Watch the trailer

http://radiohead-prague.nataly.fr/

Coati is releasing his new record Dancing for the Cabana Code in the Land of Boo-Hoo October 14th via the Rong Music label, and is available for stream. The record is a mash of African, lounge , exotica, hip-hop, funk, IDM, and keeps all its tributaries under a very relaxing spell. We aren’t browning our nose – it’s a keeper.

You can stream the album here.

I was totally happy with the idea of my purchase until… I discovered there’s going to be a Star Wars edition of the Droid 2 coming out in September! Making the pain even worse… It’s going to be an R2-D2-themed phone! (check out this uber-cool preview website here). It’s going to be available to order online only, with “exclusive Star Wars content and external hardware designed to look like the trusty Droid from the film saga” and an image of R2-D2 on the back. There’s apparently some kind of crazy treasure-hunt contest involved… I’m ferklempt, just ferklempt…

Then again, with a name like “Droid” (which apparently had to be licensed from the Star Wars folks), this development was probably inevitable. Apparently the tech blogs have been up on this for a minute, so where have I been? Now, I am currently crying robot tears… Well, in two years, when I’m due for an upgrade, if they have a Bladerunner edition, we’ll be all good. Until then—the Star Wars edition is definitely the Droid I want!

Besides checking out a couple sound stages along the tiny corner streets, I always look forward to the trip down to West Row where Norman Jay has been parking his Good Times Sound System there for the last 30 years.  Squished in the jubilation of  crowd, you feel like today’s irie music selection is most likely the same set you would of heard in the early days of Good Times double decker bus. You can always count on Norman Jay to make history still present. It’s so sad to see city’s best feel good moment pass- along with our summer days. We still got next year’s Carnival to look forward to…right?! That’s ages away!

In the meantime here is a tune to fall in the rapture of – courtesy of Uproot Andy’s “El Botellon.” Definitely reminds me of this bank holiday gone past. Stream it here and have your own little jump up at your desktop. Don’t worry no ones watching.

Part of what made that special was, despite the debt to DJ/electronic culture, each act really aspired—and succeeded—in putting a live show that thrilled as a complete experience. Openers Yacht truly set the bar high: for one, they were coming off one of the most compelling albums in recent memory, 2009’s See Mystery Lights. Yacht is most thought of as something of a one-man band for frontman Jona Bechtolt, although that changed with the addition of vocalist Claire L. Evans on See Mystery Lights, which was the indietronica equivalent of Fergie joining the Black Eyed Peas, with the exception that the move actually produced incredible music. In their performance at the bowl, however, Yacht the band experience was anything but a shrinking duo of indie violets: Bechtolt (resplendent in James Murphy-esque white suit) and Evans were backed up by an eight-member dance troupe in matching black/white outfits and a many member backing band that including at times three percussionists; the drummer even performed a drum solo in a tux! Evans was wonderfully Robyn-esque with her deconstructed, geometric hair, clothing and dance moves, slinking akimbo like a principal dancer in a greed-decade Karole Armitage production. The band merged arch post-punk attitude with real grooves and homemade humor; the presentation evoked 10 percent Napoleon Dynamite, 20 percent Liquid Sky, 20 percent Liquid Liquid, 20 percent Shriekback, and 10 percent the disco grooves of Chic. (Chicback, anyone?) It was an amazing show, one that truly exceeded expectations: Evans and Bechtolt really held their own, not just as openers but also commanding the huge expanse of the Bowl’s stage.

Robert Palmer music-video girls were seemingly the theme of the evening: Chromeo came out to similarly attired back up singers/dancers in monochromatic outfits (Chromeo’s featured red and black – the colors of anarchy – as opposed to Yacht’s black/white costuming). The sounds were as retro sonically as they were visually—the Montreal duo of P-Thugg and Dave 1 evoked Prince and Hall And Oates in their litebrite computer funk: fat synth bass, vocoders, and sexy come ons ruled the roost – sings like “Tenderoni” turned low pastiche into high art. Chromeo’s visual motif of two pairs of disembodied female legs proved a fantastic visual, the gams glowing ominously in different colors; it was like Vargas meets Magritte, with a beat you can dance to on hits like “Night By Night” and “Bonafide Lovin’.” These dudes know their way around a strobe light, their percussion jams were totally infectious, when they sang “I Want My Chromeo,” to the tune of “I Want My MTV,” well, that’s when the universe collapsed on itself in a state of perfect convergence.

The Chemical Brothers headlined the event, as well they should, being rave royalty and all. The Chems have so many hits, in fact, they opened the show with one of their biggest, the Q-Tip accompanied “Galvanize,” which was accompanied by amazing blue light imagery and Chem Ed Simons exhorting the crowd by example to put their hands in the air. Surrounded by banks of tech that looked like they could’ve come from the Avatar set, Simons and Chem cohort Tom Rowlands proceeded to crank out one of the most epic and original hour and a half shows seen ‘round these parts in some time. While Rowlands and Simons attempted stage presence—walking to the lip of the stage, say, to engage the crowd—it wasn’t really necessary, as this was as close to a dj set as live music can be, and pretty much that’s the point. If anything, this was the utopian ideal of the DJ set vibe, albeit crafted with vintage synths and other winsome gear, not turntables. “Galvanize” proved an epic liftoff to one of the Chems’ best sets, which featured o.g. hits like “Hey Girl, Hey Boy,” “Star Guitar,” “Out of Control” and “Saturate,” but really came to life on songs from the duo’s new album, Further. Rowlands and Simons really do have one of the greatest, most colorful visual shows, with lasers and surreal visuals featuring robots, scary rave clowns and all manner of incredible, artful psychedelic imagery, but it was the analog swooshes and dives of new track “Escape Velocity” that put the “mental” in experimental. Yes, this was incredibly forward music, especially to play to a crowd of 18,000, but rendered with the scale so that the presentation made sense. Seeing the catalog of the Chemical Brothers in this manner, one realizes that they are not “rave,” or “electronica,” but really a timeless block-rocking genre unto themselves. As they exited to the words “Love Is All” flashing on the enormous LED screen behind them, it proved a fitting message to cap an evening spanning three different eras of sublime electronic funk. “You are all my children now,” exclaimed the Chems’ scary rave clown at one point in their set, and from the audience through Yacht and Chromeo, he was right. It’s always the Summer of Acid House when the Chems play, just updated for the present day, and tonight was no different…

Is that tradition Jack Spade and K-Swiss have announced a similar, but more straightforward – likely less aggravating – collaboration surrounding the first reprinting of Take Ivy, a book of photography featuring shots of sharply-dressed bourgeoisie during the 1960s. K-Swiss and Jack Spade’s contribution to the relaunch is a heavy-grade sweatshirt with silkscreened elbow patches, and a pretty sharp belt, both meant to update the styles featured in the book.

The package will be available August 31st only at Jack Spade retail.

Indeed, the Glitch Mob’s innovative head-nod side has come back with a vengeance in their new mixtape, a genius companion piece that redefines Drink The Sea’s moodscapes brilliantly.  It does so by pairing the album’s instrumentals and beats with a cappella vocals and grooves from the likes of Lil Wayne, M.I.A., Nas, Jay-Z, Daft Punk, Dr. Dre, Mobb Deep, Freddie Gibbs, Young Jeezy, Busta Rhymes and more. It’s like Drink The Sea has entered a new dimension—as if the radio actually had something decent and adventurous to listen to. One of the highlights is Glitch Mob’s take on La Roux’s smash “In For The Kill.” “In For The Kill” has proven a resilient remix foil—dubstep king Skream had an absolute smash with his tweaked, low-end friendly version —and in the Mob’s hands it really swings anew, La Roux’s melodic hooks clashing excellently with their sonic swerves. This is real future funk, the sound of tomorrow today, all with a beat you can move to. Download everything here, and thank me in the morning…

Click here to view the embedded video.

back when the Panorama Steel Pan competition was held in Wormwood Scrubs:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

back when Ms Dynamite did a PA for Heartless Crew. Oh snap, was that only last year?

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Am I going Carnival? Of course I’m going Carnival. You mad?

Click here to view the embedded video.

We’ve already hipped you to how cool Old Style Guitars is, and how rad it was that indie-band-with-integrity-of-the-moment The National played an intimate, secret show there for the shop’s grand opening. The thrill of seeing The National play in the sunshine on a loading dock with just thirty-forty Silverlake hipsters in attendance was a hard-to-believe moment… But now there’s proof!

This video on YouTube captured the event’s essence with iPhon cinema-verité élan. It features The National playing their biggest hit, the Barack-candidacy classic “Fake Empire,” with intense, stripped-down delicacy and, believe it or not, humor. “This is the Dave Matthews version,” they exclaim from the makeshift stage when the gee-tars just get a little too jazzbo, and it’s a perfect moment, one that pretty much encapsulates the entire experience of being there.

Honestly, there isn’t enough room to list Brian Eno’s great contributions to music, art, design, politics, technology and conceptual thinking (of course you could just read Geeta Dayal’s great book on Eno, Another Green World). What’s more, the man just doesn’t stop: he’s signed a new record deal with always-forward electronic label Warp Records, with a full-length release planned for November. Entitled Small Craft On A Milk Sea, the album was created with two frequent Eno collaborators, electronic musician and producer Jon Hopkins and experimental composer Leo Abrahams, who’s worked with the likes of Imogen Heap, Ed Harcourt, and David Holmes. “It contains the fruits of several years of jams between the three of us,” Abrahams said in a blog post. “I’ve not heard anything quite like it — it sounds ‘live’ and ‘alien’ at the same time. Some things have been permitted to survive, which only Brian would have had the courage to let go, and it’s so much the better for it.” (More from Abrahams and a track list for Small Craft On A Milk Sea can be found here.

It’s been five years since Eno’s last proper solo work and two since his collaboration with David Byrne, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today—and the fact that Eno will be reuniting yet again with Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music—makes anticipation high. So far, there’s been no leaked music, but here you can see the amazing, artistic packaging that Eno & co. have come up with. It represents that classic Eno vanguard spirit—if even the packaging can take the project to new heights, then it will be done.

Look Mum No Hands is one of a new breed of cycle cafes. Here you can get your bike repaired while you grab a cappuccino or one of their fine beers (the home brew is a brand called Slag – and apparently a few too many will turn you into one). They organize film screenings in the evenings, and did we mention the food – the pies come highly recommended, as do the homemade cakes. It goes without saying, there’s secure bike parking in the courtyard, and you can meet other cyclists, browse through copies of Rouleur magazine and plot how to eradicate the evil motorcar from the streets of L0ndon once and for all. Rah-hah-hah-hah-hah.

As if that wasn’t enough, Warp have announced a new Flying Lotus EP – Pattern+Grid World – out in October. Mesmerizing artwork from Theo Ellsworth accompanies the release. Here’s the first slice of the pie for you to savour, a track called ‘Camera day’…

Flying Lotus – Camera Day (taken from Pattern+Grid World) by Warp Records

The largest graffiti festival hits the walls of Islington, London this weekend featuring Europe’s top artists.  Coined as the “International Wall Street Meeting,” MOS will showcase aersol styles from France, Greece, Germany, Spain and across the UK along with fresh live music. The outdoor block party began in Germany in 2002 and since has grown into a calendar of events in 16 countries with over 100,000s of spectators. Now in its third consecutive year in London the blank canvas is set for twelve towering walls, a pop up gallery, rotating billboards and a slew of live underground music. Now that the hype of slick canvas street art is finally dying down, its so good to see raw illustrations back in their natural space and appreciated by everyday people.

A clip from last year’s Wall Street Meeting:

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The most played track this summer has got to be James Blake’s “CMYK.”  Having been released only a few months back,  it seems the blogosphere world can’t get  it out of their system and neither can we. Like most post -dubstep producers, James love for American R&B is apparent as he samples beats and adds his own morphing bass techniques to make Aailyah and Kelis’s vocals only recognizable by hook – not pitch. The track is masterstroke and described as this year’s Hyph Mngo.

We’ve heard that James is now working on a vocal/piano ep. Have a a listen below to his soul-wrenching cover of Fiest’s “Limit to Your Love.” The kid’s got talent.

“There’s nothing wrong with you cashing in on winners, but you gotta know where it comes from and understand it and everybody can be happy and get paid.” Some context:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

DJ Premier posted a bunch of classic, rarely seen videos revolving around D&D (now renamed HeadCquarterz by Premier and Charlie Rock). Two notables: footage of Craig-G, writer of many of of the freestyles in 8 Mile, and some video from a party they threw and filmed for a press kit in support of The D&D Project. It was called 40’s and Blunts and was apparentlt so crazy they couldn’t even let their friends in, one of them including Jay-Z.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Atwood-Ferguson may have topped himself with his latest, however, a cover of Donny Hathaway’s stirring R&B classic “Someday We’ll All Be Free.” “Someday…” is also representative of the resurgence of O.G. soul singer Bilal, who is on a serious roll, bringing new passion to Hathaway’s socially conscious lyrics, making them more relevant than ever. Together with Atwood-Ferguson’s airily symphonic sweep, they make a swirling, organic and joyful noise—classic to death, yet fresh in its rawness and embrace of urgent emotion.

Come rain, come shine, on waterlogged or frozen pitches, amateur football players across the county – in Liverpool, in Nottingham and Scunthorpe too – assemble every Sunday morning, bleary-eyed from the night before, but unbowed. Their wives hopefully haven’t dyed their socks pink, and the dog hopefully won’t have eaten their boots. They can take out all their unbridled aggression on the opposition, or the referee, or both; and for 90 minutes they can relive their childhood fantasies, of being John Barnes or Paul Gascoigne, or Vinny Jones if they think they’re hard enough.

It’s this romance of Sunday league football that’s the subject of Reality Football by photographer Alan Powdrill. A real labor of love, it has taken him three years to complete. He’s travelled up and down the country taking photos, starting off in Hackney Marshes, East London, with its 85 pitches that make it the biggest football field in Europe. The images are a reminder that the Beautiful Game isn’t about 7-figure salaries, it’s about grit and determination and that unexplainable buzz you get from kicking a football about, and getting covered in mud.