The XX marked the spot last night at Shepherds Bush Empire in London. I was truly excited about seeing them open up for the glamourous Florence & The Machine. This was the first time I purposely went to a gig to solely catch the supporting act instead of the headliner.

If you are follower of Kspace, then you know we’re fans of Bat For Lashes, having written incessantly about her music, her photography, and her connection to professional cricket! Well, the Bat love isn’t stopping yet, thanks to two amazing new remixes off the lovely Ms. Natasha Khan’s album Two Suns, one of the most acclaimed of 2009.

and so as we’ve been promising you for the past couple months – you know those tourist t-shirts that read ‘…..went to Havana and all I got was this t-shirt’ well lucky for us our good friend (GP Sportswide) went to Havana recently and what we are getting is a pretty amazing double album ‘Gilles Peterson Presents Havana Cultura’. Gilles’ whirlwind trip in Havana to make a record (or 2) at the legendary Egrem studios collaborating with top Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca and Vince Vella has resulted in …..

Okay. So we covered this film from a few angles already, but being one of our childhood favorites, Where the Wild Things Are as a real film is some kind of fantasy — something to get excited about — especially a new flick directed by Spike Jonze. The creative forces behind the film have built a pop-up space…

We have no idea what ‘freebording’ is, other than it appears to be a name for those long, curved boards with the squishy wheels. Whatever it is, this is pretty cool. Watch.

Brand new music video for “Luv Deluxe” by Nu Disco group Cinnamon Chasers.

While it’s a bit of stretch to put ‘badass’ and ‘ping pong’ in the same sentence, The Hardbat Classic has all the hallmarks of a world-class sports franchise. Vegas. Beer. Fanatical players. Pro apparel. In June, we wrote a preview about the biggest ever table tennis tournament, sponsored by Bud Light and K-Swiss, but we didn’t know the depths of the fanaticism…

San Francisco’s Barry McGee a/k/a Twist is one of the ambassadors from the grafitti to gallery art scene. His murals have made their way from bus stops to CD packages over the years. Now he is coming to Southern California…

True to its name, K-Swiss’ flagship triathlon shoe, the K-Ona, was inspired by Hawaii, where the globe’s greatest athletes battle for Ironman supremacy in that competition’s World Championships on flats warmed up by the tropical sun. Speaking of hot, now K-Swiss is introducing a new set of colorways that move beyond Hawaii…

The Horrors released one of the albums of 2009 with their latest, Primary Colours; “Whole New Way,” a brand new non-lp single, due out in early November, proves they are still the band to beat as we edge into 2010.

This is the kind of track we like to celebrate hump-day with. Joy Orbison’s “Hyph Mgno” catches our rays with its bright homage to disco, house, and 2-step. Joy is another South London producer who originates from the thriving dubstep scene but takes a venturing detour past those breaks to a funkier place and time.

While most businesses are full of hyphenates these days, as enthusiasts of every type take their passions to the boardroom and conduct business, there are a few that are as attractive as athlete-hyphen-model. An improbable career path for 99% of the population, but Jenny Fletcher rocks it for all its worth.

As we’ve written about many times here on Kspace, the post hip-hop faction coming out of Cali has gone worldwide over the course of the past year. The honorable ambassador is the UK’s Radio One DJ Mary Anne Hobbs, who is singularly responsible for introducing the LA players to their UK and European counterparts. She’s been a huge fan of folks like Flying Lotus…

Crunk, dubstep, West Coast glitch – all the major food groups come together in the awesomeness that is PANTyRAiD. No, PANTyRAiD isn’t the new Todd Phillips R-rated comedy – it’s the two-man supergroup comprising MartyParty (government name: Marty Folb) and Ooah (Josh Mayer, of Glitch Mob fame). “Beba” is the duo’s first single, and yes, it will rip your speaker’s woofer in two… As a result, “Beba” is a great introduction to the PANTyRAiD sound – or, that is, sound

From Ian Curtis to Liam Gallagher to Morrissey, Manchester has produced its share of rock and roll legends, and photographer Kevin Cummins has been there to document them all. Indeed, Cummins’ shots have proven instrumental in forging the infamous, indelible personas of some of the most incredible Mancunian music icons…

Today’s track of the day is a bittersweet one: “Hip Hop 101,” which comes the last album released by the late, great turntablist Roc Raida, who passed away just days ago on September 19, 2009, at the age of 37. “Hip Hop 101,” which comes from Roc Raida’s last solo album, Beats Cuts and Skits, is an apt title: the DJ was know to school any takers when he got on the wheels of steel. Roc Raida was indeed a professor of the game.

As we wrote about a while back, Yacht has grown up and, as the latest DFA signing, become an official act. Once upon a time Yacht was a moniker for Jonas Bechtolt and his sometime vocalist Claire Evans, but now they are signed to DFA Records and have released a top full-length “See Mystery Lights”.

The twins look like they have a ways to go on getting the 266 Pairs of the super Limited Edition Partners & Spade & K-Swiss ‘Ping Pong Classic’ ready for us. ha But luckily they did not really have to nail polish a stripe on each pair themselves – what may not be so lucky is if you miss out on gettin’ one of them pairs for yourself !

We’ve been feeling it’s about time for some more Jose James music and as if to fulfill our wishes along comes this sublime new track off of the upcoming new album ‘BLACKMAGIC’. As it turns out the album is due early 2010 but the title track is produced by LA’s beats don Flying Lotus with whom Jose has crafted a handful of delightfully dusty, slightly dishevelled hip hop soul joints. Our ‘Track of the Day’ selection here is the re-working by the mighty IZMABAD who wade in with a deliciously deep house groove.

Biking around the world seems so Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance, but Scott Stoll shows through his new tome that there is more to maintenance than spark plugs and gas valves. Stoll recounts what his Waterford bicycle went through on the journey, and emphasizes how much endurance this ordinary bike had to go through…