Born in Amsterdam in 1967, Niels Muelman became ‘Shoe’ at the age of 12, tagging through teenage nights while the form was barely out of its diapers. Six years later he was infamous, co-founding the still-esteemd Crime Time Kings crew and transitioning to commercial lettering work.
The genre of ‘calligraffiti’ owes its genesis to Meulman’s mentor [...]

Here at Kspace, we love cool art. And when cool art gets displayed in the service of calling attention to a great cause, well, then we’re especially down. That’s the mandate of Manifest Equality, an event taking place from March 3 through March 7 in Los Angeles. Manifest Equality is a gallery space devoted to promoting equal rights for all Americans.

On Saturday, February 27th, Los Angeles played host to two of contemporary music’s most iconic iconoclasts, David Longstreth and his band Dirty Projectors and Kieran Hebden, the maverick electronic-music maven better known as Four Tet.

If I hear Jay Z’s New York song one more time… but at Coachella it will probably be rad. If you haven’t been to the 3 day festival before you’re missing out. This year I’m most excited about Faith No More. Back on a 2010 reunion tour. I’m thinking about wearing my FNM t-shirt even though I don’t wanna be “that guy.” Also on my list to check out… Grace Jones, Devo, LCD Soundsystem, Gary Numan, De la Soul, and Gil Scott Heron. Pretty decent line up this year.

There’s a whole lotta pressure each year to make the leap into the New Year a big bold one ! yet alas it can kinda go either way (at least on the party level). So with that feeling in mind, and at least for our lucky Amsterdam crew, we’re delighted to invite you to start (or continue) your entry into 2010 with a Jan 2 dance your pants off family affair at the magnificent Sugar Factory with the NL debut of Re:Redux plus DFA’s Shit Robot and so much more.

For those in the LA area there’s a biggie this Tuesday Dec 1 and it’s all for a great cause – friends and family in full effect for Next Aid with dancefloor dons Marques Wyatt, Louie Vega, Turntables on the Hudson crew with Nickodemus, Nappy G and Brazilian drum troupe, DJ Rap, Raul Campos of KCRW and still more ! check the site for other dates across the country and show some love !

You already know how much we’ve been diggin’ the just released Gilles Peterson presents Havana Cultura – New Cuba Sound double album ! and so we’re thrilled to be heading to the London and Paris shows coming up very soon (see info below). We predict that this album is going to be with us for a long time, kinda like Gilles’ mighty Nuyorican Soul album has been and so we urge you to get yourself a copy and to check out these first wave of events to celebrate the release.

The more time i spend in California, the more the hits just keep on coming ! I can go on for hours about life out here from the oceanside down South in Venice to all the way up North to the glories of San Francisco and beyond – but luckily i am not about to ! Instead i’ll focus on the imminent and incredible sounding 2 day Treasure Island Music Festival taking place in SF on Saturday & Sunday 18/19 October.

David Byrne just isn’t one of the most influential musicians ever, from his landmark work with Talking Heads to his solo oeuvre to his exposure of unexpected musics from all over the globe via his Luaka Bop record label: he’s also an avid cyclist, too. What’s not surprising about that is that renaissance man Byrne uses his bicycle as yet another entrée into perceiving culture – in particular, as a vehicle, figurative and literal, to explore his fascination with the evolution of cities.

My many years living on the canals have been a delight ! Funnily enough not for the obvious freedoms that Amsterdam so plentifully offers but more for the overall fun, generous and creative spirit of the locals and in these upcoming 10 days from Sept 10 to 20th if in NY you’ll be able to get more than a taste of that spirit at the New Island Festival on Governor’s Island. Our good friends from the hilarious BOOM CHICAGO comedy troupe with their Holland Globetrotters improv show are just one of the many highlights …..

NYC has always known how to throw a party ! especially when it’s in Times Square celebrating the King’s birthday last night – Long Live the King ! (of dance music that is). Q-Tip hosted a birthday celebration and tribute worthy of the royalty in all of us in spirit of Michael Jackson to an adoring capacity crowd – as many gloved up as not – ready for the stupendous mega-mixes served up by Tip himself, DJ Spinna and Mark Ronson to a crowd willing and deserving of the endless timeless Jacko Classics …..

Got to love a ferry ride anywhere anytime and especially to a new locale and super fun party. Anyone in the greater New York know that Turntables on the Hudson throw a kick ass party always filled with extra special worldwide guests. This coming Sunday August 23rd take a ride out to New York’s recently unveiled Governor’s Island where Nickodemus, Mariano, Nappy and the TOTH crew bring you music from many worlds including live and direct from Cali Colombia, Quantic & his Combo Barbaro celebrating their Tru Thoughts …..

The latest FYF extravaganza – taking place September 5th has a special angle, considering its location at the Los Angeles Historic State Park. There’s the tweaked garage rock of Black Lips, the off-kilter Italo-disco of Glass Candy, innovative shoegazed super fuzz from No Age and Wavves, naughty dancing boy Har Mar Supersar, freaky folk from Lightning Bolt, and so much more.

This weekend 31 July to Aug 2, turns Amsterdam into a 3 Day musical fiesta and welcomes many of our ‘friends and family’ to the canals and parks ! Yeah c’mon it’s not just for our obvious extra thoughtful smokey ‘hospitality’ but also cause it’s a music and culture lovin’ country ! To match that, there’s a thriving and exportable local scene and this 3 dayer looks set to show just that. What makes this weekend extra ‘gezellig’ is the diversity of the locations as well as the music …..

A collective of super fly girls bring back a bit of Flo Jo flavor to streets of East London. The ladies of WAH Magazine are into their nails like they are into their BMX bikes.

The great promise of President Kennedy’s goal to put a man on the moon, and what the great future in space would lead to, has been tarnished over the years. The ‘giant leap’ of the first moonwalk was lessened by numerous advances in technology, but very little in terms of getting man into space.

It felt to me like their recent show at the WF in Sete had soared to new heights – with a mix of that incredible Pimps energy, the oceanside setting with an immmediate packed upfront dancefloor, the new songs (including a stompin’ Pigbag cover) and classics given an almost pop feel if possible from jazz players this incredible !

It’s Day 3 already at WF09 in Sete and it’s well warmed up – will it be able to top the past 2 days of spectacular live and DJ sets here in Sete ? Biensur ! with the lineup at Theatre de la Mer a sublime one kicking off with the man Mocky who dropped [...]

Lefto is unbeatable in timely blogs and naturally his Day 1 & 2 reports were up before he went to sleep at 6am – major props to him cause this normally includes editing a vid clip and in last night’s case helping out with covering up the sound system up during a short downpour – but i’ll get back to that. First off last night was the start of the live events and Soil & “PIMP”Sessions once again absolutely destroyed it, added to Elan Mehler’s sublime jazz ‘n vocal gem of a set & Sebastien Schuller lived up to my prediction ….

The wonderful part of a boutique festival is how up close and personal it all is ! this could include having an intimate dinner with Diplo, Gilles and the organizers of the Worldwiide Festival at the beachside venue the night before it all kicks off. This also includes then getting to know the plane load of Gilles Peterson listeners and fans of WF that flew in with you from Gatwick to the magical coastal town of Sete for the many imminent Mediteranean shenanigans !
and so it begins to go off !! Diplo drops his sh*z hard and you know it’s gonna be 3 hours of twisted boomin’ jump up …..