Blog (2008-2018)

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DJ+Still+Life

Here at Dutty Artz we spend a lot of time highlighting our artists and releases, but there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes. Stephen Bowles, aka DJ Still Life, did great work as lead-publicist for Matt’s The Empire Never Ended album – landing some great, well written features, by writers who really understood the context that Matt’s work is coming out of. The work of publicists is becoming more and more important in an age where artists can launch a career off of an online crafted image (removing the artist and their work from any greater social context). Stephen’s work definitely showed many of us here how a publicist can help craft stories in a way that speaks to a project’s form, content, and context, and so with integrity, without sensationalizing.

When Stephen sent over his great remix of Schlachthofbronx’s Apizaco, I thought it would be the perfect time to bring his great behind the scenes work into the spotlight. I asked Stephen to give me a little background of what he’s been up to in his DJ life, and he sent over a great story of his personal journey. Check out the track and story below!

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Azucar5

Co-written by DJs Ushka and Ripley.

When we talk about “global bass” as a genre and scene in New York, it’s not always clear what fits into this recently generated category. Who gets to claim “global bass” and what does it represent? This desire to cookie-cutter a range of musical genres as a way to identify a “scene” has in its doing led to the lack of inclusion, in media accounts, of many communities who are engaging with global music and culture in meaningful ways, with amazing music.

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Re-posted from Pirate Anthroplogies:

A couple weeks ago, I was lucky to DJ a truly green party: Movable Party, a pedal-powered dance party in LA. Participants on three bikes with hub motors powered speakers, a mixer, and laptop in a corner of MacArthur Park with its lake, fountain, and vendors of fresh fruit con sal, limón, y chile. Fittingly the cycling-generated soundsystem made its city debut for CicLAvia, a street closure event which opens up LA’s streets for cyclists and pedestrians. All in the city where car culture was born!

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Together Festival

The last stop on Matt Shadetek’s The Empire Never Ended Spring Tour will roll through Boston tomorrow night (Wednesday, May 15th.)

Having played host to almost every legend of experimental party music in the past decade, Dutty Artz is honored to show up and represent at a special edition of Beat Research for Boston’s growing Together electronic music festival. Since an astonishing number of Dutty fam have represented at Beat Research before, it’s amazing that this will be Matt’s first time playing the party! He will be performing alongside DJ Ripley, Chief Boima, and Beat Research co-founder DJ Flack’s live electronic band The Sublings!

You can also catch Matt and Ripley on several of the daytime panels for the Together Fest. Check the whole schedule here, and details on Matt’s panels below:

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Auto-Tune Matriarch Cher, age 13
[Auto-Tune matriarch Cher, age 13]

On Friday May 17th, I will be speaking at Performa’s LOUDSPEAKER: A Symposium on the Voice. I will discuss Auto-Tune — check my 2009 Frieze essay — as well as Gbadu and the Moirai Index, my upcoming performance for four vocalists and the stock market. LOUDSPEAKER is free with email reservation.

They say:

An Experimental Event on the voice in contemporary performance featuring artists and musicians Joan La Barbara, Jace Clayton, Florian Hecker, and Alex Waterman.

Friday, May 17, 2013
4:00 – 6:30 pm

The Cooper Union
Frederick P. Rose Auditorium
41 Cooper Square
New York City

Free admission with reservation, rsvp@performa-arts.org

more info