ocular-fetish: red bull music academy lecture series feat. ?uestlove, cut chemist

The Red Bull Music Academy is an event that is located in various cities across the globe, and which gives participants an opportunity to network and explore different genres and ideas (with an emphasis on spinning and club culture). The roughly 60 hand picked participants include vocalists, DJs, MCs, musicians, studio engineer, and producers. The academy also provides lectures with big names like Cut Chemist, Waajeed, ?uestlove, Arthur Baker, DJ Premier, Architecture In Helsinki, A-Trak, and Benga.

I recently discovered a bunch of these lectures on the RBMA website, some of them running as long as two hours. It's not for everyone, but if you're into some of the behind the scenes dirt and real gritty music history, this stuff's great.

I especially love this line from the ?uestlove bio...

"?uestlove is a Quincy Jones for our times: a living link between the digital science of modern hip hop and the flesh-and-blood textures of vintage r 'n' b."

Also, J.Dilla love all over the place from Waajeed and ?uestlove.



...more lectures here.

The Red Bull Music Academy 2010 starts accepting applicants in May. Find more information here.

ocular-fetish: never before seen beatles/stones pics circa 1960

A series of photos have been released of The Beatles and Rolling Stones during a 1960's U.S tour. They were taken by former tour manager Bob Bonis, and capture a major milestone for both bands. This was both bands' first American tours (1964-66), and just as they began having to cope with exponentially growing fame.

An interesting and candid look into the lives of these rock icons.

"The Beatles take a break from a magazine photo shoot in Bel Air, California "

Photos via The Telegraph (UK)

audible-approval: illinoize - sufjan/hiphop mashup

"Illinoize is a free remix tape put together by Montreal-based producer Tor, sampling songs from multi-instrumentalist and indie hero, Sufjan Stevens. Tracks are sampled from his 2005 LP Illinoise, as well as 3 of his other albums, 'A Sun Came', 'Seven Swans' and 'Songs for Christmas', blending Sufjan Steven's acoustic guitar, piano and horns with MC's Aesop Rock, Big Daddy Kane, Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), C.L. Smooth, Outkast, Brother Ali, and Grand Puba."

You don't have to be a fan of Sufjan Stevens to enjoy this mix. Some great lyrics over mellow beats. A quality mashup.

Listen and download (free) here.

Also, this ones a couple months late, but if you haven't listened to the Doom (formerly MF Doom) track "that's that", grab it here.

audible-approval: slum dog millionaire motivates snoop dogg to do dub-step track

Snoop Dogg was so impressed with the film Slumdog Millionaire's soundtrack that it inspired a track on his upcoming record "Malice In Wonderland". He has teamed up with Tanvi Shah (Oscar winner for Best Original Song, “Jai Ho”) to create "Snoop Dogg Millionaire".

This marks the first time that a major American artist has collaborated with the Dub-Step scene, known for its bass heavy, dark sound. Born out of the early 2000's in London, this genre seems to be ramping up and appearing more and more in mainstream settings.

Speaking of Dub-Step, I'm hitting up Konkrete Jungle tonight.

Snoop Dogg Millionaire direct download via Usershare

Post source via MVRemix

local-nights: bloc party dj set

I attended a Bloc Party DJ set that took place shortly after they finished playing to a sold out crowd on St.Patrick's day. The set featured Matt Tong and Russell Lissack taking turns playing some new but mainly older dance and electro tracks on a CDJ setup.

DJing has become a popular medium for bands to take in the last few years. I've seen DJ sets by Chromeo, The Rapture, and Andrew W.K. The quality of these sets vary greatly. Andrew W.K performs often at Studio B (NYC) where he has become some sort of resident DJ. I hate being a hater, but him (and his friend making random sounds into a mic) are absolute shit. On the other hand, Chromeo (specifically Dave 1) puts on a decent, high energy performance (but this makes sense considering your brother is superstar DJ a-trak).

One of the biggest challenges for new or unknown DJs is figuring out the world of promoting, how to score gigs, and finding a fan base. But most bands already have success in these areas, and using your bands rep to score gigs at clubs during a tour seems like a rather easy (maybe even effortless) transition. 

With all that being said, Bloc Party did an alright job. Not great - not amazing - just alright. Mixing was good, track selection - not so much. But I have to give them credit; finishing a live gig, and playing a 2 hour DJ set can't be an easy task. Especially when you're a novice DJ spinning right after a pro like three time DMC national champ Drastik.

Sometimes you should stick to what you do best. For Bloc Party, that's probably their post-punk rifts, live shows, and being known as the guys that came out with the epic tracks on Silent Alarm (unless you're into that whole Intimacy thing).

Photo credit: Emma Svensson via Rockfoto (for press)

ocular-fetish: vis-ed magazine vol.1

XLR8R has been pumping out some decent content for a while now. One of the things I believe they excel in is showcasing upcoming electronic and hip-hop talent. In many cases, the acts they feature tend to be just about ready to blow up and reach mass audiences. Proof: check out 2008's featured artists and compare it to this year’s line up at SXSW.

They have put together a new magazine called vis-ed which is a mash up of everything from graffiti, photography, industrial and graphic design.

It's quality, and completely FREE. Vol.1 here via Vis-ed.

Also worth mentioning is that this is Scion sponsored, which seems to be a company really getting its hands into music and the arts. Its a marketing/image thing, but I'm down for corporate sponsorship as long as it helps keep creative juices flowing (and free). If you're ever in the Hollywood area, make sure to check out one of the notorious Scion house parties. We're talking top DJs and 1000+ people going dance crazy on a Tuesday night. Epic.

what-what: coachella 09 promo - SUMMER

Two years ago I made plans with a friend to hit up Coachella 08 which never happened (meg/FAIL). Instead, I was hopeful that most of the headliners would make their way through various east coast festivals and concerts. This ended up being the case, with most of the main line making their way to Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, and NY state throughout the summer and fall. Still, I've only heard great things about Coachella and its definitely on my to-do list. The energy of the event is apparently unreal. If not this year, maybe 2010? Either way, this promo pumps you up... SUMMER!!!

P.S: Dear Osheaga, please announce your line up.

what-what: Daft Punk virtual "MPC"

Productivity killer. A kind-of virtual MPC with "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" sounds hooked up to your keyboard. So good. Don't know who Daft Punk are? Get the F off my website.

Check out idaft.

audible-approval: Back to 1994 with Outkast, Fugees, and Nas

I'm throwing up (sure - like barfing) some classics that all come from 1994. I won't lie, picking that year was completely arbitrary - there was very little thought put into it. Still, considering that it was the same year that Ace of Base came out with "The Sign", this could have turned out a lot worse...

I highly recommend the Outkast track...

Outkast - Player's Ball via Youtube

The Fugees - Nappy Heads via Youtube

Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell via Youtube

"...back in the day, when I was kid, 

mp3 players were as big as your entire upper body. 

When you listened to music while jogging,

you had to lift weights at the sametime." 

- True Story

ocular-fetish: exploring vimeo

Vimeo is to video as Flickr is to photo. It's a video hosting website used by amateur and professional filmmakers to share and discuss their films. It provides a way to share films with a community of users that are more likely to appreciate the intricacies of filming. The user community is what makes the website unique, but the type of content is what separates it from Youtube.

Below are some shorts that are worth a look...


It's Your Ride from Cinecycle on Vimeo.


Voyage from Marco Aslan on Vimeo.


Shake your Shame Off! Get your Game On! from elsakawai on Vimeo.

what-what: how to be cool

Loving number 4 ... learn to speak European.

...appearing many places on the net, but this one via The Daily What.

what-what: photo planets

Not really sure how to describe this one. This guy (Alexandre Duret Lutz; what a name) cuts up and puts together a bunch of pictures to create these seamless planet photo things. Creative, pretty, and proof of having way too much time on your hands (or proof that I need to do something "better" with my free time).

Alexandre Duret-Lutz's planets via The Gaurdian and Flickr