I just want a ticket outta town.

“Window Seat” is the first single from Erykah Badu’s upcoming album “New Amerykah Part 2: Return Of The Ankh”. Produced by Erykah with James Poyser, it’s the closest thing to her 13-year old debut album “Baduizm” – a laid back, summer groove with Questlove on drums, ThunderCat on bass and Poyser on keys.

The new album is due for release on March 30, 2010 and is the second in a 3-part project. Details are slowly being released by Erykah at 3:33 am/pm via her Twitter account – where she released a link to download “Window Seat” on February 6.  Lyrics to the song available here.

Their eyes changed as they learned to see through flames.

It’s been well over a decade since I loved any new Massive Attack material.  It only took one album, “100th Window”, for me (and many others) to see exactly what Mushroom’s input into their previous work was.  The quiet, often in-the-background guy who (as far as I know) never had any vocal appearances – but it appeared that he was the one who had the raw, subtle and often unnoticed elements that filled out the soundscapes.  Massive Attack walls always had cracks in them; Mushroom was the one picked away at the edges and gave them the unpolished character.

Let’s step back though, as this already sounds like I’m not giving Robert “3D” Del-Naja and Daddy G enough credit.  Yes, there were cracks in the walls and well-known conflicts between the three, but in the end this was ultimately a contribution to their sound.  We’re not talking about shiny bubblegum chart shit here… it’s Massive Attack: a sound system consisting of a mash-up of influences and ideas.

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Adidas Grun.

Adidas Originals has gone all eco on us and presents the Grün collection that aims to better the environment by efficiently utilizing the natural resources of this world. With three guiding elements of “Made From”, “Recycled” and “Reground”, adidas Grün offers a range of products, including classic silhouettes like the Forum basketball sneaker and the ZX 500 runner, all made from recycled and natural materials.

See more at the Adidas site or Sneaker Freaker.

Sydney.

With little more than four hours sleep, the alarm goes off at 3am and I’m awake and ready to go. Airport check in completed by 5am, then meet up with Mel, Mark and Darryl.  I’m not sure the severity of the early flight has really hit any of us at this point; but just two hours later (following some duty free shopping, quick breakfast and a hike to some random boarding gate), the plane is rolling along the runway and ready for take off.  This is when it suddenly seems to hit us all.

The flight is uneventful and quiet as we all zone out into our little worlds with music, quick naps, reading and aimlessly staring out the window.  Just over 3 hours later we’ve landed in Sydney, and the local time is 1 hour after we took off.  Tired.

A small moment of panic when a 5 minute gap between almost all luggage has been collected, with the exception of mine and two other worried customers, but the bags suddenly appear and we’re off to catch the train.  Sydney has excellent public transport from the airport (even though the train prices seem to go up every single time I visit).  We drop off luggage to the Meriton apartment, but check in isn’t allowed for another 3 hours.  My body/NZ clock says it’s 12.30pm but it’s only 10.30am, so we grab Breakfast number two at QVR by the town hall.  Still tired.

Post-Christmas sales are on, so we take a look through several stores to see what’s around. The Adidas has some interesting shoes this time round (they were all quite plain last visit), including some random hi-tops with 3 tongues. AU$350.  A pair of  shelltoes/superstars catch my eye which I might have to return to collect later.

Successfully killing time through the Apple Store, Red Eye records and a few others, we finally make it to the apartment and check in.  It’s only 2pm but feels much, much later.  A few good nights rest are in order, before the big Summanights event on New Years.  It’s gonna be a long night, but worth the wait to hear Josh Wink play again….

Ice Vinyl.

Sound recordings from three glaciers in Iceland, pressed into three records, cast, and frozen with the meltwater from each of these glaciers, and played on three turntables until they completely melt.

The records were played once and now exist as three dvds. The turntables begin playing together, and for the first ten minutes as the needles trace their way around, the sounds from each glacier merge in and out with the sounds the ice itself creates. The needle catches on the last loop, and the records play for nearly two hours, until completely melted.

Click.