Monday, December 31, 2012

Download/Listen: DJ Shadow - "Mansion and Low End Theory Sets"

Photo: George Martinez
DJ Shadow’s “infamous” South Beach set has been uploaded to his SoundCloud for stream and download featuring 86 minutes of “future music” that covers a wide range of dance music styles. If you missed the story the first time round, Shadow got kicked off the decks twenty three minutes into his set on December 15th while playing at Mansion in Miami as part of his All Bases Covered tour. Apparently the promoters were just not feeling it and just couldn't wait to get their resident DJ back on to drop more Top 40-inspired tracks that one walked right up to the decks and asked Shadow to stop. The club soon faced an onslaught of criticism from all corners of the web and has since apologized for the actions and we are better for it because Shadow not only shared the intended mix in full but also gave us one from California’s Low End Theory night back in July. Listen below and download HERE.
 

Friday, December 28, 2012

Download/Listen: Blue Sky Black Death Bolo Nef & Caz Greez – “Skull And Bones” LP


Blue Sky Black Death seem to be the hardest working producers in the game. Having only just dropped the Cliff of Death ep with Deniro Farrar, the Seattle production duo have yet another release for us before the end of 2012. Skull and Bones is a full-length collaboration with young Seattle spitters Bolo Nef and Caz Greez. The only guest appearance is by frequent BSBD collaborator Nacho Picasso, stream and download the LP below…

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Listen: Kool A.D. - "Beautiful Naked Psychedelic Gherkin Exploding Tomato Sauce All Over Your Face"

Things cooled off here a bit with the holidays but here is something new from Kool A.D. and Bill Ding. The duo like to throw humor into their rhymes, and their latest track, “Beautiful Naked Psychedelic Gherkin Exploding Tomato Sauce All Over Your Face” isn’t any different. Joined by Haji Springer, the trio delivers a tune, which apparently is the first leak off Kool A.D.’s upcoming album 19. The accompanying video of vintage Ricki Lake Show clips acts as the video. 

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Video: A$AP Rocky – “LONG LIVE A$AP”


A$AP Rocky made good on his promise and has shared the video for the title track from his upcoming debut LONG.LIVE.A$AP due out on January 15. The tune was produced by Jim Jonsin & Rico Love, co-prod. by Finatik & Zac & Frank Romano. Rocky sticks with the clean feel of his last video with this black, white, and a little bit of gold clip…

LIsten: DOOM - "Doomsayer"


DOOM posted a new track on SoundCloud called "Doomsayer". In a characteristically mysterious fashion for the masked man not much info was given outside that this is a version remixed by DJ and engineer Young Guru.
 

Friday, December 21, 2012

Video: Bat For Lashes - "A Wall"


Here's the latest set of visuals to come from Bat for Lashes excellent 2012 album The Haunted Man. This one, for "A Wall", tells a tale love story in a house party setting.

Listen: Lone - "Ghost Channel"


Before releasing this year’s highly praised Galaxy Garden, U.K. producer Lone, aka Matt Cutler, was crafting some more ambient-inspired tunes in his free time. “Ghost Channel” stems from those sessions, which apparently took place in the latter part of 2011. He just uploaded this track to his Soundcloud page yesterday to much praise.

Happy Friday!: Equals A Window

Aakash Nihalani created this piece for this year’s Nuart Festival in Norway, entitled “Sum Times. You got to love the multiple jokes happening with this one.

Listen: A$AP Rocky – “LONG.LIVE.A$AP”

Although these streams don’t seem to last very long this one should stick as it comes from the official source. A$AP Rocky has shared the title track from his upcoming debut LONG.LIVE.A$AP due out on January 15. The tune was produced by Jim Jonsin & Rico Love, co-prod. by Finatik & Zac & Frank Romano. Rocky also revealed via Twitter that he’ll be dropping the video for “LONGLIVEA$AP” this Sunday on MTV2 at 11 AM.
 

Listen: Blue Sky Black Death & Deniro Farrar - “Cliff Of Death” EP


Seattle production duo Blue Sky Black Death have returned with a new partner in crime in North Carolina’s Deniro Farrar for the new seven-song Cliff Of Death EP. Much like their collaborations with Nacho Picasso  the production sound on this EP is laced with glacial sounds and dreamy vibes.

Credits:
Released 20 December 2012
Album produced, mixed and mastered by Blue Sky Black Death. Artwork by Blue Sky Black Death. Vocals recorded by Mike Pepe @ In Silence Recordings.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Throwback Thursday’s: Merry Xmas From The Haçienda & Factory Records 24 December 1982

It’s Thursday which means it’s time to travel back into the past. Since we are only days away from Christmas here is something appropriate.

New Order 
Merry Xmas From The Haçienda And Factory Records
24 December 1982

Tracklisting: 
1. "Rocking Carol" (a.k.a. We Will Rock You
2. "Ode To Joy"

Sourced from FAC 51B flexidisc 

Mono recording remastered by Bruce Bartlett, who did the previous New Order vinyl transfers in this blog. Limited edition of 4400 given away at the Haçienda, Christmas Eve, 1982. 

From Factory "We can't remember if this was Xmas present to the Hacienda regulars or just a crazy idea. Certainly it involved taking a New Order piece that they'd recorded for a local TV Xmas special the previous year and making a flexi out of it. As far as we remember it was Beethoven's "Ode to Joy", but we don't have a record player any more so we can't be sure." 

 * Download links will be removed on 1 January 2013 but you should grab it today as the world might very well end tomorrow!

Lossless (34 MB)
256 AAC iTunes (8 MB)

Alternate links:
Lossless (34 MB)
256 AAC iTunes (8 MB)
(via)

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Video: Hooray For Earth – “Never/Figure”


Having previewed Hooray For Earth’s new single “Never” some months back the New York based indie rock band now has a seven and a half minute effects-laden video that you can watch to go alongside the track. 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Video: Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire – “Fuck 1 Time”


Mr. MFN eXquire decided to head out into the darkness and film a new music video with a few flashlights after Hurricane Sandy hit New York.  “Fuck 1 Time” appears on the Man In The High Castle mixtape that recently dropped, check it below…

Listen: A$AP Rocky – “1Train” (feat. Kendrick Lamar, Yelawolf , Big K.R.I.T., Joey Bada$$, Danny Brown, Action Bronson, Hitboy)


Here is "1Train", a cut from A$AP Rocky's upcoming debut Long.Live.A$AP. Featuring guest verses from Kendrick Lamar, Joey Bada$$, Yelawolf, Danny Brown, Action Bronson, and Big K.R.I.T. with the beat coming from Hit-Boy. Danny Brown is the standout for me. Long.Live.A$AP is out on January 15. 

Video: Liars – “Octagon”


The Liars released their latest video from this year’s WIXIW LP. “Octagon” see’s the trio performing in the space they wrote and recorded the album in with some VHS type noise layered for good measure, something a little more straightforward for a band that is anything but.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Banksy's 2012 Christmas Card

What we have here is famed U.K. street artist Banksy's Christmas card for 2012. I love that he does these every year. 

Friday, December 14, 2012

Os Gêmeos Designs a Scarf for Louis Vuitton


French luxury brand Louis Vuitton continues to work with contemporary and street artists alike. After just launching their collaboration scarf with RETNA  last week at their Design District Miami store, where the artist also painted the entire exterior wall, we get our first preview of their next collaboration with Brazilian street art heavyweights Os Gêmeos. The twins’ signature art has found its way onto a Louis Vuitton silk scarf, which is apparently being released on January 1st, 2013.

Listen: Burial – “Truant EP”

On his latest EP, Truant, Dub hero Burial treats us to two new “movements”. Both are over 10 minutes long and have a free jazz type of structure going on, with themes being introduced, built upon, and vanishing only to then be reconstructed and brought back to life and destroyed once again.  



Happy Friday!: It’s A Bad Brains Christmas, Charlie Brown

HR and friends meet the Peanuts. Let them eat jellybeans, indeed.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Listen/Download: The Antlers – “Empty Castles (No Widows Refracted)”


The Antlers have gifted an orchestral re-imagination of their track sublime track “No Widows” from last year’s Onomatopoeia favorite Burst Apart. “Empty Castles (No Widows refracted)” was created by cellist Brent Arnold, who says of the track:

“I knew I wanted to work with this track as soon as I heard it. The lyrics really haunted me. I recorded many of the cellos in a library in a castle in Burgundy… no joke! I had in mind a kind of rolling, pulsing feeling, rising and falling. Everything I made is of course quite different than the original, except for the big harmonies in the chorus– for that part, I tried to tease out each layer of vocals and play them exactly on the cello, which was tricky as they’re very intertwined. But I wanted to be more literal there, because there’s something very special about the way those lines work together.”

Video: Squarepusher Discusses his Ufabulum Live Show


Drill "n" Bass mainstay Squarepusher discusses his career and the technology behind the visuals for his current live Ufabulum tour. Produced and edited by The Film Atelier for Soundcrash.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Listen/Download: Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire – “Dom Perignon at the Days In”


The good thing about having multiple contributors on a blog is that you get different tastes and opinions exposed. While my friend and co-contributor Scraped Knee has a taste for Trinidad Jame$ I tend to lean towards Mr. MFN eXquire who doesn’t take many shots  and keeps things moving with new single “Dom Perignon At The Days Inn” despite a highly publized beef with James. The laid back tune see’s eXquire tackling the beat with a rather unusual approach in his flow, emphasizing the line at the end of each bar. This single will appear on the forthcoming project The Passion Tape Vol 1.: Viva La Passion.

Video: Heems – “Soup Boys (Pretty Drones)”

Heems has a big year despite his former group, Das Racist, recently announcing their break up.  Having recently dropped his second mixtape of 2012, Wild Water Kingdom we now get a video for the standout Lushlife produced Soup Boys (Pretty Drones).” The visuals focus on the emcee’s recent travels overseas.

Video: FaltyDL Ft. Ed Macfarlane – “She Says”


FaltyDL‘s forthcoming album, Hardcourage, is set to drop on Ninja Tune January 22nd, and with it the lead single, featuring Ed Macfarlane of Friendly Fires entitled “She Says”. The visuals come courtesy of a  rollerskating troupe who apparently can be found at Central Park doing their thing regularly. 

Video: Toro Y Moi – “So Many Details”


With his third album, Anything In Return, due out on January 23rd, Toro Y Moi dropped the visuals for lead single, “So Many Details.” The video tells the story of what happens when two people grow apart. Check out the clip below and if you enjoy it, be sure to share it because after 250,000 views, a second video for the next album single will be unlocked.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Video: Lee Ranaldo - "Hammer Blows"



A couple months ago Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth put out a solo album Between the Times and the Tides (Matador Records) to somewhat of a quiet release.  It didn't get too much attention but had some really beautiful songs on there including "Hammer Blows".  He had meant to create a video for it and conceptualized white snow blanking everything and the solemness of winter, unfortunately NYC did not have one of those winters, so it was shelved.

Instead Ranaldo decided to create an impromptu video in the middle of the night via candlelight while sitting in his darkened apartment in Manhattan.  Hurricane Sandy had just rolled through and most of downtown New York sat without power.  The overall effect is pretty serene and definitely achieves the solemness he was looking for.



BONUS 

Lee Ranaldo & J Mascis - "Albatross" (Fleetwood Mac cover)

Video - Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot"

Pale Blue Dot is a personal project of designer Joel Somerfield of the London-based motion graphic firm This Order. It is a video response to the "Pale Blue Dot" monologue given by the late astronomer  Carl Sagan about Earth's appearance in a a photo taken by the Voyager 1 space probe, which is the most distant photograph ever taken of our planet.

It is done in a brilliant infographic style and has been very cleverly thought out.  Interested to see more like this...




Video: Trinidad James - "All Gold Everything"

Unfortunately I haven't been into much hip-hop for the past couple years. It all sounds like dance music to me and nothing has really caught my ear. That being said, when I came across this track.. it stuck w/ me and I caught myself singing it days later. Its catchy. With the new Big Boi album being pretty boring, I'm happy to see some new folk in Atlanta are stepping up to take over, one being Trinidad James

James released an EP mixtape Don't Be S.A.F.E (Sensitive As Fuck Everyday)to a lot of acclaim and is currently working on his debut album. Recently he released a video for the EP's standout track "All Gold Everything", directed by the folks at Atlanta based design group, Motion Family.

 


Listen/Download: Sufjan Stevens’ Christmas Rap Mixtape “Chopped and Scrooged”


Well this is one of the more random things I’ve seen in a while. Continuing with the Christmas spirit Sufjan Stevens dropped a Christmas-themed hip-hop mixtape featuring music from his recently released 5-EP Christmas box set, Silver & Gold. The mixtape is called Chopped and Scrooged(HEY HO!) and features Das Racist, Kitty Pryde, Nicky Da B, and Busdriver, with production by John Dieterich of Deerhoof, Fol Chen, Son Lux, and more. Stream it via Soundcloud below, and download it HERE.

Video: Thom deVita Profile for Tattoo Age Part's 1-3


Something quite inspiring and different in the latest profile from Tattoo Age featuring Thom deVita. Even though Thom has been tattooing and creating art for almost 50 years, there is not much in the way of information on him, now in his 80’s and suffering from Parkinson’s disease Thom is still doing his thing and influencing other artists. 

Thom began tattooing in the mid 1960's in New York City's Lower East Side (tattooing was illegal from 1961-1997) and quickly began to forge his own style. 



He drew influences from everything from Puebla indian designs to Lord and Taylor shopping bags for his tattoos designs, he also is one of the few artists who approaches tattoos as a collage of sorts implementing layering like you might see with billboard wheat paste’s, new images on top of older with bits and pieces poking through. Thom also began to form relationships with other tattooers around the United States who were revolutionizing tattooing as art form by bringing in influences that went far beyond the usual array of images found in most American tattoo parlors at the time. 

Featuring interviews from the likes of tattoo royalty like Ed Hardy, Nick Bubash, Scott Harrison, Angelo Scotto, Robert Ryan, Bubba Reeves, photographer John Wyatt and New York artist and historian Clayton Patterson we get a peek at Thom's incredible story.



In the second part of the Thom deVita Tattoo Age series we focus on the touching and often hilarious relationship he has with Nick Bubash. Thom and Nick met in the early 1970's and soon after Thom started to tattoo Nick, he also started to teach him how to tattoo. Over the past 40 years their relationship has gone way beyond tattooing, or even art for that matter, but they still continue to create together.



In part 3 of Thom deVita's epic Tattoo Age series we take look at his personal history, past jobs, and how he came into tattooing. We also hear from tattoo legend Angelo Scotto on the history of tattooing in New York City including a time when they were illegal and had to deal with police raids.

Check back for the final two parts in the profile in the upcoming weeks.

Video: Kavinsky – “Protovision”


Kavinsky is back with an up-tempo synth heavy track in "ProtoVision." The tune will appear on the Parisian's upcoming album Outrun, a fitting name given the visual which were directed by Marcus Hearing and are clearly a callback to the Sega arcade classic from the 80’s. 

Monday, December 10, 2012

KAWS: Woodstock Vinyl


Following the KAWS Snoopy release back in October 2011 Brian Donnelly is finally releasing the famous beagles friend Woodstock. The piece is smaller than Snoopy but at the same time not a miniature. It will be released on Saturday December 22nd 2012 at Original Fake in Aoyama for $163. 

Video: Aesop Rock – "Cycles to Gehenna" Zavala Remix


Aesop Rock let loose a second set of visuals for Skelethon track “Cycles to Gehenna” with a remixed sound. The video sticks to the theme of dancers and looks like it might be may have been shot at the same time as the original.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Video: Autre Ne Veut – “Counting”


Autre Ne Veut recorded a slightly different version of his r&b-infused pop jam “Counting.” The new mix includes some rhymes from Mykki Blanco and a video to accompany it. Both ANV and Mykki Blanco nurse a dying grandmother in the visuals which were directed by David Riley and see a much less provocative Blanco which is of course fitting for the tone.