One big thing I did miss out on while I was in Cali was the beginning of Radiohead's "Reckoner" Remix competition, which started off quick on the first day with some incredible takes on the track from beatsmiths such as Diplo and Flying Lotus. This is pretty much the same deal as the "Nude" Remix competition, where you download all of the separate stems and then submit your remix to radioheadremix.com. Luckily I was around for what looks like the second wave of hot remixes released this week from artists like Cadence Weapon and Microfilm. These are just a few of my favorites so far, so feel free to point me in the direction of any of your personal favorites as well.

MP3: Radiohead - Reckoner (Diplo Remix)
MP3: Radiohead - Reckoner (Flying Lotus Remix)
MP3: Radiohead - Reckoner (Microfilm Remix)
MP3: Radiohead - Reckoner (Cadence Weapon Remix)

Canadian rapper Cadence Weapon submitted an entry to Radiohead's "Reckoner Remix Project." You can listen to the song after the break, and if you like what you hear, vote for it here.

[audio http://definerapture.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/reckonercadenceweapon.mp3]
Radiohead - Reckoner (Cadence Weapon Mix)

volcano! - Africa Just Wants To Have Fun
JME - AWOH
Gospel - Paper Tiger
MF Doom - Tick, Tick…
Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way
Of Montreal - Gronlandic Edit
Human Hair - Things Are Cut Up 3
Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Cadence Weapon - Limited Edition OJ Slammer
Pharoah Sanders - Greetings To Idris
The Fall - Latch Key Kid
Half Man Half Biscuit - Mathematically Safe
Woodpigeon - Chorus Of Wolves
Hefner - Hello Kitten
Lykke Li - Let I Fall
A Guy Called Gerald - Life Unfolds His Mystery
Fennesz Sakamoto - Aware
Melvins - Joan of Arc
Sylvain Chaveau - LOree du Bois
Talvekoidik - The Moebius Strip
Magma - Maahnt
James Blackshaw - Mirror Speaks
Naked City - Speedfreaks
Nick Cave and The Badseeds - Dig Lazarus Dig!
Annihilation Time - AN
Om - Gebel Barkal
Benga - 26 Basslines

Well, it's been a little while since my last update so there is much to talk about. At work, I find I need to have very specific types of music playing to help my ability to type fast and not be too far taken out of my concentration. With this in mind, two types of music continually find their way onto playlists I make and so are often my working music pieces. The first is hip hop and in the past few weeks, I've become partially obsessed with finding good, eccentric and esoteric hip hop albums that sound interesting and manage to avoid much of the posing and faux-gangster braggadocio of much of mainstream rap. Peanut Butter Wolf and Madvillain are both amazing for this with the second's Madvillainy album now placing itself among my all-time favourites in any genre. Also working for me are Prefuse 73, Flying Lotus, Aesop Rock, Cadence Weapon, J Dilla, Cannibal Ox, Edan, El-P and Sage Francis. All are recommended to those who like to avoid getting too much syrupy R 'n' B with their hip hop. Having said that, a man whose purveyance of syrupy R 'n' B verges on the R Kelly, T.I., has made the incredible, thrilling 'Swagger Like Us' with Lil Wayne (whose 'A Milli' is also a total masterpiece), Kanye West and the king of brag-rap, Jay-Z. For all my dislike of that kind of hip hop from lesser minds, this is a truly incredible song.

The other portion that's working for me right now is long-form electronica and textural compositions. Lindstrom's new album is wonderful while I would thoroughly boost Tim Hecker and Fennesz for some more challenging and dense electronic work. I've also fallen head-over-heels for the sweet, weird little songs from Books, a fine group making slight but hugely enjoyable albums of electronic-inflected indie. Just as a post-note on this, you can also add into the genres I dig for writing krautrock. I love me some really repetitive, motorik sound of Neu and Can, the latter providing some far more out-there, almost hippie moments while the former, and superior, is guitar-based pounding symphonies of rhythm and discipline. Neu would probably rank up as my absolute favourite of all for writing.

Other than these, and outside of work, I've become a little over-obsessed with a cover of ODB's 'Shimmy Shimmy Ya' by White Pony and I really love the uber-heavy reggae dub of The Bug. The Hold Steady continue to float every portion of my boat, Jay Reatard (terrible name) has a singles collection which is filled with dirty garage rock and hooky choruses, the new songs from TV on the Radio are awesome and 'Nonpareil of Favor', the new track from Of Montreal, is terrific. Also well done to Elbow for winning the Mercury, even if it should have gone to Burial. Seldom Seen Kid is a fine record, even if they should really have won for their first record. At least, unlike many of the last few winners, they looked genuinely happy to have won the award rather than skulking off and remaining 'cool' in the moment.

 
Film

Busy weeks again on this front. Tom and I completed our 1980s marathon by finding out that Top Gun sucks, as does Arnie's Red Heat. However, Total Recall holds up far better than it has any right to do and has ushered in an Arnie marathon which has thus far included Terminator (still superb) and Conan the Barbarian (has its moments). More are planned so stay tuned for that.

Better, and way cooler, than any of this though is Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samourai. Following Alain Delon's Jef Costello, a Parisian hitman, through and existential passage of his life following a hit, it's maybe the finest example I have ever seen of a hitman movie. Melville's true skill is the economy of his filmmaking, allowing enigma to exist without providing spoonfed explanations for all that occurs and never over-indulging in dialogue. Alain Delon is likely the coolest human and if you witness this movie and don't have an immediate urge to go and purchase a trenchcoat and hat, along with at least 500 packs of cigarettes, I don't know your kind. It's beautifully filmed, sparely written and acted without any theatrics from anyone involved. All remains at a level of cool detachment that, rather than making this overly-cold or uncomfortable, just makes you try harder to understand and engage with the story, the rewards for which are more than satisfactory. Hyperbole perhaps but I think this goes straight in amongst my all-time favourite films and I cannot recommend highly enough that you seek it out and take it in. I will now be searching out the rest of Melville's work, including Le Cercle Rouge and Le Doulos.

I also got to see Pineapple Express which I absolutely loved. I'm a big lover and apologist for the Apatow-Rogen team and I really found nothing to hate in the mixture. James Franco is outstanding as Saul, bringing all he has to make sure you completely empathise with their plight and laugh hard while doing so. Rogen isn't as good but I still feel this quasi-paternal nuturing sensation towards his projects due to my loving his work in Freaks and Geeks all that way back. I loved it and honestly, I think most who haven't just didn't drink enough before hand. We had a couple of glasses of wine and this film rocked. As an aside, our housemate also saw it but stone sober and still loved it.

I've managed to set a new rule with my LoveFilm account, only keeping DVDs for two weeks at a time, after which, if not watched, they go back regardless. I've recently taken in Miranda July's Me and You and Everyone We Know which was too quirky for its own good but still quite enjoyable. I watched Pierce Brosnan in The Matador which I was close to loving and I checked out The Saddest Music in the World, Guy Maddin's least-insane film about a contest set up by Isabella Rossellini in which people are invited to come and play the saddest music in the world at her club and win a prize if there is truly the most sad. It was somewhere between an overly-arty minefield of quirk and a complete, emotionally shattering masterpiece and I don't know if I ever know which one it is. Next up is Jacques Tati's M Hulot's Holiday. From there, it could be another Tati, some Tarkovsky, Point Break, Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia or Living in Oblivion.

I this week completed Generation Kill, the mini-series on HBO from David Simon and Ed Burns that I wrote about a little while ago. I really loved it by the end, but purely on a level of filmmaking and acting. This is some distance from being enjoyable TV, so relentlessly depressing is its depiction of top brass in the US military and the parallel realisation that the whole thing is based on a true story. But Simon doesn't ever judge and he depicts without any really heavy-handed preaching and with a sense that you understand what happened, what's going on and why the mess is there. Also, Alexander Skarsgaard as Brad Colbert might be my televisual performance of the year.

Tom and I checked out the pilot of Fringe which was only okay and could possibly get interesting but is likely to suffer due to its slightly-less-than-brilliant cast. My  liking of Joshua Jackson unfortunately comes from Dawson's Creek and before that The Mighty Ducks, both pieces of not-well-aging nostalgia pieces that I'm unlikely to ever watch again. The other pilot we checked out was Alan Ball's True Blood, the vampire love story thing set in the deep South of the US in which vampires are just another race of people facing the same prejudices as any other. At current, having watched the first two, I want to like it more than I do but Alan Ball, the creator of Six Feet Under and writer of American Beauty, has earned my trust so I'll give him the first season to make things work before I lay into him.

Other than those, Gossip Girl returned brilliantly and is just the most ridiculously enjoyable show on TV right now. Mad Men is not as soapy and ridiculous but is probably the best show on TV right now in its own right, given that Jon Hamm's performance remains so shockingly good and they are building out the rest of the cast with aplomb. The reimagined 90210 is okay but could prove an annoyance in the long-run while this month sees the return of Heroes, The Office and then a chunk of other bits and bobs to be getting on with.

 
Books

I read Remainder, the winner of The Believer Book Award, by Tom McCarthy which was really strange but kind of great. It follows a man who suffer a psychological shift following a major physical trauma. He wins a massive amount of money through a settlement and embarks on a project to build his own world which continues to escalate until it becomes truly dangerous. I don't want to say too much about it because really, the best way to experience this, is coming in with little or no knowledge of it. In short: recommended.

Better than this was The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, a complete masterpiece from Dominican writer Junot Diaz about an overweight geeky kid and his misadventures in life and love while living in a dictatorial country. It taught me a huge amount about the Dominican Republic's history without ever losing a flow and portraying a cast of fully-drawn character, none of whom were given short shrift. I loved every second of this book and I would advise anyone to seek it out and just sink into its perfect storytelling and sense of language. Nearly perfection.

I'm currently on The Master and the Margharita, a truly classic allegorical novel from Mikail Bulgakov that I'm not even remotely qualified to talk about. Suffice to say, I flipping love it so far but I'll report back more soon.

 
Other

I'm currently getting addicted to shirts for the first time since a brief period when I was younger than saw me purchase a number of Hawaiian-style shirts but graduating to padded lumberjack pieces in the winter. Not a good time. Uniqlo is proving the best for all this right now as its cheap, the clothes are good quality and its stores in London don't have the cattle market chav feel of a Topman or H&M. The latter is still worth a look though. My current ones to hit are Urban Outfitters, Uniqlo, H&M, American Apparel and then maybe some vintage shopping again once the corporatising of Camden is completed.

I'm also really enjoying the political race right now. I'll probably write a piece on it again in the next week or two but the entry of Palin as produced a fascinating new figure that seems to be entirely outshining John McCain. If she's bringing in women, she's got to be pushing out those who were worried McCain was too old. More on that soon.

I must admit that the name Hervé was new to me until very recently, when I started digging through some of his remixes. They were alright, no remarks there, but they didn't give me that special something that I usually get from the ultra-amazing ones gives me. Don't get me wrong, they were good, but they weren't mind-blowing. This track is though. When you're in need of something special, a nice collaboration might make your way to the top a little faster. Especially if you choose to work with artists of exceptional quality, and that seems to be the strategy of Hervé on this fantastic track. A-trak turned some knobs and Cadence Weapon dropped some lines and made the whole thing somewhat of a party starter. Thanks Discobelle for making my day better!

Hervé & A-trak Feat. Cadence Weapon - Roll With Winners

Be sure to support Hervé, A-trak & Cadence Weapon through Myspace.

Music: Some wonderful music flowing through me in the past few weeks (these posts will become weekly soon) and much of it is rediscovered or old stuff-discovered rather than my own blog-surfing ability to find new tuneage. The best rediscovery stands as Bikini Kill, a band that made songs which were incredibly simple to the point of dumbness and committed so much to the conviction of this view that they end up being total genius. ‘Rebel Girl’ is the key text, a song with lyrics that could be written by a fourteen-year-old punk chick but a will to find a way and a brilliant, insistent riff. The album Pussy Whipped is though, for all the lack of sophistication, something of a minor masterpiece.
I’ve also become semi-obsessed with indie or leftfield hip-hop from the past few years, notably beginning to worship J Dilla and Madlib. Madvillain and the self-titled album which came of this experiment is something of a stone-cold masterpiece, as is Dilla’s Donuts, an elegiac sketch record of beats and mini-tunes. Also on the playlist for this is their collaboration, Jaylib, which, as you might guess, I flipping love. Also worth looking at are Why?, Cadence Weapon, Peanut Butter Wolf and Aesop Rock.
There’s been a number of great songs and albums mixing in to my last few weeks but gosh darn it, The Hold Steady’s Stay Positive is yet another brilliant rock and roll record and my hands-down favourite album of the year so far.

Film/TV: Again, much to report. I got to see Rashomon on the big screen last week, a truly wonderful experience, and will be seeing Ikiru also to further enhance my Kurosawa knowledge. I’ve recently re-taken in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, a truly nostalgic experience for some but for me, a comedy without good gags and nearly two hours of suffering the stupefying lack of talent exhibited by Steve Martin, the most overrated comic ever. As a side, if you find this funny, you'll likely love it.
My birthday occurred last week and my wonderful girlfriend treated me to a few Criterion DVDs of some of my favourite movies. I’ve yet to see Noah Baumbach’s Kicking and Screaming but its on this week’s list but I also received David Gordon Green’s low-key debut masterpiece George Washington and Dazed and Confused, still my favourite Linklater.
On this week’s agenda are two LoveFilm rentals I’ve left back through utter laziness, Night and the City, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and . Also up this week is Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, In Bruges, Gummo, An Evening with Kevin Smith and finally, some TV on the schedule. I’ll be catching up on Generation Kill this evening (probably writing about it also) and Mad Men returns tonight, a welcome addition to the schedules for a show I fell totally in love with last year. I am of the wide belief that it is indeed the best show on TV right now.

Books: I finally began my journey into Sandman, something I’m likely to chronicle on the site, and I’m quite enjoying the first book. More on that soon. Also I’m on Clockers, Richard Price’s mesmerising account of New York drug trading and the police who deal with the fallout. The book is basically The Wire (on which Price was a co-writer) even down to a couple of scenes being nearly lifted wholesale in the show and the character of Stringer Bell seeing strong echoes from one of the drug dealers in the book.

Other: Other is becoming the Podcast section but I really am loving two new ones to my schedule. Watching Theology is a spin-off and now main show of the Watching the Directors series and is pretty decent. The discussion on Lars and the Real Girl was very interesting indeed and the title may be misleading, this isn’t some sort of religious indoctrination show where everything is about Jesus. Also great is SMODcast, the podcast of Kevin Smith and his regular producer Scott Mosier. It’s very hit and miss but they are always engaging and occasionally very funny indeed, even if the self-indulgence that sometimes mars Smith’s films is given full-flight here.

The mighty Cadence Weapon (as seen on The Great Escape, and to be seen on fests like Roskilde and Glastonbury) and Steadycam!

http://flickr.com/photos/zxzw/2553812832/

Starting August 1-3 in Grant Park Chicago this musical, cultural community experience is a one of a kind sensory blowing must see adventure. Grant Park takes the center stage to host this massive event and provides the perfect atmosphere for this music extravaganza.

Due to the massiveness of this event tickets go fast and rooms go faster so its best to book early. I took the privilige of checking out a few places to recommend because lets face it, you were probably going to procrastinate, not get a room and end up sleeping in the Clarence Buckingham Fountain in the middle of grant Park. So without further hubba-baloo heres some good stays.

Hotel Allegro and a special deal (I love deals, especially during popular events)!
Price: $182 per night discounted from $260 for July 31st-August 3rd (sweet)
The Allegro is located a convenient 0.8 miles from Grant Park which is perfect for concert going and not having to deal with a the parking mess. A cheap cab ride or a brisk walk (or stumble) will get you where you need to be happily and safely.

Hotel Specs:
The lobby displays theatrical influences with bursts of ruby-red, burnt-orange and forest-green hues offset by granite grays and ocean blues underfoot. A baby grand piano is positioned next to a double-sided fireplace that anchors the lobby's three-story staircase. The hotel's 312 Chicago restaurant captures Old World charm with a menu dominated by family recipes that enrich contemporary Italian flavors. Encore is a lunch venue by day, but transforms into a liquid lounge with two bars by night. Cameo serves coffee, pastries and fresh fruit. The hotel hosts complimentary wine receptions every evening. Art Deco fixtures and oversized windows add interest to the hotel's 14,000 square feet of function space. Wireless Internet access is complimentary throughout the hotel.

Guest rooms:
The 19-story Hotel Allegro Chicago offers 483 contemporary guestrooms decorated in royal blue, mocha-brown and silver-gray tones. Lights cast star-patterned shadows against sky-blue ceilings. Rooms include complimentary wireless Internet access, flat-screen televisions and MP3 adaptors. Bed design includes pillowtop mattresses draped with 300-thread count linens and white duvets. Suites boast jetted bathtubs and zebra-print bathrobes. Honor bars are fully stocked. The hotel offers yoga baskets upon request, and the Kimpton yoga channel broadcasts guided yoga sessions.

As an added little bonus, here is the 2008 line-up for you to take a gander at. And yes, its a big one!

Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Kanye West, Wilco, The Raconteurs, Louis XIV, Love and Rockets, Gnarls Barkley, Bloc Party, The Black Keys, Broken Social Scene, Lupe Fiasco, Flogging Molly, Mark Ronson, Cat Power, The National, G. Love & Special Sauce, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Explosions in the Sky, Brand New, Gogol Bordello, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Dierks Bentley, Okkervil River, Amadou & Mariam, Blues Traveler, John Butler Trio, Girl Talk, Your Vegas, CSS, Eli "Paperboy" Reed & the True Loves, Battles, Steel Train, Jamie Lidell, Bang Camaro, Butch Walker, The Blakes, Mates of State, Tally Hall, Spank Rock, White Lies, Brazilian Girls, Magic Wands, Chromeo, Electric Touch, Duffy, Innerpartysystem, The Kills, The Postelles, Rogue Wave, The Parlor Mob, The Go! Team, Bald Eagle, Mason Jennings, Krista, The Gutter Twins, Ha Ha Tonka, Yeasayer, Witchcraft, Grizzly Bear, We Go To 11, MGMT, Sofia Talvik ,The Weakerthans, Booka Shade, Santogold, Black Kids, Black Lips, Dr. Dog, Nicole Atkins & the Sea, The Ting Tings, Kid Sister, Office, The Cool Kids, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, The Whigs, Manchester Orchestra, Foals, Uffie, The Octopus Project, Cadence Weapon, Ferras, De Novo Dahl, Noah and the Whale, Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, K'NAAN, Serena Ryder, Newton Faulkner

Gospel - Paper Tiger
Parov Stelar - Odessa
My Brightest Diamond - Black & Costaud
Voice of the Seven Woods - Sayai Nova
Shitmat- The Fern Britton Experience
Silver Jews - New Orleans
Awesome Colour - Outside Tonight
Telepathe - Chromes On It
Tomahawk - Sun Dance
Cadence Weapon - In search of the Youth Crew
Arab Strap - Driving
Jay Retard - See/Saw
Wolf Parade - Language City
Cloudland Canyon - You & I
Guapo - The Planks
Automat - (The) Advance
Gravediggaz - Blood Brothers
James Horner - Moving Jenny
Bondage Fruit - Hikou Suro Ko
Timo Maas - Hard Life
Art Zoyd - Baboons Blood
Food for Animals - Swampy
Baroness - The Birthing

Toby and myself return next week, Monday 26th May from 9pm.

Day 1.

Na een overweldigend mooi concert van Coco Rosie in onze eigen Effenaar woensdag nacht veel te laat in bed om donderdag ochtend om 5 uur de wekker te horen afgaan. Met een brak hoofd om zes uur op station Eindje Centraal om daar vol goede moed naar Schiphol te vretekken. Maar de NS zou de NS niet zijn als ze onze trein niet eerst 10, dan 15, dan 20, dan 25 minuten vertraging laten hebben, om hem vervolgens helemaal uit de dienstregeling te halen. FUCK! daar gaat ons half uur om van de trein op tijd bij de incheckbalie te komen! We gaan door die fucking NS onze fuckin Flight missen! Bollocks!

Aangekomen op schiphol hebben we nu maar liefst 3 minuten om naar de incheckbalie te komen en eindelijk snappen we waarom dat vliegveld zo heet: Hollen geblazen!! Maar gelukkig kunnen we nog op de valreep inchecken en zijn we verzekerd van 2 stoelen in ons Easyjet vliegtuigje. Daar kan meteen het netwerken beginnen met ex-Effenaar geluidsman/programma assistent/secretariaats medewerker en tegenwoordig PIAS held Leon HP die naast ons zit. Goeie oude tijden herleven met het ophalen van herinneringen over Dave Sardy's Barkmarket.

Brighton! Beroemd om zijn Fatboy Slims, Blood Red Shoes, Piers (eentje totaal verwoest en de andere verkermist), de intieme Lanes vol alternatief winkelplezier en de Taj Mahal achtige Royal Dome Pavilion en omliggende tuinen.

The Brighton Pier

The Great Escape! Na een fine shopping spree met veel vinyl scores (alle bands brengen hier gewoon platen en singles uit!) gaat het festival voor ons dan eindelijk beginnen. Tenminste dat dachten we. Want bij aankomst in The Volks (een van de mooigelegen clubs onder de boulevard aan de zee) bleek favorieten We Are Wolves helemaal niet te spelen. We kregen nu met een half uur vertraging Seeing Scarlet voorgeschoteld die volgens het boekje 'glistering Depeche Mode mystery' en ' Interpol Eerie' en ' Cure killer hooks' zouden brengen maar in de praktijk gewoon een derderangs REM achtige schoolband was zonder ook maar een grijntje uitsraling of magie.

Cadence Weapon's dj

Op naar The Revenge waar waar de upcoming Hiphop held Cadence Weapon nog lang niet klaar was om op tijd te beginnen. Gelukkig heeft The Revenge een tweede zaal waar we verrast werden door het piepjonge The More Assured. Netjes volgens het momenteel zeer populaire dansbare britpop boekje, dat wel, maar vol enthousiasme gebracht. De band heeft goede looks met als bonus feature een piepjonge Phil Lynott op bas. Daarna weer terug naar boven voor de sensatie van de avond Cadence Weapon (boeken ZXZW!!) uit Canada (boeken Le Guess Who!!). Samen met een bebaarde metal Viking als scratcher zette de opgefokte rapper de zaal vanaf minuut 1 totaal op de kop. Vette bassen, dikke dance beats en opgefokte rhymes. Wij schreeuwden nog de hele nacht ' We've made a deal today, We're selling real estate, we made a deal today, we're selling HOUSES !' Daar worden wij gelukkig van :-)

Op naar The Barfly voor een potje noorse chaos rock van Ungdomskulen (niet te verwarren met Slagmalsklubben). Battles meets Foals voor metalkids op de campingdisco. Nog niet overtuigend genoeg om de britse indie meisjes aan de barrier gekluisterd te houden. Het laaste nummer ' Spartacus' werd dan ook opgedragen aan de enkele overgebleven 'believers' in de zaal.

Tijdens het wachten op de Video Nasties viel het ons opeens op dat we fris roken en dat we nog geen prikkende traanogen hadden van de doorgaanse blauwe walm die we zo gewend zijn bij dit soort concertjes. Rookvrij rocknroll is the bomb!! We kijken uit naar 1 juli. Roken mochten de verslaafde outcasts, buiten bij de pinautomaat in een met een koordje afgezet stukje. Het was dan ook niet erg druk daar.

Terug bij de Video Nasties bleek maar weer eens dat veel Engelse bands zich eerst een imago, super cool cool logo en mega hippe t-shirts bedenken voordat men gaat werken aan een een stukje goede muziek. Deze jongetjes, nog nat achter de oren, zouden eens wat minder de NME moeten lezen en wat meer hun best moeten doen nummers te bedenken die beklijven.

Om de hoek staat de ons bekende Spiegel Tent waar de amerikaanse blog sensatie Beach House nog geen deuk in een pakje boter slaat.

Late of the Pier

Snel terug naar The Barfly om een trap onder onze konten te krijgen van Late Of The Pier. Ze zijn een super energiek stelletje jongemannen die als een Talking Heads on speed meets Klaxons klinken. Zeer vindingrijke breaks, koortjes, rifjes en de hele Barfly staat te springen van jewelste. We snappen nu opeens waarom er een barrier staat in een zaaltje van 250 man. Deze engelse kids weten hoe je een feestje bouwt! Er wordt massaal gecrowdsurfed, geslamdanced en met bier gegooid. Wat een energie! Super!

Na 20 uur wakker te zijn besluiten we naar het hotel te gaan. Voor ons geen nachtelijke shows van The Go! Team, Ting Tings of Yeasayer meer, die hebben we al gezien of zien we wel op Lowlands of de Nederlandse clubs. De schade halen we vrijdag dubbel en dwars in.

Conclusie van day 1: Vertraging blijkt het sleutelwoord van de dag als het gaat om planningen van treinreizen of festivals, maar sommige Engelse bands zouden juist wat meer tijd voor hun muziek of stage performance mogen nemen voordat ze rond gaan schreeuwen hoe hip en geweldig ze wel niet zijn.

Stag & Dagger is a great concept with some great live acts on the line-up!

It's this Thursday the 15th May 6pm - 12am.

One ticket gives access to all 15 venues and all areas, bit like a street festival with no door prices, which allows 5,000 festival goers to enjoy over a 100 live acts (Guaranteed you won't be able to see every band, but hey use your Brains, just pick your favourites and for £15 + Booking fee what else is there to do for that price on a Thursday in London?)

Its a bit of a monster pub crawl with your favourite bands playing live when you pop down your local pub!

Check out the line-up: Stag & Dagger

Line-up Includes: A-Trak, DSL, Cadence Weapon, Dead Kids, Hot Chip DJ's, Moshi Moshi DJ's and many more!

In association with Vice Magazine, so Im sure this event will be followed by some very interesting online documentaries, check out the Epicly Later'd - Wild Ride Series and see how the current Emerica team live life on the road!

So why have I not been blogging considering that my free time has quadrupled? Cuz der, I have been like... sleeping and drinking out of my parents' liquor cabinet.

Santogold

I dig this track. Partially because when I sing along, I sing it as "I'm an (unemployed) lady." It makes it harder to sing but 10x funner. Funner.

mp3: I'm A Lady ft. Trouble Andrew [Santogold]

In other news, check out Trouble Andrew's Myspace, Santogold's real life boyfriend, who sings on her track "I'm a lady." Apparently he is trying to make music like his woman, except in the skate-rock-punk-electro (I don't know if that's true, I just stuck a bunch of genres together) genre.

myspace

Estelle

As much as I love Alicia Keys, I'm just getting a tinge sick of her (good yet so familiar sounding to all her other stuff) music. I was just listening to "Teenage Romance" or "Teenage Pregnancy" or whatever her new single is called and after the first minute or so, I thought to myself: 'This sure sounds nice but when will Usher come on and start calling Alicia his boo?'

Thankfully there are TONS of other people trying to make R&B happen. Like Fanta Estelle Swaray aka Estelle whose song "American Boy" with Kanye reached number one in the UK singles chart on March 23.

mp3: Wait A Minute (Just A Touch) [Estelle]

"Pretty Please" from Shine, with Cee-Lo. Very Sweet!

This is a MV from 2004 of her song "1980."

Here is Estelle with my favorite potty mouthed gay, Christian Siriano. If he called me a tranny hot mess I'd probably give him the squishiest hug ever. Siriano has teamed up with Estelle to design a 15-piece collection for Puma.

Her album "Shine" was just released on April 29. Buy it here.

website / myspace

Lupe Fiasco

I love this song. Because I am an unemployed superstar. Minus the superstar part. Here's the acoustic.

mp3: Superstar (Acoustic) [Lupe Fiasco ft. Matthew Santos]

"Daydream" featuring Jill Scott (this is also the song featured on that new phone commercial). Gorgeous tune. I'm gonna go out and buy that phone now cuz the commerical told me to.

website

MGMT

mp3: The Youth (MMMatthias Remix) [MGMT]

BE TEE DUBYA: MGMT have an amazing interactive music video thing on their website so if you are bored at work or non-working then check it out. Lots of colors and things to keep you amused.

website /myspace

Cadence Weapon

Roland Pemberton aka Cadence Weapon is a Canadian rapper. You ever listen to Canadian rap? No? Me neither, until now.

mp3: House Music [Cadence Weapon]

website / myspace

THE TEENAGERZZZZZZZ

I went to the Teenagers show on Monday at the Bowery Ballroom and I finally met Dorian. I also stole their set list which was written on the back of a brown bag from their stage (mwa ha ha). They are SO French. I'm not entirely sure what that means but throughout the show, I would make comments about the lead singer's dancing or their accents or what not and my friend M would respond "They are SO French." Because, they are so French.

"Are you really going to eat that Brooklyn peeza? It's SO greezy."

I love Dorian. He is my Korean Crepe. I love his curly, greezy hair and his ginormous glasses. After the show, I spoke with him briefly and he said something with a greezy French accent and then my friend M said, He is SO French. I was busy swooning.

Okay, but back to my review. The Teenagers are good live. They have energy, their songs have energy, and they are not afraid of interacting with the crowd. I really enjoyed the show and I had yet to begin drinking heavily (this happened later in the night, along with hot pockets and pudding cups).

Wow this a shitty review. It's basically just me gushing about Dorian.

They are good. Go see them! (Better?)

mp3: Starlett Johansson (Connan & Mockasins Remix) [The Teenagers] via bibabidi.net

photos via Dorian's flickr. Stalker.

--------------

AGGYYY!

So I read last week that Agyness Deyn was going to be singing on a track called "Who" by the Five O'Clock Heroes. Lucky Fivers, cuz now people care who they are. What do you think?

I'm eh. Not as horrible as Scarlett Jo trying to sing at least.

At least she looks cute.

In other news, apparently she is wanting to break into film as well.

I just don't think I'll get it. Ever. Why did the church host this show? Were they pandering to the youth? Or did They just want to integrate with the community and rep our hometown boy Cadence Weapon? Or do they just offer a sweet venue price?

I think they were pandering to the youth.

It didn't work. All it achieved was a lot of secretive drinkng and drug using, and ansty sobers eager to cross the street to the Starlite Room.

Big ups to Cadence Weapon for maintaining his energy throughout, especially among a crowd that, like me, probably felt like they were going to get in trouble if they swayed their hips a little too much. (Buck 65, on the other hand, seemed totally deadened by the environment despite being the headliner.)

Erinnerte mich nicht sein Flow gelegentlich doch zu arg an die frühen Neunziger – oder sogar an gewisse (schlechteste) Deutsch-Rap-Versuche der Industrie – wäre das Urteil über dieses Album einfach. Genial. Ein Meisterwerk. Gekommen, um zu bleiben.

Das Geheimnis des Pemberton’schen Zweitlings liegt ganz klar in seiner Nerd-Attitüde zu Beats, Cuts und Samples. Die schamlose Vermischung von Old-Skool-Sounds und cutting-edge Electronica (bis hin zu House und Techno) bilden ein unglaublich gelungenes, fesselndes und klar auf Tanzbarkeit getrimmtes Bett für seine Rhymes und seine mehr oder weniger amüsanten Geschichten.

Eine solche Mischung, zwischen Ed Banger und Def Jam, zwischen Justice und Public Enemy, richtet sich natürlich eher an die Musikaddicts sowie die Party-Kiddies europäischer Großstädte denn an ein eigentliches HipHop-Publikum. Zwischen Hanson’schen MmmBop-Anspielungen und Ableton-trifft-Gameboy-Klängen vergeht zwar doch ein ganzes Album, aber allein die Tatsache, dass zwischen diesen beiden Polen sowie zwischen Soulsamples und Electrosounds ein HipHop-Album produziert wurde, verdient Bewunderung, erstaunt und lässt den Mund offen stehen.

Das eröffnende „Do I Miss My Friends“ macht neugierig, das folgende „In Search Of the Youth Crew“ gewinnt durch hypnotische cyber-beats und „True Story“ flasht den Hörer endgültig durch abgefahrenste Synthie-Bässe. Und da liegen Hits wie der Block-Party-Smasher „Real Estate“ oder der bisher unbekannte East-Coast-Klassiker „Messages Matter“ noch vor ihm.

Zusammengefasst? Clever ohne vorlaut zu sein, Klassenclown, Klassenbester, der Coole und der Frauenschwarm in einer Person, das ist Cadence Weapon und entsprechend kommt „Afterparty Babies“ daher. Empfehlenswert? Ha, mindestens.

buck 65 & cadence weapon, april 23 2008, hamilton, ontario
(image courtesy of emerging design & photography)

buck 65/cadence weapon/skratch bastid/??? @ call the office, april 26 2008

cadence weapon's performance this past saturday at london's call the office made for an excellent show, despite the audience's general disinterest in anything that wasn't buck65. alaina and i arrived a little late, so we didn't hear much of the first set, nor did we manage to catch the name of the performers, though they were pretty good from what we heard. skratch bastid was on next and his set was loud and energetic-- consisting mostly of funk tracks and heavy beats-- while his turntabling skills set the bar high for the performances that would follow.

shortly after, cadence weapon and the coonskin-cap-wearing DJ weez l took the stage and opened the set with a rousing version of "real estate," a song from the newly released afterparty babies. much of the set-list featured songs from that album ("in search of the youth crew," "house music," "messages matter," "unsuccessful club night" and "we move away"), and the duo delivered them with spot-on accuracy, looking and sounding comfortable in their surroundings. although the music's lack of volume was off-putting at first, cadence made up for it with his boisterous stage-presence and faultless exchange with weez l. mr. weapon directed most of his attention to getting the crowd moving, since they seemed hesitant to actually dance to his music. jumping in and out of the audience as he rhymed and encouraged people to let loose and go nuts, helped to get his enthusiasm to slowly catch on, showing that there's a passion driving him along with his wry wit and intelligence.

Since then Cadence Weapon has been getting some serious blog love
here, here and here

This week the canadian drops a massive piece of vinyl on the UK shores with
the monster mover House Music

Cadence Weapon - House Music

Cadence Weapon - House Music (A1 Bassline remix)

This is a top ten entry into the CMYK playlist. Whats on your playlist at the moment?
Any other canadian RapRave we're missing out on?

This revelation is particularly shocking in an age when Canadian hip-hop has grown far beyond the roots planted by pioneers like Maestro Fresh-Wes and Dream Warriors. Think of the hip-hop talent blossoming across the country, from mainstream flirters like Cadence Weapon, Buck 65, K-OS and Kardinal Offishall, to lesser known but viciously potent rising artists like Abdominal, K’naan, Grand Analogue, Sixtoo, DL Incognito and Ghislain Poirier.

Even though three of Canada’s ten bestselling digital tracks in 2007 were hip-hop, according to SoundScan (though none were actually by Canadian artists), and Canadian hip-hop acts continue to gain critical notoriety and commercial success at home and abroad, it seems that this musical form lacks the respect and support afforded other genres by the federal agency committed to encouraging the arts.

Environmentally focused rapper Freeworm was given a grant, solo artists Red 1 and Kid Koala received professional development grants, and Aboriginal group [ed. artist] Eekwol was awarded a grant through the council’s Aboriginal Peoples Music Program.

By Scott A. Gray - Read Full Story Here

Maestro Fresh-Wes - Drop The Needle

DL Incognito - Live In My Element

thanks for noyz319 at UGSMAG for pointing this out!

The concert was only two hours in length with Cadence Weapon as the opener. TWO HOURS? Yep. Club One had a house band that was playing and Buck 65 was told to be off the stage by 11:30 or they'll be shut down. That's bull. I'm sure the house band could have held on to their pretty little skirts for an extra hour, no wonder bands never come to Newfoundland. Sure I'm not exactly a huge fan of Buck 65 and for the life of me couldn't remember a song by this character until he performed wicked and weird but for fans who did pay the 25 dollars to see him, they were honestly jipped.

But the lighting as per usual at club one was more than agreeable with my camera, especially shooting mainly with the 50mm 1.8, switching to the 18-70mm when it was necessary so more than my fair share of pictures came out of it and I was satisfied.

I did happen to run into a friend of mine down there, Natasha who was a big fan of Buck 65, and got a great snapshot of her completely enthralled with the man.

Until next week..

Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, his father was Teddy Pemberton, a pioneering hip hop DJ on CJSR-FM. He began rapping at 13, and following high school he briefly attended journalism school, dropping out soon afterward to concentrate on music. He released the underground mix tape Cadence Weapon is the Black Hand in 2005, and his full-length debut Breaking Kayfabe at the end of the year. Breaking Kayfabe has garnered strong reviews in Canadian, American and British media, and Cadence has toured extensively to support the disc, including concerts across Canada and three shows in Austin, Texas at the 2006 South by Southwest festival.

Chart magazine named Cadence Weapon one of the 15 Canadian artists to watch in 2006. In addition to his own recordings, Cadence Weapon has also remixed tracks for Lady Sovereign, Ciara and Super Extra Bonus Party, and has written hiphop reviews for Stylus and Pitchfork.

Cadence Weapon was nominated for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize which awards $20,000 for the Canadian album of the year. However, he lost to Final Fantasy's He Poos Clouds. Coincidentally, the Toronto alternative newspaper Eye weekly's cover photograph the Thursday before the award was presented featured both Cadence Weapon and Final Fantasy's Owen Pallett adopting a mock confrontational pose. The accompanying article, in fact, revealed that Cadence and Pallett had become friends and both really admired each other's records. Cadence and Pallett also performed together on the CBC Radio concert series Fuse in April 2007.

On February 21, 2007, Pemberton announced that he signed an American record deal with Epitaph Records, a move that will give him greater exposure in the United States. As a part of his new deal, Breaking Kayfabe was released in the US on March 13, 2007. In the fall of 2007, Big Dada became Cadence Weapon's representative label in Europe.

Cadence Weapon's second LP, Afterparty Babies was released by Anti-/Epitaph on March 4, 2008.

Check out his video for Sharks:

JJ Freddy, Writer - Hot Jewlz Entertainment

Le célèbre label indépendant Ninja Tunes vient d’atteindre l’âge adulte, de quoi rendre fier ses fondateurs Johnathan More et Matt Black, les deux membres des Coldcut. Mars 2008, la maison-reine-mère, abritant sous son parapluie les sous-labels Big Dada Recordings et Counter, publie son nouveau catalogue, « You Don’t Know », 5^e volet de la série Ninja Cuts.

Cette compilation triple-CD rassemble pas moins des 50 meilleures créations (dans leurs versions originales ou remixées ainsi que 9 inédits) édités par notre label anglais, avec notamment un panorama des récentes sorties (Cinematic Orchestra, Ty, le millésimé Sound Mirrors des Coldcut, Fink et The Heavy) et signatures (Ghislain Poirier, DJ Kentaro, Bonobo et le petit dernier, Cadence Weapon).

Voici, dans l’ordre numérique, ce qui vous attend dans les trois menus.

***

Le premier disque peut se définir comme une playlist idéale alternant Hip Hop, Trip Hop, Electronica, Rock et Folk. Les morceaux se suivent et ne ressemblent à aucun autre, pourtant on y retrouve une cohésion certaine, celle qui fait l’identité musicale de Ninja Tune.

Ça commence par le maxi tout frais « Blazin’ » de Ghislain Poirier, amputé des sonorités electro-dancehall par les Allemands de Modeselektor, pour enchaîner sur du Roots Manuva dernier cru. La liste continue : le « Nightlife » de Bonobo ‘reconstruit’ par Zero dB, l’inventeur Daedelus et le duo infernal Mr Scruff & Quantic.

C’est vers le milieu du disque que l’ambiance dancefloor finit par éclater des enceintes à travers un mix infiniment discret : le monstrueux « Gadget Funk » des Herbaliser transite sur l’instrumental déchaîné de « Getting Dumb » de Cadence Weapon, partageant la même piste avec le Switch remix de « Bump » de Spank Rock, en plein sur le couplet d’Amanda Blank !

C’est la folie générale jusqu’au virage rock indé avec The Heavy , puis re-bifurcation du côté hip-hop jazzy  (« Epistomology Suite 1 » des Diplo). La fin du CD s’adoucit sensiblement à partir du morceau de Fink (« Pretty Little Thing ») avant que les Cinematic Orchestra, Amon Tobin et John Mathias rendent l’atmosphère littéralement planante et instrumentale (au sens propre et musical du terme).

***

Le ‘disc 2’ s’agit d’un portofolio reliant Hip Hop aux accents anglais, Abstract et Trip Hop. La majeure partie de ce disque est un kaléidoscope de ce qui se fait de mieux au sein de la scène britannique, regroupés parmi d’autres perles rares venues d’ailleurs.

Le Grime (ce mélange de rap et dubstep) est à l’honneur en début d’album avec le « Chin High » de Roots Manuva (dans sa version ‘Manuvadelics’) et « No Qualms (re-vox) » du mentor Wiley, avant de passer par un « Drop Audio » signé The Qemists et deux extraits à la suite des Coldcut, « Just for the Kick » et « Walk a Mile in my Shoes » (revu par Tiga pour l’occasion), extraits du millésimé Sound Mirrors édité en 2006. Quelques raretés - les fameuses - sont dispatchées dans le tracklisting : un live des Cinematic Orchestra (« Rites of Spring »), le « Blah Blah » du slammeur américain Mike Ladd (enregistré en 98 pour l’anecdote) et le remix signé Orgasmic de « Travailler » du groupe électro-rap frenchy TTC.

Autres tracks incontournables : le clin d’œil rendu par DJ Shadow au producteur vedette de la maison Stones Throw ( « Bring Madlib Up ») et le mix house ultra-groovy de « Pat Song » de Pest.

***

Le 3^e CD est sans aucun doute le plus instrumental de tous. Hormis les remixes du démentiel « Free » de DJ Kentaro (featuring Spank Rock) et de « Wait A minute » de Ty, ainsi que « Fear the Labour » de Oneself et le « Say Goodbye » final par Bigg Jus, tous les morceaux sont quasiment instrumentaux (à l’exception de « Breathe » des Cinematic Orchestra privé de beat dans son remix nippon), et se suivent continuellement sans linéarité, comme une météo qui changerait entre teintes soulfuls, des éclaircies exotiques et chaleureuses, des courant d’air frais, quelques légers nuages annonciateurs de mélancolie,… Des noms au hasard : Ammoncontact, Blockhead, Fog, Bonobo…

***

Ces lignes ne sont qu’un modeste descriptif de ce que recèle cette fantastique compilation. Les maxi-singles ont été écartés au profit de remixes réalisés par des figures réputées de la scène DJ internationale, et chaque morceaux qui y figurent ont été sélectionnés avec soin pour garantir cet éclectisme indéfinissable. Le mieux serait de jeter un œil sur la trackliste complète ou dans le meilleur des cas vous l’écouter, en vous rappelant qu’il s’agit juste d’un aperçu de la richissime trésorerie de Ninja Tunes.

Pour information, Big Dada Recordings a sorti sa rétrospective discographique et vidéographie complète (!) de Big Dada Recordings avec Well Deep, paru en Octobre 2007.