The most important week of my life (thus far) is almost upon us and, let me tell you, I'm so stressed out I've got cartoon birds flying over my fucking head. All the last minute shit is enough to make your brain pop... for those of you not following the story this far, my songwriting partner Sam and I are going to Miami for the Winter Music Conference is hopes of someone signing us (at least for a single, huh Ghostly International?)... our little outfit called State Crime will hopefully be your favourite non-genre defined electronic duo by this time next year! It's going to be a lot of fun but I'm also having so many panic attacks that my chest breaks out in hives and I feel like I'm dying and all the other fun things that come with being a total worry wort... hopefully in a couple weeks I'll have SOME good news for you folks!
I don't have a lot of time to do this post... so I'm just going to throw up some dope grime joints I found on Myspace. One of the coolest things about Myspace is getting these songs (most of which never end up getting an official release)... for example, Klaxons posted their demos on Myspace for a short time and those were the coolest recordings I had heard in a LONG time... way to connect to your fans! (BTW We will be doing that with our Myspace soon once we have all of our tracks sorted out)... tell me what you guys think of these...
Demon- "Eyes Wide Open"
Kano- "Fucking Wid Tha Team"
Skepta- "Ace And Invisable Present"
I like to post some cool footage when I do these grime/dubstep posts... so here's Kano vs Wiley (complete with Mortal Kombat screens)...
AND BY THE WAY, Speaking of fun stuff... FADER Magazine has a new digital issue and podcast out and I thought I'd throw that shit up here so you can get your "cool" on... I love the Fader (as you very well may know)... in fact I think they should sign me to their label (wink wink)...
Here's some info:
"THE FADER MAGAZINE PRESENTS THE 'SPRING STYLE FANTASTIC' ISSUE
Annual Spring Style Issue Presents Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Gang Gang Dance And The Season's Fiercest Looks, Available on Newsstands and iTunes
New York, NY: The FADER magazine, the definitive voice of emerging music, releases its 44th issue, steamrolling into Spring 2007 with an exploration of the give and take between music and style through the most vibrant and relevant musicians, designers, scenes and looks currently bubbling. The 'Spring Style Fantastic' celebrates the reemergence of one of hip-hop's most innovative groups of all time, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, as well as the emergence of one of rock & roll's most forward thinking and fashion-forward outfits, Gang Gang Dance.
Also inside the book is a feature on China's effervescent underground rock scene, a look at the hip-hop coming out of Washington DC that seamlessly incorporates the capitol city's traditional sounds of go-go, a feature on Austin's emotional instrumental rockers Explosions In The Sky, and a Lite Brite meditation on some of music's most interesting collaborators like Pete Doherty & Mick Jones, Princess & Diamond, and Becky Stark & Devendra Banhart by visual artist Ian Wright. The jam-packed issue also includes an incredible fashion feature blowout shot on the streets of Dubai, India, by photographer Andrew Dosunmu. As always, F44 will also be available via iTunes in its entirety, with corresponding audio podcasts, as a free download at http://www.thefader.com/blog/articles/category/podcasts
Highlights Include:
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
"We heard MC Ren flipping over the beat really hard one time and it just stuck with us...We started speeding up and before we knew it we was doing something new and we didn't even recognize it no more. We didn't even know it was that different because we was so secluded with each other."
In the '90s, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony were the originators of a totally new sound in hip-hop: they combined their fast-rap, sing-song flow with dark tales of ouija boards, the Other Side, murder and redemption--and sold millions upon millions of albums in the process, making them the darkest crossover stars on the charts. They've never gone away entirely, but now they've signed a major label deal in partnership with A-list super-producer Swizz Beatz, aligned themselves with all the right people including Akon, Mariah Carey, Three 6 Mafia and more, and have created a new batch of songs that pushes their innovative sound even farther forward. Bone Thugs never lost their cult fan base or their status as icons, but few people could have expected them to explode back into relevance on this grand of a scale.
Gang Gang Dance
"I started meeting thugged out house producers and thugged out gay dancers and everyone was just rocking out and I was the one playing drums and there were dancers hanging off poles and lesbian MCs who hated my guts because I was this white dude, but slowly I started to win them over and they were in my face freestyling like, 'Uh! Keep it tight!" -Gang Gang Dance's Tim DeWit
Gang Gang Dance is probably the most sonically forward-pushing band on earth, constantly evolving and pulling more and more sounds into their extremely weird universe while never straying far from a bottom heavy, danceable club beat. Yet while their music is incredibly diverse, what makes them so important is their stubborn insistence on chasing down all of their interests and impulses no matter what the cost. Starting with the band's de facto leader Brian Degraw who is also an extremely accomplished visual artist and DJ, every member of the band has innumerable side projects always at play, and while it might be holding the band back from the international success it craves, it also keeps them inextricably tied to downtown New York City in a way that is inspired, revitalizing and totally, unthinkably cool.
Also between the pages
The Chinese Beat: Millenial Beijing and the lost art of rock & roll
Explosions in the Sky: The carefully plotted emotional outbursts of instrumental rock's best band
Washington DC hip-hop: Raised on Reganomics, go-go and the neverending pursuit of freshness, Wale and Tabi Bonney rap for the capitol
It Takes Two: A tribute to collaborators by visual artist Ian Wright featuring: Becky Stark (of Lavender Diamond) & Davendra Banhart; Pete Doherty (of Babyshambles) & Mick Jones (The Clash); Princess and Diamond (of Crime Mob); Youssoun N'Dour & Cheikh Lo.
On The Corner: Street style and Dubai, India, photographed by Andrew Dosunmu, styling by Mobolaji Dawodu
And of course, The FADER's own Gen F section where the most essential artists bubbling up from the underground make their debut appearance. This month's artists include Amy Winhouse, Fam-Lay, Voxtrot, No Age, Mr Vegas, The View, and Chrisette Michele."
They've got The View, so there's your vaguely British connection... also got some info on my man Fam-Lay (who's back I more or less had to jump on top of when going with Pharrell and the Star Trak gang up to VIP @ Dragon Room in Chicago) who's new joint is going to bring the beeper back...
FADER PODCAST AND NEW ISSUE OF FADER MAGAZINE
So yeah... that's that... feel free to leave comments as they are always appreciated! I was trying to get a contest up here to win a free 7" but I never heard anything.. if I do I will post it up so make sure to check back!
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