“From radical turntablism (Otomo Yoshihide) to laptop music innovation (Numb), via classical instrument hijacking (Sakamoto Hiromichi), Tokyo’s avant-garde music scene is internationally known for its boldness.
While introducing some of the greatest musicians of this scene, “We Don’t Care About Music Anyway…” offers a kaleidoscopic view of Tokyo, confronting music and noise, sound and image, reality and representation, documentary and fiction. “We don’t care about music anyway”…
In other words, “we make it and that’s all”. Beyond the music and beyond its performance, the future and mode of existence of a city, and society as a whole, are in motion.”
For the lucky BK people this gem shows this coming Friday 16th at 8pm as part of the Rooftop Film Summer Series at the Old American Can Factory 232 3rd Street, Brooklyn, NY (info).
New hotness from New York homies Cubic Zirconia feat. our boy in South Afrika Mr. Ghost Bones himself Spoek Mathambo. I’ve known lead singer Tiombe Lockhart for a while now ever since me and Zack released a track of hers on Shadetek Records (back when that was still a going concern) and always loved her singing.
Now she’s teamed up with Nick Hook and the rest of the Cubic Zirconia fam to form this band project and they are killing it a lot. I got to play with them and hang with them at SXSW this year and they put on a killer show. Sort of house music with a band (for lack of a better term) really fun live and Tiombe is a super charismatic front-woman.
The video is on some ill Orson Welles one-shot auteur film making shit directed by Khalil Joseph and looks like a million bucks although knowing that Cubic are on a similar DIY go-for-self vibe as we are and releasing on their label I’m guessing it didn’t cost that. Download this minimix from their new Black and Blue EP and vote with your dollars to support good independent music on Tuesday June 15th when it drops.
Their release party is this Tuesday June 15th at Damon Dash Gallery (?!) with an art opening to boot. Flier:
This, their previous video ‘Josephine’ is crazy too.
Friday and Saturday, May 21 & and 22, starting at 8pm, Award-winning New York-based Zimbabwean contemporary dance artist and choreographer Nora Chipaumire will be teaming up with musician Thomas Mapfumo — the legendary “Lion of Zimbabwe” — for the New York premiere of lions will roar, swans will fly, angels will wrestle heaven, rains will break: gukurahundi at the Kumble Theater at Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus. Along with the live musical acompaniment by the great Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited, dancer Souleymane Badolo will also join Chipaumire for the performance.
We have a pair of tickets to give a way to the performance on Saturday. The first reader to respond to the question by sending an email with the correct answer to family@duttyartz.com (and make sure you include the word contest in the subject line) wins the pair of tickets.
The ticket contest is OVER! The contest question was what does “mapfumo” means in shona? Answer = “spears”
NORA CHIPAUMIRE + THOMAS MAPFUMO & THE BLACKS UNLIMITED
May 21 & 22 at 8pm
Kumble Theater at Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus
While delving a bit deeper into Kayhan Kalhor‘s repertoir following a Mudd Up tip-off, I came across bağlama player Erdal Erzincan, who he collaborated with on the album The Wind. I can’t really tell you too much about him, except that the following video is amazing and that you should watch it in its entirety.
It’s mostly a showcase for his jaw-dropping technical prowess (the guy actually makes the tapping technique popularized by Eddie Van Halen sound cool), which goes beyond the virtuoso habit of playing a ton of notes and actually tells a story. There are a ton of subtle structural and sonic details (rhythmic shifts, open spaces, buzzing strings) that keep me coming back to this clip, which now that I think about it, has been pretty time-consuming…Anyway! Kalhor has this to say about him (via):
“I appreciated at once that Erdal is a very good musician, a very serious baglama player – but he is still, normally, working within the demands of Turkish music today,” says Kalhor. “Ihis means songs and maybe a minute of playing in free time, and then another song. In Turkey, if you have a CD the market says you need 14 tracks and you have to have singing. I didn’t ask Erdal to sing. I explained to him, ‘I’m looking for something that departs from nothing and then goes into developing material and then goes into something else really improvised. Maybe we’ll go for a climax in terms of melody and energy and keep it there…And I’m looking at this for a form for maybe an hour of music.’ And he said, ‘I haven’t done that before, but I would like to do this.’ And he showed that he was indeed very much able to do this, and many of the things he played surprised and delighted me. What I’m trying to do in these kind of projects – whether with Shujaat or, now, with Erdal is to learn the music and experience the world through their eyes. And I am not trying to change what they do so much as offer them another vision of it. Musical Turkey, for instance, is very much based on composed songs. Improvisation of the kind that Erdal and I undertake, developing material, is something that has been forgotten…”
And here’s a video of them playing a beautiful piece together live, with Ulas Ozdemir and Ali Akbar Moradi:
Once again Lil B has left me wordless. Has there ever been harder swag than this? #BASED_4EVER
Lamin and Matt kicked it with Lil B the last night of SXSW. I took the night off to make cognac and rootbeer float cocktails over 3 A.M. Nachos Supreme. I think B freestyled over Andy’s MacGyver Guacharaca. I’m starting to feel like I made the wrong decision.
I’m sure B is making some backstage moves as well- but as far as the public eye can see- he’s taken the over-saturation of digital media and marketing to the extreme. The man has no shame – he’s the Tila Tequila of indie rap- but underneath it all is a startling vision and undeniably powerful sentiment -he’s the open source Rammellzee. Eshun wrote, “In HipHop, science breaks it down in order to complexify not to clarify.” B just signed to Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em’s label Stacks on Deck. I rest my case.
Is it wrong that I cant wait to play this out? The 320 hunt begins.
Normally I get a lot of stupid shit in the form of press releases but today I actually got one with something cool in it. Publicists, just because I’m blogging about something I got in a release doesn’t mean you should send more! I hate them! What does this say about how we should all be promoting our music? I don’t know.
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
I actually LOLed at this one, posted by Eddie Stats over at Okayplayer’s new(?) Large Up blog. The last and first of his Toppa Top 10 fake reggae songs are the picks for me. Eddie Murphy taking a polished and very funny dig at Bob Marley (seems pretty clearly aimed, I could be wrong) and then some youtube guys hilariously misinterpreted transcription of Busy Signal (with jpegs!).
New heat from 77Klash produced by Drop The Lime. Klash is going in on some deep anti-nuclear annhilation lyrics over a cool dubstep/wobble house beat by Mr. Venezia. Look out for the “Shadow of Death EP” coming soon on Trouble & Bass Records, I’m interested to hear what they come up with.
Weird new video from Nguzunguzu feat. Leilah Weinraub for the track “Got U” which is off the brilliant free Nguzunguzu EP –still up for grabs, so get it in your life.
Big tune from Wiley’s forthcoming album. The beat is by Shy FX which apparently was a remix that became the main mix. Very nice house/old school hiphop something or other vibes. Wiley in top form as always, picked up from Marcus Visionary’s blog where there’s lots of other good stuff.
Big shout out to the people from Tunes on Bunch.TV, they put together this very nice concert film of Jahdan and myself, Matt Shadetek, performing at the Stadtgarten in Cologne. It was the first night it had really snowed on the tour and I remember we ended up having to walk back to the hotel with our stuff after trying to get a cab for about 45 minutes through the streets full of wasted people who had all just gotten out of various clubs and bars into the new snow. Big shoutout to Uh-Young Kim who put the show on and all the people who braved the elements to come rock with us, we had a great time.
ALSO me and Jahdan are planning to come back out to Europe in June, if you’d like to have us play in your town get in touch via bookings AT duttyartz DOTT com.
Cool Dutty Artz interview/mini-doc featuring Shadetek and Jahdan over at XLR8R – part of their Labels We Love Series. Check iTunes for XLR8R Presents Labels We Love, Vol. 1 featuring a new tune from Chief Boima titled “Techno Rumba” (an official release will be out soon) and the Jahdan Blakkamoore banger “Buss It Pon Dem” (produced by Chancha Via Circuito.)
New video from Erykah Badu featuring Lil Wayne “Jump Up In The Air (Stay There)” from her upcoming album New Amerykah Part II: Return Of The Ankh – You already know this is a great song, but pay close attention to the lyrics and you’ll appreciate it even more; plenty memorable lines – (hip-hop) “church never felt this good before,” “my level, far from the devil/have some manners, and say hello to the angels,” “I am on the ceiling stuck like a fan full of dust, like a fist full of bucks…” etc. As for the video, it has stunning moments; Wayne clearing a cloud of purple smoke to “elevate” with Ms. Badu is one of those.
sign up for the Dutty Artz email list!! you'll receive a confirmation message, so check yr spamcatchers if you dont get one soon.
To get in touch, send us tunes, hate mail etc. write: family AT duttyartz.com
Friday and Saturday, May 21 & and 22, starting at 8pm, Award-winning New York-based Zimbabwean contemporary dance artist and choreographer Nora Chipaumire will be teaming up with musician Thomas Mapfumo — the legendary “Lion of Zimbabwe” — for the New York premiere of 
.jpg)
