Remember that rad video that OK Go did on the treadmills? Well the band has a new video that’s equally as rad. The band’s latest video is for “End Love” off their 2010 release Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. I hooked up with OK Go drummer Dan Konopka to find out more about this epic video. Read what he had to say below. And while your at it, download the video for free HERE.

Hey man! How’s it going?

Very well my friend. Enjoying a little bit of time off at home.

Ok. So let’s just get right to it. This video is bananas! Who’s idea was it? Who directed it?

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After director Tamra Davis befriended Jean-Michel Basquiat in the 80′s she joined an elite group of people who got the chance to film the artist.

After his death, Davis put her reels of film away and left them hidden for 20 years.

Now in association with Arthouse Films, Davis’ footage has become a feature-length documentary entitled Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child.

Watch the trailer and get show dates below.

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More music and a video from Sebastian Grainger and Josh Reichmann’s Bad Tits.

Well it’s about fucking time.

If you are a fan of Autolux it probably seems like it’s been… oh, 6 years since their
last release… that’s because it was.

It’s official now.
The new Autolux LP Transit Transit is slated to release on August 3rd on tdb.
I know this because I got an email with only this jpeg attached.

You can sign up for their sometimes mysterious messages at autolux.net or just check in on their myspace page.

Here’s the first single off Transit Transit: “Audience No. 2″

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I tracked down a few Autolux b-sides which you can download HERE.
And if you don’t have Demonstration, Autolux’s sold out first EP,
you can download HERE.

And just for fun, here’s the video for “Turnstile Blues” from Nigel Godrich’s From the Basement.

Tonight in Los Angeles!

THIS presents a night of short films from Six Stair including Blood Shed.
Friday, April 23rd from 8-10pm

You don’t have to B.Y.O.B but you should B.Y.O.C (bring your own chair).

More Six Stair shorts HERE.

There isn’t much information available on CEO but the brief video entitled “Prologue” seems to feature Tough Alliance‘s Erik Berglund. Whether it’s a snippet from a song of the same name or a “commercial” for what or whoever CEO are is unclear. The video was posted by Modular People, so perhaps they’ll break the silence eventually. Keep it coming mystery dude(s), I’m diggin’ it.

Children Of Clay is a skateboard themed film shot on super 8 and created by artist and photographer Jon Bocksel. The results were edited from hours of footage during skate sessions in New York City, Philly, San Fransisco and Chicago. It’s a 10 minute short film, limited to 50 copies on DVD format and comes packaged with a hand silk screened cover. Summertime inspiration. Perfect. Get one before they’re gone.

Lullabye Arkestra are vets of the Rock n Roll game. They live, breathe, eat and fuck Rock n Roll. The Toronto husband and wife duo, Justin Small (also of Do Make Say Think) and Katia Taylor manifested their soul/metal beast almost a decade ago. Since it’s inception, it grew from a duo of drum kit and bass guitar to a full on sprawling Arkestra that included trumpets and a drunken choir. They have since come full circle recording and performing once again, as a duo in love. Their latest adventure in sonic attack, Threats/Worship, comes to you via Vice. Stream their track “Demon Eater” and read some of Justin’s favorite things, below. View their “Icy Hands” video at the bottom of this post.

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For those of us who grew up with hip-hop it isn’t hard to see (hear) that the genre has… well… changed. And not for the better.
But then someone comes along every once in a while that reminds me why I love hip-hop and how good it can actually be.

I give you the most recent someones: Das Racist.

I recently interviewed Aakash Nihalani who did the album art for the Das Racist mixtape, Shut Up, Dude and actually turned me on to the group.
The Brooklyn, NY hip-hop trio consists of MC’s Victor Vasquez and Himanshu Suri and their hype man Dap aka Ashok Kondabolu. I downloaded the mixtape for free from their myspace page and was instantly blown away by the first track “Who’s That? Brooown!” which samples A Tribe Called Quest’s classic “Scenario” and showcases DR’s laid back, lazy flow on top of a droning 808 beat. As I continued to listen, it became evident that Das Racist was able to generate humor with songs like “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell” and “Fake Patois” where they rhyme about fake patois in a fake jamaican patois no less. They drop some serious word association rhymes on “Nutmeg” and show their skills on my personal favorites “Shorty Said” and “You Oughta Know” which samples Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)“.

Some have lacked the playfulness to appreciate songs like “Combination” – like The New Yorker for instance – but I don’t think this is going to slow these guys down.
After listening to Das Racist for three days in a row it was obvious to me that I had to track them down and find out more about these guys.

Peep the interview below and check out some mp3s and the video for “Shorty Said”.
Download Shut Up, Dude right HERE. right HERE. right HERE.

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J Dilla had an epic career in the short time that he was with us. Stussy has put together a three part documentary about the Stones Throw artist. Learn a bit and/or reminisce about the creator of some of the illest tracks ever made.
Check all 3 videos below.

The J Dilla Serato release, Donut Shop will be released May 10th but you should probably pre-order your copy from Stones Throw HERE… right now.

Donut Shop is:
*2 discs with six J Dilla tracks
*2 sides with Serato Control Tone (for use with Serato Scratch Live DJ software)
*2 donut slipmats in a package designed by Studio No.1.

Check out “Safety Dance” from Donut Shop.

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Mica Levi is one third of the London England trio, Micachu And The Shapes. I first heard of Micachu when my friend Tim was sporting a Lips shirt while gushing about a show of theirs he attended. With the help of her pal Liz, I tracked down Mica and asked her a few questions. You’ll find a few streaming tunes, at the bottom of this post.

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Last Year’s Disco Guitars is the first single from the duo known as Bishop Morocco. It’s video is directed by the lovely Eva Michon, editor of Bad Day Magazine. Download the single and Graham Walsh of Holy Fuck remix here.  Bishop Morcco’s self titled debut will be released via Hand Drawn Dracula on June 1st.

Joe Matt wears his heart on his pen. Since 1987, the cartoonist’s trials and tribulations pertaining to friends, roommates, his cat, his relationships with women, his porn habit and the human race, have all been found in his serialized autobiographical comic book, Peep Show. Joe was kind enough to answer some of my questions recently, via email. The results are below.

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Lee Ranaldo makes a lot of noise. When he’s making it with Thurston Moore and company, they’re called Sonic Youth. When he’s making it with Tony Buck, they’re called Glacial.  When he’s making it with Alan Licht, William Hooker, DJ Olive and company, they’re called Text Of Light. Text Of Light bring their sonic splendor to the Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles on March 10th.  Sample and purchase Text Of Light audio here.  The footage below was taken from a show performed at the Latvian House in Toronto in 2007.

Another Coppola has decided to stimulate our visual enjoyment. Photographer Gia Coppola, granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola and niece to Sofia Coppola, co-directed beside Tracy Antonopoulos, the short film,  Non Plus One. The short stars Gia’s cousin Jason Schwartzman and Kirsten Dunst and was created to celebrate the launch of fashion label Opening Ceremony’s spring 2010 line. The film is scored by Schwartzman as Coconut Records, providing the song Is This Sound Okay? from the album Davy. No need to adjust your audio, the first minute of the film is intentionally silent.

So, I just found out about the South African group Die Antwoord (which means “The Answer” in Afrikaans). The group consists of Ninja, Yo-Landi Vi$$er and DJ Hi-Tek. Apparently there’s debate about the authenticity of the band on various music blogs.

At first, I didn’t understand what the fuss was about and why they were being hailed as the new hot shit, while simultaneously being called fake. I thought they looked like hipsters who just happend to be from South Africa – and I think that’s exactly what they are. I think the argument for them being fake is that they are not really “Zef” which in Afrikaans equates to being a redneck. Personally, I don’t really care if they are fake or not. I wouldn’t know what the fuck a South African redneck looked like or sounded like anyway. Plus, I’m sure anyone living in Silverlake or Brooklyn can find hipsters that look just like these three. So who’s real and who’s fake now?
Enjoy.

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Die Antwoord’s full length $O$ is set to drop sometime in 2010.

12 February 2010
5906 N Figueroa St. LA / CA 90042
7p – 10p

www.thislosangeles.com/blog/

http://www.vimeo.com/9368660

Message from THIS:
“So here we are, our first opening.
When came up with the idea to do THIS we had no idea how many people would get behind us and be excited about what we are trying to do. It’s been a really amazing experience already, and we haven’t even opened our doors yet.
Tomorrow night, Friday February 12th, is our inaugural event. A group show of our closest friends. We did this whole thing to showcase
our friends, the ones we already know and the ones we are going to meet.
Thats what THIS is all about.
In addition to our opening show Friday night, we will be opening our doors for the NELA art walk happening on Saturday, go to http://www.nelaart.com/ for more info.
We’ll also be having a little BBQ get together for the families and kids on Sunday the 14th from 12-3PM so all of our kids can meet and get to know each other.”

At The Company of People Group Exhibition over at Space 15Twenty, I was surprised to find out that Drawlings aka Abby Portner was performing (see the full show HERE) since this wasn’t listed on the invite.

I’ve talked to Abby a bit since then because I wanted to find out what’s going on with her musically & artistically. I was curious to find out if she was going to be releasing anything this year under her moniker Drawlings.

“I am going to record in the spring I think. My brother (Dave Portner aka Avey Tare of Animal Collective) is recording my record and it will come out on Paw Tracks but I’m not sure when. Late summer or fall maybe?
I have to wait until Dave has time to record me since he wants to do it. His life is finally mellowing out, so it should be soon.”

Abby’s been busy in the meantime with her art. “I’m working on some new decks for Alien Workshop and just finished getting a bunch of drawings and photos together for this art show curated by Peter Sutherland. It is a benefit show that will stay online to raise money for Fresh Air which is a foundation that raises money for city kids in NY to go to summer camps.”

Abby also just completed a store front art piece for South Willard here in Los Angeles during her recent visit. “The way of life is really mellow out in LA. I live in NY but grew up in Baltimore. I really liked being able to go on hikes and go the beach while I was working on something intensely. I feel much healthier. It’s also just nice to be around different people and see what people are working on. The way people make things and what they make is totally different than NY.”

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Ghostly International is giving away Syntaks’ Mistral Moon EP for free!
Download HERE.

It’s a great way to sample the Danish duo’s ambient pop sound.
If you are digging it, check out the full length, Ylajali also available on Ghostly HERE.

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The video for “Blue Sunshine” by Syntaks.

Spike Jonze has a new 30 minute short entitled I’m Here that will debut some time in March. The film is a love story about the relationship between two robots living in L.A.

Find out more about the film HERE.

Leanne Shapton and  Jason Fulford founded the not for profit New York / Atlanta based book company in 2000 and their catalogue keeps growing. I once had the honor of being published in one of their books. They’re adding a few new titles come Spring 2010. Check out everything else J and L here. Below is a video of Leanne discussing one of her books.

One day I’ll get my shit together and go to Sundance. This year would have a good one because I could have seen ODDSAC, the “visual album” by Danny Perez and Animal Collective and Exit Through The Gift Shop by famed street artist Banksy.

There will be screenings of ODDSAC coming up in other cities, but as of right now there are only one each in New York and Chicago. Let’s cross our fingers that they make it Los Angeles.

More info HERE.

Here’s the trailer.

And Banksy premiered his film Exit Through The Gift Shop at Sundance 2010 as well. I don’t know much about this film but here’s some cell phone pics of Banksy’s work in Park City, UT courtesy of DM via Holly Palmer.

And here’s a trailer at banksyfilm.com.

The Story of Anvil is a documentary about the Toronto metal band that you’ve probably never heard of. They were around in the 80′s and well … they’re still around today. These guys are the epitome of persistence.

Buy an autographed copy of the DVD HERE.
Visit the official Anvil website HERE.

Davida is an awesome photographer with great ideas and an amazing mind. She’s an old Toronto friend of mine. We used to exchange our thoughts of everything via phone call, daily.  Our busy lives caused us to lose touch. I’ve been told she’s spending time in LA these days. I should really reach out to her. She fucking rules.

Check out her site HERE.

If you are in LA, check out the group show that Davida is in. click HERE for more info.

u dont no what pain is is a split screen video piece featuring Silence of The Lambs and Screwed. It was on display in the bathroom at Whitney’s Bi, August 2009

What a great way to start off 2010 with a new Beach House record! Teen Dream is out now via Sub Pop.

Here’s the video for “Silver Soul”.

Bitch, you breakfast.

Ou et la hos?

Here’s a bad ass video edit brought to you by RUN DMT.