by on

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eCoP9oSfrc&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

A friend of mine and fellow Dubspot instructor DJ Shiftee just did this video for Native Instruments. It’s him chopping the fuck out of Dead Prez’s ‘Bigger Than Hiphop’ and a dubstep tune by Caspa called ‘Dub Warz’ (which by the way sounds like a blatant ripoff of Mondie’s ‘Straight Riddim’ grime tune, to me).

The performance is crazy. He’s using Traktor and Maschine from NI to chop and re-trigger the audio using cue-points. He did this to a tune of mine ‘Manhattan Timeslip’ from my album Flowers in the mix he did for the Dubspot Podcast, below, and it absolutely blew my mind. Listen to the original, and then check it out on his mix, it’s near the beginning.  Listen to what he did re-triggering the tones from the intro.  Mad.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__rch9vLPAI[/youtube]

Dubspot Radio Podcast: Ep 3 DJ Shiftee by Dubspot

Finally, he explains it all in this video.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eLIeEOWGLE[/youtube]

by on

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgeyVE3NHJM[/youtube]

Check 1:40 for the real moment(s) of clarity here.

Dutty Artz is a book club. You might have thought we were a record label- given that we’re releasing tracks every month and constantly feeding the internet with audio files- but it goes a lot deeper then that. If you want to be part of the club, you should read Octavia Butler’s Parable of The Sower. If you’re not in the Northern Hemisphere- you might want to wait until Summer, caus this one is dark, and if read before bed, almost guaranteed to induce the vivid nightmares that lodge in your psyche for days before revealing themselves as dreams and not memories.

We’re scrambling just like everyone else right now- trying to figure out what it means to be a record label in an era where recorded digital media has no value- and the only people making money are slicing off pounds of flesh to get branded. You’ll see us move in that direction too. It’s inevitable. Hopefully we can do it without losing too much respect. Until then you can find me steady dreaming of new distribution paradigms as we pass each other printed relics.

by on

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG_MZJeWy9Y[/youtube]

New hotness from New York homies Cubic Zirconia feat. our boy in South Afrika Mr. Ghost Bones himself Spoek Mathambo.  I’ve known lead singer Tiombe Lockhart for a while now ever since me and Zack released a track of hers on Shadetek Records (back when that was still a going concern) and always loved her singing.

Now she’s teamed up with Nick Hook and the rest of the Cubic Zirconia fam to form this band project and they are killing it a lot.  I got to play with them and hang with them at SXSW this year and they put on a killer show.  Sort of house music with a band (for lack of a better term) really fun live and Tiombe is a super charismatic front-woman.

The video is on some ill Orson Welles one-shot auteur film making shit directed by Khalil Joseph and looks like a million bucks although knowing that Cubic are on a similar DIY go-for-self vibe as we are and releasing on their label I’m guessing it didn’t cost that.  Download this minimix from their new Black and Blue EP and vote with your dollars to support good independent music on Tuesday June 15th when it drops.

Their release party is this Tuesday June 15th at Damon Dash Gallery (?!) with an art opening to boot.  Flier:

This, their previous video ‘Josephine’ is crazy too.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VKxzO-tRY8[/youtube]

by on

Friday and Saturday, May 21 & and 22, starting at 8pm, Award-winning New York-based Zimbabwean contemporary dance artist and choreographer Nora Chipaumire will be teaming up with musician Thomas Mapfumo — the legendary “Lion of Zimbabwe” — for the New York premiere of lions will roar, swans will fly, angels will wrestle heaven, rains will break: gukurahundi at the Kumble Theater at Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus. Along with the live musical acompaniment by the great Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited, dancer Souleymane Badolo will also join Chipaumire for the performance.

We have a pair of tickets to give a way to the performance on Saturday. The first reader to respond to the question by sending an email with the correct answer to family@duttyartz.com (and make sure you include the word contest in the subject line) wins the pair of tickets.

The ticket contest is OVER! The contest question was what does “mapfumo” means in shona? Answer = “spears”

NORA CHIPAUMIRE + THOMAS MAPFUMO & THE BLACKS UNLIMITED
May 21 & 22 at 8pm
Kumble Theater at Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus
[youtube width=”525″ height=”393″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0TF3H6-iK0[/youtube]

(more…)

by on

Man, when Beyonce makes songs and videos like this it just really makes me hope that those scurrilous rumors about Jay-Z being gay are not true and that he is taking care of his responsibilities on the home front.  Otherwise, WHAT A WASTE!  I like this on a lot of levels.  Especially the Betty Page style old film look and costumes.  And although I don’t always feel what she does I think this song actually has some passion and intensity.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKqIgqJEH-o&feature=player_embedded#![/youtube]

by on

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhiHZB9sRkI&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Once again Lil B has left me wordless. Has there ever been harder swag than this? #BASED_4EVER

Lamin and Matt kicked it with Lil B the last night of SXSW. I took the night off to make cognac and rootbeer float cocktails over 3 A.M. Nachos Supreme. I think B freestyled over Andy’s MacGyver Guacharaca. I’m starting to feel like I made the wrong decision.

I’m sure B is making some backstage moves as well- but as far as the public eye can see- he’s taken the over-saturation of digital media and marketing to the extreme. The man has no shame – he’s the Tila Tequila of indie rap- but underneath it all is a startling vision and undeniably powerful sentiment -he’s the open source Rammellzee. Eshun wrote, “In HipHop, science breaks it down in order to complexify not to clarify.” B just signed to Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em’s label Stacks on Deck. I rest my case.

Is it wrong that I cant wait to play this out? The 320 hunt begins.

by on

Normally I get a lot of stupid shit in the form of press releases but today I actually got one with something cool in it. Publicists, just because I’m blogging about something I got in a release doesn’t mean you should send more! I hate them! What does this say about how we should all be promoting our music? I don’t know.

Anyway, Pursuit Grooves is a female producer/singer/rapper from BK who I’ve never heard of but has a new record out on dubstep label Tectonic although it’s not dubstep. I like what I’ve heard. Also, dubstep labels take note: you need more female energy. You are all turning (have turned) your genre into a big macho dick grabbing testosterone fest and it’s turning me off. As rising dancehall artist Professor says in one of my recent favorite songs:

“Nuff Bwaaaaaay / a gwan like dem nuh wan roll wit de gyal dem… Some bwaaaaay would rather roll out wit one bagga man fren… my yout it no look good.”
 – Professor, Roll With The Gal Dem

Pursuit Grooves “Fox Trot Mannerisms” Tectonic TECCD008 by Multiverse

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgPNLWPTESY[/youtube]

And here’s the Professor tune I was quoting. Big tune on Don Corleon’s new Gala Riddim.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBkq9VGD_DA[/youtube]

by on

We’re speeding up the content production/consumption cycle in the instant update world… and no one does snarky music world twitter better then Disco Shawn (who was also dropping gems on Muddup a couple weeks ago LISTEN HERE) h/t to him for this video which defies commentary beyond the fact that sometimes its cool to live in America where something like Sensation (source of some of the clips below) could NEVER happen.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhyNCLiBtRI[/youtube]

by on

[youtube width=”525″ height=”393″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mG1vIeETHc&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Kenyan superhero/first viral internet sensation from Kenya – with a massive following on Facebook and Twitter

“After platinum, albums go Makmende”

“They once made a makmende toilet paper, but there was a problem: It wouldn’t take shit from anybody!!!”

“Makmende hangs his clothes on a safaricom line and when they dry he stores them in a flashdisk!”

(via …My heart’s in Accra)

(props to Chief Boima for the heads up)

by on

New heat from 77Klash produced by Drop The Lime.  Klash is going in on some deep anti-nuclear annhilation lyrics over a cool dubstep/wobble house beat by Mr. Venezia.  Look out for the “Shadow of Death EP” coming soon on Trouble & Bass Records, I’m interested to hear what they come up with.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttMx09sbeUU[/youtube]

by on

[youtube width=”524″ height=”393″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNTvI1BqvHM[/youtube]

Weird new video from Nguzunguzu feat. Leilah Weinraub for the track “Got U” which is off the brilliant free Nguzunguzu EP –still up for grabs, so get it in your life.

by on

[youtube width=”524″ height=”393″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsBjvjqjCwA&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

New video from Erykah Badu featuring Lil Wayne “Jump Up In The Air (Stay There)” from her upcoming album New Amerykah Part II: Return Of The Ankh – You already know this is a great song, but pay close attention to the lyrics and you’ll appreciate it even more; plenty memorable lines – (hip-hop) “church never felt this good before,” “my level, far from the devil/have some manners, and say hello to the angels,” “I am on the ceiling stuck like a fan full of dust, like a fist full of bucks…” etc.  As for the video, it has stunning moments; Wayne clearing a cloud of purple smoke to “elevate” with Ms. Badu is one of those.

by on

[youtube width=”524″ height=”393″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=246fZPv-LBY[/youtube]

I first heard this tune at a party in the Bronx, Summer 2005 or maybe ’06– I don’t remember exactly. Big up all Ghanaian massive in the Bronx. I can recall a friend telling me at the time that “You May Kiss Your Bride” was a smash in Accra, on the radio, in bars and clubs, at football marches, and of course at weddings.  This clip also appears on a VCD compilation titled Ghana Vs Nigeria: Super Hits Videos –purchased in a street market in Freetown in December ’09. By the way, if you dig this track don’t sleep on Akwaaba Music’s Move It Chaleh — more recent hiplife goodness among other things (like Monou Sidibe’s incredible “Mali Mousso.”)