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Shaona Sen | MYND BLOC "Building Blocks for Creative Minds" | A digital zine of findings and musings (The other one: withshaona.tumblr.com)
On an Instrumental Kick
I’ve been going through a refreshing musical shift with the switching and revamping of electronics in my life. For one, an ongoing challenge had been the sync’ing of music on my work desktop, work laptop and home desktop. I’m no longer with my former company, since the turn of the year, so this self-fulfilling task is also no longer. A temporary void did come with the parting of some awesome playlists I had going! Of course I’ve got all of my tunes backed up. Many of. With change comes the recombining and exploring of life’s many (*turntable scratching*) soundtracks.
Two, a month before traveling abroad, the upgrading of my iPhone to iOS5 “blessed” me with some mishaps like losing ~1.5 years building of my favorite duck-duck-goose circle tracks. You know those timeless set of tracks that cater to any mood you may be in? Yup, those. Checked off “Back up and clear ~5,000 photos from phone” on the to-do list while at it (personal attachment that kept me from upgrading to iOS5 because of memory). And three, a last minute laptop purchase came with trip prep. Otherwise, it would have been a dragging, risky and odd journey for my ~4 year old, 27 inch iMac that houses mp3s from my Napster/LimeWire days. So I’m sitting here, a month later, with my new laptop, refreshed iPhone, a handful of design/photo files transferred over from my handicapped desktop many miles away and a small hard drive of my digital life in reach if needed.
Not to mention, after settling in foreign lands, Spotify gave me notice of having to upgrade to premium in order to access my account (Pandora was a no-go from day one). No denying Spotify withdrawal was tough at first. Maybe I’ll go premium later. Content with my circumstances for the time being.
All in all, I feel so much lighter and contained.
This has helped with my new year’s resolution of exploring more instrumental-heavy tunes. I’ve kept from transferring majority of my mp3s onto the new laptop. The month of February, the month of Nujabes and J Dilla’s birth/death anniversaries (RIP) was a perfect transition (especially after playing out a whole lot of Whitney, RIP). I’ve got Nujabes tunes for dayyys! A friend of mine, Furgersen7 (F7) has been dropping a lot of awesome instrumentals filled with fresh sound, nostalgic samples and Dilla inspired beats that I’ve been on for a while. And I’ve come across more instrumental candy while getting lost in the world of SoundCloud. Put Tabla Beat Science on the list, who I discovered in 2007 when visiting India. Zakir Hussain too, who I’ve been exposed to since childhood. My love for tabla grew after seeing him live, twice, for the Masters of Percussion tours! He is genius. I’ve recently been introduced to Cinematic Orchestra and Philip Glass, by Londoner Duane, while out here too. Add Dntel, Ian Friday, SBTRKT, Gorillaz, Elevation Theory, Fela Kuti, Telepopmusik and there you have sound bites of my past few months. Less instrumental but in rotation: Nneka (her latest Unplugged session in Nairobi is mesmerizing), this Mariah house mix, Janelle Monae, Gary Clark Jr., M.I.A., Little Dragon, Miguel, Beres Hammond, Sid Sriram, MJ, Amy Winehouse, Theophilus London and different artists of 2012’s SXSW.
14+ minute documentary on Amy Winehouse’s Lioness: Hidden Treasures, with Salaam Remi, Mark Ronson and NaS.
<3
(via Soul Culture)
Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi produced “Lioness: Hidden Treasures” has dropped, and has hit #1 on the UK charts already. Believable. My Google-ing of album reviews and YouTube-ing of tunes commenced throughout yesterday, with the thought of if I will be purchasing the album.
In the mix of WWW-ing, I came across an article in which Amy Winehouse’s father shared earlier today, through Mirror, the vision of the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which is the organization all profits of this album will be going towards. Media has shown Amy Winehouse’s close relationship with her father so family lead on the Foundation brings a little warmth when thinking about behind-the-scenes crookedness of some artists’ philanthropic foundations. The mission, as her father shared, is for the Foundation to support and uplift youth through the arts. He mentioned ongoing work with larger associations. It’d be nice to see the Foundation supporting more grassroots movements that work closer and have more of a direct impact on youth.
Definitely more of an incentive to purchase the album, upon two close friends of Amy Winehouse producing the album, consisting of originals that hadn’t been released til now.
<3 Of the tracks I’ve listened to so far, Half Time, one of my favorites off the new album:
(“Amy had talked to Ahmir Questlove Thompson of the Roots about working together. “Halftime” is a song that Amy and Salaam had worked on since the Frank sessions. Recorded in August 2002.” - Soul Bounce)
And I leave you with one of my all-time favorite Amy Winehouse tunes, with Mark Ronson:
(originally by The Zutons)
http://youtu.be/4HLY1NTe04M
COCA COLA BOTTLE TRUMPET spotted in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico!
Who knew a plastic bottle could project such sound?
(via huffingtonpost.com)
MY CHERI AMOUR snippet!
Favorite back-to-back has to be: Talib Kweli’s ‘Hot Thing’ to Stevie Wonder’s ‘My Cheri Amour (Jeff Sucker’s blend)’ to Common’s ‘I Want You’ to Musiq Soulchild’s ‘For the Night’.
More feel-goods:
DeBarge- I Like It
Mos Def- Brown Sugar
Steve Winwood- Higher Love
Method Man- Release Yo’ Delf
Jagged Edge- Where the Party at?
Mick Boogie + DJ Jazzy Jeff Summertime p2:
http://mickboogie.com/summertime2
The summer justtt got better!
Thanks Undrcrwn = )
Theophilus London- Flying Overseas
On repeat! Killer vocal and visual vibes! <3
(via complexmag.com)
“After 30 years and 200 million sold, Sony has announced that their April shipment of cassette Walkmans was the last.”
www.metafilter.com/96947/Sony-Walkman-19792010Phenomenal. Stimulating. Creative. Touching. Conceptual. Emotive. Colorful. Enticing. Luring. Exotic. Beautiful. Surreal. Groundbreaking. Mysterious. Futuristic. Innovative.
Thought provoking. Powerful storytelling. I’m toasting with you, Kanye.
Some dialogue:
Phoenix: “Can I ask you a question?’
Ye: “Of course babe”
Phoenix: “All of the statues that we see, where do you think they came from?”
Ye: “I think that artists carved them… years and years ago”
Phoenix: “No, they are Phoenix turned to stone”
Ye: Laughing. “Baby… They”
Phoenix: “They are Phoenix turned to stone. Do you know what I hate most about your world? Anything that is different you try to change. You try to tear it down. You rip the wings off the Phoenix and they turn to stone. And if I don’t burn, I will turn to stone.”
Ye: “What do you mean burn?”
Phoenix: “If I don’t burn, I can’t go back to my world.”
Me thinking out loud:
- How many times before did the Phoenix reincarnate before meeting Kanye? How/Where was she before meeting Ye?
- The news channel interpreting the Phoenix as a comet is perfect representation of a media brand giving false information to the public because they want to be the first to announce the ‘news’.
- Is Kanye running away or to the Phoenix in the last scene?
- How beautiful is the Phoenix? Selita Ebanks.
- I thought the typeface Kanye used on the G.O.O.D. Fridays tracks page would have been used for at least the headers in the end credits. Instead, all Helvetica. Mr. branding man, wah gwan?
- The MJ tribute scene is epic. Even the Phoenix species knew about Michael Jackson. And KKK caps have been redefined. The video’s reappropriation of them in red and associated with MJ will for surely be positively, subliminally influential.
- Power of the pause. Silence used so effectively.
- I wonder if Ye’s pants ripped at all, in both the opening and closing scenes? His skinnies were pretty tight.
(A friend’s words: With proper tailoring, Kanye could run the NYC marathon in those pants. I wouldn’t want to be caught in a life threatening situation wearing anything else.” Classic.)
- As I revisit scenes, I see more and more. The attention to detail is much respected. I’m sure plenty more thoughts will come to mind as I play, rewind, fast forward and repeat. I’m still digesting the depth and creativity.
- And ‘Who will survive in America?’
RUNAWAY Directed by: Kanye West, Written by: Hype Williams, Art directed by: Vanessa Beecroft, Costume design by: Phillip Lim & martin Izquierdo, Choreography: Yemi Akinyemi and please check out all other shoutouts at the end of the video. Much respect to the team who worked on this. Stunned.
JUMP ROPE fun!
Yves Larock’s ‘Rise Up’ music video
Design and sync musical aqua creatures!
“An experimental musical petri-dish. Adopting a biological metaphor, Seaquence allows you to create and combine musical lifeforms into unique, dynamic compositions.
try for yourself: www.seaquence.org
By Ryan Alexander, Gabriel Dunne, and Daniel Massey (GAFFTA resident artists)
*Begin with caution! Once you start experimenting, it’s hard to stop.
(via Thas Naseemuddeen)
Scotty Nguyen & Tracy Shibata’s fan video of Usher’s “There Goes My Baby” track (off Raymond vs. Raymond album). Their choreography brings this song to another world. A fresh, contemporary take on a mainstream R&B tune.
(via usherworld.com)
Around Town: Boston Artists Spotlight→
“ThinkForward Media linked up with Justin Springer to bring a night of music to Boston that took place at the Hard Rock Café on July 28th. Catch up with some of the featured artists and follow the new wave in music on the Boston Scene.”
“Lance Hayes discusses finding an outlet through music, rap influences, being a ‘regular guy,’ and making you reach that ‘O.’ Joy Daniels explores redefining the image of the female performer, the “Boston scene,” being a kid again, and how she prophesied her own breakup. International Show discusses rock influences in his hip-hop, winning IStandard, how traveling overseas got him his name, and why you might see him on your college campus. Terrence Lomax and Marquis Short discuss capitalizing on video production in the digital age, branching out to new genres, collaborations with Miley Cyrus, and bringing new ideas to your brand – whatever your budget.”
Great coverage (link above) of an amazing night of music.
The performances with a full band, the lighting, the crowd= good vibes
David Correy, the final act of the night, was on the move when returning back to Boston to perform so you will not see an interview with him in this post. With the pace of DC’s growth, I’m confident more opportunities of action-packed, informative interviews with him will arise.
I had the pleasure of meeting Sandra, the author of this article, at the showcase. Looking forward to building!
On a side note: I’ve met some amazingly driven and creative Bostonian spirits these past months!
Please experience for yourself!→
Arcade Fire’s HTML5 “The Wilderness Downtown” music video. Nostalgic interactivity.
I remember running home that fast back in the elementary school days to make summer sunset curfew. I miss those days! Mucho.
More info on development process: www.chromeexperiments.com/arcadefire
(via chromeexperiments.com)
