Ol' School Post Of The Day

Here's an essay from Sarah Vowell and the Sound Salvation blog from February of 1997. It's regarding Frank Sinatra's passing and the way she feels that one of the greatest ever should, and should not be remebered. I especially dig the Belgrade rumor reference, which couldn't be more true. I know because I was there.

Check out the entire column HERE.

Kasabian "Fire" Live on Jools

All those people in the UK don't know how lucky they are for having shows like Jools Holland available to them. I really wish the US would quit giving in to the long worn out mainstream pop + commercial hip hop recipe which cloggs the tv and radio waves of our existence. I can't reiterate enough how sick I am of garbage music everytime I turn the radio on...even though I don't even bother anymore (thanks XMU!).
Here's a little taste of what music programs should be like. Promising bands combined with established legends equal musical goodness. Kasabian (yes!) performs Fire live at Jools Holland's New Year's Special. Enjoy.


And of course check out Later with Jools Holland HERE. New series starts April 13th.

Love Is All "Bigger Bolder"

Love Is All have a new single off their recently released Two-Thousand And Ten Injuries LP and I like! Check it out yo.

Download it HERE

via Fader

Ghostland Observatory "Darling Nikki" Live

I love these guys. Ghostland Observatory perform Prince's "Darling Nikki" live at the Triple Door as part of KEXP's VIP Club Concert series. Just when you think it's hitting the roof at 3:23 it gets extra wicked at 4:25 and it boggles my mind that all those peeps in the audience are sitting down. How can you not get up for this? Big ups to the select few actually up by the stage taking the whole experience in the way it's meant to be.
In case you are unfamiliar with it this is the cover of the infamous Prince track (one of many) that if played backwards had a secret creepy voice message. That makes me miss Prince and his infinite creativity, I really do wish we had more artists these days who pushed the envelope like he did in the 80's. Make sure you check out the original track backwards too. creeeeepy...

360 Degree Video Camera

This is absolutely ridiculous. Just like the google maps street view feature where you can click and drag around a 360 degree view only in video format. Check out this crazy video!


Get more info on this awesomness HERE

Holy Ghost! "On Board" (Friendly Fires Cover)

Holy Ghost! don't produce that much original content since they DJ all the time but when they do it's sounds a little something like this. Remixed by Friendly Fires.

Chromatics "Hands In The Dark"

Excuse my French but I fucking love this track. The subtle, yet penetrating pulse of the beat just has a way to get under your skin. "Hands In The Dark" video is directed by Sébastien Rippon and is also mad dope, totally fits the track which was off the album "After Dark" released in 2007. Ok, enough of me professing my love to this track/video just go ahead and watch this thing.

Check out Chromatics on myspace HERE

MORE

If you like short films and good music then it doesn't get much better than this one. "More" was an Academy Award nominee in 1999 and features a killer track by New Order "Elegia". Written and Directed by Mark Osborne.

Liars "Scissor"

Liars new album Sisterworld is coming out March 8th on Mute Records and their first single has a video produced by Andy Bruntel. Lost style.

New MGMT Album Cover!

Previewed is a look into the cover art from MGMT’s upcoming album release “Congratulations,” due out in stores April 13th, 2010. The art was done by famed surrealist cartoonist Anthony Ausgang, interviewed below courtesy of Daniel Lahoda from JetSetGraffiti.

You are one of the original “Lowbrow” guys and have watched the whole arc of this movement. What are your thoughts on how the scene has evolved?

Lowbrow Art was originally based on a wide assortment of aesthetic insurgencies, like the surf and hotrod subculture. Many of those cultural influences are now outdated and have been replaced by more recent stimulations. For example, the major influence that Saturday morning cartoons had on Lowbrow has been replaced by the new youth culture’s video and computer games. There were also certain orphaned subcultures that were initially attracted to Lowbrow as a good place to enter the Fine Art world. As time passed some of these subcultures, like Graffiti, moved away from the Lowbrow and became their own art movements.

How did you get hooked up with MGMT?

I met Andrew and Ben from MGMT through the experimental musician Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3 and Spectrum, for whom I had done album cover art in the past. MGMT was recording “Congratulations” at a mansion in Malibu so I went there a couple of times to hang out and watch the process unfold. Not being a musician I was occasionally left to my own devices so I would sit around and draw on pieces of paper then leave them there when I went home. I got along well with the band and gave them copies of my book, Vacation From Reality. Later, Josh Cheuse, the art director from Sony, contacted me once the recording was finished. The most important thing was that MGMT wanted the “look” of my style of painting and gave me only a few points that I had to hit. Naturally the process took some time but they were always cool with the criticisms. A lot of people who commission a painting only know what they don’t want; fortunately MGMT knew what they wanted and let me do it my way.

via Hypebeast

Jet Set Graffiti is HERE

Tony Williams "Nightmares"

If you like dancehall then this is like whoa! The first single from Tony's upcoming mixtape The World Famous Tony Williams: Finding Dakota Grey. Produced by Haskel Jackson for Genesoul Productions. More!!

Download it HERE

Write Your Idols!

When asked by his teacher to write to a contemporary artist as part of a school project in 1997, 13-year-old Green Day fan Austin Kleon immediately opted to contact collage artist Winston Smith - the man responsible for creating the artwork for the band's 1995 album, Insomniac - and after finding his address via a gallery curator, Austin sent his letter to the artist and hoped for the best. A few months later when nearly all hope was lost, the stunning 14-page reply along with pages and pages of artwork arrived at the teenager's home.

check out the entire letter at Letters of Note