TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2007 (PLUS 3)

Lil Wayne - Drought 3
this album is exactly why the mixtape format works so well. you get Wayne over a bunch of hot songs that have less than stellar vocals and the kid blacks out on 95% of them over the course of a double album. its understatement to say that Wayne killed it this year, as his stock rose incrementally in '07, but on Drought 3 you get all of the lobbying he ever needed for the title of best rapper alive. Dude sounds entirely invigorated, laid back and like hes having the time of his life. similarly to the way Ghostface at his best sounds as if hes simply sitting in his chair and shouting a story at you while soul records play in the background, like some kinda eccentric rap grandpa. Wayne on Drought 3 sounds as if he hes taking part in the greatest, drug aided, stream of consciousness freestyle this side of your most permissive high school friends' mom's basement.
An entirely different beast than on his standard albums or guest appearances his idiosyncrasies show through on Drought 3 and dude crushes every beat he comes into contact with and make this the album of the year easily.

HORSE the band - A Natural Death
This album had absolutely no reason to be anywhere as near as good as it was. A joke band that writes songs about videos games, conceives an album dedicated to pizza and has an affinity for dressing their stage in stuffed animals should not put out a cohesive, grandiose, eclectic fun record. But for some strange reason they are able to pull one of the best metal records of the year out of their collective ass. In a way A Natural Death reminds me of Refused's Shape Of Punk To Come if they dropped the revolutionary politics and decided to have fun a lil bit. A Natural Death somehow manages to be ADD as fuck with raging straight on metalcore songs that sound like the best of Cave In's metal period "Hyperborea", dancey electro numbers "Sex Raptor", slow burning souther instrumentals "Crow Town", cartoon theme songs "Kangarooster Meadows" and expansive ambient electronic passages "Lif". But the great selling point is that all of these songs on one album does not sound disjointed or novel, but instead flows organically from song to song, making the entire album a journey from one odd corner of their aural world to the next. Also they're label mates with the diplomats and Barney which somehow explains alot.

Kanye West - Graduation
You already know whats up with this one.

Justice - †
as much as i wanted to hate on this album as pure hipster band wagonery or as bullshit new wave rave. shit actually bangs. somewhere between early MJ, Aphex Twin and stadium rock these dudes fit in perfectly. i have no clue how this shit works, but it does. the imagery of the lit cross and the two dudes looking like child rapists doesnt really hurt their appeal either.

The Black Dhalia Murder - Nocturnal
Alot of metal bands try and mix evil melody with brutality, alot of metal bands try to get the fist pumping head banging sound like Metallica on Kill Em All. most, fail.
TBDM are not reinventing the wheel, they wear their black metal influences on their sleeves openly, but somewhere in listening to hardcore and american metal they figured out a way to distill black metal into an extremely evil, heavy and anthemic version of Metallica's Kill Em All. 10 songs, no bullshit. the entire album sounds like battle scenes of Lord Of The Rings if the Orcs were telling the story. perfect music to drive really fast in your car too on a moonlit night.

Little Brother - Getback
LB get alot of shit for talking shit on dumb rappers and on hip hop in general, but really its mostly a load of shit. they sound like happy early 90s rap (tribe, de la, pete rock and CL), dope soul beats rap about shit everyone can fuck with (girls, money issues, bullshit job, chillin) and thats all they do. similar to TBDM above, not reinventing the wheel, just some good ol fashion rappity rap.

Cam'ron - Public Enemy #1
For most of the year Cam had bene missing, no mixtapes, no guest spots nothing. while jim jones blew up with We Fly High (Ballin!), Cam was M.I.A. all we got was some bullshit feud with 50 Cent (CURTIIISSSS) and a couple hilarious youtube videos. but then outta nowhere Cam came back with a free double album mixtape. If we previously knew Cam for his over rhyming, egotistical rambling and his predilection for misogyny and grandiose warlike beats. this new Cam is a different beast. the misogyny is still there, but now inserted in love songs, we get a few grandiose beats but we also get slow soul beats almost just as much, the rambling has been extended into a 6 minute non rap intro over a paranoid piano loop. in short the weird what the fuckery of Cam seemingly only grew and festered and matured in his absence and we're reaping all the benefits.

Neurosis - Given To The Rising
Old school metal soundscapists drop their zillionth album and in one fell swoop say to their imitators/progeny "don't forget who started this rap shit" except they replaced rap with soundscape nearly instrumental doom metal. this album sounds like hell, not the bombastic warlike hell that children imagine but the black slowly encompassing quietly tortuous solitary hell that old people fear.

Sigur Ros - Heima and Hvarf-Heim
Never have i heard a band that simultaneously sounded like the saddest and happiest moment of your life. SR continues to put out albums that sound as such.

HONORABLE MENTION:

Baroness - Red Album
What if you took Metallica post Master oF Puppets locked 'em in a room with nothing but mind altering substances, a bunch of Pink Floyd and lasers until 2007? theyd sound much like this band does.

The Cool Kids - Totally Flossed Out
Throwback to the late 80's era rap. simple boom bap tracks and songs about how fresh they are. LL would be proud to hear em on his Raddiiiooo.

Kavinsky - 1986
When you travel back to 1986 to do a bunch of coke and solve crimes in your talking lattack helicopter, bring this album with you. youre gonna be bumping it in the ride ALOT.

GHOSTFACE THIS,GHOSTFACE THAT!

if i find this in my house when i get home, i might maybe squash my life long beef with that rick rubin lookin motherfucker santa. but for real somebody cop this for me. ill be your best friend and shit, you could play with my madvillain toy. and i might even go to the store for you.

F-F-FF-FFF-FRESH!!!!

as its almost christmas and its the time when youre supposed to be kind to your fellow man or some shit, i thought itd be the perfect time to post some videos of the great man Mannie Fresh. for without his benevolence and eternal light showering down upon us all, there would be no kindess, no good will. for Mannie Fresh is love. and even if you do not love the great man Mannie Fresh, he loves you.

Fresh be with you.


Lil Wayne - Bring It Back


Ca$h Money Millionaires - Project Chick


Mannie Fresh - Real Big


Big Tymers - Still Fly


Bling Bling


Lil Wayne - Go DJ


Hot Boyz - I Need A Hot Girl


Young Jeezy - And Then What

DRILL BRA, FINALLY!

Japanesse Movies Are Awesome

DUDES TRIP ON DELAY

Above, a video from the BBC with ya boys Black Dice exploring their creative process. Black Dice create these noises/songs/soundscapes that at first listen seem incredibly chaotic and unfocused, at times youll hear a rhythm coalesce and dissipate and maybe a slight melody float by. youll think "yeah, they aight but, its a bunch of noise". but the thing about black dice is that when you put on an entire album of theirs and you let it ride out, theres this enveloping effect that takes place. you become transported to another environment. but without direction or motive. a band like Sigur Ros can make you feel as though you standing on a glacier as the sun rises and your first child was being born and a unicorn just walked up and gave you a slice of cake. theres that kind of enveloping sound and engrossing, moving composition. black dice just makes you feel like youre in a kind of weird forest just standing there. no talking reindeer approaching you no orcs to fight. just chilling out on in this weird as shit forest. the music sounds entirely organic in its chaoticness/randomness, a snapshot of coalescing unorchestrated (un)natural sounds.

imagine you just happened to capture the one sublime moment in the forest when water dripping of a tree branch taps out a simple melody, and the frogs croaking in the corner play out a bass rhythm, and some kind of erupting geyser rhythmically sputters out a drum pattern. but the whole time u were on mad hallucinogens, so the frogs were dumb loud and screechy and the rain drops sounded like your microwave short circuiting and that erupting geyser sounded like a a yelping dog.
thats what kinda what black dice sounds like....

"you hear a sound out on the street or in another type of music and you find some ass backwards type of way to emulate that..."
this kind of processing and regurgitation is something ive always found very inspirational, something ive always attempted in my work. to take multiple disparate influences, blend them up in the dome piece and just spit it back out with a retard foam on the side. shout out to Marcel.

- "...touching the guitar cable and running it through pedals and playing with knobs is more interesting than what you were playing on the guitar was..."
after spending years in hardcore bands, and having way too many pedals i can tell you that delay pedals are the best invention since The Pump.

i found it interesting that they said "mainstream hip hop has the most interesting sounds...". i to a degree, agree. specifically in the compositions of the Neptunes and Timbaland. i mean take a listen to a black dice jam like this:



and tell me you couldnt imagine that songs like the ones below might not be composed by similar minds:

Clipse - Trill


Timbaland playing instrumentals for Jay-z During Fade To Black recording sessions

IMMA BET THE FARM ON THIS ONE

this girl is gonna do numbers if this video gets anywhere near MTV/BET. seriously, im calling it right now, i mean i called it a couple months ago, but imma say it again: MORE FIYAH, MORE FIYAH, MORE FIYAH. cue airhorn. when i saw homegirl at a solo show like early sumemrtime there was a healthy audience who were feelin it, when i saw her at CMJ this year the crowd went wild at much bigger venue, dudes knew the words and shit. laser beams. heat rocks. etc. etc. and im sure 6 months form now kids in Iowa (my favorite flyover state) will be gettin loose to her too.

i need to just quit this design shit, stop fuckin around and be an A&R. get my Leor Cohen on and shit.

RECENT JAMS IVE BEEN JAMMING

in no particular order or relation to each other.


CROWBAR - BROKEN GLASS


EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY - SO LONG, LONESOME


HORSE THE BAND - NEW YORK CITY***


WILLIE HUTCH - THE GLOW (FROM THE LAST DRAGON SOUNDTRACK)

***more on these dudes in a later post

IM LIKE PETER I RIDE FOR MY ANIMALS!

"koala, assaulted. brave while facing insurmountable odds."

i've been so busy working on new projects and finding singing prog rock babies on youtube i forgot to post these jams up from last month. A series of desktops that i designed for Rockstar Games. Snapshots of widescreen violence recovered from the deepest recesses of God's green earth featuring lasers, helicopters, wild beast of every variety, lasers, S&M chicks, kung-fu, lasers and psuedo nazis. and more lasers.
go here and then select "Desktop Series Fall 2007" and the "Battle Series" to get your slice of the magic.

"beaver once pacifist; now reconsiders the motives of the uprising."

"they will pay... with oceans of bloods."

RAISE YOUR KIDS RIGHT!

i dont usually get too into cutesy shit too much, i kinda prefer the more disturbing things aesthetically. but with that said, this is the cutest thing ive ever seen. this big cheeked baby singing along to french prog rockers MAGMA. a couple posts ago i was talking about how bizzare magma are/were and how much i dug on them. obviously this baby shares my world view, as she knows the made up babbling language (Kobiasian) that MAGMA sing in and all the stops and starts.

clearly this child is going places.

GRIME-ING!

Holy hell do i love grime, its pure chaotic, manic energy. Beats that sound like dancehall reggae programmed by space aliens and blasted out of the trunk of a time traveling delorean with rapid fire lyrics. grime is to rap what grind is to metal. jacked up, add'd out , over caffeinated mayhem. Its a damn shame no one in the states is really looking for it.

last weekend i caught a set by Matt Shadetek playing grime and dancehall anthems and while dudes selection and cutting was top notch the crowd did not respond as they should have. and by that i mean i only saw like 2 or 3 gun fingers, not counting my own. no one completely lost their shit. and generally people sorta stood around politely bobbing their head. thats fucking insane in my book. i understand most heads were not there for the grime, but if you chillax even a lil and let the sub bass move you you'll be gun fingering in no time.

in my mind grime is best delivered and appreciated as below, with way too many dudes in one room music crazy loud and the ever present threat of a fight breaking out hanging heavy in the air.


Ghetto On The Mic 1st, Spyro(?) on the Decks

70's NERDROCK HOW I LOVE THEE LET ME COUNT THE WAYS

you know i jive on some hip hop business. i jive on the metal. i get down on the laser sounds. but allow me to reintroduce myself as myself. and by that i mean, whats up with prog rock??? the seventies yielded so many jumpoffs of magnificent odd time signatures and fretboard gymnastics, honestly i love all of em. let me drop the knowledge jewels on some of my favorites.


CAMEL - HIGHWAYS OF THE SUN
Camel is on some other other prog rock shit because they were one of the few prog bands to get straight up into some smooth rock shit. yacht rock territory. this jam above is just on some sailing youre yacht to Rijul 9 shit. so smooth and laid back yet spacey as shit. you dont really get a feel of the progginess* here but damn does this song go down smooth.


MAGMA - ??
you wanna get super nerdy prog rock shit? you talk about Magma. my dude made up his own language to sing in and wrote a 12(?) album suite about a war between two planets of aliens or some such shit. you dont get that in any other genre. Jeezy will NEVER EVER do that. i mean i wish he would, 12 albums about crack that were all adlibs and abstract mumblings sounds liek magic to me. nonetheless in a weird really bugged out Can sorta way this shit rocks real hard.


THE MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA - THE NOONWARD RACE

While not technically prog rock (technically theyre fusion jazz) TMO are them dudes. filled with ex miles davis players, these dudes took jazz and rock and jammed em together and came out as hard as zepplin when they wnated to or as soft as chet baker when the moment called for it. and their chops are entirely not to be questioned. watch every single memeber of the band take it there for kids who questioned if they could shred. jump up to get beatdown.



*for the proginess check out this video of camel doing rhayader goes to town. its from the snow goose. in short its about a dude befriending a goose in war and then the goose leading dude to his one true love. i shit you not. only in the 70's.
check my dude on the flute SLAYING SHIT!!! and the riff at 3:40 is so money, proto breakdown.

NOW MY GRANDMAMA AINT THE ONLY GIRL CALLIN ME BAAAABBBEEE

Kanye West & T-pain - The Good Life
Uploaded by Brownsugar18

forgot to put this up before, really awesome video.
directed by super frenchy So_Me. some quick thoughts:
- dudes typography skills are astounding.
- the vector handstyle is really whimsical and playful, and the motion design totally reinforces that with the eased bouncing and popping.
- i kinda hate the rotoscopping jam with the lil HP commercials pane, but within all the other greatness its totally excusable.
- the girl in this video is on some 1.618 shit. no objectification-o.
- during the "we like the real girls cause they got more ass than the models" line, putitng the cartoon butt in the shades, its such a classy move. way to give us the sexy with the above mentioned young lady, but just not where we were expecting it.
kudos frenchies, kudos.

LIFE LESSONS FROM CONAN

one of the first knowledge jewels dropped in the Conan movie.
some might interpert conan's fathers speech as pessimistic.
others might say he's giving his son a lesson that will lead him to be a distrustful loner.
i say it is a lesson in self reliance.
a lesson we all learn and apply lest we be overrun by the hordes of Set.


here Conan drops that knowledge on what is best in life after hes been studying up on his philosophy after getting shaq diesel on the wheel of pain. remember perfect balance kids*, we need fortitude of the mind and body. really i need not explain the importance or gravitas of his words, because this isnt conjecture on whats best in life. this simply is whats best in life.
you already know.

* "Me but I’ve been the champion happy as I ever been
Lampin' in the hamptons like what the fuck is a hammock
The chef up in the kitchen like what the fuck is a sammich
I'm like we gotta find middle ground we need balance " - Lil Wayne

IF I WERE CREATING THE WORLD I WOULDNT MESS ABOUT WITH BUTTERFLIES AND DAFOODILS I WOULD HAVE STARTED WITH LASERS. EIGHT O'CLOCK DAY ONE! pt.1

Being a indoor type 80's baby that suckled at the tit of Japanese made/inspired Saturday morning cartoons, my imagination has always been drawn to the future. when you spend most of your childhood entranced with transforming sentient robots, gestalt giant robot fighting vehicles, human/feline medieval mythological warrior people and genetically mutated amphibious adolescents, i dont know how you could grow up to NOT be fascinated with the future and science fiction. and from the days of 50's futurism to this moment nothing says "the future" quite like a beam of photons aka LASERS.

as far as i know while there has been tons of futuristic sounding music made, no one has quite harness the sound of a laser and turned it into a music. the closest approximation we have is the almighty synthesizer. from Rolands to Moogs synths signal to our ears that the time for flying cars is NOW!

lately ive been on that future music shit, anything with laser sounds and a feeling of propulsion has been on rotation hard. check the below selections for some bangers to blast outta your battlestar with the top down.


Bogdan Irkuk - The Distant Message
Awhile ago i read an interesting story alleging that the Wachowski Brothers, the creators of the Matrix trilogy had stolen the plot to those movies from an unknown black woman who had submitted her script to them back when the brothers were creating a comicbook series. interestingly enough this woman was also suing james cameron for stealing her ideas from the same script and crafting the terminator mythos from it. and heres the real bugged out thing, in her script the machines of the terminator series finally win the war and totally enslave mankind resulting in the events of the matrix. ...and Neo is the reincarnated John Connor [cue explosion]. in that story once the robots have totally enslaved humankind, id imagine the Terminators would be elated (or as close as possible to elated as automatons can get), and theyd throw a sick worldwide dance party. during the come down part of this party like 5:30 or so when the robot E has really taken effect and neural nets turn to thoughts of how much each robot loves his robot brothers and how futile the war with humans really was (they just wnated to protect us, why didnt we listen?!?) this jam would drop. and as the song hit the laser part around 2:30 in and the sun began to rise and the dawn illuminated the battlefield and broken weak bodies of their combatants a single tear would flow from the eye of a terminator.
"Even though it is something i can never do, i know now why you cry..." Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2


Kavinsky - Testarosa Nightdrive
It's 1987 and Chico Avaraldo, the biggest gun runner in Miami has double crossed you for the last time. He sent his goons after you to rub you out and kidnap your girlfriend to sell into white slavery*, they shot you in the back and torched your modest albeit palatial estate. left you for dead. they shoulda finished the job, first mistake. You jump in your Lamborghini and speed down the high way, doing 120 miles an hour on a moonlit twisting road you approach Avaraldo's mansion. The lamborghini hits a conveniently placed jump to fly over the gate. midair you open up the gullwing doors and jump out with BOTH of your Uzis blazing. Avaraldo's ninja army wasnt prepared for such a brash move, last mistake. You enter the mansion and find Avaraldo holding your girl at gunpoint. it ends now. NO MORE MISTAKES.

*"she not white, she Cuban" - the great man Mannie Fresh


Gino Soccio - Remember
whenever i watch a dystopian futuristic movie like say Bladerunner or A clockwork Orange where the life of the populace is incredibly drab and gray and dangerous, i wonder what kind of music does this society produce? is it equally as depressing and gloomy? a reflection of their insufferable conditions and bleak outlook? or is it the exact opposite, beyond happy and upbeat. an escapist fantasy that will allow them to leave their surrounding behind for a minute. if its the later, we will all be jamming the above song when aliens descend from the sky one fateful day and wage war on us on with weapons of science and/or magic. as we all sit chained in internment camps wondering if our new alien overlords will kill us for sport of food, well all be humming this beautiful space jam.

I DONT USE BAD GRAMMAR SO PLEASE EXCUSE THIS, BUT IM JUST TRYING TO TELL YOU WHO I IS....

The Cool Kids are the truth.
While initially I really didnt want to have anything to do with hipster rap from a group called the cool kids, i drastically changed my mind once i heard their music. far from being merely some fashion rappers who saw a couple of videos on VH1 soul school, these dudes are actually pretty nice on the mic. their style is really an amazing amalgm, one the one hand aesthetically they are styled on a retro tip. circa '93 or so. starter jackets, jordans, cross colors, bright ass colorways. beatwise they take alot of influence from both the minimalist bass heavy produciton of early Rick rubin and from the slowed down vocals of southern rap. at times they also throw in some laser sounds and weirdness which reminds me of the weirder Neptunes moments (grindin, drop it like its hot, click clack). Lyrically they stay mainly on bragadocio and occasionally chicks, but all within their own spectrum. no songs about the ice on their wrists instead songs baout how ill their bmx bikes rims are.
if there was any sorta justice these dudes would get some sort of national attention. they could easily be played next to Souldja Boy or young Joc or Lil Mama.

BELIEVE!!

Halo 3 : Believe
Uploaded by jeremy60

INTERPRETATIVE DANCERS, WE GOTTA DO BETTER

and just when we thought rap was dead thanks to the board bangers, it goes and takes interpretative dance down with it during its death knell.

7 DEGREES OF CONNECTION: CHAKA KHAN X ANAL BLAST

Let's see how famed RnB singer Chaka Khan is connected with black metal band Anal Blast.

1. Chaka Khan did some vocals on Rick Wakeman of Yes' solo album "1984"
2. Rick Wakeman played key for Black Sabbath on "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
3. Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath now uses Mike "Puffy" Bordin of Faith No More as his touring drummer
4. Mike Patton of Faith No More did guest vocals on Sepultura's "Lookaway"
5. Max Cavalera of Sepultura and also of Soulfly did a song with Corey Taylor of Slipknot which i refuse to find the name of because i adamantly refuse to believe Soulfly exists.
6. Joey Jordison of Slipknot at one time was in Anal Blast.

and there we have it 80's rnb connected to 90's black metal.
only here at heavilyfocused

THOUGHTS ON THE VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS OR HOW I LEARNED MTV DOESNT CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE*

- its kinda weird to watch as britney spears career just had its final death rattle. like you wanna help outta altruism but its way too late. does she look a lil drunk? does she also look a lil soft? how does this all fit into federline's master plan?

- sarah silverman bombed bad, real bad.

- this show looks about as rehearsed and well executed as a dance routine performed in front of your projects' building by 14 yr old girls. actually those girls probably rehearsed more, it's the end of summer they didnt have shit to do for the last 3 months.

- they are really playing the hell outta the justice record.

- shia lebouf's child molester 'stache, stellar.

- t pain always looks like he just crawled out of the garbage.

- conversely alicia keys looks like magic

- seeing mastodon for ~30 seconds almost made the shitstorm that was this show worth it.

- all of timbaland's recent production sounds like french rave music. whats the deal with that?


*or white people or asians, or latinos or pacific islanders or middle easterners for that matter.

TAKE EVERYTHING, AND LEAVE NOHTING!!!

Amazing commercial for nike football directed by michael mann (Heat, Miami Vice).
the thing that gets me about this is how it uses the visual style of 300 with the ramping up and slowing down of the film to get that hyperkinetic feel to it. but this ad is far from a cheap ripoff of that outstanding movie, but instead just incorporates that element and mixes it with the the things that mann does well already. namely his great camera angles and use of color lighting to create mood. the moment that really makes it for me is at 37 seconds in, after the trip tackle the slowness with which merriman gets up and the push in to closeup their really sells the idea of exertion and perseverance in the face of exhaustion. the last shot of shawn jackson pushing the pile to the outstretched touchdown is fucking brilliant as well.

extra goody is the braveheart esque triumphant celtic music

11 THOUGHTS ON KANYE WEST GRADUATION

11. Kanye was mad cause he thought Justice stole his MTV europe award for best video, so he stole their synths. Advantage Kanye.
10. I hate T-Pain. It's like someone gave RoBearBirble a record contract. the streets were not asking for that.
9. But I love the "Buy You A Drank" remix with Kanye on the Cant Tell Me Nothing mixtape. the synth harmonies are a lil higher in the mix and i swear if you looped those synths over themselves you could see God.
8. "Good Life" with T-Pain is like the most perfect happy time song. driving home, top down, after crushing your crush music. this is mostly fueled by the power of the sample from Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T". 10th level awesome incantation cast by Kanye.
7. Its apparently OK to write love letters to other dudes in rap now, see "Big Brother". not that anything wrongs with that. please say the baby.
6. I was unaware I was a champion in your eyes. thanks for the vote of encouragement.
5. Even when Wayne is bad hes still pretty good, see "Barry Bonds". The beat for "Barry Bonds" is so drunk on its own power and laid back, perfect for MR. West.
4. I was cool with Robin Thicke being accepted into hip hop, cause hes actually pretty good at what he does and he's Alan Thicke's son. werd to Boner Stabone. but when did coldplay become the go to dudes for hip hop? i dont like the smell of this.
3. "..in two years Dwayne Wayne became Dwayne Wade"
2. Kanye really likes synths, and apparently OLDBOY and 2001 and Akira. we should totally hang out. no tony romo.
1. "when you meet me in person, what do you feel like? i know i know, I look better in real life"

ITS IMPORTANT TO BE TASTEFUL

I pretty regularly use the phrase "all nude, but tastefully done" in everyday conversation to denote a bit of class applied to the most base of topics, however i kinda forgot where the phrase came from. so after a lil bit of internet sleuthing i was able to find the source. werd to KG and Starbury.

TELL HER: "I'LL HOLLA!"

Married To The Mob gets frenchy graffiti artist Fafi to model some selections of their fall line. I've never been overly in love with the world of streetwear, for every hot item that comes out theres about 25 whack ass derivative joints released, but Married To The Mob has been consistently killing it as of late for the ladies with smart clean designs that rarely enter the epileptic seizure spectrum. The co-sign by Fafi is really just the cheese on the grits, (extra goody but not absolutely necessary). On the XX appreciation tip, Fafi is just as beautiful as her lovely lady drawings. Fafi's joints always have a feeling of a modern day "Alice In Wonderland", while her characters are modern and urban they occupy a world of girlish fantasy. and werd to hexadecimals do i enjoy her easter color pallet.













Married To The Mob
Fafi

WHAT DO THEY DO SIT AROUND AND PLAY HOCKEY???

amazing "news" piece on straight edge from what im guessing was somewhere around 95 or so. i love the "oh those kids and their carazy music/ideas" tone taken by the narrator.
ahh hardcore how i miss thee.

YOU KNOW WHAT I FORGOT TO DO?

hang out at the playboy mansion in '71.
i knew i was missing something.
werd to byron and hef (before he looked like the crypt keeper with a harem of chicks a quarter of his age).

COOL OUTRAGEOUS LOVERS OF uniquely RAW STYLE

i was able to get my hands on an advance copy of Between The Buried And Me's Latest Album "Colors" in the last week or so. and while im still trying to figure out exactly whats going on in some parts and basically drink it all in, it would seem that BTBAM have crafted one of the most ambitious records to come out of the mid to late 90's hardcore alumni. this thing is part prog, part grind, part metal, part jazz fusion. with the prog elements really ringing through strongest. their update of prog plays less on suites in the Yes, ELP sense, instead the whole album long song progresses much like a Mahavishnu Orchestra or Return To Forever song, building upon the part before it and evolving as the album goes.

previous to this album BTBAM released an album of covers, featuring them doing spot on note for note impersinations of QUEEN, EARTH CRISIS, SEPULTURA, SOUNDGARDEN, PINK FLOYD, PANTERA and MOTLEY CRUE. i personally didn't care for the album to a great extent because it was so note on, there was little interpretation, simply a display of their various musical abilities (especially Tommy Rogers voice). but with that said this album would definitely serve to prepare us for the amalgam and synthesis on COLORS.

in any event its been an interesting progression for BTBAM since their inception post Prayer For Cleansing. Originally starting out as a good metalcore band with potential, and killer breakdowns theyve now actually come into their own and made some truely remarkable music. if you like metal or prog or music for that matter go get COLORS!!!

Below a song from each of their albums in reverse chronological order.

SELKIES: THE ENDLESS OBSESSION from Alaska


BICYCLE RACE by QUEEN from The Anatomy Of...


LOST IN PERFECTION from The Silent Circus


ASPIRATIONS from their Self Titled Debut

MADLIB VS THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT

does anyone know what movie(s) this is?

IM IN YOUR RAP VIDEO, CUTTIN UP TEH SAMPLES

Board Bangers - Cause The Beats Hot
Uploaded by yardie4life

this might possibly be the end of rap. rap critical mass before it implodes in on itself. part because theyve sampled the "meow, meow, meow" meow mix theme song. and that really is enough in and of itself. but the other part that i find even more disturbing is that the song is actually good. someone please send this beat to Lil Wayne.

MY GRINDS ABOUT FAMILY, NEVER BEEN ABOUT FAME

It's full on summer, and the airwaves should be dominated by the cars that go BOOM! playing heavy bass anthems (or the jam of all summer jams Summertime by Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff). But in my headphones and less than booming home system I've been blasting alot of grind and grind influenced shit. So if you're like me and not particularly getting jazzed on Rhianna butchering the word umbrella as your first choice in listening materials then fucks with this.



AN ALBATROSS - DIMENSIONAL GYMNASTICS
These dudes have a decidedly circusy feel with their usage of synths but at the same time their guitarist can fuck work his way around the fretboard. theres a good amount of southern/calssic rock guitar stylings going on here with dashes of fusion thrown in for spice and when the synths and the guitars lock into the same run I feel like I'm back in '74 on a Mahavishnu Orchestra/Return To Forever double bill, which would be amazing beyond belief considering I wasnt born until '80.



GENGHIS TRON - THE FOLDING ROAD
You know how the firs time you heard the dillinger escape plan and they broke into a lil drum and bass part and your mind was blown and you were like "dude, i could fuck with techno if it was all like this". Well Genghis Tron took that and extrapolated it out to an entire band. This song is a rather uncanny mix of IDM norms, blast beats, mosh parts and incredibly thematic synths and most importantly good dynamic song writing. A unique joint for adventurous listeners.*



THE TONY DANZA TAP DANCE EXTRAVAGANZA - MY BOWLING BALLS FROZEN IN A FOOTLOCKER IN CHICAGO
The hair metal intro is awesome and all but dont let that shit distract from the fact these dudes make some really good modern grindcore. yes its a bit heavy on the MOSH!! side of things and is definitely post Calculating Infinity. but it's also heavy as shit and most importantly, fun.



JOB FOR A COWBOY - REDUCED TO MERE FILTH
Yes they're a fairly young band. Yes they are the poster boys for the new breed of "hardcore" kids who've been indoctrinated 9th hand via MTV bands. So they're most often written of by the old guard of metal heads, but in reality with their last outing these dudes made a really good death metal record that has no traces of influence from At The Gates' "Slaughter Of The Souls". No melodic leads no perfunctory solos no overly tech bullshit either, just some good old fashioned grind/death that for some reason reminds me a lil of Obituary or possibly Entombed.



SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY - HONEY, IVE NEVER HAD SEX THAT WASN'T AKWARD
Short. Sweet. And to the point. Lots of whammy bar gymnastics/abuse going on here and some HUGE breakdowns thrown in for any ninjas in the crowd




* When did I start writing reviews of grindcore as if it was a novel dish at a T.G.I Fridays?? WTF?

I GOT SCOTTISH IN MY FAMILY....

amazing video from the dudes in Outkast and UGK, its like andre3000's victory lap on his return to the rap race. this song was already on constant rotation while working, and this video really isn't helping it to move anywhere.

I WONDER WHO HAS A BETTER NAIL JOB?

Last week i caught Kid Sister down at canal room and homegirl was on point to the fullest extent rocking through "Let Me Bang", "Control", "Telephone" and all the other jams floating around the internets. I told ya'll this girl was gonna do big things this year, and ya'll didnt believe me. So, in timely fashion the remix to "Pro Nails" drops with fashionista Kanye West doing a guest verse as a co-sign that I'm right in all things music. Check the mpfree

WITH ODEN ON OUR SIDE.....

Sometimes, the stressors of modern life can get to you and with deadlines approaching and inspiration waining things may seem bleek. but at times like this i remember that there is such a VIKING METAL. a whole genre of music devoted to telling the tales of norse men kicking ass and drinking mead. You all need to get some Amon Amarth in your lives. it looks like someone cloned james hetfield circa '88 and put those clones in a time machine to viking times. upon reaching gladitorial maturity these clones were brought back to our times and introduced to the ways of metal. enjoy.



Runes to My Memory


Cry of the Black Birds

PART EAGLE, PART SEAGULL THAT'S A CUCKOO BIRD!

A lil while ago in the posting haitus of '07 I came across the website of Brandon Bird, a painter/illustrator/pop culture genius. Dude's work is a pitch perfect combination of recondite popculture references and overall absurdity. I want to go on some long diatribe detailing the grandeur of his work but instead I'll just let it speak for itself.


"Bad Day on the High Sea"



"The Death of Jennifer Sisko"



"Killing Machine"



"King of the Cage"




I particularly love "King of the Cage" which at first view is simply a picture of a barrel chested Abe Lincol going harbody on two dudes in a cage match. But on further inspection we realize it's Linocln replacing Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the first X-men film. What does this mean? I have no clue but I whole heartedly support this guy in his lunacy.

BrandonBird.com

CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES

NEW GRIME!!! NEW GRIME!!! NEW GRIME!!! NEW GRIME!!! NEW GRIME!!! NEW GRIME!!!
Roll Deep is back with the first video off of Rules & Regulations called Celebrate. Not as harsh as pre- In At The Deep End Roll Deep but its still a pretty stellar club type jam. And any chance to see my ponytailed dude Scratchy is much appreciated.

Extra treat below, throwback video to Roll Deep banger Heat Up. I love how dudes come off as a British Wu Tang in this video with the lightning flashes an undeterminable amount of dudes lurking around in the background.

I REMEMBER THE DAY THE SUN WENT OUT

"our mission, reignite the sun before its too late"
Usually if I were to hear the above line in a trailer i'd assume we have a new TBS classic on our hands, akin to the The Core or The Day After Tommorow. but with Sunshine we have Danny Boyle of Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Millions fame directing and a cast that includes Cillian Murphy and Chris Evans (the only redeemable part of the Fantastic Four movie besides Jessica Alba's physique). While the plot sounds Saturday afternoon matinee at best, the cinematography and pacing looks positively opening Friday night. From what the trailer shows the industrial design of the ship they're on is on some refined minimalism jumpoff of 2001 or the Sodenberg Solaris. The shots of crewmembers dying gives a feeling of horror that I hope they get into real deep.
When i was a kid i read The Stars My Destination which is a story told by a guy floating in empty space in a space suit after he teleports off of his ship in a hurry. and for some reason slow asphyxiation and abandonment always struck me as one of the most horrific elements that you could play with in sci fi. and while its been a minor point in many a sci-fi movie from 2001 to Event Horizon to Deep Impact its never really been a huge note. I'd love to see the tension and uneasiness you could create by watching a dude in a suit slowly unravel and fall apart as the gravity of his situation hits him. And a couple beats in this look like they might give us that. In any event something to look forward too whenever its actually released in the US

THE MAGIC OF JUXTAPOSITION

I dont know what it is about shit like this that just makes me giddy like a school girl. behold the magic and the mystery:



BLACK SABBATH X FANTASIA


GI JOE X NOTORIOUS BIG


JOB FOR A COWBOY X SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS

ARCHITECT - ALL IS NOT LOST

After more than a decade of listening to hardcore and metal it becomes increasingly difficult to impress me. with a style of music that evokes chaoticness and visceral energy above anything, the more youre exposed to it the more desensitized you become. but Architect have done managed to craft an album thats the aural equivalent of watching uncensored footage of a pack of wolves fighting a pride of lions.

hyperbole aside "All Is Not Lost" is a near flawless record in the style of Coalesce, Botch and Breather Resist, which is to say it's a relentless barrage. "All Is Not Lost" feels uneasy and off kilter not in the calculated way that a Dillinger Escape Plan song does, with its 15 different time signatures, interspersed electronic segues and fusion jazz passages. but instead it feels like a live recording of five dudes whom are truly angry with the world and are beating the hell out of their instruments. this record honestly feels like a throwback to the early era of hardcore Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Agnostic Front et al. not in style, it's far too metal for that, but instead in the way it feels as though the whole album could fall apart at any time, you almost expect to hear the album abruptly stop mid song because someone has knocked over a speaker or thrown a drum in a fit of rage* and im an entirely OK with that.

Architect - Broke Dick Dog

* having seen member's previous bands Found Dead Hanging, Word As A Virus and The August Prophecy on multiple occasions, this expectation of violence is not far from the truth im sure.

THE MEN ALL PAUSE AS I WALK INTO THE ROOM...

Married To The Mob has released a preview of their Spring '07 line and in the immortal words of Chris Tucker and Ice Cube in Friday "dammmnnnnnn". the line continues the MOB's trend of cleanly designed eye catching shirts for the ladies. the gold varsity jacket above is stunning piece in a restrained way. it'll easily stand out and grabs the attention of everyone else as you walk into a party without crossing over that line into clown status. as much as im NOT a fan of the early 90's Fresh Prince of Bel Air revival in street fashion as of late, i could see chicks rocking this jam with some tights ala Salt n' Pepa in the video for "Push It", replace the rope chains of the 90's with a charm necklace and it's a rap.

UNFORTUNATELY WERE NOT ALL ROBOTS

A new film from Korean auteur Chan Wook Park, director of "Oldboy" and "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance". on this outing CWP decides to step away from the grim, ultra violent, pessimistic material he's known for and tries a romantic comedy. anyone familiar with his previous films will undoubtedly be surprised at this stark 180 in tone and direction (one of his previous films featured an actor eating an octopus whole on screen). but as the international trailer below shows, CWP is able to handle at least the visuals with an amazing amount of flourish and restraint. his use of color is amazing, as the film just pops off the screen. and if the story is on par with that of his darker material im sure we're in for a real romcom convention busting treat in the vein of "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind" and "Punch Drunk Love".

Apparently the plot invloves a woman who is in a mental institution because she thinks she's a battle cyborg. and a man who wears a bunny mask, that believes he absorbs other's powers. and they fall in love in the mental institution. i shit you not.

"I Am Cyborg But That's Ok"'s Beautifully Well Done Site
International Trailer

NO HERO

jane doe print

theres dudes i fucks with in the world of design and art. there's dudes whose style i admire, dudes who show amazing skill and thought in their work. but rarely do i ever feel anyone's nailed shit so dead on and consistently that i gotta ride hard for them on some fanboy shit. the one exception may be Jacob Bannon. jake bannon is most well known as the singer for boston metal/hardcore OG's Converge. dudes have been putting it down with an intensity and artistry that few can match in any form of music, they sound vaguely like a more pissed off and artsy version of Slayer (but i'll get into all that in a post at some point in the future) and they've been killing it for like 15 years now. beyond dude's involvment in Converge (where he is responsible for all of the art direction and design) he's also one of the leading freelance designers in the world of hardcore and metal as well as the head of Deathwish Inc. records (he designs the packaging for all of their releases).


death dealer t-shirt designs


black cloud t-shirt designs

as a designer bannon is most known for having a very dark, gritty style with lots of texture. his work has an very organic feel yet is always evocative and nuanced. usually playing with light and shading to create very ominous looking pieces. around '98 - '99 is when i really started to take notice of his skill when i purchased Poison The Well's "The Opposite Of December", that album was incredibly emotive mixture of emotional hardcore with precisely executed metal. it was an instant classic that ignited a huge amount of copycat bands and jocking. one of the things that served to push the album into classic status was bannon's immaculate CD design. for the packaging he picked up on the theme of seasons changing and created a layout that had a spread for each season with winter being the cover. each two page spread was a vivid usage of photo-collage. in summer bright reds, greens and yellows leaped from the page at you while in winter dark blue and black hues overlay white snow splatter and a grinning skull.


poison the well - opposite of december(cd cover)

the design of the cd worked on multiple levels (as all great design should). first its important to understand the climate to which this album was released. unlike today when its quite common to hear sing-screaming over hardcore in '98 it was still a rather novel idea. while poison the well were far from the first ones to do it, this album was an extremely polar incarnation of the formula, with the hardcore being very metal influenced and the softer parts being quite subdued. and at this time guys who liked metal were not often the same guys who enjoyed quietly sung songs about heartbreak. so to say the album was released into a somewhat unsure market, if not hostile market would be an understatment. but in having the front cover of the record utilize the winter motif with skull, bannon was able to appeal to the visual lexicon of metal and hardcore buyers easily. upon quick glance this could without too much of a stretch of the imagination be a slickly produced death metal album cover. at the same time bannon utilizes the handwritten script and sans serif fonts for the band name and album title. both conventions are clear earmarks to the world of indie rock and emo, from which poison the well draw their softer accoutrements. so an astute indie rock buyer could easily pick up this album and wonder about the contents within. upon opening the cd itself as we witness the progression from winter setting to summer we're also provided with a visual metaphor for the bands sound, ranging from the harshness of the metal to the softness of the emo influenced parts.


pure pain print


converge - no heroes (cd cover)


converge - you fail me (cd cover)

in his more recent works jake bannon has shown an increasing image in biblical visual imagery and gothic styled graphics. at times he intergrates these subjects into his signature splattered, shadowed, gritty style and at other times hes applying them minimally to clean backgrounds as is on dispay on the latest set of converge merchandise. his minimal application often ends up making his work feel as though its been lifted directly from some kind of 1930's Alister Crowley esque magician's spellbook.


in place apart print


doomriders poster


shadows are security print

bannon continues to progress and change styles over his extremely prolific and influental career and has yet to fall off even slightly in his decade+ spanning career. and for that i raise a glass to homeboy as a design dude among dudes.



unloved print

POOF! POOF! GONE...

today La MJC dropped All Gone, a year end wrap-up of streetwear, collectible toys, limited sneakers and the like. This joint features 180 different items from the past year with creator interviews, sharp photography, pullouts, posters, stickers and explanation of the concept that lead to the final product. In keeping with the spirit of limited run exclusivity the book is limited to a run of 500 and is priced at 30 euros (about $40 bucks US) before shipping. check WE SOLD OUT to cop one. images from the book below:





looking at the design of the recently exploded streetwear market im reminded of the punk rock aesthetic to a degree. punk rock dudes were/are all about differentiating themselves from the masses with their style (mohawks, bullet belts, dyed hair, piercings etc), although if asked most will not play up the idea they worry about their daily outfit as much as your average 15 year old girl. in punk's creation of their own standards of design they rejected the status quo. streetwear is also about rejecting the masses but not necessarily the principles of standard design.

streetwear, coming out of hip-hop looks to best the next dude. "you got a new pair of clean all white chucks like everyone else?" cool. im gonna have a pair of clean all red chucks. why? because no one else has 'em. that's the concept. as the scene has progressed custom items, collectibles and limited runs have become the norm. but the design has only really deviated from the norm in terms of saturation. taking a centered logo and replicating it all over a garment, literally saturating colors into hues that the mainstream would rarely go, reviving design schemes from years past, matching and coordinating to pedantic levels. in this amplification of the norm we end up with what some might objectively call caricature.

its really something to be said for the sameness of all youth oriented sub cultures that two movements separated by 30+ years, geography and class could end up so highly resembling each other. like all youth sub culture though, it'll only be a short amount of time before streetwear is totally co-opted by the mainstream and is no longer appealing to a wide band of youths. but what comes next after dumb bright colors, busy patterning and uber matching? muted formal wear!



this is the look for '08. get on board now.

AND MY GIRL COUSINS GONNA ROCK YOU....

Looks like this year we could be blessed with alot of quality jams from the XX set. We over here at the heavilyfocused offices cant wait to live the glamorous life will listening to jams from the following jawns:




KID SISTER

Comprised of brother and sister combo Josh2K of (Flosstradamus fame) and Kid Sister, Kid Sister (the group) have been making alot of noise in the last year. At this last year's CMJ i saw em lay waste to a basement of gyrators at 1 in the morning. With Kid Sis on the mic and J2K handling the dj-ing and presumably a good portion of the beat creation duties come recording time they laced the party anthems hard with a style thats heavily influenced by southern bounce and electro. Think nintendo bleeps and bloops that keep the girlie's hips swaying and rocking but enough bass to get dudes bumping hard and mean mugging. On the mic Kid Sis is pretty nimble on that fast rap shit with a nice southern twang and subject matter that's decidedly female oriented without being girly. From the amount of remixes and singles that have been leaking out in the last year it'd be expected that an EP or full length would drop within the next year or so and when it does im sure it'll blow up real hard. the music really does have a cross gender appeal, and it's poppy enough that Bill's and Nancy's of america could cop and rock it without having to really expand their mind or anything.
Kid Sister - Damn Girl
Kid Sister - South Side



JEAN GRAE

Jean Grae is one of the most perenially slept on rappers in underground hip hop. With a style reminiscent of early Twalib Kwalei and Mos Def (but quite a bit less preachy than either], Jean has released three full lengths worth of material and all have gone wood. Why? Possibly because rap is male dominated and misogynistic, possibly because she's never really been given any sort of real promotional push. But more than anything its probably because as an MC she pulls no punches, and as a woman that means songs about the expected shit of unfaithful spouse but also the unexpected topics of abortion and attempted suicide. Frankly i feel like that probably leaves alot of potential listeners shook. Her lyrics and wordplay are entirely top notch, and if Jay-Z had any clue what the fuck was going on as the CEO of Def Jam he would've drafted her as his protege instead of signing non event rapper Lady Sovereign. It wouldve been a bold move but she posses the same swagger and introspectiveness as Jay-Z at his best.

But she recently signed on with Talib's new Blacksmith record label and is said to be releasing an album sometime in '07. Hopefully when it drop she'll get the promotion and write-ups she needs to actually be heard by more than a bunch of internerds and backpackers.
Jean Grae - Watch Me
Jean Grae - Track 2 (from the still unreleased Jeanuis)




AMANDA BLANK
Amanada Blank is most well known as the foul-mouthed, fast rapping female MC of the SpankRock clique. Homegirl often appears in some wildly 80's throwbacky outfit next to cool disco MC Spankrock talking that talk and walkin that walk. But while telling us "her pussy is tasting the best" she still manages to evoke a sense of feminism, or empowerment. And in that is her great appeal, the ability to be as crass as the boys without coming of manly or slutty. This makes her the chick that all the dudes want and alot of the girls want to be (or at least hang out with). As far as I know theres no EP or LP planned, but judging by the responses she receives at every Spankrock show I've been to it'd be stupid not to get something on shelves for heads to buy.
Amanda Blank - Grit City
Amanada Blank - SuperFreak



MAPEI
Mapei is really a mysterious character, when you have a Myspace page that has little to no information on it and name yourself after a world famous bicycling supply company you make it hard for interested parties to find much information on you. But nonetheless the three jams ive heard from this girl have really got me sprung. Her entire sound is pretty much based on Peaches' "Fuck The Pain Away" but thats really not a bad thing at all as that song is awesome as hell. hopefully in the coming year we get some more flashes of sexy electro from homegirl.
Mapei - Video Vixens
Mapei - Date Rape


MIA
Really i'd been kinda over MIA and had been for awhile now, she came out real strong and was the fucking bell of the ball but never really managed to do much of anything with all the hype. Her album was aight but suffered from poor sequencing and song selection. and while not at all her fault, if i have to hear Galang one more time at some pseudo hip "dance party" i may shoot someone in the knees (notice by aiming below the waist he avoids the attempted murder charge). but then i hear shes working with timbaland and if anyone would sound great over the sounds of timbaland its everyone's favorite sri lankan songstress. "XR2" which was produced by golden boy Diplo and has been making the club routefor the last couple of months. it is pure hot fire on a bmore club type of high BPM, work your body till you sweat type of jam. So ill await the release of her next album and see if she gives us some fire or if itll just be another piece of "meh" that'll make all the hipsters can go crazy.

MIA - XR2