This whole Niggas In Paris craze has been working on my nerves for weeks now (that live video is not “next-level”, it’s ugly, admit it). So happy to see Yasiin step up and flip this one. Takes guts to make the move he’s making right now, as if changing his name wasn’t suicidal enough.

Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) dropped this first track for his Top 40 Underdog series which will see him rework various Top 40 HipHop tracks with “more socially conscious” rhymes. First off is Kanye West and Jay-Z’s “Niggas In Paris”.

(Shout to Outoftheblog for the hat tip)

Basically this man just got a place that looks like a vintage store, but it’s just his living room. He welcomes everybody to come and visit though, and occasionaly goes into coupling mode. Excellent, I could see myself spending my days like that later on in life, although I’ll probably be a grumpy cynic by then…

On an unseasonably warm November night in Manhattan on our way to get ice cream, we stumbled upon what appeared to be a vintage shop, brightly lit display window and all. As we began to walk in, a man sitting out front warned us that we were welcome to explore, but nothing inside was for sale. Our interests piqued, we began to browse through the collections the man out front had built throughout his life. This is a story of a man and his home.

To see bonus clips, visit departurearrivalfilms.com

“Outside In” is a celebratory and historical look at street art through the lens of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s groundbreaking exhibition Art in the Streets. The film features renowned artists Shepard Fairey, Lee Quiñones, Swoon, Futura, Mister Cartoon, Revok, Martha Cooper, Invader to name a few. Director Alex Stapleton (Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel) documents the artist’s creative process, their pitfalls with the law, the poetic impermanence of their craft and the artists’ evolution from the back seat of a cop car to the walls of a well-respected institution.

Love is love. More power to Johnny Barnes aka Mr. Happy Man!

Come rain or shine, 88-year-old Bermudian Johnny Barnes devotes six hours every day to an endearing traffic ritual that has made him one of the island’s most cherished citizens.

Johnny Barnes can still be found at the roundabout on Crow Lane outside Hamilton, Bermuda every weekday from 4 A.M. to 10 A.M.

Jazz Neversleeps – Hard 4 Your Love by Onpoint on Mixcloud

The Word is on a non-stop week of love, celebrating Valentine’s day all day every day with an exclusive mix by local talent. Jazz Neversleeps made one episode, and it’s online as of today, with a little interview and some news, over at The Word’s site. Very proud to have illustrated the cover to this mix by the way, a great honour and pleasure, heartcore smoothness, you know…

“Sweet rendez-Vous,
just me and you,
how far will we go,
and what will we do?”

Calling Sweet Rendez-Vous St.Valentine 2012′s anthem would be a bit over the top, we’ll let you decide on what sound that will be.

However, JtotheC & the Bad Mothas do like to share this free mp3 in the spirit of Valentine, for sharing is caring, and thus equals loving. The track is the first collaboration between JtotheC, SNS (of the Bad Mothas) and Brooklyn-born-and-raised mc Incksalonius.

Been a fan of Mo Kolours since his Drum Talking ep, and now it seems like the second ep is forthcoming already, and it goes by the name of Banana Wine. (pre-order the 12″ here) Also, made me wonder, where I could purchase me some banana wine in Brussels, Belgium.

The above track is Temi, taken of the Banana Wine, and it’s a free download:

Everybody knows the works of Maurits Cornelis Escher, but we don’t know much about the man who created some of the most iconic optical illusions ever made. Metamorphose tells us more about the life and influences of M.C. Escher.

This pilot episode of Lizzie and Sarah was supposed to be the kick start of a new series on BBC, surely an instant classic chapter in their rich history of comedy. But it was too shocking, or too depressing, or too dark, or too twisted, or.. Anyway, it’s a damn shame!

Shout to Dangerous Minds for unearthing this gem!

Shout to my man Chillow for this one. Back in the Days featuring Reap, and Mo&Grazz. Curious to hear the full album, dropping sometime this year, if I’m not mistaken.

Episode 8 of our monthly Red Light Radio show sure was a special one. Whilst resident Jazz Neversleeps was touring the German countryside, Funky Bompa joined the team with an hour of tropical madness. And a special vintage microphone. Tune in, dig the vibe and ask yourself : ‘when was the last time I was in salmon-coloured Rolls Royce, eating Rolls Royce-coloured salmon, on a toast?’

Shout to the family that came down to the studio, or was already there, but still joined in for a beer or two : Orpheo, Elroy, Radna, Reinier, Samira, Paul Parmentier and Funky Bompa himself of course!

Ow yes! A Charles Bradley documentary is coming our way!

Charles Bradley: Soul of America captures the extraordinary late in life rise of 62 year old aspiring soul singer Charles Bradley, whose debut album, “No Time For Dreaming,” took him from a hard life of poverty, homelessness and tragedy and rocketed him onto Rolling Stone magazine’s top 50 albums of 2011. This documentary follows Charles from his 62nd birthday through the electrifying and transformative months leading up to his unprecedented debut, world tour and ultimate triumph over an impossible dream 48 years in the making.

Apparently some newspapers were shocked by Frieke Janssens Smoking Kids photo series / exhibit. Which is bullshit of course. Anyway, the series was inspired by the classic video of a chain-smoking Indonesian kid, check it out:

Years is an installation by Bartholomäus Traubeck, and it’s basically a modified record player that translates year ring data into music. Very poetic, and it sure sounds good to me.

A tree’s year rings are analysed for their strength, thickness and rate of growth. This data serves as basis for a generative process that outputs piano music. It is mapped to a scale which is again defined by the overall appearance of the wood (ranging from dark to light and from strong texture to light texture). The foundation for the music is certainly found in the defined ruleset of programming and hardware setup, but the data acquired from every tree interprets this ruleset very differently.

Hidden Mother : Tintypes and Cabinets is perhaps the most awkward series of photos I’ve seen in a long, long time.

Love the feel of this video accompanying Shabazz Palaces’ black Up album . Missed it when it came out, thanks Lefto for the tip! Shabazz Palaces album is out on Sub Pop.

Don’t know the full story behind this, but Quintron invented an analog “drone synth” which is completely modulated by the weather. Beautiful.

Originally shown on BBC 2’s The Late Show (now there was a pretty funky arts series, one that’s still missed) on July 23 1993, it contains one of Zappa’s last (lengthy) interviews (full meat and gravy), as well as contributions from a host of diverse supporting players – The Mothers to The Dubliners to Matt Groening, plus full pics and story.

2011 saw himself rise and shine as the public’s favourite twisted mind, and only rightfully so, Nosedrip is one special character, and I’ve yet to meet someone who doesn’t love this young man. Just as last year, he shines his light on the year to come, have a coffee or a tea, sit down and relax, and click through, this is 2012, according to Nosedrip:

Trance & Retro

With Mosca’s “Bax” & Caribou’s remix of Virgo Four’s “It’s A Crime” as highlights of 2011′s dance productions I’ll say that retro ist krieg. I’m expecting the same for this year but with Trance as main influence. 130 bpm goes 150 bpm. My €0,50 flea-market purchase (I don’t see you itunes) of Darude’s “Sandstorm” will be my 2012 dancefloor killer, maybe.

50 weapons

Modeselektors label will smash all the dancelabels in 2012. With Phon.O’s debut LP and probably some Anstam tracks coming out, they will show a very fresh approach to modern day clubmusic (retro or not). Plus they have Shed.

Vessel

Producer out of Bristol worth checking, especially this year…

Spain

“Good music comes from Spain,” my grandma always said and I think she might be right when it comes to young lo-fi music makers. In 2012 that is.

Subbacultcha

Hardworking magazine, originaly from Holland, but landed in Belgium in 2011. 2012 will cuddle them.

Lotte Kestner

Solo project of Anna-Lynne Williams of Trespassers William. Recently she released 2 Cover Ep’s that made me cry twice. She will probably release something this year and it will be great.

Bandcamp

Hipster or not, Bandcamp is the best medium there is for independent musicmakers to release music on. It works well, you can edit the lay-out, it’s cheap, artists can name their own price and it will only win following in 2012.

New Wave

Belgian pride in Fashion and Music. We will see you in 2012!

Wanted: Marihuana

The soft kind of drugs I definitely never used in my life dissapeared. People claim to have it but it’s called amnesia or haze nowadays. It makes you unproductive and depressed and turns little kids into terrorists (TBC).Or so I heard. I hope people will find you in 2012, but I doubt it.

“Imullinati”

In modern-day society with all its insecurities, the ideas of conspiracy always gain human interest. Mix that with the popular drug formerly known as weed and the paranoia that follows, and you’ll get a crazy bunch of young (not too smart) kids that see conspiracy in everything. Plane trails become chemtrails, ministers become “people of the conspiracy” aka vuulle kiesakn, etc… It will definitely become more popular under the tree-smoking youngsters and I hope they won’t act the way they talk.

Chauvinism

The past years it was almost a disease: Exotism :O. (almost) Nobody was promoting young artistic people from the neighbourhood. In 2012 the opposite will happen. Every fart/picture/drawing your next-door neighbour made will be genius and you all should blog and/or write about the amazing find you did.

Australia

Beautiful country far, far away with a lot of open space and a public debt of only 22,4%. The future of Western society lies there and we all should go there next year. Of course all you smart internet people know that Libya has a public debt of 3,3%, so maybe you should all go there with your friends and pets and dreams.

2012 I hope I’ll grow a full beard in you.

Once again Jazz Neversleeps is putting heat up on his soundcloud page, and as with the previously leaked Linh track, you might have heard this one before, on RedLightRadio or at the previous Release party.. Although it seems like a completely revamped version. Excellent material, once again!

Ladbroke Grove by Jazz Neversleeps

(Make sure you get your hands on the previous Jazz Neversleeps releases, some of them are still out in the shops, but not many! (check RushHour or Juno))

As of yesterday, Cinema Nova is hosting an exposition that gives an intrigueing look behind the scenes of the work of the illustruous Bonom. Featuring a series of photos (by Ian Dykmans) following Bonom in the streets. The nicest part though, if you’d ask me, are his sketches. Really enjoyed this, although the vernissage was a bit too crowded for me, so I think I’ll go back one of these days, on a calmer day.

Expo : La peinture de Bonom aux temps modernes des cavernes:
Cinéma Nova
January 12 – January 29
open when the cinéma is open (check program)

“À la belle époque du capitalisme sauvage, où la télévision à remplacé le feu, où même l’art est marchandise spéculative, Bonom, le peintre en bâtiment, est l’artiste “le plus en vue” de la capitale, il s’invite à exposer partout… Chaque graffiti aperçu est une découverte qui flatte notre curiosité, et on ne peut s’empêcher de penser à lui, seul dans la nuit, ayant le courage de transgresser le délit vandale en acte poétique.” Le photographe Ian Dykmans nous présente ainsi Bonom, qu’il suit et photographie en action depuis des années. Ses prises de vues sont réalisées en complicité avec lui, la prise de risque est partagée. Un dialogue se crée entre les deux créateurs, entre les pratiques et leurs temporalités. L’un prépare ses croquis avant l’acte, l’autre révélera l’action de retour dans son labo. L’un esquisse son graff alors que l’autre compose sa photo. Les contraintes du dessin de voltige et celles du cadre et de la lumière se confrontent. Le photographe joue le jeu de l’acrobate et le dessinateur prend la pose. Clic… la photo immortalise cet instant où les deux disciplines se rencontrent. Il revient ensuite à Ian de révéler ces jeux communs d’obscurité. Ce sont essentiellement ses photos qui composent cette exposition, accompagnées parfois de croquis préparatoires de Bonom.

“In dit gouden tijdperk van wild kapitalisme, waar de televisie het vuur vervangen heeft, en waar zelfs kunst speculatie is, is Bonom, de gevelschilder, de kunstenaar die in de hoofdstad het meest in de kijker loopt. Hij stelt ongevraagd overal tentoon… Elke graffiti is een ontdekking die onze nieuwsgierigheid aanwakkert. Ongewild denk je aan hij die, alleen in de nacht, de moed heeft om de vandalenstreek om te zetten in een poëtische daad”. Zo stelt fotograaf Ian Dykmans Bonom voor, die hij al lang volgt en in volle actie fotografeert. Hij maakt zijn foto’s in samenwerking met hem, ze delen de risico’s, de dialoog. De ene werkt zijn schetsen uit voor de actie, de andere ziet de actie terug in zijn fotolab. De ene schetst zijn graffiti, terwijl de andere zijn foto maakt. De beperkingen van de acrobatische tekening en die van het kader en het licht worden met elkaar geconfronteerd. De fotograaf speelt het spel van de acrobaat en de kunstenaar neemt een pose aan. Klik… de foto vereeuwigt het moment waarop de twee disciplines elkaar ontmoeten. Het is vervolgens aan Ian om de gemeenschappelijke spelletjes in de duisternis te openbaren. Het zijn voornamelijk zijn foto’s die deze tentoonstelling bevolken, soms vergezeld van voorbereidende schetsen van Bonom.

It’s that time of the year again, when we don’t look back at the year that was, but the year that is and will be. First up in this series of partly guest-posts : OndaSonora, who almost wrote a book, and went in all types of directions, which is nice, for the people looking for music tips, there is a bit of name dropping in there too:

Although it seems the real House revival I’ve been predicting for many years now is finally happening (feel free to applaud and then blame me for all the mediocre bagger it produced) my lists for On-Point, the last few years, have been rather wish lists than actual predictions. This time I’m going back to the basics though. Awakening the Nostradamus in myself again. Subduing a big urge to forecast hover-pants, a portable smoke-and-fireworks kit for spectacular entrances and a cure for thinking homosexuality is a disease, here is what I think will take over the globe the next 12 months.

Re-releasing music that you can find cheaper on Discogs.

As a Belgian I can appreciate the absurd side of it but the vinyl-head in me is baffled by so much stupidity.

Pomrad.
Music making cat from Antwerp who adds a laugh to his nice beats. Refreshing.

Locked Groove, goldFFinch, Jazz Neversleeps, Carlton, Gullfisk, Title, … .

Local cats producing some very nice broken House grooves and taking the world by storm in 2012. Or so it should go. Anyway, pleased with what I’ve been hearing in 2011 and glad some of it will be released in the year to come.

Everyone his personal App.

The App as a new status symbol.

House is a feeling.

Now that everyone’s on board of the retro House bandwagon, it’s time to move on. Personally I’m succeeding increasingly well at joining the dots and finding my own personal groove. Mixing Disco, House, Boogie, JazzFunk, Techno, Broken Beat, UKG and beyond into one tasty sonic stew. Matching moods and feelings rather than styles and tempos.

Go Audiophile.

I’ll become an even more extremist audiophile. Bitching about Ditigal-to-audio converters (that Traktor or Serato box is a shite one so play WAVs all you want, your sound is awful), mixers, sound systems, needles and whatnot even more. But, on the other hand, I’m less and less a media-purist. Play whatever you want as long as it sounds good.

The end of ‘nerd cool’.

Let’s just beat them up again and make them do homework for us like we did in the good old days.

Kalimba.

All thumb pianos are cool but the kalimba is the suave member of the family. An Earth, Wind & Fire revival is due and thus can’t a found again interest for the instrument be far off.

The return of the ‘happy dance’.

I’ve started celebrating the high points of my life with little happy dances. When I find a killer 12” for cheap, make a fine casserole or people simply understand what I’m trying to explain I do a small, utterly nonsensical yet rhythmically correct, dance. The exuberance of it depending on my surroundings, I admit, but nevertheless always looking stupid. Last few weeks I’ve been in an animal themed period inventing, among others, ‘the rowdy Baboon’, ‘the funky Moose’ or ‘the epileptic Giraffe’. I think that’ll catch on.

Having principles.

Like having knowledge not a necessity anymore when discussing life. We willy-nilly ventilate our thoughts and opinions on the internet and others take them as valid when they sort of correspond with their own loose ideas. The 1% gladly making the best of that. For their own sake, of course. With the return of the protester I hope a change is coming. I miss people having a deep knowledge and conviction about things and the discussions they engage in.

Capers.

Something culinary as this is hip nowadays. Capers will be my favourite ingredient of 2012. I might ven write a book about it. Somebody told me they sell well, these books about cooking.

Making Music.

Now that OUR PARTY is running nicely and will – no doubt – conquer all and everything in 2012, our radio show is a weekly dose of freshness for quite a few people and we found our groove throwing around mixes, knowledge and nonsense on the international cyber connection thing, it is time to step up our game and go back to fiddling with music. Not promising completely new compositions but feeling mighty inspired by the sonic collages made by the Bomb Squad, Dust Brothers, the Avalanches and La Funk Mob lately. Hopefully this results in a few tunes that will be utterly unreleasable in a legal way but will make you and I do happy dances.

Electronic Body Music is the new House.

Now that all hipsters are tired of the House hype, it’s time to move on and there’s a few signs that EBM is next on the fashion list. Not that I mind, I like the music. Not that it’s that undiscovered either. Some DJs have been playing it all along. Like they’ve always incorporated Disco, Boogie, No Wave and old school House in their sets. But while the mainstream magazines will utter nonsense about the raw Chicago House sound and bring back the rubbish clothing and graphic artwork style of that era, the people thinking they make the trends will wear leather jackets, short Mohicans and aviator sunglasses while listening to the industrial drones of 80′s electronic dance music. I on the other hand hope to score a few good compilations with obscure cuts that are way too expensive in their original pressings while it lasts.

2012’s version of the vinyl vs cassette debate.

Or the early adopters once again thinking something will completely replace a medium because it’s shiny, new and above all convenient. Well, it didn’t happen with cassettes wiping vinyl of the surface of the earth, neither did CDs nor digital downloads do the job. So high quality downloads won’t replace CDs entirely, nor will the internet replace printed media like magazines and flyers, for instance or will communication centers on your smartphone replace email. These prophets of doom still think we’re going Jetsons and haven’t learned from the past. People don’t change that quick. They’re inert. Not everyone is ready, financially or practically, to jump on the next big thing, either. There’s nostalgia too. And there’s the big one for me. Convenience isn’t the only factor in life. For many people quality (of the experience) is a big issue. I still prefer vinyl, printed flyers, glossy magazines or less volatile means of communication, simply because they’re doing their job better. All these new solutions have become so disposable that they partly miss goal. They might be less handy but they’re still superior in many ways to their replacements. Not that I don’t adapt. I evolve but some things simply haven’t been bettered and as long that hasn’t happened I stick with them. And a lot of people with me.

Beer of 2012.

Orval. Same as the previous ones. Never change a winning team. That team being me, my friends and a crate of Orval. On a Friday. After work. Having deep and meaningful discussions about life and football.

Oh, and the world will not end but very much looking forward to Lefto’s tweets about it.

Portraits:

An unhealthy coffee addiction resulting in periods of insomnia, which in time combined with an uncompromising je-m’en-foutisme gave birth to a trademark style. Faces marked by the tension of modern day living, balancing on the tipping point between the grime of the city and the frivolous facade of metropolis. Warm in their darkness, refined in their dirtiness.

Practical info:
January 16 – February 16
(vernissage : Monday Jan.16 from 5 till 9pm).

Bonnefooi
Steenstraat / Rue des Pierres 8
1000 Brussels

This French documentary from 1992 is an enjoyable overview of Brigitte Bardot’s forays into pop music. It features insightful interviews with Bardot, Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, as well as dozens of clips of Bardot’s appearances in TV shows, Scopitones and movies.

Needless to say (though I’m saying it), Bardot was not much of a singer. But her willingness to poke fun at her sex kitten image and serve as a comedic and visual foil to the gruff machismo of Gainsbourg makes it easy to forgive her limitations as a vocalist and appreciate her sassy self-awareness. She’s having fun and so are we. One gets the impression that Bardot was perfectly content with her status as a pop icon, leaving the existential Sturm und Drang to her chain-smoking, brooding co-star.

“We all get dressed for Bill,” says Vogue editrix Anna Wintour. The “Bill” in question is 80+ New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham. For decades, this Schwinn-riding cultural anthropologist has been obsessively and inventively chronicling fashion trends and high society charity soirées for the Times Style section in his columns “On the Street” and “Evening Hours”. Documenting uptown fixtures (Wintour, Tom Wolfe, Brooke Astor, David Rockefeller—who all appear in the film out of their love for Bill), downtown eccentrics and everyone in between, Cunningham’s enormous body of work is more reliable than any catwalk as an expression of time, place and individual flair.

Handpainted Type is a project that is dedicated to preserving the typographic practice
of street painters around India. These painters, with the advent of local DTP (Desktop Publishers) shops, are rapidly going out of business with many businesses and shops switching to the quicker, cheaper but uglier vinyls. Many painters have given up their practice altogether.

The project involves documenting the typefaces of road side painters across India, digitizing it and archiving it for future generations.

(via theworldsbestever)

Local cat Senz (of Nuff Said fame) leaked a bit of a preview of some forthcoming release… Love the vibe in this, proper back-pack hiphop – although some might not like that term.

Download the track over here.

At The Barbershop in Drexel, NC, the atmosphere is laid back, the conversation free, and the music a cut above the rest. Emmy® nominee, Official Selection of over 60 film festivals, and Best Documentary Short Film winner at the Florida Film Festival and Woodstock Film Festival.

Director’s Cut DVDs with extended scenes and music available at:
MattMorrisFilms.com
twitter.com/MattMorrisFilms
Facebook.com/PickinandTrimmin

I know nearly-nothing about contemporary dance, but this sure looks like amazing, in 2D or 3D, Wim Wenders’ tribute to Pina Bausch.

Pina is a film for Pina Bausch by Wim Wenders. The feature-length dance film was shot in 3D with the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch and shows the exhilarating and inimitable art of the great German choreographer who died in the summer of 2009, inviting the viewer on a sensual, visually stunning journey of discovery into a new dimension: right onto the stage of the legendary ensemble and together with the dancers beyond the theater, into the city and the surrounding industrial landscape of Wuppertal – the place that was the home and center of Pina Bausch’s creative life for more than 35 years.