Rap Up

For those who haven’t seen this one yet. Here is Mad Skillz take on 2007 in rhythm and rhyme. Some really funny lines and astute observations. I could never get behind his line defending Mike Vick (!) but its dig at war crimes in Iraq is still appreciated. On the whole, this track has a sense of self-reflexive humor that hip-hop (and the world) could use a lot more of.

Happy New Year Ya’ll

 

Open remix projects - sound and visuals for you to mess with!

Kid Kameleon and I recently helped organized an opening event for the Berkeley Art musum, at the request of the curator of the museum’s digital art collection. Featuring BOston’s own Zebbler, Oakland’s Improbable Orchestra, alongside our djing, audience participation through dancing, viewing, talking, and playing with the orchestra.. the event was participatory, copyright-challenging, undoubtedly of value to society, and hella fun. Just what I want museums and public institutions to be supporting! The exhibition is actually a remix project as well - the curator of the digital art collection is a true visionary and wants to make the entire collection open for remix to other artists and also to members of the public, online. The show was the kickoff of the first collection and featured several works by artists remixing other artists in the museum collection!

But for resources and fun for you, what you need to know is that the “make your own remix” project is up at the museum websit how cool is that (especially for a museum?)

The other interesting remix project comes from the crew in belgium: It’s the N(OO_O)RD Remix project. This is great! As part of research into noise pollution conducted for a particular area in Brussels, the foton crew made a lot of field recordings of sounds all over that region. They are now using them as source material for remixes and and inviting other people to do the same. Check out their site which has some remixes available and also the source material. Threw an amazing party I played at in 2004 in Brussels, and are a great collective of multimedia artist activists).


Baile Funk

Before discussing Baile Funk (among other musical styles) with my class at Mass Art a few weeks back, I rediscovered this awesome documentary. I think its pretty old, the sound is crappy as is the image quality but it is really well done and informative and worth checking out.

If anyone knows where I can get my hands on a hard copy please get in touch.