The moody smile.

In an event that few ever thought would happen, Kenny Dixon Jr better known as Moodymann participated in an 90 minute interview at the 2010 Red Bull Music Academy.  Interviewed by Benji B from Radio 1 and accompanied by a friend who styles his afro while he lays down his own well-known no-holds-barred perspective on music.

View here or at the RBMA site. (more…)

Photo lesson three.

Depth of Field: The area in front of and behind a focused subject in which the photographed image appears sharp.  Photo lesson 3 on March 1st went through some of the details on the ways to use DOF to enhance photos – either by ensuring all objects are clear, or focusing the clarity on one specific area while using the rest of the photo as atmosphere.
With that, I head into Ponsonby to play.

(more…)

The return of Hollie Smith.

It’s incredibly tragic what record labels have turned into these days.  Unable to keep up with the massive change in consumer habits for acquiring music via the internet, the last 15 years have turned multi-billion companies into hypersensitive budget-conscious messes where there appears to be no room for any shred of artist integrity.  Sell, and sell by the millions – or major labels don’t want you.

Hollie Smith’s “Long Player” seemed like a perfect fit for the legendary Blue Note offshoot Manhattan recordings.  It was a jazz-infused, bluesy piece of work marinated in Smith’s soulful and husky tones, but once again, it appears the mighty dollar and mass-appeal suits got in the way.  Read more details at Peter’s excellent Dub dot dash or a full interview here (NZ Herald).  Thanks to Bob Daktari for the link.

The video for Hollie’s new single, “Mamma”, can be viewed at MoFresh, and her sophomore album “Humour and the misfortune of others” is released on March 15, 2010.

Weekly Wrap.

The word “underrated” often comes to mind when discussing Doc Martin, who is highly respected by those in the know but also renowned for keeping a tight leash on his status inside the house community. Either way, he is undoubtedly an amazing DJ who has mastered the art of building a complimentary set. Jack The Box has a new interview + set download available now. ¶ Audio interview with one of the house legends, Larry Heard. Listen at Mister Saturday Night. ¶  Josh Wink shows a different side on his mix for Dance under the blue moon on Fritz radio (aired February 20, 2010), kicking it off with some slow and groove-heavy music which draws from multiple influences before peeling off layers to expose some innards of raw, stripped back electronic music with an edge.  Highly recommended. Download here.

Bricked.

Savage Arrow has created some excellent Lego interpretations of iconic album covers, including Grace Jones, De La Soul, Dizzee Rascal, Madness, Michael Jackson and Pet Shop Boys.  View them here.

The original Grace Jones cover for “Island Life” is an impressive piece of work by Jean Paul Goude who “photoshopped” before Photoshop even existed – stitching together several photos together to create the arabesque pose that you see below. (more…)

Peeled Banana’s.

The final two Josh Wink remix singles arrived today, which completes the collection of 6 limited edition (only 500 of each around the world) 12″s that accompany the When A Banana Was Just A Banana: Remixed and Peeled album.  Line the records up together and they create a piece of art celebrating Ovum’s 15 year anniversary (pictures below).

The vinyl set contains some of the remixes available on the CD version, as well as some other exclusives only available on these 12″s or the Digital download version. (more…)

Photo lesson two.

(more…)

It’s more fun to compute.

What started out as a potentially horrible day for cows ended up with Bob Daktari and myself purchasing some beautiful new slabs of Kraftwerk vinyl.  I added the remastered versions Tour De France and Computer World to my collection – each with full size booklets containing artwork for the albums.

The level of genius from these guys never fails to amaze me, no matter how many times I go back to listen to their work.  What many may view as rigid electronic music is actually a massively underrated influence on many of todays producers and artists from several genres.  They’ve been sampled by the likes of New Order, 2 Live Crew, Coldplay and even Milli Vanilli.

In 2000, sculptor Dirk Roessler decapitated four Ken dolls in order to create Kraftwerk dolls.  Photo set available for viewing here. (more…)