be pretty engaging (sultry). The video reminds me of an over-budgeted Bollywood video for an overseas pop star. Knowing that this is something of an intentional reference is one of my favorite characteristics of her work. Having Hype Williams on the other side of the camera doesn’t hurt either.
Hopefully this video will yield a little more of a positive response, than her banned from Youtube, “Born Free”.
Chinza Dopeness
I just discovered this artist, Chinza Dopeness, after revisiting the Wieden + Kennedy Tokyo Lab site. He’s got a pretty interesting style to say the least and the fact that he’s got the likes of the W+K crew backing him up I look forward to seeing more things from this guy in the future. For now, cop the new release, 100% RAP
Mister Bibal
A solid selection of funk infused beats from Paris’s Mister Bibal. Have a listen to his most recent release, “Beats & Breaks Trois” on his site as well as the previous two albums.
You can grab it for free download on his Bandcamp site.
Channel Y – Yes Yes Y’all Relaunch
Yes Yes Y’all just launched a pretty amazing update to their site. Previously, the site operated as a super simple music sharing blog with a good selection of content. The functionality was fairly basic and had a mega sharp aesthetic. The new version of YYY has introduced a slew of new sharing functionality and multimedia content, specifically with the addition of Channel Y. Aside from Channel Y, they’ve made a sizable reconfiguration to the blog – adding some really great branded bits and pieces – and an entirely new radio feature. Needless to say, this impressive update is a much needed step in the right direction for them as well as other types of media sharing ventures.
Fool’s Gold on The Creators Project
The Creators Project is an information network focused on creativity and culture around the world. The site houses hundreds of short documentary style videos and interviews with some really talented creative people. I’ve been super impressed with the handful of videos I’ve already watched in both, production quality and content.
The Fool’s Gold video stuck out to me the most so far… I’ve been pretty impressed with their approach and catalog. It’s nice to see a little bit of that in the making and hear their take on their success thus far.
Lorn – Nothing Else
This album originally dropped early June, but has hardly started to feel broken in. The first listen through, I was just excited for something new from a musician that I didn’t know a lot about, on a label I’m already excited to hear more from (Braindfeeder). I’ve now come to appreciate it for a multitude of reasons. The surprisingly subtle range of themes within the album as well as the overwhelming anxiety the production creates, really makes it perfect for to creating/designing to.
Nothing Else, is a giant step forward for Lorn and will surely be only one of the many great releases from an equally awesome catalog to come. Without a doubt, this is one of my favorite albums of the year.
ARTIST: LORN
ALBUM: NOTHING ELSE
MASTERED BY: CLARK
LABEL: BRAINFEEDER
DIRECTED BY: STRANGELOOP
RELEASE DATE: JUNE 7th, 2010
Yes Yes Ya’ll :: Music-Net-Volution
On a recent trip to YesYesYa’ll, I discovered something interesting. I’m not totally sure of exactly how far they plan on taking it, but their splash page is speaking about a “Music-Net-Volution;” a new community that focuses on music and sharing… stating specifically, “Remember when MTV played music..? … One click, nod, tap, ass shake at a time…” and “Let’s build a community…” Any of which, or all of the above would be smashing in my opinion. I actually can’t wait to dive in.
Look for the launch of aforementioned community on July 15th of this year.
Blockhead x Anthony Schepperd
Anthony Schepperd animated/directed this insanely colorful and intricate music video for Blockhead’s ‘The Music Scene’ which is the title track off his latest release on Ninja Tune. The label is celebrating 20 years of beats n’ pieces keep an eye on their site for details around the release of rare material, mixes, videos and other treats.
Categories
- Art
- Contributors
- Denver
- Design
- Events
- Fashion
- Film
- I Made This
- Illustration
- Info
- Inspiration
- Interviews
- Japan
- London
- Minneapolis
- Motion
- Music
- Odds & Ends
- Photography
- Politics
- Products
- Rad
- Rant
- Reads
- San Francisco
- Science & Technology
- Travelling
- Typography
- Us
- Watching
- We Like to
Interviews
Promoted
Friends
- Alex Carter
- Annie Wang
- Anthony Hull
- CacheFlowe
- Celeste Prevost
- Changethethought
- Chris Henley
- Colin Strandberg
- Cypher 13
- Daily Routine
- designklub
- Evan di Leo
- Geoff Allen
- Greg Hubacek
- Jen Lu
- Josh Wills
- KARVT
- Lifter Baron
- Paul Isakson
- Ray Young Chu
- Scot LeFavor
- Scott Agrimson
- The Fabric Lab
- The Pressure
- VS Social Standard