THESCRAPBOOK

Breaksblog looks like an awesome resource for free Drum’n'Bass, but most particularly it’s an opportunity for me to relive my youth.

The first club I ever went to was Blue Note for the Sunday night MetalHeadz sessions. I used to rock a suit and glasses to make myself look older than the 16 years that I was - anything to get in at the end of the day, but I fully looked ridiculous.

I do however remember the visuals above, and was delighted to access the Doc Scott mix from 1997 that Breaksblog have for us (and maybe more to come from MetalHeadz themselves!)

Download the set via the link below.

Doc Scott feat. MC Justyce @ Blue Note - 20/01/1997

What went wrong with Drum’n'Bass though? “Too much focus on getting the loudest pressing, most tearing midrange and a mis-educated crowd that will only respond to obvious rave signals are the main issues in my opinion” say Breaksblog.

More classic mixes linked below:

Fabio feat. Mc Bassman & Mc Conrad @ Amazon vs. Kool FM 1995

LTJ Bukem feat. MC Conrad @ Crime Club 1995 - Side A
LTJ Bukem feat. MC Conrad @ Crime Club 1995 - Side B

Kemistry & Storm feat. MC Flux @ One In The Jungle 1996

Grooverider alongside Cleveland Watkiss @ HR3 Clubnight 22/08/1997

Wow. This is exactly how NOT to do it. Garnier has taken the embarrassment stakes in advertising to a whole new level. Memphis Bleek, by the way, has taken hip hop to an even more disgusting level. In contrast to the more subtle moves that Chris Brown and Wrigley’s made, this new “music video” (sorry, but it’s an advert through and through) for Garnier Fructis has really riled me.

I thought that the worst thing was in fact that it was getting so many plaudits from the YouTube community… what’s even worse is that now I’m actually suspicious of them; they’re probably planted comments:

“ahh, id put this on my ipod, and upload the video–this video is freakn amazing! [sic]”

“Awesome!!!! 5 stars! This is the most creative ad I’ve ever seen. The song is something I’d buy for my iPod. Te video is great. I want some Garnier. [sic]“

I think the agency involved should be shot. I wonder if it was Translation Advertising… Memphis Bleek is on Rock-A-Fella after all. How funny if that were the case…

As ThreeBillion says, “Fructis? Fructdat.”

Thanks Ruby.

Here’s some much better music and marketing - N.E.R.D, Julian Casablancas and Santogold.

Slow posting this one!
My good friend Amar pointed ‘Made in Queens’ out to me yonks ago and it looks most excellent! The picture above says it all really - NY kids strapping speakers to BMXs - ingenious.

Read more over at the daily read - Creative Review blog.

So go go good!!!

More Grace Jones knowledge here

I’ve just discovered the Black Cab Sessions, by Hidden Fruit. Lovely idea of musicians, stripped down to just them in the back of a random cab, providing their own original and intimate soundtrack to the bustle of London life. Above is Phosphorescent, but check the Black Cab Sessions site for more sessions, including Lightspeed Champion, My Morning Jacket, Seasick Steve, The Kooks, Vincent Vincent, Noah and the Whale, and many more.

I dismissed Gnarls Barkley for a while as it got a bit of the Moby treatment - played out all day, every day thereby destroying any objective opinion forming, replaced instead with gut-reaction hatred… but revisiting the albums and listening to any new material really makes me realise their genius modern Motown soul sound. Plus their live shows, outfits, and videos are all pretty special. This one, “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” is directed by Chris Milk.

More video and song genius here.

Don’t know about the rest of you but, when I was 14, I was trying to perfect a 180 heel-flip whilst slowly beginning to realise that there was this whole bunch of people that I had not really noticed before but, who were now omnipotent and strangely appealing…yep: - girls. What I was NOT doing was sneaking into John Lennon’s hotel room to meet my hero and get his view on a few things.

This is an amazing illustrated video of that interview that Jerry Levitan has been sitting on for the best part of 40 years!! The film’s pen illustration is by James Braithwaite .

kraftwerk video

“Yo I got mad love for you shorty. I wanna listen to Boyz II Men with you.”

The Wackness is hitting cinemas shortly. Check the trailer out - 94 beats, dope selling from an ice cream cart, and Ben Kingsley as a stoner psychiatrist. Word.

Now, the real reason for this post is the mixtape (yep) that was made for the premier of the show.

THE A SIDE
1. The Notorious B.I.G. “Party And Bullshit”
2. Boogie Down Productions “Duck Down”
3. Brand Nubian “Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down”
4. GZA & Method Man “Shadowboxin’”
5. Gangstarr “Take It Personal”
6. Diamond D “Fuck What U Heard”
7. Intro “Love Thang”
8. Mobb Deep “Give Up The Goods”
9. Redman “Can’t Wait”
10. Faith Evans “You Used Love Me (Remix)
11. UMCs “One To Grow On”
12. Eric B. & Rakim “Know The Ledge”
13. Ultramagnetic MCs “Raise It Up”
14. Keith Murray “The Most Beautifulest Thing In This World”
15. Mary J. Blige & Smif-N-Wessun “I Love You (Remix)”
16. Group Home “Suspended In Time (Remix)”

THE B SIDE
1. Onyx “Throw Your Gunz In The Air”
2. Black Moon “I Gotcha Open (Remix)”
3. Ol Dirty Bastard “Brooklyn Zoo (Remix)”
4. EPMD “Headbanger”
5. Das EFX “They Want EFX (Remix”
6. Nas “Represent”
7. Total & Keith Murray “Can’t You See (Remix)”
8. Main Source “Fakin’ The Funk”
9. Fu Schnickens “La Schmoove”
10. Nice & Smooth “Old To The New”
11. Wu-Tang Clan “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nothin’ To F’ Wit”
12. Chef Raekwon “Glaciers Of Ice”
13. A Tribe Called Quest “Electric Relaxation”
14. Method Man “Bring The Pain (Remix)”
15. Pete Rock & CL Smooth “Good Life”
16. Jeru The Damaja “D. Original”
17. Lords Of The Underground “Chief Rocka (Remix)”
18. Jodecei & Raekwon and Ghostface Killah “Freekin’ U (Remix)”
19. Run DMC, Pete Rock & CL Smooth “Down With The King”

DOWNLOAD // The Wackness Movie Soundtrack - Side A

DOWNLOAD // The Wackness Movie Soundtrack - Side B

In Radiohead’s new video for “House of Cards”, no cameras or lights were used. Instead, 3D plotting technologies collected information about the shapes and relative distances of objects. The video was created entirely with visualizations of that data.