My Bandcamp page was featured in the Bandcamp Gallery:
Behold! A few of our favorite examples of bands who treat the eyes as well as they do the ears.
Big ups to the Bancamp crew for the props! We appreciate it!
And be sure to checkout my Bandcamp page for music!
French anime website, Catsuka recently featured the Light of Love anime video and its director, Jamie Vickers on its pages, giving a bit more insight into the origins of the video (which was in fact a pilot for a television show). From Google Translate:
Jamie Vickers is one of those rare leaders foreigners working in Japan in the background. I had already relayed his demo tape, which allowed to realize that he hosted for people like Koji Morimoto (on Dimension Bomb in Genius Party Beyond) or Masaaki Yuasa (on Kemonozume). And doing research on anything else, I came across a video clip passed unnoticed, he realized, design and animation in the (fire) Daisuke Nakayama Studio Realthing: Light of Love to Yameen and Lady Alma. We could already see the clip in his demo tape, with a new name – The Sound of Fire – and presented as a pilot.
The Light of Love anime video was in fact a slice of a pilot called “Sound of Fire” originally based on the song “Fire” from my album, Never Knows Best. The video was designed, directed and animated by Jamie and produced by Japanese anime studio, RealThing in the Shibuya Ward of Tokyo, Japan. The video’s executive producer was Yujiro Funato. And of course there was a cast of talented artists who have helped bring the video to life:
Production – Realthing
Executive Producer – Yujiro Funato
Producer / Creative support – Norifumi Fujita
Direction / Animation – Jamie Vickers
CGI Direction – Mayu Hirano
Animation / Color Design – Yuko Ueno
Thanks to Catsuka for featuring the video.
Check out Jamie’s 2010 animation reel directly below, and the Light of Love video follows.
I’ve talked a little about the political hiphop group, Big Brother Resistance (BBR) I was in during the late 90′s before on the blog. But I wanted to do a proper post, influenced as I have been by the Occupy Wall Street movement going on nationwide at the moment.
This song, Newspeak, was one of three on our first studio demo that we published ourselves on cassette-only in 1998. We even have a video for the track which I’ve embedded below.
I produced the beat — which is still one of my faves to this day. But the lyrics on this joint are the clincher for me. Tim T and Paul P dig deep and drench the track in Orwellian motifs, government/mafia analogies, heeds of warning pertaining to cybersecurity and much more. And the hook is catchy as hell.
I’ve asked the guys to transcribe their lyrics and they’ve graciously provided them below. Check out the track and read along! Then peep the video. Comments as always welcome!
Down with Big Brother! Truth Shall Be Uncovered! Broad is My Mind’s Landscape, No More Checkmate!
Lyrics:
(Paul P:)
Yo, the Men In Black flashin
Lower class, they try to move up
Proles can’t do shit, they silent like a tulip that’s hiding this mic, wired to the C.I.A.
Yo, the military secret agents, ain’t of age
Class wars is race wars
Ignorance shall suffice,
Bliss by soma, but only by your own knife
Shall you die, in your dreams?
The mentals come from the neuron streams and
War is peace, yo,
Ignorance: strength
You see, that freedom is slavery,
Slavery this wrench that’s,
Tightening around you,
Starting with your head,
Having thoughts ganked, means that you’re dead
Reduction of the language is happening today,
Narrowing our thoughts, and moving it they way
Ebonics and slang, they’re dissed by the media,
The government started it, but yo it wouldn’t seem that way,
Same as Newspeak.
Thoughts of 1984
Everlasting shall be the next World War,
But it won’t matter, ya’ll
Cause war will be standard, see?
Economically-beneficent they planned it, so…
Check ya self, don’t be played by The Man
Because he ain’t white or black, it’s just for what he stands so,Down with Big Brother!
Truth Shall Be Uncovered!
Broad is my mind’s landscape,
No more mental rapeDown with Big Brother!
Truth Shall Be Uncovered!
Broad is my mind’s landscape,
No more checkmate!(Tim T:)
Like rats, we scurry and fight for scraps
And get phone taps
For trying to beat raps,
The Heat, for pulling little con games,
Rackets and hustling and putting poor suckers to shame,
Now The Government’s the newest crime wave on the block,
Cause they put the Italians to their grave,
FBI,
Or should I say Henchmen?
And face the Cappadon when you look up at the bench, man
Police petty thugs trying to shake you down,
It’s just The Man,
Trying to take you down, man…
Can’t sell buddah,
Unless you pay the mob tribute
In the form of taxation, and there’s no dispute
Keep it on the d-low,
That’s the steelo.
Really it’s the only way that you could move a kilo,
That’s why,
Resistance must live in secret
The system’s in our face, so that’s how we beat it
That’s why,
Resistance must live in secret
The system’s in our face, so that’s how we beat it(Paul P:)
Tech-nique, Tech-nology, they got the same preface,
Totalitarianism in the future shall surface so,
Watch your back, son,
And don’t burn these books
Because I keep them from being banned,
Yo, I be a crook
Or a bad boy
I read the ones up off the shelf,
If you don’t know how to get em, son, you best go use some stealth
Or, check the new school: We be some cyber ninjas,
Log on to the Internet, but watch cause we’ll get in ya,
Systems like Jobe, Java Program, break the code,
I find ya shit: S.S. numbs and then download
It’s all real in these days, we got the crazy tech,
Proceed to number 9, kid, ya best protect ya neck,
And your brain, heart, yo, especially your mind,
You let em read your thoughts, and then youse left behind
You see, your nervous system, son?
It be your worst enemy,
And only I shall see the message that you’re sending me,
When intra-personal becomes inter-personal,
Communications happening and then all is well
Except for the fact that,
In this time and space,
Some forms of communication are a disgrace so…Down with Big Brother!
Truth Shall Be Uncovered!
Broad is my mind’s landscape,
No more mental rapeDown with Big Brother!
Truth Shall Be Uncovered!
Broad is my mind’s landscape,
No more checkmate!
Going through more DV tapes, came up on this jawn. Jedi Mind Tricks (Jus Allah, Vinnie Paz) and Louis Logic live in a warehouse in North Philly, 1999. Vinnie freestyles & Louis performs “Punchline”. Check for the high-res Vimeo joint after the Youtube video below:
I’ve been going through my MiniDV tapes (remember those?) and found the recording session for what would become “Center of Attention” (off of DJ Babu’s, Duck Season Vol. 1) featuring Souls of Mischief, Pep Love and Dilated Peoples. The video and recording session took place at Evidence’s Los Angeles-based home studio in March of 2001. Higher resolution video link after the Youtube embed below:
I was at the video shoot for this way back in 1998 with Mic Meech of the legendary Fightins Phillies blog. For years I wanted to see the final video but I just never caught it on any late night hiphop video shows.
But that changed last week when I randomly searched for it on Youtube and BOOM — There it was. And posted online just the month prior, no less! Nearly 15 years later (!!) I finally get to see it, and it doesn't disappoint.
One of the greatest Philly hiphop tracks ever, check out the official video for Rahsheed (aka Maylay Sparks) and Ill Advised's "1.9.8.6." below. And look for Meech and I somewhere in the b-boy crowd shot:
I dug up a pretty amazing audio conversation I had with Domino of Hieroglyphics from way back in June 1997, right as Hiero was knee-deep preparing their debut “family album”, 3rd Eye Vision for mass consumption.
Presented in our all-new Stink-E-Scope theater technology, this is more than just a simple audio interview: Sit back and be amazed by the moving pictures, the talkie high fidelity audio and tons of Hiero history as we go back…WAY back…To 1997:
Errrrr…Put yer breaks on. Scratch that. We just noticed you’re using a mobile device. This chumpy requires a good deal of screen real estate. Something like a laptop or a desktop. So unfortunately, you won’t be able to view it at the moment. But, we promise, if you come back and visit on a non-mobile device, it’ll be worth it.
» Click here to email yourself a link to the page to check it out for later.
Errrrr…Put yer breaks on. Scratch that. We just noticed you’re most likely using a tablet device of some sort. This chumpy requires a good deal of screen real estate. Something like a laptop or a desktop. We’re also not quite convinced (at the time of this writing, at least) most tablet devices can sustain the power that is Stink-E-Scope theater. So unfortunately, you won’t be able to view it at the moment. But, we promise, if you come back and visit on a non-tablet device, it’ll be worth it.
» Click here to email yourself a link to the page to check it out for later.
Click above to begin interview
Errrrr…Put yer breaks on. Scratch that. Actually? I’m sorry to get you all hyped up and let you down, but your browser’s too under-powered for this feature (we ran a test when you landed on the page). Truly sorry. We try to push the envelop of cool ish around here and sometimes that means using the newest tech available.
All is not lost, however! You can upgrade to one of these modern browsers (we prefer Chrome):
- Chrome - Safari 5+ - Firefox 3.5+ - Opera 10+ - Internet Explorer 9+
Here’s a blast from the past: Me and Souls of Mischief on TechTV talking bouts TEH INTERNETZ way back in 2000:
I make my debut around the 2:07 minute mark.
Just uploaded a new mix: “Stompin to the 90′s – Late Edition”, featuring songs from the mid-to-late 90′s of hiphop. Track listing follows the embed below. Download or stream now at Soundcloud:
Track listing:
L*Roneous
Dynamic Syncopation
Dr Israel
Abstract Tribe Unique
Sacred Hoop
Black Eyed Peas
Urbanites
BMS
Kool Keith & Motion Man
Sir Menelik
INTERLUDE
T-Love, Siah & Wee Bee Foolish
KRS-One
The Pharcyde
Herbaliser
Beastie Boys
A Tribe Called Quest
X-Zibit
Brand new free mixtape from the always magnaninous DJ Icewater!
An instrumental-fueled selection of tracks from Yameen, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Blockhead, Shock G, Mike Ladd and many more.
Check for the embed below! Or download the MP3 by clicking here.
Tracklisting:
Fire (Original mix)
Fire (Yameen’s Direct Drive Remix)
P.H.I.L.A.
Fire (Blockhead Remix)
Spirit Walker (Original mix)
Spirit Walker (Mike Ladd Remix)
Pull Ya Cash Out
The Atmosphere
Shock’s Prelude
Light of Love (Original mix)
Light of Love (Mark de Clive-Lowe Remix)
