February 2012
6 posts
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Sherburne on Grammy Antics →
There was David Guetta, flopping about like a Muppet behind the mixer, jabbing away at the controls in a pantomime of performance. What was all that flicking of the faders and tweaking of the knobs about? Why was he wearing his headphones over one ear, as though he were cueing up the next record? During the French superstar’s time onstage, only one song (‘I Can Only Imagine,’ from his Nothing But...
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Mixtape: Jackie Chain x Nick Catchdubs →
This bangs so hard / made it my Mixtape of the Week for Hive last wk:
Brooklyn-based imprint Fool’s Gold may seem like a dance label, but with artists like Danny Brown, Cudi, and Donnis on their roster, along with cohorts like araabMUZIK and Just Blaze behind their turntables, they’re eerily intuitive about connecting the velvet ropes of two very different club worlds. And so it’s no...
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Big City Life →
Or that time I shook Elijah Wood’s hand and touched Justin Vernon without his knowing it. All of this before standing outside of the secret Skrillex show for longer than I was willing because Nick was being zen about it. NIGHTLIFE.
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Porcelain Raft's Strange Weekend →
My first long-form album review for SPIN. Post-chillwave is a real thing, you guys.
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My First Rub →
I remember my first Rub at Southpaw. It was in early summer of ‘06. I was twenty and had driven up from College Park for the weekend after borrowing my parents car without their knowing that I was taking it on a road-trip. Caps and Jones had played at Savalas the night before, where I had taken a photo with Kyp Malone. Emil and Bo - my friends from Philadelphia and DJ buddies of the Rub -...
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Q&A: Chemical Brothers On Don't Think →
I talked to Tom Rowlands - aka one-half of the Chemical Brothers - on their new concert documentary. The first thing he said to me after answering the phone was, “I’m on a lot of painkillers, just so you know. I thought I could carry this speaker alone, you see. It slipped and I thought I’d use my foot to break the the speaker’s fall. Instead I broke my toes.” Get...
January 2012
17 posts
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Rob Harvilla on LDR →
Filing to Rob today was the worst because, HOW THE HELL DOES HE MAKE THIS LOOK SO EASY? He’s the Don Draper of the long-form review. Also the human zen-garden. Here’s where I post my four favorite bits from Rob’s hilarious Lana Del Rey review before I just go ahead and quit:
- As the Bard wrote: “I can change / I can change / I can change / I can change / If it makes you...
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One Fine Day →
Lol at logging into Tumblr on a Sunday and seeing Klassen blog about watching One Fine Day on mute in your apt. Sorry Klassy.
princeklassen:
One evening I was at a friend’s house in the West Village and One Fine Day was on TBS. I was stoked. Then another friend came over and the TV was put on mute. Fuck! I was staring at the television as they carried on about some boys or whatever. I just...
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I Know, Right? →
Is it possible to “heart” your own Tumblr post?
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January's Mixes of the Month →
I’m really bad at tumblr. I never update it and barely read it. I don’t know what to write on it, really. I try to post the things I write elsewhere on here but forget to do that most of the time too. When I do read it, I heart things? So, anyways, here are the January Mix of the Week posts I did for Hive for my own record and your enjoyment. AND THEY MADE ME A LOGO THING, YOU GUYS....
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Jan 20 '92 = Ice Cube's Good Day →
This man deserves a high-five for trying [and possibly successfully pinpointing?] the exact date rapped about in Ice Cube’s “It Was A Good Day.” Here’s hoping the good-day-ness of January 20th extends through the next inauguration?
CLUE 1: “went to short dogs house, they was watching Yo MTV RAPS” Yo MTV RAPS first aired: Aug 6th 1988
CLUE 2: Ice Cubes...
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My Pazz and Jop Ballot →
Congrats to Maura and the Voice gang for doing a great job with this year’s Pazz and Jop. The seven-hundred critics polled made tUnE-yArds the surprise winner for the best album of the year and the essays I’ve read so far have been fantastic [Eric Harvey is always a favorite]. My ballot below. Note: I listed my picks alphabetically because ranking music by number gives me anxiety?
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MLK Jr.'s Margaret Sanger Award Acceptance Speech →
“There is no human circumstance more tragic than the persisting existence of a harmful condition for which a remedy is readily available. Family planning, to relate population to world resources, is possible, practical and necessary. Unlike plagues of the dark ages or contemporary diseases we do not yet understand, the modern plague of overpopulation is soluble by means we have...
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Ann Powers on @SPINReviews →
NPR’s Ann Powers discusses SPIN’s newest efforts to review as many albums as possible via their newly launched SPINReviews Twitter account. MAGIC CAPSULE ME NEXT, ANN. But, yeah, the idea is to save the reader from eighty-word blurbs on albums to make room for twenty long-form reviews each month: You can read all about that in Chris’ essay over at their website. As a...
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Live: Buraka at Bowery →
Last night I went to see Buraka Som Sistema and the buddy Brenmar. I left feeling a kinda old, a bit sweaty from jumping around, and coveting Blaya’s galaxy-imprinted jumpsuit. My recap over on the Voice.
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Blue Ivy Carter is an awful name... →
And also a show stopper:
me: can you and nick cover the skrillex show at PACHA instead of roseland maura: OMG YOU’RE MY CHILD OF A CHILD FROM DESTINY’S CHILD http://lifeandtimes.com/glory-feat-b-i-c
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End of an Era →
Said goodbye to my first NYC apt and home for the last three years at Horatio and West 4th last night. I might have teared up when I locked the door for the last time too; it feels like this is an end of an era for me or something? Thanks to visiting pal Gavin for insisting on taking this creepy (/rad) panoramic photo one day: Me in my over-sized Egyptian nightshirt with one of my friends (Margs...
December 2011
17 posts
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More Lists: The Year's Best Mixes →
FLYTE TYME VOL. 1 by SPARKLE MOTION
And here’s a list of mixes I really enjoyed this year. Sets by Jamie XX, NguzuNguzu, Four Color Zack, Sparkle Motion, and Four Tet. You can read my words and stream them all over at MTV Hive.
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WatchMy friend Jamie runs a label called Group Tightener with Fader editor Sam Hockley-Smith. He randomly works at this Christmas tree stand in Brooklyn sometimes? And then Gawker did this video interview with him? I guess it’s to explain how this stand is a kind of breeding ground for music collabs - he talks about how he put out the first Best Coast release within. Whatever, I just love how...
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Dipset X-Mix + Bird Peterson's Holiday Spectacular →
Sick of the Mariah Carey Christmas album yet? No, of course you’re not. But in the case that you’re in the mood for something less sparkly for the holidays, please check out Bird Peterson’s Holiday Spectacular in which he celebrates “the style of the Dilla/Madlib holiday tradition.” [I wrote about it for my column over at MTV Hive.]
Frank the Butcher and...
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SPIN'S 20 Best Dance Albums of 2011 →
There’s something about ranking my favorite music by number that I find kind of unbearable. I did, however, contribute to Spin’s wrap-up of the year’s best dance albums with writing on Theo Parrish’s Uget and Parallel Dimensions, DJ Harvey’s Locussolus, Dave Nada’s Blow Yr Head comp, and Omar S’ It Can Be Done But Only I Can Do It.
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Gilles Peterson's Xmas Mix →
I’ve been bad at updating my Mix of the Week’s because they run on Fridays, and who has time to Tumblr on a Friday afternoon? This Gilles Peterson mix, however, has brought me back because it’s top notch for your cozy, personal holiday parties. It’s really a shame that BBC is cutting him from their weekly radio lineup. This mix is perfection. Read more/download/stream...
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Watch“DJs Against Climate Change”: A video by Sammy Bananas. Yeah, the concept is chuckle-worthy, but snaps to these guys for being proactive about the enviro harm involved with their frequent air-travel. United We Stand / Go Team.
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This looks about right: →
“We never bring luggage. We go shopping when the plane lands.”
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Hey, I'm having a birthday party →
It’s a party, it’s a party, it’s a party: A holiday / birthday fete named after my once-frequent Voice column “I Don’t Clubbing, I Go Dancing.” Because, as you know, that’s what I love to do most. The music-makers and party-rockers who have volunteered their talents are some of my favorites: The beautifully epic MNDR, bass queen JUBILEE, party monster...
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Macaulay Culkin's iPod... →
About Last Night: Tough questions for Macaulay Culkin go unanswered as it turns out that his ipod doesn’t actually talk. Read my recap of his party over at the Voice.
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WatchVideo premier for Holy Ghost’s cover of Ministry’s “I Wanted To Tell Her” / my random commentary up on MTV Hive. Highlights: Bike ballet, Nancy Whang’s sweater, red lipstick + teased hair. Thanks for inspiring my outfit for later tonight.
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My Q&A With Digitalism →
Interviewed them shortly after the release of their second album I Love You, Dude in August. We talked about how they tried to do things differently from Idealism [though, I wouldn’t exactly say this album is much different from their last], recording in an abandoned WWII bunker, and collaborating with Julian Casablancas. Read on the Voice.
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Ian MacKaye Talks to NPR →
zachbaron:
“Ultimately, I know what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. I’m trying to be a construction worker. I’m trying to make things. If people are not interested in that, fine. I just don’t give a damn. Truth is, right now two bombs could drop out of the sky and blow up this house and whatever building you’re in and just obliterate Dischord and Pitchfork. And there’ll be some people...
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Escort: A Disco Band →
Profiled one of my favorite disco revivalist acts for MTV Hive. Get to know them if you don’t already. Or just revisit their wonderful video for “All Through the Night” in which Jim Henson’s muppet theater turns into a raging dance party. [And then watch the video again.]
November 2011
16 posts
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Rapper Cam'ron... →
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Hybrid Insect Electromechanical Systems →
I came across these cyborg bugs of the future after going into an internet spider-hole that landed me on insect mutation and insect spies. Note: This was sparked by a research bender where I was investigating CAFOs and related environmental / labor / property legal issues for a paper a few weeks ago. I’m saving us all a lot of trauma by not posting a photo of the critters in the body of this...
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Big Jack's Black Magic Mix →
My Mix of the Week for MTV Hive and a family-friendly soundtrack for your Thanksgiving food-comas and lazy lounging.
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WatchListened to a mix with Bjork’s “Hunter” on it and was reminded of how much I liked the video for the song. This too: “I thought I could organize freedom. How Scandanavian of me.”
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Strictly Hits: Thanksgiving Eve →
We’re baaaaaack. RSVP below friends:
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Roctakon's Mix For Parker Posey →
My Mix of the Week for MTV Hive. This thing is full of great nineties nostalgia. Read on for the download link and track list. Roctakon on the mix below:
When I was a kid, Party Girl was one of my favorite movies. If you were 16 in 1995, an aspiring DJ, and not-so-closet total dork, Mary would have been everything to you too. I picked songs I know she would have danced to, songs that I...
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SPIN: Defending Dyson's Georgetown Jay-Z Class →
via no-trivia:
Responding to Gawker and yeah, SPIN’s snarky write-ups about Michael Eric Dyson’s Sociology course focused on Jay-Z. For a long time, I was pretty suspicious of Dyson myself, for reasons I don’t think I fully understood other than my own intellectualized anti-intellectual bullshit, but yeah, I mean, I really don’t see how this class, which seems to be a huge hit, is a problem...
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Q&A: Girl UNIT on R&B's Glory Days, Remixing, and... →
Interviewed the guy for the Voice: Philip Gamble—a.k.a. Girl Unit—joined the constantly growing cast of post-dubstep producers to come out of the U.K. a little over the a year ago with the release of his EP IRL. The debut—which came out on Night Slugs, the experimental dance imprint run by the London DJs Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990—was full of expertly crafted, drumline-driven bangers. Taking...
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Q&A: Korn's Jonathan Davis on Dubstep and the... →
Well, this was a wild ride. I interviewed Korn’s Jonathan Davis in preview of the group’s upcoming Path Of Totalty dubstep album. We talked about how he got invovled with Skrillex, why dubstep “is the new everything,” Jesus Christ Superstar, and why rock is boring. And then he told me that Obama is part of the Illuminati. Uhhhh. Read on at MTV Hive.