STRAIGHT UP FUCK THE 2012 NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT. This is the sort of shit that matters deeply even if you don’t read Prison Planet or listen to Coast 2 Coast. This is the shit that should unite tea partiers, I live in a silo with ten years of water people, the dude that serves you zips AND YOU. The bill passed late last night in a 93-7 vote, declares the entire USA to be a ”battleground” upon which U.S. military forces can operate with impunity, overriding Posse Comitatus and granting the military the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate and even assassinate U.S. citizens with impunity.

If you were surprised by how militarized our police were during the last few months of #OWS don’t worry. If this bill goes into law we will just have the military straight up dealing with protests and other “terrorist” acts. Lets hope Obama vetoes this shit.

 Marvin’s Room (Shlohmo’s thru tha floor remix) – Drake by shlohmoA question I hear frequently asked about Toronto based Hiphop/RnB rapper/singer/child actor Drake in the press is why his new music is so depressing sounding and what does he have to be unhappy about? He’s young, rich and famous! He’s got a seemingly endless supply of adoring fans, pretty women, drugs, alcohol, money and a venue for his artistic expression to talk about his feelings. Hot97 is his psychotherapy couch.

When he sings:
‘Cups of the XO
Bitches in my old phone
I should call one and go home
I’ve been in this club too long
The woman that I would try
Is happy with a good guy

But I’ve been drinking so much
That I’ma call her anyway and say
“F-ck that nigga that you love so bad
I know you still think about the times we had”
I say “f-ck that nigga that you think you found
And since you picked up I know he’s not around”

(Are you drunk right now?)

I’m just sayin’, you could do better
Tell me have you heard that lately?
I’m just sayin’ you could do better
And I’ll start hatin’, only if you make me’

Drake strikes me as being honest here. Even though he has all of the above material and ego-enhancing things that many of us want, he is still not happy.  When artists are honest and speak about what’s really happening with them instead of repeating tropes that seem like the ‘industry standard’ (I’m balling! I’m awesome! I’m getting money!) it adds a richness of meaning, the texture of personal reality.  The current vogue for sipping XO (aka sizzurp, purple drank, or cough syrup made with promethazine and codeine) popularized by many rap/rnb artists including recently Drake and The Weeknd seems to support this pretty well. Codeine is an opiate, the same active ingredient found in heroin. It’s a central nervous system depressant that makes you sleepy and dulls pain when used when you’re sick. If consumed when you’re healthy it pushes pleasure buttons in your brain and feels great.   Taking codeine also kills you.  If you slow your central nervous system down enough you’ll just stop breathing. RIP DJ Screw and Pimp C. My question is: how much must you be suffering to make this glamourous lifestyle choice? Scientific research has pointed to links between the way we experience physical and psychic pain, like the pain of depression, including the fact that depression sufferers seem to have more acute physical pain.  As far as I can tell people who are happy and fulfilled don’t need to constantly take large amounts of central nervous system depressants like codeine and alcohol.

Where does this pain come from?  For many of us who are artists or musicians we, secretly or not, spend a certain amount of time thinking about why so-and-so got their name put above ours on a flier, or got a better review or record deal or  fee for their show or more views on YouTube. Why are they more loved than us? It feels unfair and can be demoralizing. This is because our feeling of self-worth is connected to our rapidly fluctuating ego. One moment we just had a great gig, review, bit of feedback from a fan and are flying. The next moment something goes badly or we notice someone else doing better and suddenly we are dissatisfied with our own success that seemed great a minute ago. I feel that whether they admit it or not many, many people who are perceived as successful suffer from these same feelings. In fact I think that many people who believe that material and ego success will make them happy, then achieve it and realize that they’re still not happy are actually in a tougher spot than those who are still striving.  If you are still trying to get there you can at least believe that once you get rich and famous you’ll leave your current unhappiness behind.  Once you get there and realize you are STILL unhappy and that a change in external factors isn’t going to solve it that must be pretty difficult to deal with. Elvis and Marilyn Monroe come to mind.

I recently read a book by the Dalai Lama called ‘How To Practice’ about ways to a meaningful and happy life.  For those unfamiliar with him here is a person who absolutely radiates satisfaction, kindness and deep happiness. This is in spite of the fact that he is a leader of a nation in exile who have undergone brutal cultural genocide at the hands of the People’s Republic of China including torture, mass murder and attempts to undermine and eradicate the Tibetan Buddhist faith which the Dalai Lama is a senior figure in.  A key distinction he makes which I found to be very helpful in thinking about these issues is the distinction between Pleasure and Happiness.  Pleasure is the result of a state change: from sobriety to drunkenness, hunger to satiety, arousal to orgasm, feeling un-appreciated to feeling admired, and so on.  We experience a momentary burst of pleasure which can be pretty awesome. What tells us that these things are not intrinsic sources of happiness is that we cannot continue to experience them indefinitely. Drink too much and throw up, smoke too much pot and get nervous and paranoid, eat too much and get a stomach ache, receive so much fan adulation that you can’t walk down the street and consequently feel isolated and lonely.  All of these, while resulting in transitional pleasures which feel great when they happen, do not satisfy our inner desires for things like meaning in life, a long term feeling of satisfaction or freedom from the roller coaster of egotism.

The Dalai Lama’s Tibetan Buddhist prescription for these things is instead of constantly looking at ourselves and trying to scratch our own itches for more fame, food, drugs or money to look outward and look at who we can help, how we can be more caring, how we can contribute to others happiness and lessen their suffering. In a word: compassion.  If you’ve ever experimented with compassion you’ll find that it provides a much less fleeting and much longer lasting feeling of happiness, even if sometimes in the immediate moment the act itself is not directly pleasurable. For me the major experience I’ve had in this department is being a father to two young boys. Even though at times it is not easy and can feel like a terrifying and overwhelming vortex of poopy diapers, extreme and prolonged sleep deprivation, yelling, crying and trips to the emergency room there is nothing I have done in my life which has given me more deep and lasting happiness. Counter-intuitive though it may seem the realest happiness I’ve found is in sacrifice, giving freely of myself and serving others. It doesn’t fluctuate, increase or decrease based on external factors or go away when I scratch the itch. In fact, the more I scratch the more it deepens, expands and the richer and more satisfying it becomes.

I am not holding myself up as an example here for admiration. Loving your children is a bare minimum necessary act for any human being. In order to feel like I’m actually doing something that is a net gain for humanity and to deepen my compassionate practice I need, and plan, to do more than that. I’m only speaking from my own, limited direct experience to convey my point.  It’s possible to be happy, but it doesn’t come from consuming anything or from stroking the ego.

cross-posted from my personal blog at mattshadetek.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

A couple years ago our friend Filastine was in town and I remember not being able to join him on some crazy boat ride on a trash barge that had been re-purposed as an art installation. There was talk of some armada of these vessels. Like minded people are bringing you a really fun event tomorrow.

Last weekend the naval gangs of New York assembled to Battle for Mau Mau Island (See photos here). Come see the fallen soldiers, harvested booty, and glorious victors at a new two-story space in Bed-Stuy.Mau Mau gangs, gladiator raft jousting, cocktail catacombs, clothing optional watergun fight, underground casino & film screenings of eerily beautiful movies set on the water, slide show and videos of the battle, and an awards presentation for the victors. Wet & wild all night long.

Saturday, July 30, 9:30- late80 Vernon Ave, between Marcy & Tompkins
(G train to Myrtle/Willoughby 1 block away; or J,M,Z to Myrtle)
Ice cold beer and watermelon vodka open bar 9:30-10:30
$5 for gangs in matching costumes, Mau Mau vets, or before 11pm, $10 otherwise; 21+
All proceeds go directly to the Swimming Cities India project. www.weareswimmingcities.org

We are dropping  a 12 track tropical compilation just in time for when things start to get cold in New York and hot in Rio. Ten unreleased TROPICAL tunes + anthemic FUNKY THAT WE HAD TO COSIGN and A HEAVYWEIGHT NEW MASTER OF NGUZUNGUZU’s EL BEBE AMBIENTE. We feel bad that we have not kept up our LEGENDARY New York Tropical parties- but we just do not have time to promote a crew club night in New York- but maybe again in the future, with some good partners we would get into it again- because NEW YORK TROPICAL WAS A FUCKING BLESSING. The first time I went was before I had really started working with DA and everything about it was perfect. From the German Belgian installation art that slowly dissolved as the dancefloor spread to all surfaces, to the perfect Sangria, the heavy weight dancehall soundsytem that we rented from SoundMan Grimm, a crowd that reflected the diversity of the music…. basically NYT was one of the dopest party series I’ve ever taken part in (although sadly I never got to play caus I was busy learning things in school and hanging out in Europe).

For the comp we hooked up with DA resident internet excavator Seacrest Cheadle  892 u mean computer mean2 computer did u mean competitor a force that has been so next level for so long that it is basically my only internet news source. We have been dreaming of doing projects with him/it/her/zee since before the first .com crash but he’s basically the zeitgeist embodied and besides pretty regular appearances at Korea Town Karaoke Bars and Neurogenetic labs in undisclosed locations- she is damn near impossible to locate. but somewhere in the #based ether we convinced it them 2 make a deadline… and magically, it worked.

Our promo machine is at about cotton gin status at this point… so we just moving FWD looking towards a more cohesive way to reach a larger audience. I dont open or listen to almost any of the promo email I get, and you dont either. But some of it will keep coming but really this whole thing is about relationships. I, for one, am working on my relationship to the ocean and fresh fruit juice in Brazil. I suggest you keep a dream journal while you ask these questions.

There are also tracks on this compilation from important and soon to be important musicians like Lamin Fofana, Kingdom (flipping RITA INDIANA OMFG!), Lido Pimienta, Matt Shadetek, DJ /Rupture, Chief Boima, DJ Orion, Sonora, Salem,  Knight Magic,  La Ola Criminal, Maga Bo.

Tracks will be sold digitally via Hulk Share and on custom GuccixDuttyArtz all-over-print USB sticks

Joyful music for an expensive, shitty city with decaying infrastructure where DUTTY ARTZ lives & loves.

RT:PLZ

…root that mountain down.

anbb – I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground

Here, two Germans cover a traditional American folk song I first on heard on Jace/Rupture‘s Special Gunpowder – which was released 6 years ago! It’s about time we revisit. Who wants another album from Rupture? Start a petition! Anyway, I have been listening to (Carsten Nicolai’s) Alva Noto‘s minimalist electronic sounds/records for over 6 years, but for some reason never gave Blixa Bergeld (nor his famous band Einstürzende Neubauten) much chance, though I heard Rupture playing something at WFMU and talking about KOLLAPSing New Buildings – but honestly, I don’t know what they even sound like. Alva Noto and Blixa Bergeld have a full length album titled Mimikry out now, and I haven’t heard that yet either. This track/cover vers is from an EP titled Ret Marut Handshake, which contains some terrific beats and bits and sounds from Alva Noto with Blixa Bergeld’s voice boldly floating on top.

I’ve been making music in various underground music scenes for the past ten years now. I’ve enjoyed it a lot. Generally you find great people in underground music scenes, people with a lot of passion and dedication who truly love music. When people are able to strike a balance between their underground aesthetic and being organized, special stuff can happen. But there are many times when people can’t strike that balance. One of the ideas that I’ve run into again and again in this world is the idea of ‘doing it for the scene’. On one level this is a very respectable idea: doing something not out of self interest, but to benefit the larger musical community. The problem I’ve encountered with this is that taken too far this can seriously undermine one’s ability to continue to function.

For example, let’s say hypothetically you are a small record distributor. You do it because you believe in the music, you want to support emerging artists and labels and you don’t care about money. You set up shop, take product on consignment from any unknown player with a willingness to press their material and start doing business. Consignment is when you take product before paying for it, warehouse it and pay when it sells. You continue to operate on this basis but because you have so many unheard of records released by labels with no business model or capability to promote them, sales are slow. Eventually, basic costs start to add up. The rent on your office is due every month. The bill for your shipping provider is rising. Eventually there comes a time when you have backed yourself into a corner. Nothing is selling and while you were hoping for an improvement you passed the point of no return. The shipping company has cut off your access to shipping because your owed bill is so high. Your landlord is initiating eviction proceedings against your office where you warehouse your product.

Finish reading this post at my new blog at mattshadetek.com

O’Neil Edwards 1/3 of Dancehall trio Voicemail.

Jamaica, please stop shooting your artists.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Voicemail come first on this Style and Swagga medley.

From Dancehall.Mobi:

‘Oneil Edwards, one-third of the popular dancehall group, Voicemail, was reportedly shot multiple times at the gate to his house in Duhaney Park, Kingston, early this morning, and is now undergoing critical surgery at the Kingston Public Hospital. Unconfirmed reports indicate that robbery was the motive, and that he was shot at least once in the head.’

I’ve been playing a lot of Voicemail tunes lately, especially the Style and Swagga version above and I would like all of them to continue making their great music.

Badmen of Jamaica, I would humbly request that you refrain from shooting any more artists, producers, djs or anyone else.  If you need to shoot someone please shoot each other and leave everyone else out of it.  Thanks.

Anyway, Pursuit Grooves is a female producer/singer/rapper from BK who I’ve never heard of but has a new record out on dubstep label Tectonic although it’s not dubstep. I like what I’ve heard. Also, dubstep labels take note: you need more female energy. You are all turning (have turned) your genre into a big macho dick grabbing testosterone fest and it’s turning me off. As rising dancehall artist Professor says in one of my recent favorite songs:

“Nuff Bwaaaaaay / a gwan like dem nuh wan roll wit de gyal dem… Some bwaaaaay would rather roll out wit one bagga man fren… my yout it no look good.”
– Professor, Roll With The Gal Dem

Pursuit Grooves “Fox Trot Mannerisms” Tectonic TECCD008 by Multiverse

Click here to view the embedded video.

And here’s the Professor tune I was quoting. Big tune on Don Corleon’s new Gala Riddim.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This Friday I will be swimming the Oceans of Blood with former Change Agent homies Orien McNeill and Zack Shadetek on a fundraiser for their crazy boat project. Open bar and a fake blood slip and slide and me djing from 11-1AM What more do you want, really?

Strange info after the jump>>

THE SWIMMING CITIES OF THE OCEAN OF BLOOD

PRESENTS

“THE SPRING BREAK MASSACRE”…at THE GOWANUS HOTEL BALLROOM, a massive 12,000 sq foot warehouse, 50 foot ceilings on the majestic Gowanus Canal. come early for a champagne cruise to our secret floating bar. plus chairman’s reserve rum/42 below vodka OPEN bar 9:30 to 11:00. then stay late for all night party featuring TWO STORY SLIP N SLIDE OF BLOOD, fake tan booth, limited commitment wedding photo booth. ham bowling. the Johnny2much oyster bar. morning after pill jello shots. raunchy indoor BBQ pit by bulgar Davo. all night DJs on 5,000sf mezzanine dance floor

DJs
DIRTYFINGER (blacklabel)
SMALLCHANGE
MATT SHADETEK (duttyartz)
2MELO (CUMBA MELA)

All proceeds go to the Swimming Cities Ganges River project and the fabrication of a modular island composed of stainless steel motorcycle-driven paddle wheel pontoon boats for use as a floating venue in New York this spring.
weareswimmingcities.org

FRI 23RD
69 9th st at the smith ninth station. F or G train.
9 – LATE
DOOR $15, $10 with below listed costumes

dead d-bag
geriatric cougers
patchy can tans
bloody blowouts
matching dog costumes
exercise video/infomercial before and after buddy costumes
no refund, medical tourism, nose job gone wrong

Sparklehorse – Getting It Wrong
Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (Astralwerks, 2006)

set your woods on fire
hide up in the spires
the flames kept dancing higher

they’re playing our song
they’re playing our song
they’re getting it wrong

ophelia in the creek
caught up in the sticks
somethings can’t be fixed

(3x) they’re playing our song

R.I.P. Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous

Tomorrow I’ll be DJing at a benefit show along with DJ Small Change for an art project which two of my long time friends, including former collaborator Zack Shadetek have been working on. The show is a benefit to raise money for Swimming Cities trip down the Ganges river in India.

From the press release:
Taking a new waterway each year our projects create a vivid community of artists floating into towns to present an interactive environment which encompasses art, sculpture, music and performance. The uncommon talents of our members interact in an organic design process in a unique form of living art. Our previous projects include THE SWIMMING CITIES OF SWITCHBACK SEA on the Hudson River for Deitch Projects and THE SWIMMING CITIES OF SERENISSIMA across the Adriatic Sea for the Venice Biennale.

Basically they build these crazy ass art-boats and float them down various rivers while living on them and doing performances and freaking people out.  There are a bunch of good artists, many who are also friends who will be having a silent auction of donated works to raise funding for the project.  And there’s an open bar.

FRIDAY MARCH 05

56 Walker St, Tribeca
7pm-1am, $10 Door, Open Bar
DJs Small Change and Shadetek

A. side is Dutty family 77Klash on the gunman tip over the crushing Water Faucet Riddim. The flip is the skittering Space Boots with remixes from some of the the biggest up and comers on the scene the U.K’s Slugabed and Montreal’s Hovatron. It’s hard to describe what happened in Vancouver last month when I dropped the Slugabed mix (Dev79 call it “hyper color style”) since the combination of howling low end fiends and gorgeous writhing Canadians basically led to sensory overload and total black out. If this is the sort of thing your interested in….cop the rest of the tracks @ Beatport Bleep Juno Download iTunes

BD1982 “Space Boots (Slugabed Remix)

More soon from the infatiguable Seclusiasis!

New mix finished/and up for PDXINDUB.COM

I will be performing a vibrational rhythmanalysis of the control city Portland, Oregon. August 8th @ Various (Branx)

Head HERE to stream/DL

Tracklist:
Colleen- The Happy Sea
8 Ball and MJG- Relax and Take Notes
Sukh Knight – Diesel Not Petrol
Raffertie – AntiSocial (B. Rich Remix)
Lexie Lee- Warlord’s Daughter (Paceface and Sticky Rmx)
Joker- Purple City
Trina Ft. Lil Wayne- Dont Trip (Lunice Lazer Rmx)
Fused Forces- Cock Back and Blast
Fused Forces- Footsteps
LionDub and Shadetek Ft. Jahdan- General (Marcus Visionary Rmx)
Timbaland- Pony Inst.
Cardopusher- Lacra
Salem – Trapdoor

This is a dubsteppy thing- but keeps things fresh and colorful with plenty of pressure.

I’m back on the blogging horse/elephant- new mixes and an exclusive interview with Lisbon’s Octa Push come soon!