Random and Funny: B-boys, iPhone Fridge, Controllerism, and Cats with Thumbs...

   Hey everyone! The weeks almost out, but they're always time left to show you some of the wondrous things I've stumbled across in my travels of youtube...
   First up today is footage from the 2010 Red Bull BC One World Championship breakdancing finals in Tokyo, Japan. Just  Do It from Holland and Neguin from Brazil battle it out in a final fitting only of a world championship.

   Completely amazing! B-boys these days are on a completely different level...still makes me wanna dance though. Sick soundtrack too!

   Next up we have possible one of the best uses for an old mini-fridge and an iPhone. Just picture this...you just got back from competing in the Red Bull BC One, and you are dead to the world tired...and man could you really use a beer. Problem is, you're so tired, you can't even get up to get to your fridge. Well with this fridge & app...you don't need to. Check it out...

   Way too cool! If only good beer came in a can...but then I guess it wouldn't be good beer.

   Next is a guy I came across a few days ago named Moldover. He has a very unique new genre of performance electronic music he calls controllerism. I'll let him show you/explain more...

   Since this video came out (a little over 3 years ago) he's moved on to bigger and better projects such as his new custom controller the mojo and his standalone remixing art piece the octomasher. Coincidentally, he's going to be in Boston at Wonderbar in Alston for Tuesday night's Music Ecology. I'm going!...you coming?

   Lastly...cats with thumbs. Don't know what I could possibly say to set this one up...

   I don't know what it is about this commercial that made me laugh as hard as I did....but I did. It's probably the "West Side Story" gang of cats in the alley...

   Well I hope you enjoyed. I'm going to go back writing...and dancing (gotta get ready for the 2011 BC One) See you all tomorrow for something fun...maybe an artist spotlight...maybe something else. Haven't quite decided. Tell then...Peace.

Some New Additions to the Sophmore & Cadet Collection...

   Happy hump day everyone! I hope the week has been good to you.

   I'm not going to write much today, cause I'm having a bit of writing overload with all the work I've been putting in on this crazy article. But I did want to take a short break from that to post a few new mash-ups I threw together in the last few days. 

(Jay's Girl Circle)

(Screwed Up Sequence)

   I hope you enjoyed the new stuff. If you happen to miss the other new track I posted on Monday, or any of the other mash-ups or original beats, you can always go to the Space Cadet youtube channel...Here (<---click there)

   Till tomorrow people. Peace.

Back to the Task at Hand...

   Hey everybody! Welcome back to regularly scheduled programing after two glorious weeks off! I was hoping to come back and say, "It such a beautiful day outside, spring is finally here...I feel super accomplished, I got X,Y,& Z done..." But it isn't...and I didn't... but oh well, I still had an amazing time during the past few weeks.
   I did get a really big chunk of this article down on paper, and I'd say I'm only a few more writing sessions, a couple of proof reads, and some contextual editing away from finishing. As I had said a week ago, I'm going to try not to stress about it, but it should be done in the very near future.
   So I thought I would take today out to do a bit of a grab bag...an assortment of what I usually do in a week here at SCM.
   First up are a couple of the tracks I've been jamming out to in the past two weeks:

(Pest - I Heard Yer Bird Moved In)

(Radiohead - Bloom)

(Fred V - Paradise)

(Chase & Status - Hocus Pocus)

(Rihanna feat. Drake - What's My Name [Blackmill remix])

   Then there's something a bit funny...

&

   A new mash-up...

(50 Daisies)

   And an artist to spotlight...Andreya Triana, is the amazing vocalist who was on last years 'Black Sands' by Bonobo. Her debut album 'Lost Where I Belong' was released in late August of last year on Ninja Tune Records, and was produced by Mr. Simon Green a.k.a. Bonobo. I am a huge fan of this smooth, sexy, soulful singer, and just about every track on the album. Definitely worth looking into. Check her out...

Be sure to check Ms. Triana out on all of her social media outlets:

Here - Website

Here - Ninja Tunes

Here - Facebook

Here - Myspace

Here - Twitter

  Ahhh...I feel so much better now! Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have more writing to do. So I'll catch you all back here tomorrow, with something fun I'm sure...maybe a new mix. Have as good a Monday as is humanly possible. Peace.

Another Week of Silence...continue.

   So it's been a week...and I've made strides forward, but no finished product (in hind sight, I shouldn't have given myself a deadline...) What I have done, is write about two pages of outline/topics, talk to just about every musically influential person I know, started the actual writing, and realized that this project is way bigger, and way more important to me than I originally thought. I'm still not telling you what it's about (a few of you know), but I will tell you it spans genres, walks of life, and space & time itself.
   I'll keep you posted, but I'm shooting for next Monday as the release...maybe just of part one (cause this might be huge...) & maybe before...maybe after. I'm not going to kill myself to get this done, cause I want it to just flow out. But whether it's done or not next Monday, I'll be resuming regularly scheduled programing, with mixes, and mash-ups, and videos, and spotlights, and tons of other fun stuff.
   Hope you all have an awesome week! Peace.

Week of Silence...go.

   Right now, at just after 12 midnight eastern standard, marks the start of a week of silence in preparation for my biggest post to date. I'm not going to mention the topic, but it's something that I'm sure people will be highly divided on, for it touches almost everyone, and is something that's almost always on my mind to some degree. This will also be the first post of my'n where I'll be having guest writers weigh in with their thoughts.
   I'm sure this post will catch a decent amount of flak, but at the same time I hope that it sparks some serious discussion on the subject, To help open the channel of communication for this post, I've found (with the help of jr) how to change the settings on the blog so that anyone can post comments. I'm both looking forward to, and dreading this post...but it needs to be done.

Silence starts now...

Artist Spotlight: Pretty Lights

   Happy Friday all! I hope you're excited about this weekend, it's shaping up to be a good one! But being that it's Friday, I have some business to attend to first...and all new Artist Spotlight! This week I'll be featuring Derek Vincent Smith, better know as Pretty Lights.

   Pretty Lights started producing hip-hop beats back in his high school days in Colorado. Once introduced to the rave seen by artists such as Aphrodite, he began producing his signature glitchy funk/soul infused hip-hop electronica. After a brief stint at University of Colorado he decided  to focus on his music, and with drummer Cory Eberhard, they began touring as Pretty Lights in mid 2009.

   As an example of his type of sound, check out his track Finally Moving...

  Smith's sample based, organic sounding grooves make his tracks very easy to connect with for anyone with a good musical sense. He accomplishes this with the use of a monome, and an Akai MPD32 midi controller. He uses these to control his music production software, Ableton 8 Live.

   Pretty Lights has received a big following and huge acclaim at many of North America's biggest music festivals over the past few years, including:  Bonnaroo Music Festival (TN), Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (CA), Rothbury Festival (MI), Evolve Festival (NS, Canada), Nocturnal Festival (TX), Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival (CA), and the Ultra Music Festival (FL) to name a few.

   Here are a few more of my favorites

   One truly, amazingly awesome thing about Pretty Lights, is that he has all of his music available for download on his website, for...get this...FREE! All 82 tracks! %100 for free! Now that's not to say he doesn't except donation, cause he totally does, but more than anything, he just wants his music to be heard. So go check the downloads section of PrettyLightsMusic.com right here (<---right there) and go feed your iTunes some great music...everyone will be happy!

   He's on tour all over the US and mexico as we speak, and you can check out all the tour dates right here (<--- over there) I've heard that his live shows are something not too be missed, so if he's in town, check him out! And don't forget to check him out on all of his social media outlets.

Here <--- Pretty Lights Music Homepage

Here <--- YouTube channel

Here <--- Facebook page

Here <--- Twitter page

Here <--- Myspace page

   I hope you've enjoyed this weeks Artist Spotlight. I'll catch you all on Monday, Have a safe and happy weekend! Peace.

Random and Funny: Tablists & Dub Skankers

   Happy Thursday everybody! I hope this finds you having got through the middle of the week intact, and in good spirits.
   I was on the plus side of M.I.A. yesterday (being unavailable, not on the plus side of the singer M.I.A...that would have been awesome!) Just kinda out of it, busy doing some new mash-up, trying to write for the band, and not enough hours in the day to do the next "Music to Your Ears".
   But a few things I did have time for, was finding you some amazingly awesome videos to watch. Lets go!

  The first three videos I have for you today, are featuring 4 incredible DJs. This first one is a quick 3 minute video of DJ Sara and DJ Ryusei. Now, they're not mind altering amazing, but give them a break...she's only 9 and he's only 6!!! Check it...

Wow! To be honest, I feel a little weird trying to get technique from watching 9 & 6 year old Japanese DJs. Too Cool though.

   Keeping with the Japanese DJ theme, he's one of the best sets ever spun...ever! by the legendary DJ Kentaro.

This was the DMC DJ World Championship winning set from 2002, performed as an encore at a live show in Japan in '08. So damn sick!

   Speaking of DMC world winning DJs, here's last years winner DJ Rafik, playing with the Traktor Scratch Pro set up, and my next toy, the Traktor X1 controller...check it

I'd never heard of him before I found this video, but he's nasty...and so is that damn controller! Ya, that slim lookin' thing next to the right turntable that he was crankin' on...that'll be my'n (hopefully) soon.

   Switching gears, what goes awesome with great music? Dancing of course! So heres a few awesome clips of relatively awesome dancers...
  SaladUK on youtube, creates amazing chopped videos of people unintentionally "skanking" to dubstep. Here's David Brent on "The Office" gettin' down to the dubstep sound...

Here's their coverage of "The Great Iranian 'Skank-Off' of 1991"

And lastly, heres their 1 year anniversary video of Mr. "Double Dream Hands" himself John Jacobson, skankin' out...

   I'll leave you with this completely un-musically-related video of the UFO sighting over Jerusalem at the Temple Mount late last month. 3 different videos...what do you think? Real?

   Well, catch you all tomorrow with another awesome Artist Spotlight. Peace.