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This sunday labor day weekend we’re closing down the NYC beach scene in style with a party at Caracas Arepa Bar on Far Rockaway Beach. The one DJ Ripley will be on decks celebrating her earthstrong and a PHD – Playa Hanging Degree. Chief Boima, DJ Ushka and myself represent for brown harder than a fleet of UPS trucks and DJ Shomi Noise from NYC’s Queer Latina Dance Party puts it down for our homegirl Ivette’s Queer of the Year award.

Beach, sand,  beer,  good eats, great music, no cover… you know what to do.

Beach 106 off the rockway shuttle train

 

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[screenshot from Sufi Plug Ins’ clapping drum machine, PALMAS]

This Thursday evening, Bill Bowen & I will present SUFI PLUG INs at Public Enemy producer Hank Shocklee’s Advanced Ableton Users meetup in Manhattan. Free with RSVP, live streaming. 7:30-10pm.

& on Friday Lamin Fofana and I are heading up to perform at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art, where will be joined by DJ Rizzla for a night of ‘DJs on the Harbor’, throwing down at their lovely waterfront space. Come through!

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Ever wonder why our records sound good? It’s because of a guy called Shawn Hatfield out in the Bay Area.  I first met Shawn years ago on the internet when I used to hang out on IRC in a chatroom with a bunch of other producers called #// (slash slash). He used to teach me crazy music science in MAX/MSP over a chat window just because he was a nice guy.  We kept in touch and when he opened his mastering business we started working together. He’s mastered my albums Flowers and Solar Life Raft as well as most Dutty Artz stuff in the past few years. He does a great job and is just a generally cool guy.  Recently he sent me an email with a link to an online fundraiser he is doing to help his father Jay Hatfield who is battling cancer.  If you are like me and most of the people I know and don’t have a square nine to five or work for the government you know how fucked up the health care system in this country is and how expensive it can be.  It’s not fair that someone should have to go through an incredibly draining battle fighting a disease and then have to go bankrupt afterwards to pay for their treatment.

Shawn has set up an online fundraising page to raise funds for his father’s treatment here.  He’s also a badass mastering engineer who you can hire to make your music sound awesome here.  In choosing to be musicians and work in this business we give up a lot of the stability and safety that people take for granted in normal life, things like health insurance. If you can relate maybe chip in a few bucks or hire Shawn to master some of your music.

 

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Perhaps the biggest thing happening in Brooklyn this weekend is the AfroPunk festival. I don’t think any other musical lineup has got me more excited for awhile, but as I was telling Ripley last night, I’m kind of mad that it’s made me realize that I belong to a demographic ;)

Around the Ft. Greene-Bed-Stuy sphere of influence (black Williamsburg?), it seems that everything else is being advertised as an after-party for that, so come to ours!

(more…)

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Dear Canada, this Sunday’s free lakeside event in Toronto looks to be truly epic. All sorts of multimedia installations & interventions, a pool & lake to dip in, and music provided by friends Venus X, Maga Bo, Poirier, Dos Mundos, and myself. See you there! FIRE ON THE WATER.

Here’s a thoughtful interview with organizers Christie & Marcus, and a chat I did with Toronto’s Now magazine.

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[Photo by Josh Rogosin]

Over the weekend, NPR (national public radio here in the US) aired a profile of me on their Studio 360 arts & culture show. Very exciting to get beamed into the ears of a million or so Americans… Host Kurt Andersen came out to my studio for a few hours of talk & filming. You can listen to the audio below or download from their site. There’s also a nice writeup includes a video of me showing Kurt the DJ basics.

To accompany the radio piece, we are staging a “DJ /rupture Remix Challenge.” They explain:

We want you to take the stems to “L’Avion,” by Nettle (DJ /rupture’s band project), and create your own remix — he’ll choose the winning remix and we’ll play it on the show.

The deadline to be considered for our contest is Sunday, September 2, 2012 at 11:59 EDT.

You can stream the song below and download a ZIP of the stems. Hint: the tempo is 86bpm and the time signature is 6/8 (kinda). I’m really looking forward to hearing how people reinterpret this material. The separated audio stems include voice, banjo, cello, percussion, electronics. Have fun with it! – risks will be rewarded. Or to put it more bluntly: THIS IS A GOOD CHANCE TO GET YOUR WEIRD MUSICAL IDEAS ONTO NATIONAL RADIO, FRIEND.

Here’s a video of an early version the song, “L’Avion,” which we wrote + first performed in Tangiers Morocco.

And last but not least — walking Kurt Andersen through the basics of DJing with a little help from Kelly Rowland:

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Caballo, an active producer, MC, and journalist for various blogs, is the man behind Latino Resiste, a label that pushes the boundaries of “authenticity”, through the digital fusion between culture and sound. Recently, Caballo released a remix EP, remixed by Mike Hatsis aka Banginclude and Barber Sonora, that explores the fusion of Afro-Colombian rhythms coming from the Pacific area of Colombia, with Moombahton. Putting our boundaries of culture pride aside, I think it is helpful that New York based producers are showing interest in this music. A very long story, short- the pacific area of Colombia is one of the most baron areas of Colombia. It was the least desired part of Colombia, in regards to colonial settlement. The music itself was always living in the shadows of Cumbia and Vallenato, which comes from the Atlantic area of Colombia. Its great to finally see this beautiful music breaking out of its once refined boarders within Colombia.

As mentioned by Caballo via Latino Resiste:

Ironically this album is released while Colombian people celebrate their battle of independence, while the minorities are struggling to exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over their territory.

Fortunately we could capture, compile, and share the whole movement; as it needed to be exposed outside the south american paradise, so it could be redefined by NY’s Banginclude and Barber Sonora.
The album drops 6 Bangers which flirt from dancehall to dembow, heavy bass and latin moombahton, while keeping the Pacific heritage of Gualajo, chirimia, marimba, and Choco’s rawness.

Lyrically conscious and musically rebellious!! Latino Resiste supports Minorities as we are part of them!!

You can grab the EP here! or Listen to it here

 

 

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MPeach (a.k.a. Mariana Martín Capriles) is a multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. Her  music is strongly influenced by a combination of Changa Tuki (Venezuela’s native ghetto-dance music), Afro-Caribbean beats and melodies rooted in traditional Venezuelan folk culture. She draws from a wide variety of musical inspirations, including “dembow, soukous, heavy bass, spanish reggae, hip hop, 4×4, grime, dancehall and kuduro,” making for a dynamic sound that stands all on its own.

Mpeach intersects music and visual art, where each side exists symbiotically as a compliment to the other as she present a fully audiovisual show. Her work is profoundly impacted by her individual cultural roots while reconstructed to reflect her global Internet-Age upbringing.

As a member of the now disbanded cult electronic band Todosantos (originators of the ‘tukky-bass’ sound), she’s opened for headlining acts such as M.I.A and The Beastie Boys, as well as performed at SXSW, POP Montreal and the CMJ Music Marathon.

Working independently as an audio/visual artist, MPeach has completed installations at BRIC Contemporary Art (Brooklyn, NY), One Art Space (New York, NY) and collaborated with the Joshua Light Show, Latin Grammy award winner Los Amigos Invisibles, the tropical bass party Que Bajo?, New York based culture blog Mex And The City, and the electro-dance punk band Heartsrevolution.

Mpeach preps her LP with the release of lead single Malania. The song in a chill-trap style has touches of dembow and Miami Bass, and is reminiscent of the sound of LA’s contemporary beat if it were transported to the Caribbean. The song was composed in collaboration between Mpeach and Venezuelan artist Sunsplash, produced by Dutty Artz’ Chief Boima, and mixed and mastered by Venezuelan super-producer Cardopusher.

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photo by Nicole Lesser

One of the best things about having a lineup of killer musicians performing at the same event is that everybody on board steps up their game… so with that, we are very happy to announce tonight’s SECRET GUEST, leader of New New York, Venus X!

If you’re in need of an introduction to Venus X, you can check the NY Times profile, or listen back to her appearance on Rupture’s Mudd Up! radio show on WFMU–

Better yet, come out tonight — she’s one of our favorite DJs!

Like Jace wrote: “seeing Venus on my radio show reminded me of how so many DJs just surf the wave of ‘new jams’ and dont really fuck with the form itself. Its so fresh and refreshing to experience Venus going for it, really working the CD-js in a percussive way, pulling and pushing sound around to create a thing in and of itself. That level of real formal creativity is rare in DJs (at the level of mixing craft, DJs tend to be kinda conservative, like many of the parties they play at) and in the case of Ghe20 G0th1k, this awesome, out-there style anticipates all the amazing social stuff they’ve got going on with their party.”

CHANGE THE MOOD.

Venus will be joining Dutty familia Chief Boima, birthday boy DJ Rupture, Chants (live performance, his NYC debut, in from Madison WI!) DJ Ushka, Atropolis, and Taliesin. Action-packed, socially-minded, all profits go towards a free block party event we’re organizing out in Sunset Park called ‘Beyond The Block’, and, yes we love you.

Dutty Artz presents CHANGE THE MOOD! a fundraiser party for Beyond The Block.

Fri. August 17th at Glasslands, 289 Kent Ave, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. 11:30pm. $10
Hosted by Pupa Bajah and Jasmin Cruz
NYC debut of Chants (live from Madison, WI)
*secret guest DJ – Venus X*
DJ Ushka vs. a Rhino
Chief Boima vs. a Robot
DJ Rupture vs. an Elephant
Taliesin vs. a Vampire
Atropolis vs. the Euro
visuals by Rainstick | Rupture’s birthday | silent auction fundraiser

Facebook RSVP

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Last night I hit the decks to put together 22 minutes of summer, blended and intensified for your listening pleasure. Stream below. Direct download here [50 MB]. Better yet, we’d love to see you at the party I’m throwing with Dutty Artz crew @ Glasslands in Williamsburg *tonight*! Here’s my original post about the event, a combination birthday party (let’s roar, fellow leos!), fundraiser, and dutty wine dance up.

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[Anthology of Booty]

It takes a few committed individuals to change how an entire city feels. I’ve perhaps never experienced this more than in Washington D.C. — forget all the suits selling off the American dream, my experience of D.C. is shaped by hanging out with inspiring community-conscious visionary musicians like the ladies of Anthology of Booty and the guys from Fugazi.

And tonight, DJs Bent, Mothersheister, and Natty Boom from Anthology of Booty are teaming up with iBomba’s Beto & Ushka to bring their AoB vibes to a free Brooklyn party at Bembe. details (FB invite), and peep the flyer and interview w/ AoB’s DJ Bent excerpted below:

What’s an Anthology of Booty party like?
A real mix of crowds sharing space in a party atmosphere. It’s a safe space — people will get wild, people will have fun, but violence or harassment will not be tolerated.

Given your anti-sexual harassment stance, why play raunchy songs?
The power of playing stuff like Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up” and people hardcore booty dancing, grinding, going crazy — how does that coexist in a space where you’re talking about not having harassment or this vibe that it’s a meat market? That’s the space we try to create: a place where people can go wild without someone else taking it [as an invitation to harass].

So, when A.O.B. spins misogynistic jams, it’s a political statement?
All parties are political, whether it’s a fundraiser for Occupy Wall Street or whether it’s Backdoor.

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Talented lurker? Underachieving overachiever? Nice person with some free time each week who’d like to join with something duttier? WE WANT YOU. We will provide varied, fun, if-you-want-to-learn-you-will-learn work, in an environment filled with great music & a team that’s guaranteed to up your game.

Interested street team / interns / satellite family members must live in or near New York City and have 5-10 hours a week available. The position is unpaid (we all volunteer our time here, too…) Please send a cover letter detailing who you are & what you’re into. This is not an environment for cut-n-paste resumes. We value dynamic, original thinkers and motivated people regardless of work or educational backgrounds. get in touch by emailing: family [at] duttyartz.com