MOS DEF vs MASSIVE ATTACK 'I AGAINST I'

A sweet mash-up, battling Mos Def against Massive Attack.

DAVID BOWIE vs MASSIVE ATTACK 'NATURE BOY'

DAVID BOWIE vs MASSIVE ATTACK 'NATURE BOY'
An amazing video piece, as surreal as surreal gets.

APHEX TWIN vs DAVID BOWIE & PHILIP GLASS 'HEROES'

APX takes Philip Glass' remix of David Bowie's 'Heroes' to a whole other level and when I say 'a whole other level', I mean that APX takes it out back and beats the living shit out of it. I love the hell out of APX. Love me a whole lot of Bowie and I enjoy Philip Glass in doses. I have not heard a remix as terrifying as this since I stopped dosing acid in the early 90's and I'm sure that if I had just listened to this remix while 'under the influence' I would have ripped my clothing from my body and ran screaming like a 12 year old girl, right into traffic.

RICHARD CHEESE & LOUNGE AGAINST THE MACHINE: APPLE STORE CHICAGO

Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine performed at the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue, Wednesday 07.29.09 to mainly a crowd of bewildered shoppers trying to get their crashed iPhones repaired and/ or replaced at the Apple GeekBar this afternoon. There was a small handful of legitimate fans of Dick cheese and the boys that boogied in and snatched up any available seat for the show. Hey Apple, I love your seating, it's comfy! Thanks.
Richard took the stage at 1230 noon, yes, noon. Why 12 noon, I've got no clue. Why not a nice evening gig instead? I don't know but, a free show is a free show! Richard did make comment about his performing this afternoon at the Apple store as '...I am clearly desperate for publicity! Why else would I be here this afternoon?!'
He announced his first song as made famous by none other than 'Pink...Pink Floyd, that is'. He followed 'Another brick in the Wall' with Snoop's 'Gin and Juice', Beastie Boys' 'Brass Monkey' and made his way over to the iPod Docks where he searched the playlist of one iPod to see if there were any Richard Cheese jams included to the Apple playlist. He wasn't terribly surprised that he wasn't included. Richard stopped at Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing' and immediately broke into a duet with Steve Perry. According to Richard, this was the first time he and the band have ever taken an instant request from an iPod.
RC&LAM continued with an AC/DC-$5 footlong Subway Sandwiches medley and pulled it all in with 'Baby Got Back' sans Sir Mix-A-Lot.
Richard plugged his gig at House of Blues this Friday 07.31.09 where he would also be wearing his cuff links. Yes, cuff links. He thanked the crowd for sitting in on this 30-minute appearance and asked that they all come over to the HOB to see his full-length show which would go on for at least 32-minutes...minimum.
The band broke off into a Lionel Richie (yes, Nicole Richie's dad) song and Richard climbed up onto the chairs and belted out 'Hello' where he also pleaded with the fans to take lots of pictures. With his crotch in my face, I clicked off a few rounds. Thanks, Dick.
Richard continued to plug the HOB gig and informed guests that he had some t-shirts to sell and 2 sign-up lists for fans. One list was to update his mailer and the second was titled "Women who want to have sex with Richard". That got a hugely uncomfortable giggle out of the crowd (you know the kind of giggle, you see someone trip up some stairs, you giggle and hope that no one sees or hears you giggle...uncomfortable) and the band went straight into a track that he informed us was from a time long ago, a time before iPods, a time of the 'radio' and the band ripped into WKRP in Cincinnati. He heckled the fans with cameras, warned parents that the HOB gig would have foul language and a drunk band and poked fun at the Apple staff and Lounge Against the Machine segued into Radiohead's 'Creep'. Richard marched off stage, waltzed around the 2nd floor store and took off down the grand stairs, where he escorted shoppers up to the GeekBar. Richard interrupted 'Creep' to announce the after party, around the corner at world famous-Giordano's Pizza, where they will be having the (insert Radiohead hook-line here...) you guessed it, the..."special"! Applause, applause, finishing there, thanked the fans and called it a night...I mean, they ordered some lunch.
The End.

DJ Q-BERT: SMARTBAR CHICAGO

DJ Q-BERT: SmartBar Chicago
Friday 08.21.09
w/ DJ Franco de Leon + DJ Sek One
PLUS 2 on 2 B-By Battle

The LOVE AND ROCKETS: FOUND, SLAIN

Covers in general are weak. I always give them a quick listening to, to see if the cover-band has actually done any justice to the original or the ‘made famous by…’ version. More times than not, I am let down. Am I insane for hoping that this be one the time some silly band, a douchebag record producer(s) & some money-hungry record label (who has spent loads and loads of someone elses cash) actually release a descent or groundbreaking cover version or tribute album, a version that won’t immediately insult the original track, the original band or the fans of said original?

Tribute albums should do just that, pay tribute. They should at times, incorporate irony whilst being memorable. IE: Sisters of Mercy covering Dolly Parton's 'Jolene'...priceless. Cover bands that 'cover' songs, well, they should continue to do weddings and 'sweet 16's'.

Guess what? It’s that time of year again. The season of the ‘cover album’ and there’s a new cover album available on iTunes titled ‘No New Tales To Tell’. Said with a grain of salt, it’s a tribute to The Love and Rockets. The title should immediately warn you of the albums content…THERE IS NO NEW TALE TO TELL! On a good day, I wouldn’t say this is a legitimate tribute…more like a poor attempt to pacify the record company lawyers & record labels, with their quotas that need filling.

Hey guys (the bands that signed on), you knew your job was cut out for you when you signed on to the ‘let’s do a Love and Rockets cover album’ gig. Covers are generally tough, and you must tread lightly when doing one. You’ve got to have a real reason for putting that cover out. You need a point of view and most of all, don’t disappoint yourself, the original band, original version or the fans of that original song. The fans won’t forgive you and Christ on a Cracker…neither will the media! I hope you cashed your check, ‘cause that check is bound to bounce before too long.

Of the 26 downloadable iTunes tracks, there isn’t one track worth the buck! On the otherhand, if you gave me a buck, I’d download Dubfire’s ‘I Feel Speed’. They didn’t truly reinterpret this track, but they did show it some mercy and they ‘put some hair on its chest’ to boot. Dubfire brings this track into the present day by adding their own electronic-rock POV.

As God is my witness, I love L&R. Love ‘em. Peter Murphy & Daniel Ash can be genius’ at times. Hell, I go ga-ga over a number of the bands on this tribute album (Flaming Lips, Frank Black & Film School). I really wanted to enjoy it. Really. Sorry sunshine, this ball got dropped and then someone went out and stabbed that ball with a sharp stick and let all its air out. Note to self: Leave the tributes to the goth bands of yesteryear to Cleopatra Records! Justice Records (who released this debacle), what in the Sam Hell were you thinking? Have you ever sat your fat asses down and actually listened to a Love and Rockets album before? I think if Shanachie Records did a ‘world-beat’ or reggae cover album, I might have enjoyed it a wee bit more.

Since I started writing and re-writing todays rant, I've listened to 'Holiday On The Moon' by Puscifer (MJ Keenan) at least 5 times and I take back a piece of what I said in the above...I would pay for this track. In fact, I am going to download it right now. It is my opinion that 'Holiday On The Moon' sounds a whole heck of a lot like something being re-done by a band (no band in particular) doing a NIN's rendition of a Depeche Mode single of the late 90's era. I've also decided to give Monster Magnet vs Adrian Young 'Mirror People' a 2nd chance but then again, I really liken this track to The Black Lips (or a similar fuzz band of the pacific North West region of the USA) minus their Blues licks.

I've listened heavily to 'The Light' by A Place to Bury Strangers...I swear on a stack of Bibles, It's got to be The Jesus and the Mary Chain from 'Psycho Candy' reincarnated. My eardrums bleed! Why in the world is this track not on the album?! Are you guys at Justice insane? This is the single! APTBS hail from Brooklyn and they are proud to be known as the 'loudest band from New York'. God Bless Brooklyn!


TRACK LISTING:
All In My Mind – Black Francis
Holiday On The Moon – Puscifer (MJ Keenan)
Love Me – War Tapes
No New Tale To Tell – Blaqk Audio
I Feel Speed – Dubfire
Inside The Outside – The Dandy Warhols
Kundalini Express – The Flaming Lips
Life In Laralay – Sweethead
An American Dream – Film School
The Light – A Place To Bury Strangers
Mirror People – Monster Magnet vs Adrian Young
Fever – The Stone Foxes
No Big Deal – Frankenstein 3000
It Could Be Sunshine – VEX
So Alive – Better Than Ezra
Lazy – Chantal Claret vs Adrian Young
Sweet F.A. – Ian Moore
iTunes Bonus Tracks*
No Words No More – Snowden
Sweet Lover Hangover - Charlie & the Valentine Killers
Yin and Yang & the Flowerpot Men - Halloweeen jack
7th Dream of the Teenage Heaven - The Manichean
Bound for Hell - Johnny Down & Billy Cote
Kundalini Express - The Flaming Lips
Mirror People - The Invisible Humans
No New Tale to Tell - Astra Heights

STUPID FIND OF THE DAY: CHICKs DRESSED LIKE CHICKENs

Why? That's what I'm talkin' bout! I have no freaking idea what homegirls point is. I clearly lost this one in translation.

CHICAGO GRAFFITI: SOLVE

Many a graf-head was stunned last year when they heard the news that SOLVE was murdered at a party in Chicago last year. I found the remains of an old SOLVE sticker, what little is left.

NYC VANDAL HACULLA DESIGNs BURTONs 2010 JOYSTICK

NYCs 'haculla' lays out some graphics for Burton Snowboards' 2010 'JoyStick'.
PS: check out Burton's 2009 Vapor, with graphics by none other than 'Futura 2000'.

CHICAGO GRAFFITI: FCA

...a sticker from FCA. Dark.

CHICAGO GRAFFITI: MEDZ

There's a Graffiti artist in Chicago by the name of MEDZ. I've only seen a small handful of MEDZ' stickers around the city. I recently stumbled across this basement vent that was animated by MEDZ. I really dig on his style, reminds me quite a bit of another graf-head: PARS. Good stuff.

YOUR WEDDING GOWN: DO YOU REALLY WANT TO GO TO THE MALL TO BUY YOURS?

It's supposed to be your special day, isn't it? So why the hell you want to go to the mall to buy your wedding gown from the 'Wedding Gown Store'?

DASH SNOW aka SACER: FIRE EXTINGUISHER TAG

SACERs memorial fire extinguisher tag at Dietch Gallery on Wooster Street.

DASH SNOW: A DEITCH MEMORIAL

Dash Snow

1981-2009

A Community Memorial

July 23 - August 15, 2009

Dash Snow's friends and family have joined together to create an open memorial exhibition for Dash's community. We have asked friends to bring photographs and video of Dash and works of art made for Dash and works made in his memory. Friends have also brought in special works by Dash from their own collections. A group of previously unseen Polaroids from Dash's studio are also included.

The memorial project also has an open wall where Dash's friends and admirers can write, paint or paste artworks and texts in his memory.

The façade of the gallery has been painted over with a giant fire extinguisher version of Dash's tag, SACER.

Visitors are encouraged to bring flowers to throw into the main gallery where images of Dash and his own works are exhibited.

Dash's community of friends is invited to bring in additional images and works during the run of the show.

Jade Berreau
Dan Colen
Jeffrey Deitch
Christophe de Menil
Kathy Grayson
Hanna Liden
Agathe Snow

HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF AGAINST AN ATTACKER

Starring Gavin McInnes.

RICK ASTLEY vs NIRVANA

NEVER GONNA GIVE YOUR TEEN SPIRIT UP

FRIENDS WE LOVE?

What is Friends We Love?

Friends We Love began with a desire to document the inspiration, motivation and creative process of our talented friends in NYC and around the world. Our Artist Profiles quickly blossomed into four other shows. 120 Seconds soon followed as an open platform to share personal thoughts and passions. Recently, we aligned with the highly reputable Jonathan LeVine Gallery to produce our Off the Wall series featuring interviews with exhibiting, contemporary artists. While En Vivo captures the essence of some of our favorite live shows, eMotion Pictures serves as an experimental lab where we explore and capture moments through visual poetry.

WK INTERACT: Q&A

Here is video footage shot by George Koroneos of an exclusive speaking engagement with WK during his book signing event on 07.01.09. In this rare Q&A session, WK Interact answers questions from guests in attendance about his current solo exhibition Motion Portrait at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery, as well as his experience as a street artist living in New York for the past 16 years.
WKs iconic wheatpaste graffiti can be seen covering virtually every surface in New York City, not to mention every known country worldwide.

WK Interact Q&A from George Koroneos on Vimeo.

Jonathan LeVine Gallery
529 West 20th Street, 9th floor
New York, NY 10011
212-243-3822

KINDERGARDEN BUS: RUNS ON FRENCH FRIES

So I'm zippin' down the Expressway outside of Chicago today and see this huge, grey, behemoth. I think to myself 'wow, it's been a while since I've seen a busload of hippies', 'is there a Dead concert nearby?' So, like I said, I'm zooming in on said primer-painted bus, I read the spray painted ads that litter the bottom trim: 'kindergardenbus...' & 'this bus runs on waste vegitable oil'. I then realize that this is one of the few converted vehicles on the road that I've been hearing about that run on bio-diesel aka veggie oil, recycled Mickey D's. I was dropped-jawed. This reclaimed Blue Bird bus is big, big like a house and it's like, a hundred years old or something and it's running on the Expressway...on the remains of french fries, that crap that heart attacks are made of. Now that's pretty rad.

http://kindergardenbus.org

OLDEST (or at least one of) GRAFFITI ARTIST: DAIN AT BROOKLYNITE GALLERY

Hey, New York! Dain aka 'I AM DAIN' is back with a show at Brooklynite Gallery this September 2009. If you know DAIN's work, then you know this geeezer is the Original OG Graffiti artist. When I say OG, I mean OG. DAINs been graffiti-ing since the 1950s. No joke!

Brooklynite Gallery, 334 Malcolm X Blvd, Brooklyn, NY, 11233, 347.405.5976

WORLDS YOUNGEST GRAFFITI ARTIST: BROOKLYN

Dig the video that Brooklynite Gallery posted. Lil' Ruby shows y'all how graf artists roll in Brooklyn!



Brooklynite Gallery, 334 Malcolm X Blvd, Brooklyn, NY 11233, 347.405.5976

MF DOOM X FARO: NYC GRAFFITI

NYC graffiti staple 'FARO' gets a couple of pieces up for MF DOOMs 'Monkey Suite' video. If you've ever been to NYC, you know how seriously 'up' FARO is. No surface is safe from FARO. I've been looking for this vid for a few years.

THE DATSUNS: Mother Fucker From Hell

Straight outta NZ, The Datsuns. Bustin' balls at Chicago's Empty Bottle on July 22nd. Tomorrow's Brightest Mind's created the attached video using photocopies. www.thedatsuns.com

KYU SAKAMOTO: UE WO MUITE ARUKOU 'SUKIYAKI'

This song has been my all-time favorite tracks, for real.

UNKLE featuring IAN ASTBURY

U.N.K.L.E. featuring IAN ASTBURY of the Cult 'When Things Explode'.

PORTISHEAD X UNKLE

oh, shit!

JONATHAN GLAZER: WRANGLER JEANS COMMERCIAL

Great jeans, great commercial by Jonathan Glazer for Wrangler Jeans.

THE DEAD WEATHER cover GARY NUMANs 'ARE FRIENDS ELECTRIC'

The Dead Weather do Gary Numan's, the Electronic Jesus 'Are Friends Electric' proper.

THE DEAD WEATHER: LIVE AT THE VIC, CHICAGO JULY 28-29

The Dead Weather featuring: Allison Mosshart (the Kills), Jack White (the White Stripes), Jack Lawrence (the Raconteurs) & Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age) have released their much anticipated album "Horehound'.
Jonathan Glazer directs the Dead Weather's film short 'Treat me like your Mother', a true love story or is it a seriously fucked up take on the classic tale of 'boy sees girl, boy unloads automatic machine gun into girl, girl pops two or three hundred caps into boys ass, bullet riddled boy stumbles off into sunset'?
The Dead Weather play at The Vic, Chicago on July 28th and 29th.

DASH SNOW: NYC ARISTIST, 27 AND DEAD

Dash Snow, NYC rock-star photographer & artist, dead of a heroine overdose at 27. He was also a graffiti writer (aka SACER) who ran with the infamous NYC IRAK CREW.

"His death has shocked anyone who had any contact with him or knew his work. The drugs were all there in the artwork (and the rumours), but so was a sense of real beauty and honesty. It wasn't necessarily the aesthetic of his work, but its independence that made it so influential. He simply didn't give a shit." * guardian.co.uk

AGNES VARDA: LOS ANGELS GRAFFITI & GANGLIFE 1981

A note on IMDB explains:

"The French director Agnes Varda spent a couple of different years in Los Angeles, and this particular year produced her documentary "Murs, murs" and her fiction film "Documenteur". The title means "Walls, walls", but also puns with the word "murmurs." Varda located dozens of murals around LA and filmed them. Many of these are gone today, so this is a true documentary, documenting a wonderful aspect of southern Californian visual culture. She interviews the artists, a truly multicultural and multicolored group--and shows the paintings in their urban contexts. One memorable scene shows a mural at Venice Beach with young people dancing in front of it (probably near where their sons and daughters are roller skating or skateboarding now). An enjoyable movie by a European with deep aesthetic appreciation for marvelous, imaginative, colorful imagery that was considered throwaway pop culture at the time. "

See more videos by/ about Agnes Varda at YouTube.com.

I AM DAIN: THE VIDEO

A behind the scenes look at DAIN. Thanks goes to the Brooklynite Gallery for putting this video together.

DAIN: OLD SCHOOL GRAFFITI

A few images from NYCs OG graffiti artist DAIN. Brooklyn's DAIN has been doing graffiti since the 50's and has recently shown at the Brooklynite Gallery.

GUMMO vs ADAM FREELAND

Harmony Korrine's 'Gummo' vs Adam Freeland's 'We Want Your Soul'

ADAM FREELAND: WE WANT YOUR SOUL from konec japonec on Vimeo.

UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US: A NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL DOCUMENTARY

2008, Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell, USA, 93 min.
http://www.blackmetalmovie.com

“As richly compelling and artfully shot as rock docs get.”--Aaron Hillis, LA Weekly

This riveting documentary is not a music movie but a clear-sighted investigation into the murky subculture of Norwegian black metal music, whose history, though distorted and sensationalized by the press, is still pretty sensational even in the undistorted version, strewn with the ashes of torched churches and the blood of murder and suicide victims. As the filmmakers note, black metal “blurs the line between music, art, activism and terror...there’s really no other art or music or ideological movement like it.” Focusing on three figures--self-destructive pioneer Dead (of the group Mayhem), convicted murderer Varg Vikernes (of Burzum), and the relatively moderate Gylve Nagell (of Darkthrone)--UNTIL THE LIGHT draws a deeply, disturbingly ambivalent portrait of a contradictory movement that is too complex either to endorse or to dismiss. In English and Norwegian with English subtitles. DigiBeta video. (MR)

Additional info can be found at:
http://www.myspace.com/blackmetalmovie and http://www.blackmetalmovie.com

HIGH TECH SOUL: THE CREATION OF TECHNO MUSIC

Plexifilm is an independent DVD label and film production company founded in Brooklyn, New York, in September 2001. Plexifilm produces original films, releases films theatrically, and produces, distributes and markets DVDs.

HIGH TECH SOUL is the first documentary to tackle the deep roots of techno music alongside the cultural history of Detroit, its birthplace. From the race riots of 1967 to the underground party scene of the late 1980s, Detroit's economic downturn didn't stop the invention of a new kind of music that brought international attention to its producers and their hometown.

Featuring in-depth interviews with many of the world's best exponents of the artform, High Tech Soul focuses on the creators of the genre -- Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson -- and looks at the relationships and personal struggles behind the music. Artists like Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, Eddie Fowlkes and a host of others explain why techno, with its abrasive tones and resonating basslines, could not have come from anywhere but Detroit.

With classic anthems such as Rhythim Is Rhythim's "Strings of Life" and Inner City's "Good Life," High Tech Soul celebrates the pioneers, the promoters and the city that spawned a global phenomenon.

The film features: Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Eddie (Flashin) Fowlkes, Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills, John Acquaviva, Carl Cox, Carl Craig, Blake Baxter, Stacey Pullen, Thomas Barnett, Matthew Dear, Anthony "Shake" Shakir, Keith Tucker, Delano Smith, Mike Archer, Derrick Thompson, Mike Clark, Alan Oldham, Laura Gavoor, Himawari, Scan 7, Kenny Larkin, Stacey "Hotwax" Hale, Claus Bachor, Electrifying Mojo, Niko Marks, Barbara Deyo, Dan Sordyl, Sam Valenti, Ron Murphy, George Baker, and Kwame Kilpatrick.

The film's soundtrack includes: Aux 88, Cybotron, Inner City, Juan Atkins, Mayday, Model 500, Plastikman, Rhythim Is Rhythim, and more.

"Bredow's cast of alumni -- the holy trinity of Atkins, May & Saunderson at the front -- fill out this tale with passion, pride and, oddly for music of the future, nostalgia too."
- Dazed and Confused

"An enjoyable education into the music, the city and the main players past, present and future."
-DJ Magazine

"Defines the myths and the magic of Detroit techno from its beginnings right up to how it has evolved to become High Tech Soul."
-Derrick May

High Tech Soul: The Creation of Techno Music from Plexifilm on Vimeo.