Drake is #1 in Iowa, Nickelback takes the spot in South Dakota, and the Wu-Tang Clan is the only thing anyone can think about in Connecticut apparently. I don’t really have any commentary besides really wanting to see a Drake show in Des Moines (via io9).
I have been waiting for this for literally a decade. In 2004, the Nintendo Breakz Volume One was released. A tight joint of cuts, mixed samples and hilariously on point remixed 8bit themes. Zelda, Mario, Metroid, whatever else you wanted, it was there. The mastermind behind this, Saskrotch, spiraled me into months of listening to breakcore, glitch, hip hop and some terrifying IDM. His mixes were the stuff of legend. And just in case you don’t believe me, check his new one out below. The combination of glitch, hip hop, chiptune, breakbeats and the occasional dollop of D&B/Jungle, will get you moving. Just don’t play it for anyone who wears J. Crew. They might freak out a bit.
I don’t have time to catch the real gems that come off Reddit and post them here before they hit the blogs & Facebook, but this is fantastic and seems to have slipped under the radar. Someone showed us all that their girlfriend’s cat parties harder and better than we ever will. Plus Marijuana by Chrome Sparks is a wonderful song. (via Reddit)
For Throwback Thursday, I’m going all the way back to the Fab Four, but with a significantly more modern & eccentric twist. The Zap, a collaborative group between Raja Ram & Prometheus, pushed the limits of the original track in a lot of ways here. They know what they’re doing however, so sit back, and enjoy the psychedelic chill ride that you’re about to go on. Also, the pictures dropped into the video by the YouTube artist are great for WTF moments.
That’s right ladies and gents, 150k+ for Calvin Harris, 150k+ for Bassnectar, 250k+ for deadmau5, 100k for Kaskade and if you have a mental illness and money to burn, you can drop a quarter million dollars to order up a fresh heaping pile of LMFAO. Priceonomics got some info from Degy Entertainment, and apparently, heads are still expensive. More importantly, I want to point out that there are very few electronic artists in the top category. Let this be a reminder to anyone who thinks EDM is killing Pop. Pop thinks you’re cute.
As I’ve mentioned before, Japan does not like you moving your body rhythmically. Apparently, that might be changing though, as a sub-committee has agreed those laws may need to be relaxed. Some people who have posted this story over the last week have pointed to the upcoming World Cup games in Tokyo, and the need to modernize and attract more tourists. As the world definitely likes to dance, especially on holiday, they may need to change. While this re-categorization of dance music nightspots could do wonders for the Japanese music/DJ scene, this is only a recommendation, which still needs to be presented and accepted by the government. Fingers crossed my Nippon-based brothers. (article via FACT, image via VICE)
It seems that the “all ages” moniker really is leading to more kids doing stupid shit. After Avicii’s hospitalization back in March, I was terribly concerned I wouldn’t get to see Avicii evolve as an artist. He’s back on his feet, but apparently it seems the kids at a recent show in Canada are the ones who needed medical attention. 29 needed medical attention, many before the event even began. This news story illustrates two issues that I’m sure not a lot of producers and promoters consider when creating events. First, they didn’t have additional EMS on standby for a 20,000 person party. To kick the ballistics on that, that meant the event was calibrated to handle .0145% of its attendees needing help, with no one on standby. I mean, I don’t know who their actuaries are, but that seems an under spend that was made as a quick decision.
Combining country and any genre of music is difficult, but I think this bootleg done by De Hofnar of The Common Linnets has done it. The addition of the smooth bass to the rifts and smooth vocals of The Linnets totally works. It’s super rare to see, but the beat never overpowers the vocals and it remains a very solidly country tune. I’d love to hear a whole set of country grooves like this. Now that would be an opener for Kygo like woah. Summer, big sky vibes.
(This is a repost of the Footwork tribute the amazing folks at EDMTunes let met write up for DJ Rashad. Give them some love so they let me keep rambling incoherently into their sizable megaphone.)
A little over a week ago, one of my favorite artists died on the South side of Chicago. DJ Rashad was one of the most innovating producers in a genre of music you may not be familiar with. Here’s one of my favorite tracks by him, one that FACT Mag labeled as the #2 track of 2013, right behind Get Lucky. And you’ve probably never heard of it.
I had no idea. I vaguely recalled Tinactin being used in rhymes back when I was in High School, but this is intense. Questionable Lyrics, a segment on Werner von Wallenrod’s ill Hip Hop blog, compiled all of the lyrical utilizations of Tinactin over the course of two decades. The mind reels. Rappers have been using a brand name Jock Itch cure for rhyming purposes for most of my life. And some of these are kind of amazing. Some choice ones are listed below and get at the link here for the full list. Infinite props need to be given for the hours of listening and searching for the word Tinactin.
“Smackin’ those actin’ tough as Tinactin.” ~Mr. Black, 1995
“Fast actin’ like Tinactin, mo’ deeper than the Kraken.” ~The Lady of Rage, 1997
“I’ma tap in harder than Tinactin.” ~Raekwon (!!!!) 2007
“I’m on my feet like Tough Actin’ Tinactin.” ~Lil Wayne, 2009
“Me and my dogs go hard, and you just tough actin’ Tinactinin’ T-Pain, 2012
Raekwon, how could you?
Terry Gotham 