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Benji B Best of 2010

Jez Smadja — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 14:00:13 +0000

It’s been a massive year for the one like Benji B, who not only kept London fed with the best monthly party in the shape of Deviation but also replaced Mary Anne Hobbs as he got moved from BBC 1Xtra to Radio 1. Benji’s end-of-year radio shows have always been the sort of mixes you tape or download and keep for posterity, and this year is no exception. With four hours of essential records from James Blake to Gil Scott-Heron to Girl Unit to Ramadanman to Rick Ross and Kanye West. Parts 1 & 2 at the bottom of this post. Enjoy the sounds while Benji submits himself to our end-of-year-roundup inquisition.

Some good music I listened to in 2010
I recently did my best of year shows on the radio, it was a challenge to fit it all in – so much goodies!

Something I wish I hadn’t done in 2010
No regrets!

Worst film I had to sit through in 2010
No Regrets!

Best TV of 2010
Mad Men Season 4 & Boardwalk Empire Season 1

Favorite purchase of 2010
Margaret Howell Cashmere Cardigan

Best place to visit in 2010
Deviation dancefloor. And LA.

Most important news story of 2010
Students taking it to the streets.

Amen Benji. Happy Christmas + hope 2011 is another great year.

GEORGIA ANNE MULDROW ‘FONKROCK’

Jez Smadja — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 14:00:22 +0000

If there was one, incy wincy, criticism to be made of producer, vocalist, artist and earth child Georgia Anne Muldrow, it was that she was a little too… how do you put it… out there. Yes, the disjointed beat patterns that bounced along like a centipede with a limp, the vocals screeching like Coltrane’s tenor sax, we dug it, we just knew there was more fire in her chamber. Proof that she can fly with the eagles came when her song ‘Master Teacher’ was used by Erykah Badu on New Amerykah. Then came along Mos Def and toasted verses over Roses for his 2009 album The Ecstatic. With not a peep since then, Georgia’s return, a comparatively short album called VWETO, is entirely instrumental and explores fOnkrock, PianoSpace and other imaginary genres. No vocals, sadly, but the caliber of the beats is top-drawer. Even with so many beat junkies rising to the surface in recent years, Georgia’s still head and neck above the crowd. It’s hardly surprising – virtuosity ain’t something you can buy over the internet.

The Moped Army

Jez Smadja — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 14:00:14 +0000

A cross between a biker gang and a bunch of shameless hipsters, the Moped Army has been “swarming and destroying” since 1997, making a movement out of a machine that you’d think has about as much swag as My Little Pony. With different branches of the Moped Army across the US, from the Latebirds in LA to Los Dorados in Reno, there are regular meets, including the annual Moped BBQ, an event held each Memorial Day in Kalamazoo, Michigan which includes the insane No-Rules Race. In this photo-essay by Jim Mangan for Zero 1 Magazine, the Latebirds stage a two-day race in the desert which by the end it has Jim converted to this two-wheeled cult: “If you’re looking for all the attraction of being in a biker gang–the camaraderie, the adventure, the shared purpose, the open road–minus all the criminal activity and the long and brutal initiation process, look up your local Moped Army branch”.

Jim also has a book out via PowerHouse books in January called Winter’s Children: Snowboarding / Action Sports / Nudity.

Image courtesy Jim Mangan

The Top Ten Unexpectedly Great Websites of 2010 (And The Future)

Matt Diehl — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 14:00:29 +0000

It’s the end of the year, and that means an excess of top ten lists galore about everything – the best albums, movies, and so on. However, our time is preciously limited, so we’d like to draw your attention to some founts of inspiration information you may not have considered previously. As the cold winter sun sets on Kspace, please move your attention to these unexpectedly great websites we’ve discovered this year (and will keep checking hopefully long into the future):

1. The Quietus: We love Pitchfork – despite its success, it remains adventurous, and provides a necessary critical voice for so many bands that would otherwise remain unheard. However, just as Rolling Stone and SPIN managed to coexist in the early days, it’s nice to have an alternative to the alternative, just for variety. Enter The Quietus, a U.K. online music magazine that covers independent culture with a expansive thrust and wonderfully idiosyncratic point of view. From experimental metal to indie film to interviews with unsung heroes and beyond, The Quietus is there, and you should be, too.

2. Dangerous Minds: Richard Metzger is one of the greatest custodians of pop-culture ephemera and zeitgeist earthquakes, and Dangerous Minds is his online venue for all that’s great and fascinating and weird and essential. Dangerous Minds broke the Internet release of the backing tracks to the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” earlier this year, causing a massive sensation. That’s just but one example of the good works Metzger bestows on the public…

3. Ashtar Command: Chris Holmes is, for lack of a better cliché, a renaissance man. He’s released his own innovative, unique music (under the guises of Ashtar Command and Sabalon Glitz, among many other monikers), and he’s been a secret weapon for everyone from Felix da Housecat to Smashing Pumpkins; he continues to throw amazing parties (he even served as handpicked opening DJ for Paul McCartney’s Coachella debut). Holmes also has the greatest taste in conspiracy theories, UFO intelligence, and generally everything cosmic, and his Ashtar Command website brings it all together.

4. Kelly Oxford’s Twitter: A lot of people’s Twitter accounts try to be funny; Kelly Oxford actually succeeds. She’s a Mommy blogger for those of us who could care less about Mommy blogs (she’s far too profane and insane to even compare to the middle-of-the-road types that garner innumberable hits). Oxford can be existentially hilarious (“Sometimes I think the moon is just the earth in the future and it’s there to warn us and we’re ignoring the warning. We’re so stupid.”) or just spectacularly rude (“Iggy Pop saw a photo of Madonna’s body and threw up”) in her 140-words-and-under-rants, and she’s just as much a target of her tweets as is, say, Kanye. Sarah Silverman, you got competition…

5. Madbury Club: Phillip Annand is a young dude who got his start on the Interwebs as an opinionated forum poster on Hypebeast.com. There, Annand developed his eye and taste for everything cool and sharp in streetwear, pop culture and beyond. Call him a tastemaker, call him an early adopter, call him whatever, but Annand is up on stuff probably before you are, yet he lets us know what’s up with humor and class. Respect…

6. Rob Da Bank on BBC Radio 1: Rob Da Bank is a DJ, but he’s more than just a DJ – he’s an everlasting gusher of new, incredible music. He unleashes his findings every week on the BBC, where chances are you’ll hear artists and songs everyone else is playing catch-up with a year later. He also runs the great U.K. music festival Bestival and runs a great boutique label, Sunday’s Best, which just recently released a completely nutty, great single from David Lynch. Da Bank also is funny as hell; really, he can do no wrong, and deserves your support.

7. Sleevage: Some designer types known as Soap Creative from what appears to be Australia and Los Angeles do this amazing blog devoted entirely to “music cover art – from the LPs of the ‘60s to the digital artworks of now.” It’s wildly addictive, spanning known faves to obscure oddities, all totally inspiring.

8. The World’s Best Ever: The World’s Best Ever is a self-described arts & culture website that updates constantly, with a fine emphasis on design, but mostly concerned with everything good. Their Sound Advice playlists feature the listening faves of everyone from alt-rock icon Greg Dulli to Surface To Air founder Gordon Hull.

9. The Flavor Bin: Bill McMullen (aka Billions McMillions) is a design/streetwear/artist genius; chances are you’ve worn his designs and have albums where he’s created the cover art. Colby Parker Jr. has probably edited some of your favorite films. Together, they are The Flavor Bin, podcasting like maniacs, doing crazy interviews with unexpected types (actor Idris Elba, photographer Terry Richardson) like some digital-ass Dick Cavetts for today. Word.

10. Brainpickings: Maria Popova is a one-woman Ted conference. She’s obsessed with all things media, tech, science and pop culture, combing the web for obscurities and miscellany that makes one view the world in a new way…

Track of the Day: “Synchronize (featuring Jarvis Cocker),” Discodeine

Matt Diehl — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:00:27 +0000

“Have you timed your move just right?” Jarvis Cocker asks on the chorus of “Synchronize,” this unexpected indie-club masterpiece by Discodeine, a French dance-music supergroup comprised of esteemed producer Pilooski and Pentile, just released on the infallible DFA label. It’s funny when a lyric from a club track hits you hard, and Cocker’s words target with acid subtlety that kind of manipulative operator who’s always hovering, that false friend ready to pull the carpet out from under you while maintaining a cool façade; we all know people like this, and it’s therapeutic to hear Cocker skewer such frauds when we ourselves cannot.

Even better, Cocker’s offhand brilliance—really, at his best he’s up there with vintage Elvis Costello—is underpinned by a great track from Pilooski and Pentile: with its tingling synths and tasteful disco rhythms, it has enough forward motion to get you grooving, but there’s a subtle melancholy to the melodies to give it added emotional heft where its least expected. Pilooski in particular is better known for his amazing re-edits and remixes as opposed to original tracks, but “Synchronize” points the way to a whole new dimension to his career. Along with Pentile, he’s created a late-entry candidate for song of the year.“It’s only a matter of time,” Cocker sings later in the chorus, serving as a foreshadowing for Discodeine’s ascdendancy and the downfall of the underhanded yet slick fool elegantly eviscerated in the lyric. Amen to the latter – comeuppance never sounded so funky and effortless; if it was only that easy…

Bobbito Garcia Launches The Sneakerpedia in London

Peggy — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 06:10:41 +0000

I got to hang out this week with my very dear friend, Bobbito Garcia, who was in London for the launch of Sneakerpedia at the The Queen of Hoxton. Sneakerpedia is aiming to be the biggest online archive of sneakers ever. Who better to promote this, then the author of “Where Did You Get Those?; New York City’s Sneaker Culture 1960-1987” and host of ESPN’s “It’s the Shoes?” You should of seen it on Wednesday night, Bobbito was surrounded this whole new generation of sneaker enthusiast, who kept coming to him all night thank him for his contribution to the game and the culture.

The Sneakerpedia is hoping to create an open source collections from sneaker enthusiast around the world into one hub that notes each shoe’s respective histories and variations. That database of shoes will contain serious detailing tag words – stitching, material, linigs and even celebrity association. The tagline for Sneakerpedia – “a community space not a marketplace, run by sneakerheads, for sneakerheads”

LIVE AND DIRECT: SWINDLE x SUPAKITCH & CORALIE

Jez Smadja — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:00:43 +0000

A lot of the time, it’s difficult to understand what goes into creating a great piece of art when you’re only confronted with the finished project. So here are a couple of videos of artists at work. Shhhh. Don’t disturb them. One is of the French duo Supakitch and Coralie who create a huge wall piece at the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden with manga-inspired characters they’re famed for. The second is UK producer Swindle who can turn his hand to grime, funky, whatever, and has been building on the back of his Air Miles release for Planet Mu as well as his series of radio shows on BBC 1xtra. Here, Swindle gets 10 minutes to make a beat from beginning to end… Watch how he rolls, especially the swivel from the computer to the keyboard. Impressive.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Austin Peralta

Jez Smadja — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:19:34 +0000

Austin Peralta is the latest signee to Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label, but don’t expect him to be handy with a drum machine or know all about dynamic range compression like many of his label-mates, because Austin is a classically trained jazz pianist who has played with the best – his debut album, recorded at the age of just 17, was called Maiden Voyage (after the Herbie Hancock album) and featured Ron Carter on bass, just like Herbie’s 1965 opus. As a jobbing session musician in LA, Austin’s been drafted in for recordings for Erykah Badu and Shafiq Husayn as well as sitting in with Horace Tapscott’s Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra. And if the name sounds familiar, it’s because Austin is the son of Stacey Peralta, pro-skater and director of films such as Dogtown and the Z-Boys and surf documentary Riding Giants. His album for Brainfeeder, called Endless Planets, is due out in February and regrettably we can’t leak any tracks right now (though you can sample the track Algiers over at his MySpace). You can, however content yourself with this video of Austin collaborating with Dr. Strangeloop. And trust us, if you’re a fan of McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock or Ahmad Jamal – and even if you’re not – you’ll have your ears opened up with Endless Planets. Braps to Flying Lotus for sticking his nose out on this album… it’s not every label that has the cojones to release records without obvious commercial appeal.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Daft Punk “Derezzed”

andrew flanagan — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:00:39 +0000

Are you excited for Tron: Legacy, which is finally coming to theaters this Friday? Have you been following every lead and leak and specious rumor surrounding the film’s Daft Punk-composed score?

Well hold on to that enthusiasm tightly while watching the amazingly horrible video for “Derezzed,” one of the Daft Punkiest songs in their score (barely a violin in sight!). The stance dude takes before his bike is cued up? The polygonal phoenix? The lance? Um, enjoy.

Daft Punk – New Music – More Music Videos

Jacques Greene – The Look

Jez Smadja — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:43:03 +0000

There really is something of a deluge of house music floating about at the moment from young producers ranging from Fantastic Mr. Fox to Mount Kimbie to Hudson Mohawke to Funkineven. Add to that list young Canadian Jacques Greene who although initially linked to Scottish collective LuckyMe, has an EP coming out via L-Vis and Bok Bok’s Night Slugs label. Watch this promo for ‘The Look’ (nice concept about a girl who’s fallen asleep in a nightclub and makes her way home). The track, with its analogue synth washes, at one point it sounds uncannily like the theme to Twin Peaks. Not to be confused with Roxette’s ‘The Look’, it’s out December 14th.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2010

Jez Smadja — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:31:34 +0000

Abbie Trayler-Smith, Untitled 2, 2010

On show until February 2011 at the National Portrait Gallery in London is this annual award show for emerging talent in the world of contemporary photography. With 6,000 entrants whittled down to some 60 portraits, not only is the caliber of work on display unquestionable, but so too is the range of challenging subject matters on display. As Man Ray said about photography, “Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask ‘how’, while others of a more curious nature will ask ‘why’. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.”

David Chancellor, Huntress with Buck, 2010

The prize winners this year include David Chancellor’s shot of a 14-year-old female hunter on a private game reserve in South Africa with a dead impala flung over her horse; the highly controversial Portrait of my British Wife by Panayiotis Lamprou (hint: she’s not wearing any knickers); and Jeffrey Stockbridge’s beguiling image of two 20-year-old identical twins from Philadelphia who have turned to the street to fund their addiction to prescription drugs. Entrance to the exhibition is just £1 and, with portraits of Tony Blair, David Hockney and much more, it’s not all high jinks and heavy hearts.

David Graham, Not Even Magic Stopped the Genocide, 2009

BOSSA NOVA AND THE RISE OF BRAZILIAN MUSIC IN THE 1960s

Jez Smadja — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 14:00:55 +0000

Not exactly the catchiest book title in the world ever, but it’s another notch in the bed post for the publishing arm of Stuart Baker’s Soul Jazz records. Teaming up again with globe-trotting super DJ, Gilles Peterson, this is their second collaboration – the first, Freedom, Rhythm & Sound, collected free jazz record sleeves in one tome. As the title of the new book suggests, Bossa Nova and the Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s traces the evolution of this highly exportable music which has, for better or worse, become forever synonymous with the country.

“Bossa Nova music arrived in Brazil at the end of the 1950s with an optimism and modernism that parralleled the arrival of the new Brazilian president,” writes Stuart. “Juscelino Kubitschek, who promised ‘fifty years of progress in five’ in his election campaign and announced the building of a new capital city, Brasilia, deep in the heartland of Brazil. The city was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, a man who had just designed a new musical theatre production in Rio of a play written by Vinicius de Moraes and with music written by Antonio Carlos Jobim. These two, along with the singer João Gilberto were about to make Bossa Nova, the first modernist Brazilian art form, the most succesful Brazilian export since coffee.”

It goes without saying, the book also features some excellent record cover art. It should have graphic designers licking their lips with anticipation.

Tiombe Lockhart’s Cubic Zircornia London Show at the Hoxton Bar & Grill

Peggy — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 14:00:11 +0000

Last night, I had a chance to check out Tiombe Lockhart’s new band Cubic Zircornia at the Hoxton Bar & Grill. It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from the lovely TT so I was very curious to see what our baby Millie Jackson was up to. As always she’s still crazy and adorable on stage, while putting the boys in a the room in a predictable trance. Backed by her super charming band members Nick Hook and Daud Sturdivant, CZ played a 40 minute set that was a non stop tambourine beating, hips floating, whistle blowing experience – giving birth to what they coin as ethinic disco. Got to tell you how blown away I was by the show – completely unexpected. I didn’t even recognize Tiombe. She’s really come into her own. It’s awesome to see her find a sound/band that has the potential to shoot her into super club history. Cubic Zircornia is where live clubbing is at right now. Get it in!

Cubic Zirconia release their debut album February 8th on LuckyMe.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Track of the Day: “Good Day Today,” David Lynch

Matt Diehl — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:00:05 +0000

David Lynch has always expanded our minds as a maverick cinema auteur – from Eraserhead to The Elephant Man to Dune to Blue Velvet to Mulholland Drive to Twin Peaks, his transcendental visions have taken us to where we never expected, and we’ve never been the same since. It shouldn’t be such a surprise, then, that Lynch is equally surprising in the musical realm. But… It is.

Lynch has had his hand in musical projects before, with his Twin Peaks collaborator Angelo Badalamenti to DangerMouse (on their Dark Night of the Soul project), and the soundtrack music he uses in his films is fantastic. “Good Day Today,” Lynch’s debut single as an artist for the Sunday Best label (which is run by the amazing DJ/tastemaker Rob Da Bank), is still an eyebrow raiser. For one, instead of moody atmosphere, there’s a definite dance beat, and a poppy chorus; for another, the uplifting vibe of the song and synthetically processed vocals recall rave gods Underworld above all else. Who knew? Then again, leave it to Lynch to catch us all off guard yet again, even from our speakers…

Good Day Today by threeminutesthirtyseconds

Krystal Klear – TFYL (Hudson Mohawke rework)

Jez Smadja — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:00:20 +0000

I love the fact that 22-year old producer Krystal Klear was still in his nappies when New Jack Swing was popping the first time around, and is these days now digging in the crates to give the music a second lease of life. Does that mean New Jack Swing is now cool again? If so, it almost justifies all the years of abuse I suffered at the hands of my school friends for my Pure Swing compilations. Almost. But it’s more than just the Mac Band and BBD that makes Krystal Klear tick, and on his 12” release for Irish label All City it’s squarely in the Dam-Funk boogie arena that he plies his trade – delayed handclaps and vintage synths – as evidenced on A-side Tried For Your Love. This track also comes with a Hudson Mohawke rework (although reconstruction might be more accurate). On a Detroit techno flip with those uplifting Transmat piano chords, think Rythim is Rythim like it’s 1987 all over again. Electronic music really does seem to be eating itself these days. I wonder what its shit smells like?

Listen NOW: Primal Scream Revisit Screamadelica Live

Matt Diehl — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:00:20 +0000

Primal Scream made one of the most influential albums ever with Screamadelica. The classic album was released almost two decades ago, but it was so futuristic, it still sounds like tomorrow even today. Songs like “Loaded,” “Come Together,” and “Higher Than The Sun” bridged the gap between two generations of psychedelia, blurring the then-nascent sounds of rave electronica with kaleidoscopic, raw indie rock. Screamadelica was a mind blower then, and it is now, as Primal Scream’s recent concerts celebrating the album’s 20th anniversary make abundantly clear. On November 26 and 27, Primal Scream performed Screamadelica in its entirety, something that had never happened before; many of the album’s songs had never even before performed live. It’s a preamble, of course, for the inevitable new collector’s edition of Screamadelica, which actually will be worth buying thanks to a remaster by the band and Kevin Shields, the My Bloody Valentine sonic maestro and sometime Primal Scream member.

Thankfully, these historic Primal Scream shows were recorded. They’re available for just four more days courtesy of the BBC – listen here. And if you get there too late, here’s a selection of Screamadelic classics to tune in, turn on and drop out to:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jamie XX and Gil Scott Heron New Album “We’re New Here “

Peggy — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:00:05 +0000

Jamie XX and Gil Scott Heron are new here again in 2011. “We’re New Here” is a concept remix album – released February 21sst on Young Turks – which has The XX’s most adorable beat maker rework all 13 tracks of Gil’s XL album “Im New Here.” Jaime’s love for dubstep is quite apparent in this first release of “NY is Killing Me.” The video is directed by the dynamic duo of Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard. Judging solely from this cctv footage of both artists, you do get a sense that their moods and approach to music/work is more similar then different. Maybe that was point.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Mister Heavenly

andrew flanagan — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 04:37:31 +0000

Mister Heavenly is doing okay for a band with no listenable music. After announcing their existence last January, and Sub Pop today announced them as their latest signing; they’re going on tour supporting Passion Pit down the West Coast this month (with a desert foray); they have a shirt on their Facebook page, where they announced today to be the last of practice.

Made up of Man Man’s voice Honus Honus, Islands’ swagger Nick Thorburn, and most recently Joe Plummer from Modest Mouse, it’s anyone’s guess as to where they’re headed. Each of their respective (motherfucking successful) bands chases relatively disparate sonic carrots; Man Man’s percussion-heavy, Honus-centered carnival stomp, Islands’ smoothly sexed posh, and Modest Mouse’s dyed-in-the-wool indieness. So I guess they’ll sound like um, Surfer Blood?

If you go to a show and buy a CD-R or something, please send it our way.

Mister Heavenly Winter Tour Dates:
30-Nov      Seattle,WA — Moore Theater
1-Dec        Portland,OR — Crystal Ballroom *
2-Dec        San Francisco,CA — Cafe du Nord
3-Dec        Santa Cruz,CA — Civic Auditorium *
4-Dec        Pomona,CA — Fox Theater *
5-Dec        San Diego,CA — Soma *
7-Dec        Los Angeles,CA — Palladium *
8-Dec        Santa Barbara,CA — Granada Theatre *
9-Dec        Las Vegas,NV — House of Blues *
10-Dec      Salt Lake City,UT — Kilby Court

* w/ Passion Pit

Man Man, “Feathers”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Islands, “No You Don’t”

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Killian Martin

Jez Smadja — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:00:15 +0000

With his videos bearing expansive titles like A Skate Regeneration and A Skate Escalation, Killian Martin is bringing some Bourne Identity bombast to the skate world. Hailing from Madrid, Killian seems to have single-handedly reinvented the art of freestyle, melding the grace of Nureyev and the trickery of Ronaldinho. Cinematography by Brett Novak. Don’t try this at home, boys and girls.

Click here to view the embedded video.

BATTLE OF THE LOOP PEDAL : JAMIE WOON & ED SHEERAN

Jez Smadja — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:00:47 +0000

These are two friends who are both making a lot of noise in the UK right about now, with Jamie Woon’s ‘Night Air’ getting plays on Radio 1 from the likes of Benji B and Nick Grimshaw, while Ed Sheeran’s guitar/beatbox/rap/jukebox performance earlier this week at industry showcase ILuveLive was drowned in braps and two-finger salutes. Two different styles, with Jamie going for subtlety and texture, like Pepe Bradock meets Burial, in contrast to Ed Sheeran’s shoot-from-the-hip lyrics and catchy melodies which make ‘You Need Me’ an irresistible piece of pop – watch out for the 50 Cent meets Laid Blak medley at the end. Which one lights your torch?

Click here to view the embedded video.