NewCityMovement

Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner" was the 'mother of the mp3'. [NyTimes via Live From Abbey Road / Sundance Channel]

7 Hipster Fashions we love to hate (a slideshow).

New Mr. Scruff Album Out Now

“Ninja Tuna” – a bollocking big fish that can sneak past armed guards dressed in black p.j.s before unleashing a deadly attack using only the tops the of the tin cans which were meant to entomb him.

The Eric Morecambe of contemporary dance music (by which we mean he’s a genius, not that he wears glasses) returns to the long-playing record fray with his first studio album since the scrumptious “Trouser Jazz” and he’s sounding in finer fettle than ever. “Ninja Tuna” is an album that mixes up all of Andy Carthy’s favourite influences and turns them into a funny, unique, amiable and distinctively British sound which will start parties, destroy dancefloors and soundtrack your spring cleaning so successfully you’ll find yourself getting deep into that dusting.

From the soul-jazz of “Music Takes Me Up” (featuring the golden lungs of Alice Russell), through the cartoonish tail-swishing of “Donkey Ride”, on into the monstrous bass parps of “Whiplash,” past a superb cameo from Roots Manuva (“Nice Up The Function,”) and across the bit where the bass comes back and is Stronger And More Dangerous Than Ever (“Bang The Floor” with Danny Breaks), this is an album which just keeps on growing on you. Every tune has been roadtested at Scruff’s epic club nights and it shows on the disco-builder “Get On Down”, the muddy funkster “Hold On” (featuring Andreya Triana), the utterly massive “Give Up To Get” and a latino finale held together by “Kalimba” and the endearingly ramshackle “Stockport Canrival”.

Mr Scruff’s combination of taking his music very seriously while managing not to take himself too seriously has made him unique in British dance and has helped him forge a sound and philosophy in which drinking tea holds mythological status and where it’s always the music which gets you high. “Ninja Tuna” is his finest work to date, moving with all the power and grace of a fifty ton whale deep below the ocean, its cavernous belly packed with happy, partying potato people. Cod, it’s good."

– Via Ninja Tune

(also deliciously good: Southport Weekender presents Mr. Scruff, DJ Mix)

Grrranimals

Cute letterpress poster with animals by InkAndWit.com

NiteLite Presents MASTER KEV (NYC) Oct 19th @ W. Lounge

Master Kev's victory in a mix-off contest in the 90s proved that the years of obsessing over the radio, studying underground dance and beat syncopation, and accumulating a killer collection of records had finally paid off. This win resulted in more live performances. And as the number of shows soared, so did Kev's talent. Soon after, hero Tony Humphries called to request that Kev join forces with his Yellorange Productions label. His answer? A triumphant "HELL YEAH." After spinning at the 2000 Winter Music Conference, and embarking on a European tour, his career was officially on the rise for real. Also in 2000, Master Kev helped form the Underground Collective – a collective of DJs, musicians, and singers created to draw exposure in the dance music industry to major labels. Last year, Kev hooked up with David "Vibes" Tobon and John Crockett to work on original productions, forming MKDV. They produced a track called "Twisted" which has earned a tremendous amount of buzz and has had huge early support from various renowned DJs. At this very special NiteLite, local house fans will get a chance to experience what has made a certain Kevin J. Finegan from Matawan, NJ the Master!

NCM Presents NiteLite with MASTER KEV
[Underground Collective/Defected UK/CODE RED/VEGA] (NYC)
w/ JESSE WALKER (NCM)
Saturday, October 18th 2008
W. Lounge, 358 S. West Temple, SLC, UT
Garage House, Deep House, Vibrant Vibes + Future Tech
FREE BEFORE 10:30pm or $5 Cover, 21+

Visit Master Kev's Myspace.

This event is sponsored in part by the AIGA Salt Lake City. The American Institute of Graphic Arts mission is to advance designing as a professional craft, strategic tool and vital cultural force.

HAL 9000

HAL9000 Wallpaper here. [Via FFFFound.com]

Natures Goo

Natures 'goo' looking oddly delicious in this series of photographs. [Via Coudal]

Steve Aoki @ W. Lounge Sept 24th

This is one possible outcome of letting musicians design their own album artwork.

Fashion Stroll Tonight

Press Release:

Fashion Stroll is a Spring/Fall event patterned after Salt Lake City’s wildly popular art-centric Gallery Stroll, but with a focus on fashion, live music, and independent style.

Fashion Stroll is free to the public, and will feature local style shopping at vendor booths along the sidewalks and inside the eclectic mix of shops, galleries and boutiques along East Broadway in downtown Salt Lake City (300 South between 200 East and 300 East).

Runway shows will highlight the best in new local fashions for Fall at 7, 8, and 9pm. DJs, live bands, and street artists will also be strewn along the sidewalks to round out a night of  fashion, art, and entertainment, SLC style.

In addition to the night’s festivities, SLC Fashion Stroll will be doing a “Style Swap” coat drive for the city’s homeless. Attendees to the Fashion Stroll can bring in their used coats, boots, and Fall/Winter wear to donate to the cause. In return, donors will receive a coupon good for a 10% discount on any purchase at any participating Fashion Stroll vendor or boutique.

Romain Kremer

From our NYC fashion correspondent Rodney Cuellar:

"I think this may be my new favorite menswear designer (Romain Kremer). Make sure to look at the archive photos. I love how out there it is. Very unapologetic and truly AVANTE GARDE not like the project runaway wannabes. It's updated utopian future fashion for fabulous people!"

Some videos of Jay Tripwire from the tube.

A Message About House Music by Jay Tripwire

This was posted at Jay Tripwire's myspace blog and I thought it was kind of cool coming from someone who 'lives the life' as he does. It's just another example of how passionate true house heads can be about their music and the philosophy behind it as a unique musical artform.

"We live in an age that is full of consumption, greed and false worship of weak idols. People listen to the radio, and it is filled with depravity and a message of consumerism. People watch these music videos that are full of false glamour and exhibit decadent lifestyles. These poor souls have had their minds corrupted on a sonic level, their dreams and ambitions are not real, they seek a dark path to an empty hollow existence. There are those of us who see this, and understand this, we work for a better way of life that is about the soul and about the spirit, we live to broaden our minds and open ourselves to a true sound, we understand all forms of music, and we amalgamate these forms into 1 true sound. Many of us have devoted our full lives to spreading this message. And many of us toil and work hard to keep perpetuating our message. We are the children of house music, and as the children of house music we have a duty, a calling if you will to spread our word and not to fall prey to the words of a foul world, that is filled with racism, depravity, corruption, and war.

At this time we must call onto ourselves to see the bigger picture house music has, and the original message it is designed for and live by that code and to spread the word. We must remain unified and not be so fractional in our views of what house music is, because house music is everything. House music has no true definition other than its ability to bring us together, to unify such diverse people into 1 true vibe and 1 global meaning.

Some of you reading this may not see house this way, but you need to open your eyes and ears and let it inside of you. You need to let go of what society tells you even more, the fact you listen to house is the biggest step to an open mind and the choice into the right direction. Each and every one of us now more than ever to has a duty to uphold, to spread the word and live the way we are supposed to be. We are community and we have to start acting more like brothers and sisters and unify. Some of us have become jaded, some of you have let drugs and other substances get in the way of understanding the message, and I am no individual to make any such judgment towards anyone, because house is not about judgment, religion, or other such binding things. You have a duty to your soul to let go of these things that hold you back from the journey to enlightenment and the stepping stone is house music. House music is supposed to open our eyes and minds to the real world, house is often a catalyst to people becoming enriched with a wide array of expression and freedom, and by going out and celebrating our lives thru dance and social interaction we break the shackles and the oppression of our governments and cleanse ourselves of the corrupt messages that are constantly trying to brainwash each and every one of us.

I call on each and every one of you to think about what you have read and remember the true meaning of house music and live in the way in which this movement really is about. Be true, be unified and stand up against the powers that be, because our house music culture is based on it. Our parties were renegade and our world was mystical, we truly lived underground. Now more than ever our ranks are fractioned, instead of there being a place where all house lovers congregate they only choose certain styles of house when in truth we should all embrace every aspect and come together in the true nature of house as a whole, not as a close minded fraction of its individual parts.

Please help in spreading the word, and perpetuating its original message of universal love and harmony towards all people of all races of all creeds and sexual orientations. If we do not act now in coming forth and being one we will lose everything so many of us have fought and sacrificed for in the name and meaning of a musical message. One of the greatest movements of our generation.

Please pass this message on and do your best to stay true."

– Jay Tripwire

Darth Vader hot air balloon. [CoolHunting]