O+O

Must watch!

2010-01-10T15:32:00.001-06:00

Now THAT is a cloud!

2010-01-09T06:45:00.004-06:00

Hawks fly high!

2010-01-09T06:40:00.000-06:00

Is this that bird from 'UP'? Great track by Hudson Mohawke though.

Hudson Mohawke - "FUSE" from Kase on Vimeo.

Trailer UP from Andriy Caillou on Vimeo.

Late Night with The Roots.

2010-01-09T04:57:00.000-06:00

Okay I'll admit it. I was a little skeptic as well when I read that The Roots (THE Roots) were going to be Jimmy Fallon's houseband for the Late Night show. But when you get a mixtape in return, you soon forget why you doubted them ... even for a second.

The crazy Dutchman: Yuri Landman.

2010-01-07T02:52:00.004-06:00

As a Belgian I have this dubious relationship with the Dutch. Somehow we dislike them for being so loud and over the top sometimes. But at the same time, as quiet and controlled Belgians, we envy that about them. I personally love the Dutch!
Those crazy neighbors of ours always come up with funnest stuff. And the guy I want to talk about now is from Zwolle, which is home to many Dutch hip hop artists (Opgezwolle, Fakkelbrigade, Typhoon, etc.) I really like! I wonder what they put in the water over there in Zwolle cause it sure makes for interesting people.

Yuri Landman (Zwolle, The Netherlands, 1973) was trained as a chemist but started a carreer as a comic book artist by publishing two autobiographical comics. The second one, "Het Verdiende Loon" (means something like: Payback), earned him The Netherlands' biggest comic book award in 1998.

I guess he got tired of being a succesful illustrator and started playing music with bands like Zoppo and Avec-A. During that time he starting taking shopclass and learned the carpenter trade. He started making wooden string instruments for himself.

They got so popular he started making them for other people and other bands like The Veils, dEUS, Sonic Youth, The Dodos, etc. He gives his instruments really cool names as well. For example: Moodswinger, Moonlander, Burner Harp Guitar, etc.

Now Landman is a musicologist and he's still making experimental instruments. He gives workshops about his work as well. Be sure to check out his website or his Myspace page and read up on his stuff.

Here Landman explains how to make an instrument.

Nike Flagship in Tokyo.

2010-01-05T02:53:00.000-06:00

Thank you Coolhunting.

Remember Black Star?

2010-01-04T10:28:00.004-06:00

Everybody should get Mos Def's album! I can't get enough. This track brings back memories of Black Star... ah the good days of hip hop. Still... this track still can't touch "Quit Dog". Check it out.

"You are the giiiirl, that I have been dreaming of."

2010-01-01T23:12:00.002-06:00

How can they make this better in 2010? @superfun, a Chicago no nonsense creative community service, shows us a recap of their 2009 events. Waw!

BBM & Boredom - @superfun 2009 recap from @superfun on Vimeo.

Nate is proving D'Antoni wrong!

2010-01-01T22:55:00.002-06:00

I'm not a big Knicks fan but I am a big basketball fan, and this is good basketball. Reigning slam dunk champion (Did he deserve it? I don't know) Nate Robinson has been banished to the bench by Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni. The only stats that were skyrocketing for little Nate (he's only 5 feet 9 inches IN SHOES) were his DNP's (did not play / coach's decision). He went from being a starter to a bench warmer for 14 straight games. The situation has reached such a low that his agent wants him out of New York and onto a roster that will let him play. Nate showed why he deserves playing time and dropped 41 points, in an OT win over the Atlanta Hawks (hate to see them lose though).

Carandiru Penitentiary.

2010-01-01T22:21:00.001-06:00

I woke up around 4.30 AM this morning and failed to go back to sleep. I started watching Nat. Geo. and saw this documentary on Americans who messed up and ended up in prison abroad.
There was this one guy who let a Brazilian drug dealer persuade him (and his friends) to take tons of coke across the border to the States. They got caught at the airport and sent to prison. His father, who was a very respected American lawyer, got him the minimum sentance: 5 years in stead of 25. They were sent to Carandiru, the largest and most dangerous prison in South America.

The name "Carandiru" rang a bell and reminded me of something I had read about before: On October 2, 1992 a massacre at the São Paulo penitentiary was triggered by a prisoner revolt. The situation had become impossible for the prison guards to control so the Brazilian MP's stormed the facility. As a result 111 prisoners were killed, 102 from gunshots fired by the MP's and 9 from stabwounds inflicted by other prisoners. No policemen were killed. Surviving inmates later testified that the MP's fired shots at prisoners who had already surrendered or who were just hiding in their cells.

In the aftermath, the commanding officer of the whole operation was initially sentenced to 620 (!!!) years in prison but in 2006 a Brazilian court voided his conviction because of mistrial claims. His freedom didn't last very long though. He was assassinated in September of that same year. The penitentiary was officially closed down in 2002.

Black Milk's talk of the year.

2010-01-01T21:53:00.003-06:00

Detroit's own Black Milk talks about the 3 different albums he's planning to drop in 2010. He'll be reporting about the projects in different webisodes.

Black Milk - Keep Going - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

White Denim CAN be a good thing!

2010-01-01T15:16:00.000-06:00

I'm probably late on this and a lot of people have probably seen this video 100 times. But who cares, I really like it!

WHITE DENIM - Shake Shake Shake from ACIDBIRD on Vimeo.

Dee and Ricky: Lego for adults!

2010-01-01T14:44:00.002-06:00

I just read this cool interview with Dee and Ricky on The Brilliance. Check out their Twitter page as well, they have a funny live broadcast called DeeandRickyGirls, need I say more?

Street culture carefully documented.

2010-01-01T14:12:00.005-06:00

Check out their 2009 cover. It's due for the end of January.

LeLe est back pour toujours, hast du das understood?

2009-12-31T02:38:00.004-06:00

Piet Parra, P. Fabergé and Rimer London, better known as Lele, are one of the most exciting Dutch collectives out there right now. Download their new track Disco Monster. I'm also a big fan of the Parra housestyle. If you want one of those dope LeLe shirts order them on the Rockwell Online Shop.

Le Le - Disco Monster from magnetron music on Vimeo.

Get that Blakroc album.

2009-12-30T03:24:00.001-06:00

Every one who loves the thick, grimy sound of The Black Keys should get this album. They collaborated with 11 hip hop artists from Mos to Pharaohe, to Jim Jones, the RZA, Tip, etc. And I love the sound of Nicole Wray's voice on there too! You can watch 11 webisodes on their website on how they made the album. I love it!

Nick van Woert makes me want to move back to Brooklyn.

2009-12-30T00:07:00.001-06:00

Nick Van Woert

Momo was everywhere just a few weeks ago. Now he's gone.

2009-12-29T23:17:00.001-06:00

When I was still in New York a friend of mine pointed out this very abstract streetartist called MOMO. I hadn't noticed his work before but as soon as I started looking around I saw him everywhere. I really like his work and I wish I had bought some while he was doing this homesale. He's off to work for some artist residency project somewhere now. Good for him!