Faith decided differently, Bolt quit this years competition with health problems. So the shirt was never made.

Quite a challenging project it was though, as Puma had deciced to put me head-to-head competition with graffiti veteran and Belgian cinema’s finest: Zenith. (who’s shirt you can witness here) A couple of days before running, Bolt would have chosen one of the two designs. Now I’m not a designer, photoshop and illustrator are new worlds to me.

Matter of fact, I started doing artwork just to get away from computer screens, so all was done by hand, in a temporary workplace for which I can’t thank Disco Dalglish and Lieve enough. On top of that the biggest shout-out to Eckelwood and JtotheC for spending hours and hours in the dreadfull process called adobe illustrator. Ow yeah, and the nice people over at tvbrussel, for coming to film this little video report, I should do interviews really, haha.

Ow yeah, the puma folks had given some rules to the design. It needed to feature Bolt’s main style elements, being.. the lightning bolt, of course, and the Lion, for his second name is Leo… Colourway was supposed to by silver/purple/black/white/gold, but since that’s not really my style, you’ll only get a rough idea of the shirt in black and white, the real deal was never printed.

That’s enough to share this video. A rugged boost of energy and passion. Real proper UK styling:

“See I’m all city, except I got the hair of a hippie.”

Line in the Sand is out now on ‘Patterns’ – Kate Tempest’s new book/CD release available from Kate at gigs or from soundofrum.com. Video by theindependentcontentcompany.co.uk.

Great Lengths is a tribute to Martyn’s parents, his father, former PSV team-leading scorer Gerrie Deijkers, who died of heart falure in 2003. Martyn plays his father, Halina Reijn the widow. After the ball is taken away from him, we see Martyn at his own farewell gathering. Beautiful:

If you’re not familiar with Martyn yet, we made a must-see video about the man a couple of months ago:

“During the best part of his career, Hathaway began to suffer from severe bouts of depression. It was found that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and was known to take strong medication daily to try and control the illness. However, Eulaulah Hathaway has said that her husband was frequently less than diligent about following his prescription regimen.”

Full documentary on the life and times of the extraordinary talent that was Donny Hathaway:

Let’s make this a little tribute to Donny Hathaway and add some more songs, starting with Bilal’s recent covering of Someday We’ll All Be Free

The Ghetto – Live:

Put Your Hand In The Hand – Live:

Donny Hathaway & Roberta Flack Live:

Leader Ricky has dreams of his group becoming the best band in Congo Kinshasa. A documentary crew followed the band for five years, resulting in what looks like a must-see documentary, which was selected at the Quinzaines des Réalisateurs at Cannes Film Festival this year:

In 2009 the band released their debut album ‘Très Très Fort’, which I’m now very curious to hear…

(thx Gust for the tip!)

Blend’ was the track that put them on the map as Uphigh Collective (you’ve seen the live video, you’ve got the 7″ vinyl, or the mp3 – out on On-Point Records), gaining them international acclaim from Athens to Los Angeles over London and Amsterdam.

Currently preparing their live show and with new tracks to surface soon, now seemed the appropriate time to share more sounds from two of the Uphigh producers: Oddlaner and Ducap.

The two ep’s are now up for free downloads: EP1: Oddlaner and EP2: Ducap. The download is free for all, but as always in these hard times, any donation is heavily appreciated, all profit going directly to the artists and their future output. And you know that’ll sound mighty fine!

On-Point Records is a small independent label, so if you’re digging the sounds… please share this with your friends, followers and fans.

About Oddlaner:

Emmanuel Oddlaner is a side project/alter-ego of the man behind Raydius360. A funky, lost-in-space-and-time character with beats sounding way too electronical for the classic boombap lover. A product of the new beat generation, a bedroom studio rocker loving crazy arpeggiators and vintage synths.

About Ducap:

Developing his style with i-Sa since 2004 Ducap now settled down into his comfy corner and got to work on refining his own thing. Soul music with one foot in the past, one foot in the future, and a couple of toes dipped in an ocean of analog synts. He’s a beat soundscaper, with all sorts of quality bits from across the modern palette, continually on the pulse to improve himself.

(To know the background of what led to this era and creative state-of-mind, make sure you watch ‘Nightmare In The City That Never Sleeps‘ once again, the docu about NYC’s black-out, put entirely online for free.)

In the late 1970s, the greatest city in the world was teetering on the edge of total chaos. A failed economy, crime and en masse housing corruption gave way to a city in crisis.

Yet out of the economic and social strife that held the Big Apple hostage, a family of homegrown cultures that would forever change the world began to emerge.

Downtown Calling not only documents, in detail, the evolution of New York Citys fertile music and art subculture during this period, but how its collective output continues to play a prominent, driving role in the international fashion, art and music industries today.

Ramblin’ is the documentary of a nationwide search for the anonymous and unknown artists of freight train monikers. This art form has been prevalent on the rails since the Great Depression but is often overshadowed by larger, aerosol train graffiti.

The film features artists such as the Colossus of Roads, The Rambler, Smokin’ Joe, The Kodak Kidd, KHaze, The Ghouls, Texican Gothic, The Solo Artist, Faves and Conrail Twitty.

Ramblin’ is still in production and we are actively seeking all moniker artists. Please contact 7demonbag@gmail.com

Well, if only more b-sides like this were made, creating a trademark sound for other genres to grow out off. Melvin Bliss’s Synthetic Substitution is one of those classic breakbeats you’ve heard over a gazillion times, sampled by your favourite hiphop producer, and their mamas.

Melvin Bliss passed away July 26th 2010. A documentary is in the making, to tell the full story of Melvin Bliss.

“Watch as director Earl Holder and Peripheral Enterprises present a documentary about Melvin Bliss and his famous recording, Synthetic Substitution. As one of the most sampled drum breaks ever, Synthetic Substitution featured drumming by none other than the master Bernard Purdie.” (via cratekings)

Not all went well, not all were deep, but that’s all part of the festivalgame, isn’t it? The hectic schedules, the freestyled questions, the artists unknown, the back hurting from the sauna-tent you spent the night in, the showers you’ve skipped, etc. etc. You know how that goes..

Anyway, these are the interviews I succeeded in shooting, big hug to Gunter – Eckelwood – Blokken for assisting with some of these:

For more videos…

Now, with ‘Fela!’, the musical playing on Broadway, more videos are put online, my favourite being the interview with Ghariokwu Lemi, the mastermind behind Fela’s trademark album cover art:

Adding to that, a beautiful fragment of the Broadway musical, a favourite of many: Water No Get Enemy:

And there’s more, Fela’s son Seun Kuti talking about Broadway going crazy for Fela:

One of the finer things in life, is arguably meeting New People. And so it happened that during our stay at OFFF in Paris, I saw a man with a t-shirt reading ‘New Shirt’. Black and Blue lettering in the same style as the logo of one of my favourite blogs…? Opportunity sometimes only strikes once, so I ran after the man, to congratulate him with his t-shirt (yeah, I’m that type of fool), asking him out about New Work.

Long story short, your favourite blogger is now a contributor over at NewWork. Sharing both my personal portfolio as well as my online inspirations. Not sure how this will overlap with this here on-point.be, but as with the twitter and the facebook, it’ll all be complimentary, none covers it all, but they’re all equally on-point.

Put it in your bookmarks, or your feed reader, ILoveNewWork, because it’s nice like that!

Her lips are full and pink. Her teal green eyes are intense and inviting. Her black eyeliner accentuates her high cheekbones and her strawberry hair complements her light African skin. Her metallic halter dress holds her supple thighs and pushes on her round breast.

She is the result of careful attention and workmanship. When you see her up close, you can’t help but stare. At $6000, she’s certainly not a cheap date. For creator, Matt McMullen, she’s a work of art. For everyone else, she’s a Real Doll.

(thanks California Is A Place)

For a four-day frenzy of quality music and warm Southern French vibes, it’s going down as of today : Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Festival. With acts such as Gil Scott-Heron, Dorian Concept, Martyn, Flying Lotus and many others, this is a music fan’s walhalla.

The festival is happening twice a year, in Sète ànd in Singapore later this year. And guess what: it comes with a magazine! Our man Lefto was asked to write up an overview of what’s going on musically in Belgium, and he compiled a nice three page article, ft. our very own JtotheC, alongside Baloji, Brazzaville and OndaSonora. Thank you very much for that! And maybe next year, we’ll all be on stage in Sète!

Read the magazine right here, it’s entirely for free!

Turns out the guy was a boy, and so the day after, we connected with 17-year old Kyle Hall, who was in NYC for the first time in his life, just like us. Little did we know, this young man would become the hype of the year, as he’s been constantly releasing records, on his own Wild Oats imprint, on Hyperdub, Third Ear and Clone Records.

So we sat down with mr. Kyle Hall, in the Sunday Best sun one fine Sunday. A talk about him coming up under the wings of Omar S and his FXHE imprint at the age of 15, his mentors being Rick Wilhite, Theo Parrish, Carl Craig, Marcellus Pittman and the passing of knowledge from one generation on to the other.

Months later, after Kyle had toured the world and done the Darkstarr remix on Hyperdub, I decided to ring him up for a Skype interview, to talk about him exploring the dubstep side of things and teaching class at Youthville, Detroit. The webcam-interview worked out perfectly fine (unlike an earlier attempt)

Download Kyle’s set at Sunday’s Best that July 12th of 2009:

Unafraid and raw, Kyle Hall’s set at Sunday Best on the 12th was as exciting as we could’ve hoped for. Cutting, scratching and blending house, modern soul and disco; he transcended the hype surrounding him right now and demonstrated how real of a talent he is. We’re elated to have it recorded. Now you an listen to it over and over again!

At OFFF’10, genius came into play during the Art+Com lecture, when a professor of the institute not only showed how they had made a huge BMW installation and how the first tests dramatically failed, with metal balls crashing into the ceiling, but when after that he presented ‘The Image Fulgurator’, a brilliantly executed piece of DIY craftmanship by Art+Com student Julius von Bismark. Check it out, this is brilliant!

Or how to make “the Magritte dove” appear on tourist photos of the Mao Zedong portrait at Tiananmen Square in Beijing without security noticing anything! Or a cross on Obama’s speech stand!

“In principle, the Fulgurator can be used anywhere where there is another camera nearby that is being used with a flash. It operates via a kind of reactive flash projection that enables an image to be projected on an object exactly at the moment when someone else is photographing it. The intervention is unobtrusive because it takes only a few milliseconds. Every photo another photographer takes of an object at which the Fulgurator is also aimed is affected by the manipulation. Hence visual information can be smuggled unnoticed into the images of others.”

“Technically, the Image Fulgurator works like a classical camera, though in reverse. In a normal camera, the light reflected from an object is projected via the lens onto the film. In the Image Fulgurator, this process is exactly the opposite: instead of an unexposed film, an exposed and developed roll of slide film is loaded into the camera and behind it, a flash. When the flash goes off, the image is projected from the film via the lens onto the object.”

Kontakt:
Julius von Bismarck
Maienstraße 4.
10787 Berlin
jvb (ät) maienstrasse.de

Sure would have loved to blog some ‘open-magazine-on-the-desk’ type of pictures, but none were for sale at the event, oddly enough. Still have a look at their website – which is a brilliant piece of design by Multitouch Barcelona. One of the best magazine sites I’ve seen in a while.

These guys succeed in making a magazine, that’s actually an art statement in itself, issue after issue. Working around a theme, they manage to have Daft Punk in the studio for a David Bowie special photoshoot, to name just one example. All without one single advertisement in the magazine. They didn’t really talk about the business model behind the mag, so that still has me wondering… how is it possible?

No idea, but…

Have a look at the site, where you can see more of the magazine, and see exactly why they’re referred to as: ‘the award-winning’ Lemon nowadays. Only rightfully so: worldoflemon.com

In this 15-minute animation, their aim is to explore the ways in which online activism can help in the combat against climat change in a post-Copenhagen world. With the main premise being: People can do so much more than just turning of the lights.

The film is a beautiful example of current animation styles and shows how it’s possible to motivate different collectives and studios to collaborate on a joint effort. To see who animated what and when, here’s more info.

If you’re in London or Berlin, check out the screenings in your city in the coming days, follow the Coalition on facebook and twitter. Also, a coalition iphone application will be launched June 30th, in two days that is, check the site.

To be perfectly honest, compared to last year, this edition had a bit too much of agencies showing their campaigns and commercial work. Now that’s only interesting when you work for an agency and believe you’re the next generation of marketing yourself. However, there were a couple of inspirational presentations, which I’ll run you through in the next posts.

As always, the organisation had set out a nice slogan as a theme, last year was ‘Fail Gracefully’ and this year they opted for “Nostalgia for a Past Future”. And with that, they released the 10 year anniversary book of the festival: “Aim High, Keep Moving”, which is in stores now:

If you don’t know what OFFF is all about, this is the intro to the festival.

Since 2001, OFFF festival has been held in Barcelona, becoming the globally recognized and trendsetting event it is today. The three-day festival showcases top digital artists, web, print and interactive designers, motion graphics studios, and new music adventurous. OFFF festival provides insight into all culture media platforms.

But OFFF is more than an event about any of these disciplines. More than a design conference, a multimedia trade fair, or a digital animation festival. OFFF is an enthusiastic celebration of a new visual culture.

After eight years on the frontline of digital arts events, OFFF has trascended its own nature as a festival to become a synonym for modernity, both aesthetic and technological.

OFFF is spreading the work of a generation of creators that are breaking all kind of limits. Those separating the commercial arena from the worlds of art and design; music from illustration, or ink and chalk from pixels. Artists that have grown with the web and receive inspiration from digital tools, even when their canvas is not the screen.

OFFF dreams about the future, and then writes the code for it.

Last Sunday On-Point Records was invited on national radio, as a part of Lefto’s season closing on Studio Brussel. JtotheC & the Bad Mothas were in the building, Nouk was in the building, Title was in the building, LuiGi was in the building, and most notably Delv!s was in the building, alongside the entire Uphigh Collective.

Next to a 10-minute set of exclusive tracks by Ducap, Oddlaner and iSa, the show’s climax was Delv!s performing Uphigh Collective’s Blend live in the studio, luckily Eckelwood was there to capture this magical moment:

If you’re feeling the vibe of ‘Blend’, buy it now on iTunes, or get your 7″ vinyl via Rushhour or Juno, or at your local record store, of course.

You can listen to the entire radioshow right here on mixcloud.

Thanks to Lefto and Gus for having us, and to Studio Brussel of course!

Check it out, because we’re giving away some free tickets:

Ghent (Doornzele) :

Peer Pressure Festival ft. Title, Onra, Dynooo, etc. for a 25 (!) hour festival of non-stop music, in a former zoo. That’s right, a a zoo! Check for more info.

Brussels :

Dâm Funk, the ambassador of boogie, is hitting the capital again. Alongside dj Snoop on the talkbox madness and OndaSonora in the mix. Da Bluefunk District once again putting Tavernier.

Antwerp :

Another ambassador of funk, and man of the moment: Funkineven! All the way from London, he comes to heat up Café Capital, and he brings none other than London’s finest with him: miss Fatima! The line-up is completed with Ame, Wicked, Butzenseller and Doobie Bros in the mix.

The last show is organised by A Cut Above for their 2 year anniversary and we have 5 free entrances for you to win! All you have to do is be quick and mail robin[at] acutabove.be and tell him exactly how on-point you are!

As an answer to Beck’s Record Club, the Belgian Internet Recording Klub was recently put together. Assembling artists of all genres and flavours, to make covers of classic albums in the same spirit as Beck’s very own club.

JtotheC was asked to participate in this, choosing one artist from a genre far away from his comfort zone and choosing one track of Beck’s very own Odelay album. Not afraid of a little musical challenge every now and then, J asked Kortrijk-based Nouk if she’d feel like joining him in an uptempo soul version of the country-folk flavoured ‘Lord Only Knows’.

Download the track for free and check birklub.be, as there will be new covers online in the coming days and weeks!

Catch JtotheC & the Bad Mothas live on stage:
July 16th – Ardooie
July 31st – Brussels – Bruksellive
Sept. 11th – Deventer (NL)
Sept. 25th – Wevelgem (9pm)
Sept. 25th – Kuurne (12pm)
Sept. 29th – Brussels – Tavernier

Catch Nouk live on stage:
July 15th – Deerlijk
Sept. 4th – MITH Festival, Kruiseke
Sept. 5th – Edegem
Dec. 9th – Heule

Soul Boy? What’s that all about then? Well, it’s a modern fairy tale, which looks brilliantly well told:

Distraught at his father’s drink-fuelled decline, a young boy invents an odyssey that takes him into the heart of Nairobi in order to save his father’s soul.

For more info…

By employing the form of a modern fairytale, Soul Boy reflects the power and persistence of myths in Kenyan society today. But rather than merely basking in a vision of an ancestral Africa and its traditions, the film relegates the character of the spirit woman to the background (she is literally pushed into the bowels of the back streets of Kibera) and focuses on the group of adolescents around the hero.

While the boys have adopted universal dress codes, proudly sporting football and basketball shirts, Shiku determinedly takes on the roles of liberated women in the local theatre and she and Abila overcome the ethnic barriers that separate them.

The seven labours of Abila serve as the pretext for a portrait of Kenya today, from the shanty towns of Kibera to the polished interiors of locally-based expats, tranquil, luxurious, and exquisite, but melancholy.

Thursday 17.06.2010 – 20:00
Centre for Fine Arts / Hall M (Seating)
€ 9,00: standard rate
€ 7,00: under 26 / over 60

Download ‘Kid Sublime presents The Alicia Beattape’ (and don’t forget the cover)

This man deserves to be in the studio with Alicia Keys. Watch him explain the idea of this beattape in the video below, and please spread this as wide as you can, eventually, this will reach Alicia, and she’s got to love it:

Found this flicking through the old archives. Took me all the way back. Beautiful.

His latest album ‘I’m New Here’ has slowly but surely grown under my skin, regardless what the critics say, the album is brilliant. I didn’t know however, that the titletrack is a cover, so all credit to the text of that song, go straight to a band called Smog, which I for one am only discovering now.

See Gil do his version, and hear the original right after that:

The Firm is a searing photographic document of the British organized crime world, which received instant recognition.

Over a four-year period Bain Hogg documented different aspects of the underworld, from exile in Tenerife to the broad spectrum of activity in the United Kingdom. Since Brighton Rock in the 1940s, photographers and film directors have been trying to capture the personalities and characteristics of the British urban gangster on film.

These are not the faces of criminals who hide behind the facade of respectability or the corruption of political influence. They are, in fact, the real thing, men who hold their head up when challenged, and who seek no false redemption in the face of public vilification. Bain Hogg has captured for the first time in The Firm the weft and warp of these faces to whom violence is common currency and to whom loyalty is above all.

The project is currently being revisited, ten years later now that the old capos have passed away and in the wake of escalating gang crime in the estates of the UK.

(via)

Rough Trade, the name is a myth and a landmark in music’s history. That’s what you’ll probably know already, just because it’s that big a name. But it takes a 1h30 documentary to fully come to comprehend the importance of what the founders of Rough Trade have done. True pioneers. An inspiration and a must-see for anybody out there that’s running his or her independent business. Check it out:

The Rough Trade story begins more than thirty years ago on 20th February 1976. Britain was in the grip of an IRA bombing campaign; a future prime minister was beginning to make her mark on middle England, where punk was yet to run amok; and a young Cambridge graduate called Geoff Travis opened a new shop at 202 Kensington Park Road, just off Ladbroke Grove in West London. The Rough Trade shop sold obscure and challenging records by bands like American art-rockers Pere Ubu, offering an alternative to the middle-of-the-road rock music that dominated the music business.

In January 1977… when a record by Manchester punk band Buzzcocks appeared in the shop, Rough Trade found itself in the right place at the right time to make an impact far beyond that of a neighbourhood music store. When Spiral Scratch was released in 1977, the idea of putting out a single without the support of an established record company was incredible. But Rough Trade was to become the headquarters of a revolt against this corporate monopoly – it was stocking records by bands inspired by the idea that they could do it themselves.

But selling a few independent records over the counter was not going to change the world. Early independent labels had to hand over their distribution to the likes of EMI or CBS. But one man at Rough Trade challenged that monopoly. Richard Scott joined Rough Trade in 1977 and became the architect of a grand scheme that was nothing short of revolutionary: independent nationwide distribution.

(via)

“In order to become a member of the Original Scraper Bike Team, you must: Be a resident of Oakland, CA. Be at least 7y/o or older. Retain A 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA), Create your own Scraper Bike…(It Has To Be Amazing, Or Else You Can’t Ride.) A single-file line when riding. After 10 rides The Scraper Bike King and his Captains will decide if your bike is up to standards and if you can follow simple guidelines. After your evaluation we will consider you a member and honor you with an Original Scraper Bike Team Shirt. Only worn when Mobbin’ Stay posted to our website for all upcoming Scraper Bike Rides…” — The Scraper Bike King

(via)