music

whoa! werner “herzog on kenya west” the world is ending

ok i was floored to hear my hero, werner herzog, would spent even a minute on kanye west, but he did, and its not what you think.

“he was impressed” i was told?

he said this video was “fascinating” and contained what he called a “parallel story” a confusion of reality and fiction, “this is very good stuff” and he said if “kenya west” would apply to his school he would consider the film maker of this clip as a student at his school… i realized at that point that my world had ended… but read on…

the video included fake wax figures of caitlyn jenner, bill crosby, kanye west, taylor swift, kim kardashian and amber rose, note that these are fake! unlike kim kardashian, caitlyn jenner and amber rose who are “totally real”.

below: artist vincent desiderio 2008 sleep painting, the inspiration for kanye’s “work of art”

now for the record here, let me clarify that herzog did not go and review this shit piece of a clip. this was shown to him for the first time by a young, eager, editor at the daily beast, jen yamato. why she works at daily beast is beyond comprehension but i suppose we all have to eat.

so here is what werner herzog “actually” said, i will now translate for you in english, so please put on your best german accent and repeat out loud…. “zanx jen for interviewing me on your shit filled celeb blog, im not very sure why i am here, but i can imagine you must be zick of covering pop culture and needed to drag me into this to zave some portion of your lost soul. but ok lets make some converzation zince the camera is rolling… thiz iz an interesting veedeo. it delves into the realm of reality and fiction, nature and man…. and most importantly mans insanity… and his naive dezire to kontrol and deform nature… which of koze he desperately fails at… you may remember fritz geraldo? right. ok… so this is indeed a fazinating film for a young starving artists… and if he or she (cause herzog doesn’t even know about kanye) would ever apply to my zchool i may actually coinzider him/her az a student. i of course say this becauz none of the students who apply to my school can spend more zan $2 on their application films, and thiz film looks pretty damn good for a $2 film, not to menzion a young azpiring film student…”

so lets not get all excited here… herzog is in no way endorsing this self indulged, machismo inspired, naive infantile embarrassment of a work by, as he would call him, “kenya west”. ok? my world has not ended, and herzog has not blessed kanye in any way. you can all go home now. have a good weekend. by dd

CATEGORIES: clips, music, read

Birth, fish, bubble, sex, needle, and death… have we intrigued you enough?

a beautifully curious film…

directed by cyrille de vignemont

as a music video for poni hoax (antibodies) the french electro band

featuring controversial diptych of fish/birth, needle/skin and my favorite; naked ikura! enjoy!

poni hoax antibodies music video

a beautifully curious film for an otherwise not so interesting lyrics and mediocre track. a good reminder of how great talent can make anything ordinary into something extra ordinary. the visuals are so curious they draw you in, but they are not just sensationalist fodder, they begin to align and draw parallels in your mind, the needle that begs to penetrate that floating balloon, the fish gasping for air, and saturn devouring its children… like any good piece of literature or film, what they all mean is up to interpretation, so let it all sink in. the world needs more of this and less of byonce’s silly rhetoric and infantile erotic choreography. the above clip reminds us of another great video we wrote about, perhaps one of our favorite music videos for yet another mediocre band; scissor sisters. you may want to check that out as well, your welcome to turn the sound off. by xy

CATEGORIES: clips, music

the special AKA : some advice on your racist friend…

the special AKA – “racist friend” by jerry dammers and his coventry based band

if the recent events in charlottesville, virginia (featuring the despicable kkk left overs, the white-supremacist, and the nazi alt-right) has had a silver lining, it’s that it made us all go and re-buy the specials (and AKA) albums all over again. it’s remarkable if not insane, that we still have to deal with such none-sense in 2017! #ignorance… (if only it worked on the web) beautiful song and a great trumpet riff that just fails to become irrelevant… if you like this check out our older post on “the nelson mandela song” written by jerry dammers for mandela before his release and election to south africa’s first black president (sounds like an oxymoron – first black president in south africa!!) o.k. children, its your future not ours, good luck, and good night… by dd

CATEGORIES: clips, earth related, music

enlightened by the reverend (baron)

danny garcia (DGar)

rio view by reverend baron from the album by the same title, acoustic piano version

what a find… so happy to have discovered this gem… excerpts from an interview below:

“danny garcia nosegrinded into the southern california skateboarding scene during the late ’90s, quickly making appearances in professional videos and earning sponsorships from big names like quiksilver, etc. now the local favorite nicknamed DGar has added another, more musical moniker: reverend baron. “it is fun to have a name, to have a different personality,” he explains. contrary to the tag’s religious undertones, his music takes on darker folk qualities, with dreamy melodies supporting tales of broken love and everyday hardships. another skateboarder-turned-songwriter. “i’ve always played music,” garcia explains, but “the last 10 years have been a little more (devoted) to playing with different people and learning different things, and advance myself in a different direction.”

“when i was young, i watched skate videos all the time,” he recalls. “at that point, the ’90s and early 2000s, skateboarding videos didn’t have to get rights to use music, because they were all small-scale – they just got away with it. they could just use anything, so i heard van morrison’s stuff and the band love, cream and things like that. “there’s no reason for that name,” he says. “i think matt thought of it. i think we were just talking about making a record, just recording a group of songs. that idea was just a name for a project. “the name is one thing, but you end up defining it. you end up making it. so it could be whatever it is.” by uh

CATEGORIES: music

brilliant: surf punk and a whole lot of kitsch to go with that…

cindy cruz of B52’s

the B52’s: “dance this mess around,” downtown cafe in atlanta, georgia in 1978 – now you know where the talking heads took their cues…

fred schneider of the B52’s

the B52’s “planet claire,” and its exceptionally brilliant long intro, a total fu to the rules of pop radio – november 1980 capital theater

cindy cruz and fred schneider

the B52’s “give me back my man” – early years… you may have to watch this one on youtube sorry!

…and if by any chance you are not into politics, and simply want to escape to a time when all we american had to worry about was how to party, here is the ultimate kitsch punk band that never got the credit it deserved.

these guys clearly didn’t take themselves too seriously, but i must say that in hind-site, they were punk as f#@k, more punk than the circle jerks and definitely more punk than the sex pistols. they were cool without trying to be cool, punk with out claiming to be punk. they had fun and did what they wanted until of course fame took over, and as the saying goes, radio killed the real super stars. i’d give my left arm to see them live in some santa monica venue back in the late 70’s… although i just learned they were not even from california, but rather from athens, giorgia!!! who says a dead man cant fart? (some of you may understand that better than others). by ac

CATEGORIES: clips, history, music

Germans do it better from Klaus Schulze to nils frahm

german minimal electronic music – nils frahm 2013

tangerine dream 1975

das right. were dropping some knowledge and takin’ some names. deal with it! ok, seriously, there is some genius there, somewhere, so you all be nice to our german friends… by dd + ars

CATEGORIES: clips, music

Director Daniel Askill

i remember seeing these videos when they came out and even though i never watched one all the way through at the time the visuals haunted me…

part taboo, part innocence, but all good. i’d take this over any beyonce video.

saw them again the other day and thought to say a word or two as they are still relevant… i am not a fan of the music in any way, i actually find the visuals to be a disconnect with the type of pop music sia has been putting out since 2014, but we live in an age where high meets low, and not always by choice, but rather by need and design. its an age where vanessa beecroft’s work ends up in kanye west’s videos, and where marina abramović battles with jay z in a gallery (every one needs to eat i suppose, and bread alone wont do no more, they all need caviar) in this time all bets are off, unless you can decipher for yourself. all that said and regardless of why and how, daniel askill did create some amazing and haunting imagery that questions the best of us on what it is in these that works on such a deep level. i prefer to watch these without the audio and just take in the amazing choreographer ryan heffington’s play with space and askills beautiful cinematography. much credit also to the little girl and “dance moms” (what a strange thing) talented maddie ziegler… part taboo, part innocence, but all good. i’d take this over any beyonce video. by xy

CATEGORIES: clips, music

be afraid. be very afraid: chilly gonzales + jarvis cocker

coolest of cool, jarvis cocker for the 20th issue of of another man, what a great shot!

jarvis cocker chilly gonzales room 29

can’t wait to get this album in the mail… vinyl $23 CD is $14 you say you stream, and i say you suck. musicians get penny’s to the dollar on streaming not to mention your listening to crap quality unless you have title, and if you have that you are paying the boss (that would be shawn carter a.k.a. jay z) not the actual musicians…. maybe it’s me, but i hate paying monthly fees for things that could be otherwise mine. you say you get a million songs? i say who wants a million songs? if i can find 3 albums a year that i actually like that would be just f#@in amazing. full review to come but get it anyway. by dd+pp

CATEGORIES: music

Marbles and music : childhood memories made into catchy tunes

most of us played with marbles at least one afternoon growing up. maybe it’s just me but i never once thought of ways to create music or be more creative with my marbles than simply hitting other marbles. which makes you think, creative is a funny word… well, maybe not funny, but definitely something that has a different meaning to all of us. scavenging through the internet, you lose faith in innovative creativity more often than the contrary. however, last night this man blessed my mind with 4 minutes and some change of pure creative bliss.

“the good thing about sweden in winter is that the sun sets early – which gives you plenty of time to lock yourself in the garage and do whatever” – martin molin, marble machine creator

many questions inevitably pops in to mind watching this lone man’s musical journey driven by creativity and two thousand marbles… oh, and sun deprivation of course. by fk

CATEGORIES: clips, music

for all you kanye lovers (and haters)

after posting the previous “kenya” west post, one of our beloved collaborators and kanye believer, HK, sent me this clip above, and wrote a few words. so in our ongoing attempt to emulate “the pinnacle of pop culture journalism” (that would be fox news: fair and balanced of course!!) i’m posting this pro kanye vid and our correspondence below which you may find funny.

HK: “watch this. you can’t say this guy is not dope?”

DD: “dude i fail to find any substance here… for me at least… i have no doubt kanye wants to innovate and be a true artist in his own right, but sadly hes incapable of that… because hes naive and uninformed, he’s a simplistic child who’s concerns have not gone past chicks, sex, dick, rebellion and self fame, all of which he explores on the very surface… even after his fame and wealth he still remains a desperate and insecure child wanting to be accepted and praised. not only by the millions of fools he already has, but also by the cultural elite… i would give him an A for effort; vanessa beecroft i like, alejandro jodorowsky i like (even though i never took him seriously, with his fashionable multi culti film that became hot again 10 years ago, but sure nice aesthetic – but not a real players to me), david attenborough i like, he even had some sugimoto thrown in there at some point… all references i could appreciate, but it all comes down to “intent”. they are all accumulated and used on the surface (maybe kanye liked the colors? maybe he liked the naked hot babes? maybe he thought sharks are wicked and manly? maybe he heard this is “hot shit right now”?) he uses culture like a tag, a gucci encrusted shirt you wear to show off, never knowing why… all this is painfully transparent, and it quickly evaporates. as for the people involved, i’m sure they all need and appreciate kanyes fortunes. in a way i almost feel sad for him on some level… but then again i shouldn’t! because ignorance is indeed bliss and i’m sure kanye’s happy and on cloud nine at this very moment… he has his millions of fans, i think it’s ok for me not to be one of them. i mean lets be serious, this man looked around, and of all the passionate people involved in literature, arts, science, music, which he supposedly loves, he chose kim kardashian as his soulmate… as the one person to share his life and his “so advanced” thoughts? let’s not drink the coolaid (i just saw the docu on jim jones by the way)?

HK: ha ha, can’t defend the kim move other then shaped by his up bringing. only bad thing you are not seeing is how he is breaking crazy new ground for the hiphop genre, but also setting a new standard for pop music performance in general. i think probably also you are hating on him bringing all of this into the mainstream realm, you want to have your little elitist heros “only you” know about, and he made it big time so he can pick and choose and brings it to the forefront of pop culture. compare him to any rapper or other pop cultural figure, and take into account his upbringing as a low income kid from south side of chicago, murder capital of the world, where 99% of the people you see are dead, in jail or just mad fucked up and see what he chooses to do, and then you will have to respect him!

DD: love you HK you are such a sweety pie. you know pop culture bores me to death when it doesn’t drive me insane, but sure, u know i sympathize with my brothers, i’ll give kanye credit for not being dead, in jail, or mad fucked up. see i’m reasonable and quite flexible. xx by dd+hk

CATEGORIES: clips, music

tell me why, tell me why, tell me why, why can’t we live together…

timmy thomas 1973 single “why can’t we live together”.

not only a great track, one that sade also covered beautifully, it’s perhaps even more relevant today than ever. and the video is pretty awesome too, could have been done yesterday – lo-fi brooklyn style. also listen carefully and you’ll hear drake’s hotline bling source sample… maybe donald trump can hijack this song too for his next town hall debate? funky days at TS. by dd

CATEGORIES: clips, music

very cute: i put a spell on you cause i’m 10!

just 10 years old – and ripping it!! angelina jordan.

our dear friend, per heimly, in oslo-norway just shot this beautiful little video of 10 year old angelina jordan doing a cover of screamin’ jay hawkins’ “i put a spell on you”. now that would be a tough one to take on if you are a 200 pound black brother, but for a skinny little white girl to attempt screaming jay? now that’s damn courageous girl. well done, we love it! by hk