[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhDthllmro8[/youtube]
I think I lost my flipcam last week- or it got stolen. It doesn’t really matter since I cant edit the HD footage on my Acer + it just eats up memory with videos I can barely replay. My homie Justin has a nice camera though- and last week we did a test run for a hopefully vaguely ongoing, but maybe never again, video series looking at studios and producers in Kingston. Supposed to reach to Bigship next week, but time is sticky in Jamaica. Enjoy.
Blog (2008-2018)
Interview: Andrew Dickson wants 2 complete your collection(s)
Last week a link started floating around to DL the entirety of Lil B’s myspace tracks. Notoriously, B made over 100 profiles and filled them each with a few based freestyles. The 2.5 GB, 676 track, multipart collection (and 20 page tracklist)wasn’t compiled by the based god himself though- it is the work of an obsessive completist and digital archivist named Andrew Dickson. I found Dickson on twitter and quickly realized that his myspace collection wasn’t the first, or even the most ambitious of his archival projects. What drives fandom like this? Why share with the world a prized collection that any Master Chef would be proud of? I hit him with some questions to find out.
T: What other completist type zip folders have you created/curated and posted?
D: I’ve made quite a few and the majority of them are collections of compilation & remix tracks. The only time I ever thought someone would be interested, however, was for my first Hip Hop-related one (a Jay Electronica compilation). The first one ever made was for Aphex Twin, but I’ve done them for (as you said) Lil Wayne, Animal Collective, The Velvet Underground and a few others.
T: Why do this sort of work? How do you understand this sort of archive – when obviously anyone could spend hours dling and parsing through the internet. part of the joy for master chefs seems to be chasing down and completing things themselves, ie spending a lot of time on hulkshare and maybe even arguing numbers re: releases/unreleased leaked whatever based tracks.
D: The initial reasoning is always because I want to complete my own personal collection for whatever artist happens to be the focus. I have quite an organized, lengthy collection of music, and the primary focus in acquiring music has always been ‘the studio album’. As I get more into a band, I want to really hear everything they put out, and I normally spend some time searching and researching just where their material has all gone – normally there are loads of studio tracks that were never officially released on an album. Rather than just downloading a bunch of separate .mp3s, I try to compile and organize them where-ever possible. The idea of sharing them with the internet came from the idea that I’m pretty sure most fans wouldn’t mind one, well-sourced download for, say, all of Lil B’s rare myspace tracks. I completely understand the joy that comes with ‘searching’ for secret tracks, but I also understand that in the future, many of these will be lost. Thinking on it now, I guess you could say future fans of an artist would benefit the most from a time like this. Look at Harry Smith’s collection – after the depression, all this old folk music was lost and the only reference any one had was his collection of 78†records.
Hit the jump for a grip of DL links and the rest of the interview
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The West Coast Needs Love Too
Its 11 in Kingston which means it’s time for a nap and then a couple hours of Weddy-Weddy and then a longer nap. But in New York Brent Arnold is sacrificing a Afreet while Jace runs an ekg strapped to its chest through his Sufi Plug-Ins to make sure everyone is in tune for tomorrows free Nettle show at Zebulon. If that isn’t enough to make me fly back, New York Tropical finally starts back up on Friday. But the West Coast Needs Love Too. Joseph Stewart is helping to bring a little more intimacy to Los Angeles on Thursday- I asked him a few questions about what his new night, 2True is all about.
T: What inspired y’all to start the night?
J: My club partner Max Krivitzky and I went to see Kyle Hall and Carl Craig play at a big Scion-sponsored event in a cheesy Hollywood club and the promoter had hired a Funktion-One soundsystem. I’d never heard anything like it in my life. I’m an audio engineer and studied electronic music in school so I’m very sensitive to the quality of sound but before that night I’d never thought that level of fidelity was possible in a club environment. One of the reasons I love sound is that it literally touches you – sound itself is the compression and rarefaction of air exciting your insides – and on a Funktion-One system you feel it very clearly all around your head and chest and it’s not painful. That night Max and I started talking about how great it would be to have that kind of sound for more underground parties with no theme and minimal “production”.
T: Given that the lineup looks pretty similar to parties that seem to jump off every week, what are you guys going to offer that isn’t already going on in L.A.?
J: We are very lucky at the moment to have a good thing developing here in LA but since Wildness (Wu Tsang, Total Freedom and Nguzunguzu’s old party) stopped happening we’ve had to chase the dance a little bit. Mustache Mondays and A Club Called Rhonda in particular are always incredible and book amazing djs, but we’re after something a little more intimate with where djs can really experiment and do things they wouldn’t normally in a larger venue. The non-theme is – great sound, small room and international bass musics (particularly of the house diaspora). As for the lineup, Total Freedom, Kingdom and the Nguzus are not only friends but 4 our favorite djs and majorly inspirational to us so it only made sense to invite them to play our first night. Also our friend Hans-Nikke Nielsen, a recent transplant from Perth and very talented dj, is actually making what I believe is his first LA appearance…
T: What’s inspiring to you about nightclub spaces, why make more nightclub space?
J: I think the main thing is that they facilitate what our friend the artist Brian Rogers called “an impersonal intimacy,” which people talk about in histories of the Paradise Garage or any famously mixed club. Reading your account of the Baile funk in Brazil reminded me of this as did Wildness (Wu Tsang, an artist who organized Wildness with Total Freedom and Nguzunguzu, is working on a film, Damelo Todo, that works on these social relationships). I guess we want to create a sonically-activated safe-space for impersonal intimacy. More wisdom from Brian: “Music is always promiscuous, always crossing borders…it’s us that have to catch up and make good on that.”
T: What is the dream for 2true? And how does that fit into the existing scene in L.A.
J:We’d really like to develop enough of a regular draw so that we can eventually focus pretty much entirely on unknown and emerging djs except for a few special events. This is a very exciting time for dance music and we have heard enough bedroom djs and producers around the world blow our minds to know that we want to hear things develop regularly on a Funktion-One with a sweaty room full of our closest friends. We don’t really know how that will fit into our existing scene but we’re psyched to find out.
DJ RUPTURE LAUNCHES BEYOND DIGITAL: MOROCCO
Over two years ago Jace and I started talking about doing an artist residency project in Morocco. Five years ago Jace started talking to Maga Bo about how boring clubs and festivals are and what sort of more in-depth work they could do, as musicians, as DJs, as curators, as artists, and as friends. Beyond Digital is finally here. The future vision is an international non-profit that curates artist residencies focused on interesting localizations of international tech. Cell phone banking, Berber Auto-Tune, Mesh Networks in Cairo, Pirate Distros…..
In June Jace, Bo, John Francis Peters, Carolyn Lazard and I will go to Marrakesh. More people will come to help with documentation and to complete their own projects- this is the group that’s locked in so far. Everyone has different priorities- but we’ll be working together on everything. Bo is going to record an album in a DIY studio we build. John, who is the photo editor at The Fader, is going to complete photo-essays and teach digital photography. Jace is going to follow Berber Auto-Tune to its originary-point and beyond. Carolyn is going to film documentary shorts. I’m going to try and keep everything organized while doing my own research on small studios and DIY digital culture.
We will also be putting on skill-shares and media production workshops. Everything we do will be documented and spread out from Morocco through museum shows, lectures, dvds, streaming and just about every other format you can imagine translating a month into. On the ground we’ll interface with Dar Al-Ma’mûn cultural center and Arab Media Lab.
We are working behind the scenes and non-disclosure agreements to lock down some serious institutional, grant, and corporate support. BUT- right now we need YOUR HELP. We need to send Jace and Bo to Morocco in the spring to do preliminary organization and networking to make sure everything goes smoothly in June. The main cost here will be travel expenses (transatlantic flights, local car rental, frugal accommodations & food, translator). Part of the money raised will be used to create a website. Anything over the amount we’re asking for will be re-invested in the June portion of the project. Project donors can receive curated CD’s from Moroccan markets, signed prints from John Francis- Peters, instruments, custom mix tapes, and if you feel like balling the fuck out, you can even pledge your way to Jace and Bo djing your dinner party, wedding, or day at the beach. Help us get there.
#REALTALK DIGITAL MARKETING FOR A MAJOR
If you follow Shadetek’s blog you know we have been thinking alot about digital marketing, how to monetize content, and keep making the music that we love. It has been a busy winter for DA, we linked with Leeor from Friends of Friends PR to help amplify and sharpen our message, Jace and I started to engineer Beyond Digital, a non-profit that funds international arts residencies and interventions, we joined forces with Emeka Alams from Gold Cost for a capsule line (and that’s just a taste of the plans that are not TOP SECRET, SECRET OR CONFIDENTIAL). Just to keep things hectic I moved to Kingston, AKA HUSTLE UNIVERSITY, where even the kid that opens the gate is just waiting to play you his newest riddims off a usbstick. MOVE QUICKLY AND GET WEIRD. Mine deep for the magic cambio strategy that converts cultural capital to liquid capital fast enough to keep us all eating.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUs7iG1mNjI[/youtube]
With that in mind, I reached out in December to Stephanie Brown about an interview. She’s a Digital Marketing Manager for a major label in Canada. I wanted to know more about what exactly her job entailed- and what bets the people with the money and infrastructure are making on how to sell content. #realtalk bizness
T: As a Digital Marketing Manager for a major Label in Canada, what exactly are you responsible for?
S: I direct strategy for marketing our artists online in Canada. When we have an album coming out, marketing managers will meet with me to discuss what sort of promotional support we can give the release online, and where to best spend their ad dollars. The idea is to create awareness and hype about the artist by placing content on the entertainment and music sites that will get the greatest visibility in Canada. So, when the album finally drops, audiences will recognize the artist and hopefully be inclined to buy the album. I manage relationships with a number of partner sites who use our content from our artists (electronic press kits, interviews, etc) to support their editorial coverage, which is really a win-win situation. Additionally, I plan social media promos & contests, aid with online ad buys, and oversee our direct-to-consumer marketing channels.
T: Social media seems to be most powerful when an artist is directly communicating with fans- but obviously most big label social media is not being generated directly by the artist – who actually is sitting on the computer updating each artists facebook, myspace, etc- do you guys have back end access that streamlines all of this stuff?
S: We monitor our artist’s social media platforms in terms of numbers, just to see who’s gaining momentum. But aside from that, artist management is typically responsible for updating those properties. We offer suggestions, but the decision lies ultimately in the hands of management. For some of our domestic artists, we’ll post news and happenings on their Facebook and Twitter pages if we’re requested to do so. We’re always transparent about it, so we sign off on our posts as “Team” whoever. Many artists actually do post themselves, or work closely with their managers to establish their digital identity.
T: How is the balance understood between digital and more traditional marketing? Are marketing plans all done holistically or is digital and traditional really heavily divided?
S: The digital element of marketing plans is undoubtedly an important facet, but it is typically independent from television, print and radio. It’s always a point of reference, because we want to ensure that the messaging is cohesive across all mediums, but it’s still its own world. However, if we wanted to run an online promo on a large scale, we’d be sure to support it with traditional marketing. Those promos are typically those with a big budget and a kickass prize-like a meet and greet with an A-list artist in Australia, for example. The submissions would be collected and shared online, but we’d use print, radio, and TV to direct people to the contest website. Otherwise, a portion of the total marketing budget will simply be allotted to online, and then it’s up to me and the digital team to direct where to best spend it.
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KEXP Music That Matters Podcast
KEXP is a dope radio station in Seattle- and even though I left Seattle for NY five years ago- it is still one of my favorite stations for their sick DJ roster. DJ Riz basically made me fall in love with radio. Kid Hops holds things down on the dubwise spectrum and Alex Ruder has recently brought a welcome breath of fresh air into the station. It was a no brainer when DJ Chilly asked if we wanted to include Kingdom’s remix of Rita Indiana’s “Los Poderes” on the latest Music That Matters podcast. The tracklist reads like a Tropical Roll call of DA homies.
1. Sonora – Memoria
2. Rita Indiana – Los Poderes (Kingdom Remix)
3. Frikstailers – Cumbianchamuyo
4. ChocQuibTown – De Donde Vengo Yo
5. Ana Tijoux – 1977
6. Los Rakas – Abrazame (Uproot Andy Remix)
7. Chico Mann – Mentirosos
8. Joan Soriano – MarÃa Elena
9. Grupo Fantasma – Montañozo
10. Davila 666 – Callejón
11. Tremor – Espina
12. Toy Selectah – Half Colombian Half Mexican
13. Cuarto Poder – Solo Tu Tienes La Llave
14. Poirier feat. Boogat – Que Viva
15. Banana Clipz – Coupe Cumbia
16. Uproot Andy/Geko Jones – Manuelita Remix\
17. Novalima – Libertà 18. Very Be Careful – La Alergia
19. Madera Limpia – Perro Que Ladra
Stream it:
[audio:http://feeds.kexp.org/~r/kexp/musicthatmatters/~5/3PAll3gCSbY/96cb74a8-2609-4be9-92c7-96c77efaf6b3.mp3]
Send Me Some Success
Merry Christmas, if you celebrate these sort of things. It’s hot in Kingston and the holidays are confusing for me without snow or even a jacket.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr-LdIZcmqI[/youtube]
The hustle doesn’t stop. Not sure what charity to give to this holiday season? If you care about black/queer/bass/culture/visual_house/future_NYC stop by DA extended family Le1f‘s kickstarter for his new noir-noir mixtape and send him some success. Dude deserves it like few other people I know. He’s been 100% DIY for a minute and it’s time to push him to that next level.
So much madness is lining up for DA next year that I’m tripping thinking that if half of it get’s done it will be amazing. Thanks for sharing it with us. We grind for you.
Stepping Razor: Breaking Point Vol 3.
Dre is one of Sharon’s (endless) nieces and nephews calling “Auntie Sharoooon” through the Solid office. He also runs Shockwave Inernational. They just dropped breaking point Vol. 3. I was driving with Timberlee to the re-opening of Kartel’s nightclub The Building last night and she kept pulling up on Mavado’s “Stullesha” which I hadn’t heard before and serves as a follow-up of sorts to long distance anthem “Stulla” – it’s on Stephen’s “Winnings Riddim” which is just perfect. I was trying to remember the name of the tune this morning when Dre linked me on FB to the DL of Breaking Point- BOOM. Not everything’s perfect though and I’m guessing most people will get annoyed at the break in mix that comes about two thirds through the mix. In my imaginary Jamaica, sessions never went off to Rhihanna or Nelly. But thats the real world music- so if you can bare through another teach me how to Dougie lesson- grab the untracked version. If you want to do some selective editing grab the tracked version.
grab the whole riddim pack c/o DZ HERE. Below are a few photos from a Baby Cham, Bounty Killer, Tanto Blacks show in Portmore last Friday.
Touch Down in Kingston Town
I flew from Rio to Kingston on Friday. Round four. Buenos Aires, Rio, São Paulo, now Kingston. A year of bass music, soundsystems, studios, ’nuff sessions and building the DA family. I’m researching what techniques enable artists, managers, promoters, pirates, and labels to eat off music – usually with dramatically less resources/infrastructure than there is in NYC. Mostly I’ve been bouncing around cities and their public transport systems to one-off meetings and parties. I’m trying something different in Jamaica and settling in to start work with Sharon Burke and her empire, Solid Agency. If you’ve done dance hall business, you know Sharon. But if you’re just a fan you might never of heard of the hardest working woman in Jamaica. She gets to the office first, spends all day working a grip of Black Berrys, leaves last, and even on the way home last night with her feet up, she was sealing deals for big shows while Ice, one of her drivers, swerved through Kingston traffic. Leftside’s impersonation is spot on. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThDFToJc8Hk[/youtube]
Solid handles artist management and booking, as well as being involved in events and just about every other facet of the industry. Kevin ‘Payday’ Green’s Alliance aligned studio is in the back- and even though it’s a humble affair, it’s nothing for Bounty Killer, Elephant Man, or Mavado to roll through in a day, along with ’nuff artists waiting their chance to run up the ranks. When no one’s voicing, the studio door opens and the near-fields get turned up to 11, pumping the latest tunes and unreleased riddims into the yard.
I’m hoping my updates can be more regular now that I’m down here. First order of business is to start making some radio rips. You know when you’re driving through BK, or picking up Boston’s Hot 97 and you don’t want to finish you trip for fear of losing the pirate signal? It’s like that all the time, every day down here. Except you never drop the signal – of course Daggering and Gun Man lyrics are all officially banned- you have to get to a session for that- but it’s still fresh to death.
And don’t sleep on Natalie Storm’s new mix. She said she made it after a rough break up and a period of abstinence and it’s dripping with sex. Between her calculated dive into house, electro and dancehall, and Dylan Powe’s burner Wiley voiced Showa Eski Riddim. Good things soon come for Prodigal and Federation.
If you have people down here, or spots you love, and want to get in touch. I’m always down to build. TallyBower AT GGGGmmmmmAALLLE. Already looking forward to Dre Skull, DJ Ripley, The Mad Decent Boyz, Toddla T and a few others being around. I’ll be here until March. Respect to Erin Hansen and Erin MacLeod for getting me sorted so far.
WAKE UP, WAKE UP…..
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpBP9dALcWw[/youtube]
Welcome to the Jungle… Almost
I’m in Belem. One of the last outposts of high-rise condos before Amazonia’s dirt roads, lush vegetation, secret knowledge, cattle ranches and soya farms define the landscape. The river itself is a ruddy, raw-umber brown. I came here for Tecno Brega. The electronic side of Brega, a sprawling genre designation that seems to include everything from melodic love songs to 85 BPM electro bangers. On the phone with DA’s general counsel Pierce last week I said it was music that not even Diplo could sell to midwestern teens- but now that I’ve started to hear a bit more, I’m not so sure. Some of it sits surprisingly well with global bass aesthetics- but the rest is Susan Sontag approved schlock. A popular production technique is to extract the main melody of a major global pop hit, & re-program it with 80’s synth presets and record with Portuguese lyrics heavy on Corazon-thematics. It sounds like shit – except when it’s amazing. Case in point below- this animated gif version is nice too. (Apparently this track is “knock off” Tecno Brega from Bahia.)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8ehyDnHcVE[/youtube]
My host here is Patricktor4, a dj who reps the Amazonian sound with his Baile Tropical parties all over Brasil. Yesterday morning we went down to the amazing Belem river-front market- think Folton Fish Market meets your favorite Botanica cooked in the Amazon. I ate river oysters, (“THAT IS VERY VERY DANGEROUS BECAUSE IT IS LIVING,” said Patrick, but yo I LOVE OYSTERS) that a mobile vendor was carrying around in a metal tin with no ice- just salt and lime in the 98 F heat. 60 cents! After a well deserved siesta we ate dinner at the mall and bounced to Club Africa! to see the Vetron aparelhagem.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei209xb83QY&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
The aparelhagem stacks had custom air-brushed Vetron speaker grills showing you how to Faixo the V (think Rasta/ROCKAFELLA compass/ruler/diamond). The club decor was huge “African” sculptures and fake thatch roofs and trees- essentially an oversized/huge set of grass huts. You bought tickets through a one brick gap in a grey wall. Oh, did I mention the DJ booths were stylized neon and LED laden space crafts of unknown provenance. The DJ’s wore 80’s aerobics outfits and freestyled and did call and response constantly over tracks. Women and men alike were rocking bedazzled jeans and tops. Vetron used to just make popular mp3 mix/folder cds- but started to throw parties a couple of years ago as well. Some of the other big sounds are Super Pop, Ruby Boy and Negro Princesa. Grab some pirated copies of pirate copies of Brega cds HERE. GOOD COPY BAD COPY DOC segment on BREGA HERE
(Sadly I only took video on the flipcam- which I can’t edit, or even really playback on my little acer netbook- but hopefully can final cut somewhere when I arrive in Kingston next thursday- JA people/homies get at me!)
We were there for about two hours- the party hadn’t really started to jump-off and was about half empty when we left. The DJ had already played a popular brega remix of “We No Speak Americano” three times- at just about the same rate as we were finishing our ice buckets of beer. We bounced to a live Brega show in a huge warehouse space with at least tw0 hundred motorcycles outside and 5k people inside. The stage acts were boring but tucked under one of the second levels of the building was a heavy vibes, S&M leather-walled dance cave playing even worse techno but with the most outrageous fog/lazer scenario I have ever seen in such a small space. It was the opposite of a chill out room. I lasted just long enough to shoot some video. Finally I fell asleep next to a set of new Honda motorcycles adorned with smiling, white, fake blond Brazilians.
But we still had to make it to the periphery for a private party Patrick was playing at one of those weird house/complexs that people rent for parties. Blearily I watched a Doors/Johny cash cover band while a bunch of rockers in gothy Halloween costumes danced and stood around a giant set of aquariums. I though about going for a swim, but the pool wasn’t quite warm enough. I fell asleep again, to Kool Keith outlining his policy on bitch contact and pitch altering. Someone drove us home.
Meanwhile the police are doing some serious urban re-structuring in Rio, sending the Navy, Army and Police into a few Favelas with tanks to root out drug dealers. Watching the T.V. coverage (where they keep comparing the action to Troop De Elite) it’s not hard to understand why the Brazilian elite lives behind huge fucking walls and endless security cameras networked with endemic class/racism. Now they are parading some supposed dealers they caught around by the neck while giving an interview. I feel bad for these low level hustlers dying and defending an empire that doesn’t even make them rich. The show, Fantastico, keeps cutting to the same footage of a favela flat screen tv and hot tub as if to prove “THEY MADE ALL THIS MONEY SELLING DRUGS.” It’s complicated, and I’m no expert on the favelas that a third of Rio’s residents call home- but even with my limited language skills it is easy to tell how fucked up the reporting is in this country. Apparently when google maps came out it provided Rio police with superior aerial imagery of the favelas then what they previously had access to. They started printing out pages from google and using them to coordinate attacks. I guess that is neither here nor there- but seriously WTF. Now I’m watching huge projected google maps on the wall at police H.Q. as they discuss tactics with neon-blue bullet proof vest wearing reporters.
Hopefully at some point I’ll write up my recording sessions with Maga Bo in Salvador and my anti-fascist/historical memory libidinal economy wheatpasting projects in Sao Paulo…. but until then Dutty Love from Brazil.
NEW YORK TROPICAL COMP OUT TODAY!
After almost a year of work, New York Tropical is finally hitting digital shops today, and we couldn’t be more excited about it. 12 dope tracks, almost all unreleased, and styles from Funky to Cumbia with a little bit of ambient/Rupture in between for the subway ride home. If you didn’t already pick up the ringtone (.mp3 and iphone compatible) edit of the album- grab it– I highly recommend DJ Orion’s Undertow Inst for early morning wake ups. Expect a few tracks to start leaking out into the internet and a new mix from me next week.
Until then, grab a copy
itunes, boomkat, amazon, turntable lab, etc
1. Knight Magic – El Baile de la Cumbia
2. Rita Indiana – Los Poderes (Kingdom remix)
3. Matt Shadetek & Lamin Fofana – Sunshine City
4. La Ola Criminal – Sin Gas
5. Maga Bo – Analys D’Amour (instrumental)
6. DJ /rupture & Matt Shadetek – Sunset B35
7. DJ Orion – The Undertow (instrumental)
8. KG – I’m Feeling Funky
9. Nguzunguzu – El Bebe Ambiente (new mix + master)
10. DJ /rupture, Matt Shadetek, & Chief Boima – Elegy for Mr Peach (Rupture mix)
11. Lido Pimienta – La Minga (Sonora remix)
12. Matt Shadetek – This Is Love
P.S. You can receive info like this and other exciting DA news irregularly in your inbox by signing up for the DA mailer on the upper right of your screen. Check the rest of the news from this months mailer here.
We’re All From Africa: Boima At Panda 11/11
Chief Boima held down the dopest African night in San Francisco at Little Boabab. Now that he has relocated to NYC there’s talk of a new African music night in collaboration with Lamin Fofana…… until then, you’ll have to settle for rare guest appearances at parties like Old Money Massive’s Van Setima at Panda this Thursday in NYC.
You know that feeling, when you don’t hear much from your favorite artists for a while, but you know its not caus they fell off, but caus they’re cooking some next-level shit. That’s how it is for Boima right now- but just hold tight, CAUS THE INTERNET CAN WAIT for B. That’s how ahead our mans game is. Some people are “right on the zeitgeist,” but Boima is zeitgeist producing. Africa is the future, and you’d be stupid not to try and grab a glimpse on Thursday.
If you don’t know about Old Money this is a good place to start.
AFRICAN KIDS! by Old Money
16-bit/NEW VR()NSKY
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGkkyKZVzug&feature=player_embedded#![/youtube]
http://chaos985.com/minecraftmap/ h/t ADRIAN (btw guest post from Liturgy’s drummer Greg Fox on minecraft coming soon)
I played a sprawling illegal party last night in São Paulo called Voodoo HOP. The promoter warned me that middle class people in SP just dont listen to hip-hop and that I would have to avoid it for the night (I havn’t heard rap anywhere here except at a brothel where the bartender/dj was playing a bunch of DJ Quick along with Funk and international club hits). Maybe disco and (american) funk he suggested, like it was just some fallback that all djs have up their sleeve. So I spent last week torrenting in directions I haven’t normally fucked with- finally grabbed the rest of the nightslugs catalog, a bunch of funky, some older house, and a lot of gorgeous dark post-dubstep(BUT DONT TELL KODE09) FACT approved late night jams.
Safe to say I wrecked my first ableton performance- then I got bored and played the Beamer Benz or Bentley Inst running half time with different juke over it until all the hands in the air people stopped whistling, then we had a private listening party for the new nettle. Walking home through downtown SP at 7:30 AM is apocalyptic. Zombies from the night still following you with empty eyes while secretaries try not to notice how much blood the man slouched over in the doorway next to their building has dried across his face and chest.
Now that I have a grip of New/Old mp3s from Anthony Rother to Aslope I’m going to post some of my favorite jawns- most of which have been out for months or years or decades.
This first one from VRONSKY couldn’t be fresher though-Â flipping new GirlUnit with UGK.
[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/VR%28%29NSKY-DIAMOND_SHOWSTOPPA.mp3]Invisible Missive Magnetic Juju: On African Cyber-Crime
We are all curators and everyone gets to hang/post their 15 pieces. Interviewing Leeor Brown last week about his insider take on the world of P(A&)R we talked about how to tell stories through and across digital networks (HIS TELL ALL INTERVIEW IE #REALTALK VOL.! IS COM1NG NEXT WEEK). In a media environment where the biggest players are only a few re-tweets away we still actively police our digital social life with decorum held over from meat-space. Getting someones email address might be easy- but sending a message and opening dialogue are not the same thing. How many release announcements fall on deaf gmail accounts? I remember reading a few years ago that on A Small World (ie facebook for rich people) a user was banned for friend requesting Paris Hilton because he didn’t have a legitimate claim to be a part of her social network. Annoying promo emails don’t usually provoke active shunning, they just got ignored. It was refreshing yesterday, then, to see tucked away alongside “Artists On Tour! Interviews, guest list and more available!” and “What is a Pixelated Lazer Face Bass Monster?” a really honest no BS hyperbole promo email of sorts. It read:
“Greetings and much respect…thought you folks (certainly DJ/Rupture) would get a kick out of this recent essay: http://bit.ly/aRU34F
Keep up the fabulous work,
LC-S”
I AM VERY HAPPY I CLICKED THIS LINK. READ A SHORT EXCERPT ON THIS AMAZING ESSAY BELLOW AND THE REST HERE.
<EXCERPT>
“…my people simply told him to call me home with the power of his ‘Invisible Missive Magnetic Juju’ which could bring a lost person back to home from an unknown place, how far it may be, with or without the will of the lost person. So having paid him his workmanship in advance, then he started to send the juju to me at night which was changing my mind or thought every time to go home.”
-Amos Tutuola, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
I
Many markets in Nigeria have areas called “computer village,†especially in places ranging from Alaba in Lagos on the West coast to Port Harcourt in the oil-ravaged Southern Delta, and over to the famous one in Onitsha in the East, where almost anything can be gotten—today’s catch from the river Niger, counterfeit medicine, locally made “foreign†goods, even dodgy airplane parts. Look through clouds of red dust for handwritten signs advertising, “computer repair,†“speedy programming†or “internet café.†Watch your step as you avoid scores of motorcycle taxis called Okadas because you could easily knock over a table scattered with the guts of cell phones which for a handful of naira will allow you to contact almost anywhere in the world. Computer village is where the detritus of Western and Eastern digitization either goes to pile up in jagged cathode ray mountains and die, or awaits repurposing in wiry bundles and circuit board batches spread across acres that simply beg for the eye of contemporary photographers like Andreas Gursky or Chris Jordan.
It’s fascinating to imagine how these blank-screened cadaverous wholes and frayed bits and pieces have all gotten here. There’s so much black glass that it is like the landscape of an indecisive volcano. These used computers have been donated by Western charity organizations and faith-based NGOs and given the Nigerian tendency to use things even beyond their given function or recognizability, their presence here is only temporary. A great many were brought from Ghana or up from South Africa while a steady stream arrived from China even before that country began its obsessive courting of West and Central Africa. But the vast majority of these machines, parts and components have been shipped by or brought in by enterprising Nigerians who since the late 1980s have known that what would mark this generation of West Africans more than blight, violence or corruption was a hunger for Web-based connectivity, that narcotic rush of shared information.
With almost no formal education whatsoever, many would learn how to rig, rewire, rebuild and master the essentials of computing in these glorified junkyards. They learned from ragged men with soldering irons in their pockets that pushed wheelbarrows filled with screens, wires and keyboards, with the wild-eyed look of juju men drunk on that vile moonshine called ogogoro.
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Louis Chude-Sokei is a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle- which means I used to sit endlessly in the skyspace 5 minutes away from the classrooms where he was obviously dropping serious knowledge. There are many powerful registers that he moves through in this essay- and when it is so easy to find cringe-inducing writing about poor countries- especially where tech and development are concerned- we must recognize the beautiful moment of being alerted to such powerful well written analysis (with bonus points for Tom “OH MY GOD I GET IT” Friedman pop-shots). Here’s hoping that when I write Prof. Chude-Sokei back asking him to contribute to DA he responds.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1nKR3gYRY8[/youtube]
Discussion question: Can we learn from 419 Yahoozzzee boys about telling stories on the internet and building relationships out of digital ether? IE HOW TO MAKE $OLID ALL THAT IS MELTED BITS IN THE CLOUDY AIR . It’s time to start looking at alternative economies and networks and re-purposing/learning from their success. If such limited bandwidth can translate into this much cash and we arnt doing shit with our TI connections then it is time to employ a new model.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzKT9LCBmKw[/youtube]
ADDENDUM. 1. : a thing added : DIRECT FROM THE COMMENTS BELOW AND OUR GENEROUS FRIEND MR CRUCIAL AKA TIMEBLIND IN CASE UR IN A RUSH AND CANT BE BOTHERED TO CLICK TO SEE THE COMMENTS
419 is oldschool. nigerian zombie computers for hire, will swarm for $