MUSIC. STILL MUSIC.

back in 2002, those guys at Offbeats made a nice 21st century hip hop compilation featuring tracks from dichotomy, anonymous inc, mnemotrauma, buck 65, offbeat turntable mechanics, kunga219 & dj moves, white collar criminals, scheiterhaufen, sixtoo and stacs of stamina.

in a similar approach, in 2003, Plague Language "farewell archetypes EP" is another kind of compilation featuring the Plague Language crew and friends (check also Offbeaters), featuring Noah23, K-the-?, Stapplemouth, Orphan and many others) on Subversive records.

oh yeah, still in an afrocentric mood, stttiiiillll... i'm keeping on those New York gang called Antibalas, but also on the magnificent Daktaries shit (check "super afro beat", the third LP released by Desco records around 1999).
i'm also keeping on my original afrobeat journey through the Kalakuta Republica high lord, Fela Anikulapo Kuti ; even if i'm still discovering mad shit from the guy and his all stars crew, i gotta say that "water get no enemies", a track that i discovered around 10 years ago (thanks to Gilles Peterson Worlwide radioshow, once again...), is still my all times favorite track from the man and his peeps.

LINKS FOR THE END OF THE WEEK.

check out some brilliant comicbook innovator from finland doing shit for King Nosmo. Go jenni Go !

and...



and...

- stupid game for agoraphobic punk.

-for the Tron freak inside you deeeeeeep self.

-best tetris movie ever.

-put the sound to the max level and enjoy.

-this is turntable art at its best.

-apple power pizza.

once again, thanks to Ease for the links.
we're sometimes wastin our time while at work, but at least it's funny. sometimes.

and...
end.

JONATHAN, MATT, WILL, WHENEVER YOU WANT FOR MY CHECK.

While Big Jus, one of the main guys under last century best hip hop band ever, Company Flow, have a pretty heavy lp ("Black Mamba Serums v2.0") in the recordshops (review here, listen here, and buy here), Diplo got some exciting shit courtesy of those smart ass @ big dada, who offers either one of the 500 run limited, numbered, screen-printed and hand stamped promos of Diplo's new album, "Florida", or one of the megamixes that Diplo for RJD2. Diplo also get some hard times with his pals from TTC : it's really, really a good use of your time to click here.

Speaking of TTC, the best hip hop act this side of solar system released another kind of recorded ufo : "dans les clubs" is a meltdown between Cents "in da club", but it's another hip hop TTC practice here. as usual, lots of humor and some solid sense of derision can hide how far the 3 lyricists can go. their beats are stronger than ever, th production becomes slowly really good, and as it wasn't enough, the sleeve is simply awesome. in fact, if you don't 21st century hip hop this much, you can easily buy all TTC shit for their sleeves. really.

Infinite Livez (who got an impressive "honestly, I'd be surprised if a better rap album is released this year, from anywhere" review by Simon Reynolds in the Village Voice) got a new video here.

and Part 2, one of the very first beat headz from uk who really get me, made a pause into his LP production to grab again some of his old pens and spraycans for some exhibition in York :
"the themes are portraiture and typography with faces represented including old Bill Burroughs, Stravinsky and Sun Ra, plus some abstract shizittle and some explosive lettering" does it says, and the exhibition runs from July 4th to July 27th at the Slug & Lettuce in York. More details (including buying original art from the abstract boogaloo guy), call Victoria Gray on (+)07793 356 317.

talkin about solid shit, here comes the next ish of the Solid Steel series (see how good i am for transitions, uh ?) : Amon Tobin did a Final Scratch mix, and you can win your own FS system (if you know how much it is, you'll probably try to win it...) around here.

i think that when it'll be wrote that dj Vadim has another new LP on its way ; which is a pretty good news, considering that he probably won the award for the 2004 Best Traveller by Plane Customer at Air Whatever...

those cats at Ninja or at Big Dada.
they don't sleep, either.

LEWINSKY DEMOCRACY AND SANITAMAYA.*

i received 3 cd's full of Ibn Al Rabin music. Ibn Al Rabin ? don't we talk about some indy minimalist comic books swiss artist ? so he's a musician, too ?

yep, IAR is also an excellent guitarist (don't wait for some Satriani soli, i'm talking about music here...), and he looks like a funny entertainner, if I listened well to his "live" cd, recorded live in october 2002 in some bar ; there's also 2 cd's, "les moyens du bord" vol. one and vol. 2, where IAR plays guitar, harmonica, xylophone, neighborhood talks, noisy fridge, sony playstation and, yes sir, basic programmed music on Commodore 64. IAR sings, too, and his work looks like a melting pot of a sismic Bob Dylan, a totally high Kent, somewhere between the late 80's french indy rock and the last french good poetry wave (Matthieu Boggaerts, Sylvain Vanot and others...).

i'm not really into all of this stuff, but some tracks really comes from a great mind, that Ibn Al Rabin definitely got, as we already know it ; if you loved what you read from the guy, you'll love his music, for sure : we talk about 2 different views of a same creator universe, which is rare enough, and which is unmissable.
hurrah and bravoes for mister Ibn Al Rabin, one of the most complete artists around. but how many of us knows it ?

*(these are both titles of some Ibn Al Rabin tracks. check it !)

WELCOME N & V.

did i talk about the visit of Nancy Pena and Vincent Rioult a week ago ? well, these two brilliant comics artists will soon move around here ; so it looks like i'll finally have opportunities to learn how to draw with great teachers, uh uh uh. hum. well. 8°
Nancy (blog) and Vincent (blog) are working on many projects and books for the near future, but their last big one are "le Cabinet Chinois" (Nancy) and "Passer l'hiver" (Vincent did the art -we talk about woodcut here- it while it was written by Marc Lizano), both availables thanks to La Boite a Bulles, a little french publisher that really slowly put its marks on nowadays little publishers area.
i hope i'll soon have more to tell about these 2 nice and talented artists. right now, i hope the rain will stop here, or they'll quick learn how the weather sucks here... 8)

LAST WEEKEND UPDATE.

we're in july, the sky is grey and it's raining outside.
my throat is like a volcano, i'm having hard times dealing with swallowing food or beverages, i cannot clear it without any pain, this larynx ache just kill me slowly. fuck it. probably happened while sunday evening...

last weekend was the time to break our drums of ear, thanks to those guys from les eurockeennes de Belfort. well, usually i do some shit for them while the 3 days, but this year was "freeeeeeetime !" days, and having time to watch concerts with friends was pretty cool.

everybody says that it was evident that the Pixies weren't glad to play this gig ; we know that the mythic band never was the best when it comes to playing live, but this saturday, does this sad attitude came from their own relationships as members of the band, or from something else, i don't give a shit but well, it wasn't this good, period ; PJ Harvey sound was awful, but everybody (them again ?!) agree on the fact that the lady doesn't need any big soudsystem to seduce everybody. we tall about big charisma here.

RJD2 and the Def Jux peeps looks like they were totally awesome on stage, which isn't a surprise at all. RJD2 used turntables and MPC, this config looks pretty usual by now. the only good thing from this Elista guys are their record sleeve art, which is done by Julie Doucet herself, so we don't need to speak about them.

i would like to get some echoes about all the artists i didn't saw on friday and saturday (my nigga Feetwan and I played in our usual bar on friday, 85 thousands of billions people, cool) : Youngblood Brass Band, Buck 65 and his mates...

on sunday, i went to the festival with pals Ben and Ease, which was pretty cool. we missed Blonde Redhead and Doctor L : unfortunately, we came right at the same time that Svinkels started, and who are totally awfull on stage, still playing a punk hip hop that nobody wish to get by now, except maybe old Beastie Boys fans (by the way, i wasted my time listening to their last album, a big, big deception) that regret their first years, or teenagers fans of Jackass ; not my cup of tea at all...

Lust, our own local heroes, made a pretty cool gig ; they already got tons of fans, who were waiting for their show, and i think eveybody was glad about it. we'll see what happens with this next album, done with the help of Steve Albini himself. while i'm on the Lust topic, don't miss to visit their website, done by this same Ease i talked earlier.

i met Amp Fiddler and his crew while the guys were looking for chicken in the public area ; i like when artists don't act like big stars and it's usual in its kind of big festivals to meet somebody drinking on the same table as you, or using the same awfully dirty toilets you used. 8)
so i spoke with my old good friend Amp, yep, and so... 8) no, we exchanged 5 words but enough to let the man that some peoples didn't came for Slipknot or Korn, but for him ; and god, Amp Fiddler and his mates did a great, great show. this is an exact update of what funk is in 2004 : the audience goes for a journey through all the "black" dancefloor spectrum, from classic afrofunk tunes to reggae routines, from discoid house to the best soulfunk playground.
this +40 years old guy got a strong bunch behind him, all of them are great musicians or chorist. Amp got a real interesting life to speak about, he played for Georges Clinton in Parliament, or for Eddie Hazel, and it's frankly time for him to have a little bit exposure as a great artist himself. a huuuuge gig.

Le Peuple de L'Herbe ? i prefer to don't talk about it, i'll made myself another enemies. (hiya Guigui) 8)
le peuple de l'herbe have nothing to do on a great scene. they don't have anything pertinent to say, they don't even look easy in their music field. i don't give a shit about them having success, it's just sad that they got the audience that others deserves better. anyway.

Antibalaaaaaaaaaaassssssss !!!! do we have to call them Anti Bad Ass ? these guys made it again !
10 days after a great night in Dijon, i had the chance to check them again, and it was enormous. 8) the audience was into it after 30 seconds of music, and it was the biggest groove machine once again, playing its afrobeat to a crowd slowly becoming mad at it. these people have fun to live from their gigs, it's an evidence. and their enthousiasm about sharing it with you, is a real invitation that you cannot refuse ; the conductor of the band (and baritone sax) and the conga player (and main vocalist) went to met their audience, and my old pal Manu and I went home with another record, of course. 8)
let's put it simple, once again: if you know the Antibalas plays near you, don't miss them.

before to leave, Manu and I checked at least 20 seconds of Slipknot. one bass, one guitar, and 3 drums, sure these guys are totally deaf...
- uh ? ggrrrrmpppphhh ? wwwhat the fuuuuckkk ggrrrmpbblll ?
- no, nothing, mister Slipknot. everything's right. no problems."
these guys looks pretty bad and awful with their plastic masks, but how funny they are. and how funny are their audience, too ! a big musical circus, complete with clowns, to check also. well, 1 minute maximum if you want to save your ears. 8)

goodbye Belfort, see you next year...

FRIDAY MEANS...

...have a nice weekend, people !

BLACKJOY, LIVE.

for the parisians of you, don't miss Blackjoy live on Radio Nova tonite, 10 pm till noon (french time).
for the others, it will be also online, still live, here.

"From Marcos Valle to Jay Z, Steve Miller Band to Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield to Paul Simon... Just Blackjoy live on radio... says the blue eyed guy behind BlackJoy.

(thanks J.) 8)

WHEN I GROW UP, I WANNA BE AN ASTRONAUT.

what does Drew Friedman, Daniel Clowes, Jim Woodring, Peter Bagge and Chris Ware have in common ?

yeah, they're all some of my all times favorites comic book artits, that's it... 8)
...but for the Arizona residents that reads these lines (you know who you are !), they're all part of the massive exhibition happening in the The Arizona State University Art Museum, called "when i grow up...".

as told in some of the last Fantagraphics newsletter, "Taking brief glimpses at the current lives of seniors existing in a variety of communities and living situations, "When I Grow Up..." examines issues every human will deal with, in one way or another, during his or her lifetime. ; and for you, miss "always late" L., it's from may 22 to september 11, 2004, @ Arizona State University Art Museum Tenth Street and Mill Avenue Tempe, AZ 85287-2911.

thanks to Lilly on this one. you only got to send reviews/echoes about the exhib, now... 8)

STREET ART LOVERS UNITED

for street art lovers, from street art lovers, on a creative commons share-alike license basis, here's streetmemes.com, a brand new public repository for all these spraycan and sticking terrorizm showing itself more and more everyday, for our pleasure.

"I am writing emails to a few bloggers who might be interested in the topic. The project tracks the spread of stencil graffiti, sticker art, and political posters ; It is run entirely by submissions from the public, so if you have a camera you can send street art from your neighborhood." says Ryan, StreetMemes editor.

images updated on streetmemes will be availables for any non-commercial purposes, so it's another big collection of great art we'll got there, hopefully. we'll speak about it soon, as it looks for me like a really good news.

STUPID LINK OF THE MONTH.

thanks to Dirty Howie, drum'n'bass rollercoaster from the eastern countryside. 8)