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The Essentials
REMEMBERING SOUL TRAIN
I can’t really say I grew up watching Soul Train. I was born in ’88, and by the early ’90s, Don Cornelius was about ready to step down, and Yo! MTV Raps had stepped into Soul Train’s role as the major television showcase for the most exciting, forward-thinking black music out there. But as a cultural touchstone, its influence is still pretty undeniable. When Max and I plan out these parties, I think there’s usually an image in our heads of all the folks coming down, two-by-two in a Soul Train line, groovin’ out to some Marvin or Curtis. We’ll take it there soon.
With Don Cornelius’ apparent suicide a few days back, it seems like just now, people are fully coming to understand just how impactful the show was for its time. Without the frenzy of nostalgic stories and think-pieces that have surface in the last week, it might be easy for our generation to forget the magnitude of a nationally syndicated show dedicated to soul, funk and the most cutting-edge popular music coming out of black America, being broadcast into living rooms across the country in 1971. Not to mention, everything about the show, and particularly Don Cornelius was just so damn cool. The voice, the fro, the effortless smoothness — not that it was all that hard to make Dick Clark look like a square, but he did. Looking back on some of the performances, in all their lip-synched glory, there were just too many classic moments. And, luckily for the YouTube generation, many of them are here at our fingertips. We thought we’d share a few.
February 3, 2012
SCHOOLBOY Q’S HABITS & CONTRADICTIONS
For the sake of discussion, Kendrick Lamar’s Section.80 happens to make for a solid point of comparison to Schoolboy Q’s Habits and Contradictions. Aside from the obvious–the two are frequent collaborators and members of Kendrick’s Black Hippy crew– Habits bears plenty of similarities to 80. For starters, they each have a phenomenal ear for beats, both nostalgic and forward-thinking. Both artists too, are keen observers of the world around them. Both thrive off inner conflict, and turn those conflicted moments into meditations that feel both tangibly personal, and also somehow representative on a generational level.
But where Kendrick’s social conscience tends to kick into overdrive, Q is prone to let the darker aspects of his personality predominate. The tone of Habits is dark and brooding, and the production elegantly gritty and engrossing. The subject matter too, matches the convincingly sinister tone it’s delivered in. To say that Habits then, feels something like Section.80‘s darker cousin, is really to say, more accurately, that Q succeeds here in carving out his own, very distinct creative space.
Download: Schoolboy Q feat. Kendrick Lamar – “Blessed”
February 1, 2012
“MANY THANKS”
It seems like only yesterday when Danny, Will and I were chilling on Hubbard Street, picking neighbors’ flowers trying to get the invite right for A Family Affair. It was March of 2010. Perhaps it’s the realization that we’re four days away from our tenth party that’s gotten me all sentimental. But regardless, I thought it was important once again to give thanks to you, the reader.
February 1, 2012
BLAKE GRIFFIN ON KENDRICK
Shoutout to Youtube for making this all possible. I know I’m not the only one who’s Facebook blew up around 9pm last night when the dunk of the year (so far) went viral. The announcer on NBA.com said Kendrick Perkins life just changed and I wouldn’t disagree. I wonder if anyone said anything to him in the locker room? Did his teammates console him, or did they try not to make eye contact? Did his ears get hot when he saw the highlight again? Did his nose itch? Did his Mom watch the game?
January 31, 2012
JACQUES GREENE – “ARROW”
Sometime around the middle of the year, after a year and change of what could only be described as sleeping on Jacques Greene, I stumbled upon “Another Girl”. Shortly after that, and after watching him get yelled at by Azealia Banks briefly, I dug into the gorgeous trio of EP’s, and the scattered, occasionally brilliant handful of singles and remixes he’s amassed over the last year and a half or so. Greene’s signature sound– elegant analog synth textures, spacey R&B vocal chops, and a typically danceable two-step groove– is about as cosmopolitan as it gets. At its most subtle, Greene’s music feels as exciting and fresh as Jamie xx or the James Blake of CMYK. The rest of the time, it’s fashionable, soulful, extremely well-executed house, which would already be reason enough to listen.
“Arrow” falls somewhere toward the former end of the spectrum, riding out a two-minute slow burn into a bass-heavy shuffle of a song, only to break back down a few more times in the process. At nine minutes, “Arrow” is the subdued, atmospheric conclusion to Jacques latest, Concealer EP, a self-released effort (on the producer’s new Vase imprint) that picks up where his more recent work left off, slowing down the pace a bit for another brief four-song collection. Like most of his work so far, it works for just about any situation. Certifiably settled mood music.
Download: Jacques Greene – “Arrow”
January 31, 2012
CULTURE & CREATIVITY: A CONVERSATION WITH BRETTE SIMS
Photography By Max Gibson
It was the summer of 2010 when Brette first told me she wanted to start her own clothing brand. We were sitting in the car, a couple blocks off of Telegraph in Berkeley when she shared her vision. “It’s going to be a brand to empower women,” she told me. “We don’t have a name yet though.” In 2011 Stuk Designs was born. Dedicated to the cultivation of the whole woman, the brand features a variety of vibrant graphics that relate messages of positivity and self awareness. Recently I had the pleasure of spending the day with Brette in Downtown Los Angeles where we talked about her art, her message and her creative influences.
January 30, 2012
THE NDAA & THE NEW TERRORISM: ARE YOU A SUSPECT?
By Willee Roberts
Last Wednesday marked the 10th anniversary of operations at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. Bush-era fear tactics rationalized the creation of the military prison despite its defiance of Geneva Convention protocol against torture. In Obama’s early days in office, he attempted to follow through on his campaign promise to close the camp and return terror suspects to US soil. Gitmo remains open, with 171 prisoners still confined to living in its inhumane conditions. Obama is not soft on terrorism.
Beware America: Osama is dead, but terror lives on. This time, it does not wear turbans or live in a cave. It wears 99% buttons and lives in a tent. But these new terrorists want the same thing as the old, to dismantle the structures that allow capitalism and “western values” to colonize and oppress.
Obama is not soft on terrorism. On the eve of the new year, 2012, our president signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 (NDAA), a piece of legislation which, among other things, grants the federal government the authority to indefinitely detain anyone suspected of terrorism.
January 29, 2012
COLÓN TO EAST L.A.: THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF GUSMANO CESARETTI
There’s a common thread that ties together each of Gusmano Cesaretti‘s photography collections. Each collection displays his uncanny ability to capture a specific place and time, in a way that feels almost mythical, and yet also deeply personal. While each series, taken as a whole, paints a sort of romanticized portrait of the place in question, the idiosyncratic details of each picture tell a story of their own. The pair of collections currently being shown at Los Angeles’ Roberts & Tilton gallery– the first documenting 1970s East L.A., and the second depicting the harsh realities of Panamanian street life– put some of the most powerful examples of that particular talent on display.
January 29, 2012
A$AP ROCKY – “WASSUP”
In an era where one million youtube views can equate to instant stardom, it’s hard to define what’s truly fresh from what’s just popular. It’s a debate plenty of us have had many times over, and one that comes to light when considering the rise of A$AP Rocky. I think Dom understands. So when A$AP’s latest visual offering hit the net sometime last night, I thought twice about throwing it up. Has A$AP become trendy before he’s even dropped an album? Maybe so. Nonetheless, I’ve watched this video like six times.
January 24, 2012
WILD ANIMALS BY ROP VAN MIERLO
It always seems like we should show the illustrators and authors of children’s books more love. Personally, I credit folks like Dr. Seuss, Eric Carle, Bill Watterson, Maurice Sendak and Shel Silverstein for stretching out my imagination as far as it would go when I was a kid. I suppose what distinguishes the great from good in that category are the books you can flip through fifteen or twenty years later and still be blown away by their creativity or their power to convey complex ideas in deceptively simple ways.
Whether or not it’s intended as a children’s book, in the traditional sense of the word, Rop van Mierlo‘s wordless Wild Animals collection has that same sort of classic feel and elegant simplicity to it. Billed by van Mierlo as “a wild book for civilized people” and “a sophisticated book for wild people”, Wild Animals is a collection of gorgeous watercolors, done in a playful, gestural style that almost recalls Rorschach inkblots. Aside from that, the award-winning work is self-published, and now in its second printing. Read on for a closer look inside, or cop here.
January 24, 2012
UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US: THE STORY OF NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL
I don’t listen to Norwegian black metal. Until about two hours ago, I couldn’t have told you anything about it, and after spending the better part of that time learning about it, I can’t say I’m rushing to find a download link. But Until the Light Takes Us is just a fascinating film, and for that hour and a half I was immersed in a subculture completely foreign to me. Released to mixed reviews in 2009, the film is the product of directors Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell’s vision, a documentary compiled through years of interviews and archival footage with some of Norwegian black metal‘s most controversial figures.
That most critiques of Until the Light center around the overly sympathetic, romanticizing tone it takes toward its subjects only makes sense. The story of black metal is, after all, primarily documented as a result of controversy– a series of church burnings, a handful of murders, and some grisly suicides, to be more specific. Beyond that though, the film explores the troubling ideology behind those actions, and behind a cultural phenomenon that captured the world’s attention at its peak in the mid-’90s. For those curious enough, it’s an experience, to say the least. Read on for the full movie.
January 23, 2012
RAVEN SORVINO – “OPRAH WINFREY”
Oprah is one of those people that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. I feel like for our generation, more than anything, she’s a symbol of success. From humble beginnings to the top of the world. As soon as I heard the hook to “Oprah Winfrey” at Raven’s listening party last week, I knew she and Hyphen had a banger on their hands. And as a Raven Sorvino single, it seems only logical.
Paper Girl, slated to drop this week, is the story of a woman driven by her own vision of success, and along with the motivational anthems comes top notch production from Language Artz’ own The Adjicktivz, Nobody Famous and The U, among others. Last week, Max and myself had the unique opportunity to experience Paper Girl before the official release, receiving some firsthand insight into the inspiration behind each track. From Oprah to Dilla to her own mother, Paper Girl is, like any quality debut, a collage of different influences and experiences, and a mission statement for Raven’s movement. Below peep the trailer for the album, executive-produced by The Formula, and available here Thursday.
January 23, 2012
WEEKEND LEFTOVERS (1.20.12)
It seems like the collective Internet is breathing a sigh of relief today. At least the part that concerns America anyway. Big ups to everybody involved in stopping SOPA and PIPA dead in their tracks, and talking some sense into at least a few of the politicians planning to lend their support. In the spirit of toppling those particular pieces of legislation, I figured we should celebrate by providing some free, downloadable new music we’ve been digging lately. Among other things, the new year has already brought us new, quality material from Santi, Raekwon, Sleigh Bells, Azealia Banks and a handful of others. And just for good measure, there’s also a few favorites from the end of the year. Highlights include the latest from Nicolas Jaar, the Clams Casino K.R.I.T. remix, and The Internet’s Natural Born Killers-inspired visual for “Fastlane”. Happy Friday.
January 20, 2012
