The Black Ghosts - Repetition Kills You (Dir. Sarah Hay)
Monday! It’s time for a spankin’ new video premier from London’s The Black Ghosts, in the continuing video series brought to you by The Black Ghosts and IAMSOUND records, curated by CULT-GEIST and presented jointly on Missingtoof and Big Stereo.
Today brings the video for what will be the first “official” single from the album (although the video above will not be the “official” video), ‘Repetition Kills You’, featuring the supremely talented singer (& all around rockstar), Damon Albarn of British alt-pop band, Blur & cartoon-crossover phenomenon, Gorillaz. The video is directed by Parisian music journalist & director, Sarah Hay. The video pays simultaneously homage to famous French New Wave director Jean Luc Goddard’s Bande à part film and and the classic video game Pac-Man, obviously playing off the influence of Parisian artist Invader.
Please enjoy a small staple of ‘Repetition Kills You’ remixes from Netherlands’ houser, Laidback Luke, Floridian club-king Diplo and British electronica machine, Emperor Machine.
British indietronica boys Hot Chip new record, ‘Made in the Dark’ dropped last week and, oh man, it’s the jam. Released on Astralwerks (they can do no wrong!), ‘Made in the Dark’ takes us through the the dark and the light—providing soft and thoughtful hymns that leave our ears dilated and inexpectant for the next blazing and glorious indie/dance groove. In other terms, the new record is a exciting and joyful music journey.
Anyone recall, ‘Shake a Fist’ that we hosted briefly last year? That track holds down track 2 among thirteen. Still fantastic, but let’s have another, a beautiful indie pop song titled, ‘Ready for the Floor’, with it’s official remixes by Floridian Hollertronix homeboy Diplo, the undeniably supreme Ghentlemen Soulwax and German houser Jesse Rose. Additionally a fine bootleg electro remix from one Marian Pramberger out of Austria.
And for good measure—because we’re still not sick of this remix, and ’cause our missingtoof girl got a buncha Grammys last week—we’re bringing back Hot Chip’s remix of ‘Rehab’. So heat.
Thanks to Nemesis for bringing this to our attention! Dope video mix of a gaggle of Justice clips & tracks. Great way to start the day. I’m sure most of you have heard the new tracks from the new album. What do you guys think? Apparently this single D.A.N.C.E. has been getting reamed on the itunes store. Average rating is 2 stars?! Ouch. But we knew the world wasn’t ready for Justice. Give them 6 more months to a year & they’ll be all on the team.
We did our part and didn’t post not a one track when Justice’s new album leaked to support the boys. BUT! We MUST post this Diplo and Eli remix of D.A.N.C.E. Not that the track needed any help, but this rework totally breathed some new life into it.
It’s been one year since Turntable Lab set up shop in L.A. and to celebrate, they’re throwing their biggest party yet—so big, in fact, it’s two parties stretched across tonight and tomorrow.
On the bill tonight we have Hollertronix (i.e. Diplo and Low Bee) and Blaqstarr at the 700 capacity EX_PLX in Echo Park (L.A.). This is likely to sell out quick, trust!
Here’s a jammy from Hollertronix’ first EP in 2004. This shit set that whole shit off:
This vinyl EP has been re-released in slightly altered form (dubbed #1.5 EP) and is available now from Turntable Lab.
Oh yea, if you didn’t know by now. All the Mad Decent (label related to Diplo and Hollertronix) podcasts are available for stream (and download) from Diplo’s .mac account. However, it looks like the account has hit its bandwidth limit for the moment, so you’ll definitely want to bookmark it, check back often and get e’ything when it’s live again.
We’ll still hook you up tho! Last March, DJ Blaqqstar (preforming in L.A. tonight) dropped a mix for Mad Decent Radio Worldwide and it’s hot fire. Dude must DJ with oven-mitts on:
Visit Mad Decent’s MySpace to hear and purchase more Blaqstarr.
Yes! And on Saturday, Electro legend Egyptian Lover will be doing his stuff extra smooth for the ladies to shake it. One of the few people from L.A. doing Electro Dance Music in the 1980’s, our city’s got mad love for Lover. If you’re not up on this man, look to Wikipedia and throw this 1984 classic in heavy rotation:
Visit Egyptian Lover on his Myspace pages one and two. Also check out Willow the Glasslamp Killer, ’cause he’s playing Saturday and he’s fucking awesome.
Combining elements of Brazilian baile funk, Miami bass, and very recognizable samples [Debbie Deb, Alice in Chains, Tone Loc, etc.], Bonde do Role’s debut album, ‘With Lasers’, does not strive to have a pretentious sound like many of todays hip new acts try to have. Rather, it’s just fun as hell (at times cheesy) dance music to shake your stanky ass to.
Stand out tracks include ‘Caminhao De Gas’, ‘Quero Te Amar’ and ‘Marina Do Bairro’. An album clocking in at just over half an hour, this is sure to get you worked up. Here’s an experiment: turn this on at a party. Make sure the bass is all the way up & If you and your friends aren’t drenched by the end of listening to this, then there’s probably something wrong with you guys.
It’s Wednesday & the boss is out of the office so we’ve been tooling around the innerneck, looking for new celeb crotch shots & new musics. And luckily for us today the the web is awash with both. Here’s some of our finds.
I Heart Comix L.A. party purveyors done went & got themselves a shiny new blog. My! Gay! Husband! drops his first post along with 5 fresh new mixes & mashes. Peep game. Aside from M!G!H! they’ve got Flosstradamus, Le Castlevania, Franki Chan & company on the roster. Visit them & get your bookmark on.
Palms Out put up the 320k version of Passions ‘Homecoming’ remix a long ass time ago. We missed it. Slippin’. Thanks to Dalston for putting us in the know. And grab Passions’ ‘Emergency’ track that we posted earlier this week, if you missed that.
Fluokids posted Purple Crush’s cover of Kate Bush’s classic ‘Running Up That Hill’. Beautiful cover of a beautiful song. I haven’t seen anyone post the original though. Here you go.
One of our fave blogs Disco Dust got a new layout with the artwork done by Zonders, who is responsible for Van She’s cd & site design & other Modular productions. Disco Dust is slways filled to the brim with exciting stuff.
And finally, Puritan B unleashed a cornucopia of remixes & mashes & if I know you guys at all, these will be all up in your alley.
Freestyle Fellowship are rappers Aceyalone, Mikah Nine, P.E.A.C.E. and Self Jupiter. This collection of people came together in 87 or 88 at the Good Life Cafe in Leimert Park, California. Leimert Park is a center of black culture inside Los Angeles (think, similar to Harlem in N.Y.) and a place where creative people come together, and Freestyle Fellowship is a prime example of that.
Freestyle Fellowship in the 80’s started as very large loose collection of Good Life regulars, but was reduced to just the 5 most dedicated by 1991, when the the group officially formed with their independently released first album, ‘To Whom It May Concern’ which created a buzz in the L.A. underground. Their sound is unique, in that it is the original (or at the least, among the original) group to do very fast rapping. Factor in their incorporation of Jazz, Scat, Electro, and vocal harmony, and a truly unique sound was born; Unique even even among most of their peers at the Good Life. Their message was often a positive, Afrocentric and intelligent commentary on life in inner-city Los Angeles and black culture in general. Here are some choice cuts from ‘To Whom It May Concern’:
MP3: Freestyle Fellowship - My Fantasy (Download) (1991)
This first album caught the ears of (now defunct) big label 4th & Broadway (a division of Island) and their second album had a proper multi-format single, release, promotion and distribution. The second album is titled, ‘Innercity Griots’ and is pure classic material. Have a listen and you’ll know why:
‘Innercity Griots’ was the last album the Freestyle Fellowship released 8 years. In that time, solo careers began, with the most prolific being Aceyalone’s debut solo record titled, ‘All Balls Don’t Bounce’ imprint on Capital Records. This album album established Aceyalone as a great solo artist and put him on path for the great solo career he continues to have today. I present you two songs from ‘All Balls Don’t Bounce.’ One, featuring other Good Life alumni and close associate, Abstract Rude of Abstract Tribe Unique:
Aceyalone released several other solo albums and continues to do so. He has collaboration albums with producers Mumbles, RJD2, and projects with Abstract Rude and in the group Haiku D’etat which consists of Aceyalone, Mikah 9 and Abstract Rude. Good songs have been produced through these various incarnations, but I can only post so much(!) and if you like what you hear you should buy everything! Here is one song titled, ‘The Balance’ selected from ‘A Book of Human Language,’ a concept album with producer Mumbles:
Perhaps the second most successful solo artist to emerge from Freestyle Fellowship is Mikah 9, who was signed to Capitol Records around the same time as Aceyalone, but he never released an album for the label due to problems with the label. But Mikah 9 has never stoped or even slowed. Releasing independent albums and holding residencies at Koncrete Jungle (r.i.p., when they were in L.A. too) and constantly at Project Blowed. Enough type! More tracks from Mikah 9’s, ‘Timetable’ an 2001 record that archives many songs and freestyles from his career up to that point:
And more recently here’s a track off Myka Nyne’s (Mikah 9, he changed the spelling), the Citrus Sessions, released in 2006. This is a certified winner and proof that these dudes still have it—whatever it is. This track is titled ‘Viles’ and features P.E.A.C.E.:
P.E.A.C.E. and Self Jupiter have other projects, but I’ll mostly leave that for you to discover on your own as this post is growing to mammoth proportions—drop me a comment if you’re really dying for a sample. However, I will give up offer up this Diplo track off his, ‘Florida’ album which features P.E.A.C.E.:
Freestyle Fellowship is a group that seems to have come together and fall apart more than once. Initially the group disbanded in 1993 when Jupiter was incarcerated for a while. But, the group reunited in 1998 for a few concerts including benefits for a project called ‘Mumia 911′. The last time the group came together for a studio album was 2001’s, ‘Temptations’. An album which had a different sounds than their debut 10 years prior, and frankly, I didn’t like it and can’t think of a song on it that is worth sharing, although some people love it as Amazon reviews indicate. Also they released a remixed version of the their debut album titled, ‘To Whom It May Concern 2.0′ which I thought was downright shameful. However, just before the bad stuff started, they did have one song released as a 12″ in 1999 on Celestial Recordings that is fantastic, perhaps because of the great production by OD. The song is titled, ‘Can You Find the Level of Difficulty in This’. This is the song that gave way for the (flop) reunion album (which was produced by someone else):
For anyone tho loved that, there is a Hive remix that is totally worth tracking down.
Freestyle Fellowship is a hard one to tackle and I hope that someone one out there enjoyed this post and will support the artists because they are makers of great Hip-Hop music. If you like what you hear, be sure to, at the least, pick up ‘To Whom It May Concern’ and ‘Innercity Griots’ because they are full of classic tracks and the songs above are just the tip of an iceberg. These two albums have been re-released and can be found at well-stocked hip-hop shops and online at Amazon. If you desire original pressings, your best bet would be secondary markets like eBay and Amazon affiliates. And I’ll tell you what, first Freestyle Fellowship fan that comments with Aceyalone’s real name, I’ll send ‘em a minty-fresh O.G. copy of ‘Innercity Griots’ on compact disc for your ear-hole pleasuring. Let’s see who actually reads this thing and isn’t just browsing pictures and tracks! I know entirely too much about this stuff and this weekly is my outlet. How you guys digging it?
P.S. If you love the early production, try sourcing these LPs from this old Palms Out Sounds post about Freestyle Fellowship sample sources.
Hollertronix released their latest disc last December, #6. You know the drill by now. Diplo & Lowbudget mashin’ hard down Remix boulevard in a beat up car. These two beat junkies are veritable mash up maestros blending two, three, twenty songs into audio orgasms.
Tracks:
1. Scotty B & King Tut - The Almighty Simon Joint
2. Diplo - Don’t Go Snitchin
3. DJ Tameil - Trans Newark Express
4. Say Wut - Bueller Theme
5. Diplo - The Scrappy Chief
All the tracks are heaters but my fave is Diplo’s version of Yaz’s ‘Dont Go’.
This is a vinyl rip to whet your whistle. My needles are older than my mom so it might sound decent on your pc speakers but if you wanna throw this in your set you’ll have to drop some duckits for the real deal. I got my copy for 7 bones at On The Corner Music. If you’re not in the area Turntable Lab has your back.
Last summer the young cats in ‘The Pack‘ probably made themselves a pretty penny off their Vans song. They definitely got notice from some major players in the game. Shortly after the single release Bay Area rapper Too Short become their manager.
The company Vans said that their shoe sales boosted dramatically once the song was in major rotation on radio airwaves. Neither Vans nor The Pack is saying how much of a monetary thank you these boys got from Vans, but I’m sure it was more than just a few pair of Top Siders.
I think I’m gonna write a song about L.A. Gears. Maybe they’ll lace me with a free pair of Lights.
.
