Articles by Tag

Band of Horses, new favorite band

Band of Horses

Gimme hope Jo’Anna, I can’t stop listening to Band of Horses!

date Wed, 28 May 2008 Bookmark comment Comments
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Happy 86th, Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus

If you’re in or around New York City, come out to celebrate Charles Mingus’ birthday at the Iridium in Midtown with The Mingus Big Band.

date Tue, 22 Apr 2008 Bookmark comment Comments
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EMEK + Erykah Badu

EMEK + Erykah Badu
Poster for Erykah Badu’s Israel concert by EMEK

Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World WarEMEK’s work for Erykah Badu is 100% badass! I’m literally blown away with how bold and beautiful it is. He made several things for her latest album (all shit hot!), plus there’s tons of other really nice posters as well. Check his stuff out here.

EMEk designed the cover for Erykah’s new album as well. Without the artwork, the album stands on it’s own. But, his art is a helluva compliment to this great new album!

date Wed, 19 Mar 2008 Bookmark comment Comments
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Hot Rotation, 2006

Albums of 2006

Here’s my non-scientific list of my most played albums of 2006. I attempted to put them in order, but like I said it’s very unscientifical(ism).

  1. Amadou & Mariam – Dimanche à Bamako
  2. Marisa Monte – Universo ao meu Redor
  3. Macaco – Ingravitto
  4. Marcelo D2 – Meu Samba é Assim
  5. TV on the Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain
  6. Mombojó – nadadenovo
  7. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
  8. Spoon – Gimme Fiction
  9. Camille – Le Sac des Filles
  10. Abdullah Ibrahim – African Sun

date Sun, 31 Dec 2006 Bookmark comment Comments
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Ms. Dirtay Dog's new album

I always take heat for liking stuff like this, but I’m too damn cool to care what anyone thinks—I love Christina Aguilera’s new album, Back to Basics! There I said it. And I still like Nelly Furtado’s first record to—WHAT?! heh.

Never having listened to Ms. Aguilera’s previous records in their entirety, I can’t really compare one thing to the other. I will say though that the first couple of tracks on this one are just solid as hell. In her class of bubblegum teenage diva wannabees, she’s been the only one who can actually sing. That said, I’m constantly annoyed with all the Whitney Houstonesque, holding a damn note for three minutes kinda crap.

There’s a real old school feel the much of the record, scratchy vinyl textures, familiar beats, funky Motown horn samples, and other little tricks that makes me feel like I’m rediscovering a jam from pops’ LP collection. About half of this 2 disc set is fulll of songs like this. The other half are slow ballads about how she’s constantly losing in love because her sesame seed diet tends to be a turn off for her boyfriends and needless to say I’m not a big fan of this whiny crap.

Lastly, I need to give a shout out to my girl Cristina Black. If it wasn’t for her review of this record as well as our previous conversations about the “the music we’re not supposed to like,” I would have never bought this disc from the record storeillegally downloaded these mp3s.

date Wed, 30 Aug 2006 Bookmark comment Comments
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The Puppini Sisters - Betcha Bottom Dollar

Puppini Sisters

If you ever wondered what Gloria Gainor’s woman-power single “I Will Survive” sounded like while the bombers were buzzing over Europe back in the early 1940s, you’re in luck. The candy-colored Puppini Sisters will swing you with WWII era standards like “Jeepers Creepers” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (From Company C)” and harmonize so closely you won’t be able to decide which one’s pinup is going in your beat up B-25 bomber. These girls are really on top of their game, Betcha Bottom Dollar was truly an exciting album to listen to—I can’t wait until they swing by NYC, I’ll bet it’s a gas!

date Sun, 06 Aug 2006 Bookmark comment Comments
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Happy birthday Chaz!

Charles Mingus by Brian Morris

While most people in America “celebrate” Earth Day (think, neo-hippies in city parks, peace symbols, solar panels, and the color green), today I am celebrating the birthday of Charles Mingus. If it wasn’t for artists like him, as far as I’m concerned this planet just isn’t worth saving. I obviously never knew the man himself, but over the years have gotten to know him so to speak through his music and books. He seems to me one of those rare people who trancended his own discipline (a musician, a composer, a bandleader, etc.) and was is first and foremost an artist. Mr. Mingus has without a doubt left an indelible mark on everyone around him as well as many generations too come. He spoke out about the many injustices he faced in his life, stood firm in what he believed, loved more than he hated, and so on—a fantastic inspiration to anyone.

So, best wishes to you Charlie Mingus…happy birthday!

date Sat, 22 Apr 2006 Bookmark comment Comments
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Please Hammer, don't blog 'em

MC HammerThe legendary, baggy-pants-wearin’, nuclear-powered dance-movin’ MC Hammer (a.k.a. Hammer) has a blog where he talks about life, music, baseball, and love…

“Love. There are so many degrees, levels and types of love. I love baseball, I love music, I love going to the movies, I love stimulated intellectual debate, I love women, and I love Oakland.”

The blog is here (link via giantmonster). Also, check the MC Hammer Project and see Hammer all over the world!

date Mon, 27 Feb 2006 Bookmark comment Comments
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Grum Lee's covers

Have you ever wondered what your favorite song sounds like performed with an acoustic guitar and a bad french accent? Look no further, Monsieur Lee’s Full Monty you covered.
(via Metafilter)

date Wed, 04 Jan 2006 Bookmark comment Comments
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Yuki's Sentimental Journey


via D&AD

This video will blow your mind. Technically perplexing, but more than that its beauty is subtle and endearing. Nicest clip I’ve seen in a while.

date Thu, 29 Sep 2005 Bookmark comment Comments
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Princess Superstar is crownin' yo!

Princess Superstar
Art: Brian Morris

Exhale my brothers an’ sistass, New York Metro has finally come out with this year’s undisputable list of choice ass NYC’s most beautiful people (of which 90% are either bartenders or waitresses). If there’s one thing I absolutely love about this list and this city is the diversity in beauty we have: a 30-something trapeze artist/filmaker, a middle-aged mother, a 90 year-old actress, and of course the ad exec, artist, designer, and such (bla bla bla).

One of these NYC beauties is hip hop’s royalty of raunch, Princess Superstar. She’s smokin, hot shit all up in yo’ grill! Born and raised in NY, she’s worked this city a few times over putting out her own records and promoting herself – you gotta respect that.

Oh, and how many white women do you know in hip hop? How many have tight ass rhymes with a filthy mouth like your drunk ass Uncle John who was in the Navy back in the day? She’s an original, period.

So, check out her site, buy her records, see her live, put her slutty poster in your gym locker, and if you see her on the street make sure you bow down to her highness.

Excerpt from I’m So…

I hate where I be livin on Clinton Street
The other day I saw a dead guy lyin under a sheet
And these 14 year old pushers tryin to sell me dope
And the fuckin salsa music I can’t even cope

I used to really love livin on the Lower East Side
But when I walk down the street, “Yo Pussy need a ride?”
Is what I hear from every mac muthafucker givin hassles
Yo Punk I ain’t a stripper, you see some tassles?

Crawlin all over the apartment are cockroaches and moths
And my ex-boyfriend says I act like David Lee Roth
All these record labels calling but they don’t produce the cash
Yo boy shave that goatee and uh then call me back
I’m working 2 different jobs and I’m always fuckin broke
Eatin tofu everyday and uh maybe a coke
Feelin down feelin bad feelin slow like a turtle
C’mon get me off the mike because I’m frontin like Urkel!

date Sun, 14 Aug 2005 Bookmark comment Comments
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RADIØZERO run by Poster Children

Remember the Poster Children? Yeah, that band from Illinois that have been touring like crazy since 1987. The same band (of Mac enthusiasts) that made their own enhanced CDs way before everyone else? Well, I kinda lost track of them along the way even though I always like their brand of DIY rock. As it turns out they’ve made 5 records since I last picked up RTFM in the record store—DAMN. Anyhow, looks like they’re still into the technology thing and running their own radio station underground. Fire up your newsreaders/mp3 players and check out the RADIØZERO podcasts.

Rick and Rose started Radio Zero back in 1998 to fill the time between tours with their band Poster Children. After a short stint on a Champaign, Illinois radio station, they’ve returned to their basement studio to talk about music, movies, parenthood and politics with each other and the occasional guest.

date Sun, 10 Jul 2005 Bookmark comment Comments
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Canis Interstellarhydroencephalitis

possibly something from Warp Records

⬆ This is a strange video clip sent to me from this freak.

UPDATE:
I just figured out that this is Rubber Johnny by (rock*star) Chris Cunningham.

Johnny is a hyperactive, shape-shifting mutant child, kept locked away in a basement. With only his feverish imagination and his terrified dog for company, he finds ways to amuse himself in the dark. Rubber Johnny is the latest creation from the UK’s most imaginative filmmaker, Chris Cunningham. Featuring music by legendary electronic composer, Aphex Twin, this nightmarish and hallucinatory experimental short film is accompanied by 40 pages of drawings and photographs – Cunningham’s first published book of original artwork.

date Fri, 08 Jul 2005 Bookmark comment Comments
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3rd Brazilian Film Festival of NY (Part 2)

This Saturday, July 9^th^, Nação Zumbi will take the (summer) stage in Central Park.

Afterwards, there will be a screening of Daniel Filho’s A Dona da Historia (The Owner of History).

date Fri, 08 Jul 2005 Bookmark comment Comments
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3rd Brazilian Film Festival of NY (Part 1)

Friday, July 8th marks the beginning of the 3rd Brazilian Film Festival of NY. The festival opens at Central Park Summer Stage with Gabriel O Pensador playing a free show at Rumsey Field (69th-72nd Sts) at 7:00p. Then, at 8:30p, director Sergio Goldenberg’s Maria’s Place (Bendito O Fruto) will be screened (also for free). It sounds like a real good time, check it out!

Gabriel O Pensador
“One of the greatest names in Brazilian rap, Gabriel O Pensador, that is, Gabriel the Thinker, has always been different from most of his peers due to being a white, middle-class kid. Since the beginning of his career, Gabriel distinguished himself for the social criticism in his lyrics. Son of journalist Belisa Ribeiro, Gabriel appeared in 1992 with the song “To feliz, matei o presidente”. At that time he was still studying Journalism at the University in Rio de Janeiro.”

Foto: Zezeh Barbosa, Otávio Augusto, et. al.

Maria’s Place (Bendito O Fruto)
35mm / color / 90 min / 2005 / Romantic Comedy
“An accident involving a flying manhole cover leads to a chance meeting between two childhood friends: a widow and the owner of a beauty parlor. Thus begins an entertaining game of seduction that brings memories and hidden desires to the surface – furtive passions that end up threatening the hairdresser’s de facto marriage.”

date Sun, 03 Jul 2005 Bookmark comment Comments
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The Mars Volta at Roseland Ballroom


Art: Brian Morris

…and the skinny guy with the black power hair who was dressed like his mom picked out his clothes for school pictures just blew me away with his sick guitar-playing.

date Fri, 06 May 2005 Bookmark comment Comments
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Soul Provider

“Buy a celebrity’s soul and get connected!” The innovative salespeople over at Buy Souls (dot con) are offering all sorts of exciting bargains on celebrity souls. I was actually surprised to see some of the celebrities’ souls available as I had imagined they would be long gone to the devil. Anyhow, I think The Strokes is a great bargain because you actually get 4 souls for the price of one!

date Fri, 04 Mar 2005 Bookmark comment Comments
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"World" Music

Reggae in Ethiopia
Ethiopia, the spiritual homeland for Rastarafians all over the world, celebrates the 60^th^ birthday of former Wailer, Bob Marley. Marley’s widow Rita, as well as many of his sons including Melody Maker, Ziggy attend the celebration. More information at the New York Times.

jazzgoa.com Jazz in India
Despite the fact that their site is total crap, it appears to be an interesting event. India seems like the last place in the world where jazz would be celebrated. However, it’s nice to see barriers broken, stereotypes crushed, and of course jazz music played. Despite the fact that I’m not the “true” jazzophile (though I can hold my own), it seems like this event in Goa has quite a healthy supply of participating artists.

date Mon, 07 Feb 2005 Bookmark comment Comments
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Song of the day

Construção by Chico Buarque This is one of the finest works of art in the form of a record/CD that I’ve ever seen. And the uncanny thing is, I know I don’t understand half of it yet!

Construção
Chico Buarque
1971


Amou daquela vez como se fosse a última
Beijou sua mulher como se fosse a última
E cada filho seu como se fosse o único
E atravessou a rua com seu passo tímido
Subiu a construção como se fosse máquina
Ergueu no patamar quatro paredes sólidas
Tijolo com tijolo num desenho mágico
Seus olhos embotados de cimento e lágrima
Sentou pra descansar como se fosse sábado
Comeu feijão com arroz como se fosse um príncipe
Bebeu e soluçou como se fosse um náufrago
Dançou e gargalhou como se ouvisse música
E tropeçou no céu como se fosse um bêbado
E flutuou no ar como se fosse um pássaro
E se acabou no chão feito um pacote flácido
Agonizou no meio do passeio público
Morreu na contramão atrapalhando o tráfego

Amou daquela vez como se fosse o último
Beijou sua mulher como se fosse a única
E cada filho como se fosse o pródigo
E atravessou a rua com seu passo bêbado
Subiu a construção como se fosse sólido
Ergueu no patamar quatro paredes mágicas
Tijolo com tijolo num desenho lógico
Seus olhos embotados de cimento e tráfego
Sentou pra descansar como se fosse um príncipe
Comeu feijão com arroz como se fosse o máximo
Bebeu e soluçou como se fosse máquina
Dançou e gargalhou como se fosse o próximo
E tropeçou no céu como se ouvisse música
E flutuou no ar como se fosse sábado
E se acabou no chão feito um pacote tímido
Agonizou no meio do passeio náufrago
Morreu na contramão atrapalhando o público

Amou daquela vez como se fosse máquina
Beijou sua mulher como se fosse lógico
Ergueu no patamar quatro paredes flácidas
Sentou pra descansar como se fosse um pássaro
E flutuou no ar como se fosse um príncipe
E se acabou no chão feito um pacote bêbado
Morreu na contra-mão atrapalhando o sábado

date Sat, 12 Jun 2004 Bookmark comment Comments [3]
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