JOYENGINE: cause sharing is cool

I just came across Die Antwoord yesterday via Twitter — undoubtedly the best thing I’ve seen all week. Not only do this get me excited all over again for new music, but it makes me wonder what sort of other hidden gems are coming out of South Africa right now. These guys are dropping some serious sociopolitical rhymes laced with some atypical cuts and samples. Ninja’s rap style is anything but sleepy… if you take a peek at their live performance you’ll surely be just as impressed. Regardless if you are into this type of music, it’s within your best interest to swing by their site (which happens to be just as awesome as the rest of their videos and materials) a learn up on all that they are. Impressive and without a doubt original.

ATL-reppin’, MC Donnis spent a lot of 2009 climbing the hip-hop ranks with live performance videos, profuse freestyles, and attention-getting tracks that leaked much to our delight. Having a mixtape with 10 Deep ain’t a bad thing either, just ask Kid Cudi and Wale.

All this grindin’ brought Donnis a deal to release the single “Gone”, with a video under A-Tracks, Fool’s Gold label. I recently caught up with Donnis to talk music, plans for 2010, his fashion game, and how he is definitely no longer the underdog.

Download:  Donnis X 10 Deep “Diary of An ATL Brave“

Shot and Edited by Scott Roon

Two years ago I met this woman named Jasmine Solano.  When I first met her she was producing video content at sneaker competition, the same night she was the DJing  at an event, then later that year I flew into New York and found out she throws one of the most sought out parties in the city called Electric Punanny,  finally coming to  find out that she was an amazing MC.  This being said what comes to mind for me is that she has always surprised me, but what is not surprising is the attention and success she has garnered as an MC.

In hearing her music it is obvious and undeniable that the girl has got skills.  With the success of her two singles “That’s not it,” and “Coco Puff,”  she has created a worldwide fan base and opened up for the likes of Sean Kingston, Ghost Face, Clipse, and Rakim, not to mention Rock the Bells.  I caught up with Jasmine amidst her busy schedule to talk music and what lies ahead.

Shot and Edited by Scott Roon

The lovely folks at AIAIAI in Denmark kindly sent us a pair of their Tracks Headphones to take for a test drive. We were familiar with AIAIAI products via the internet, but when the real deal showed up we were blown away. The packaging alone will get you to half mast. We took our time unpacking, which felt on par with, if not better than opening a new Apple product. Unveiled, the headphones are so simple they could truly stand alone as a design object. The Tracks were a snap to assemble and we were rockin’ out in minutes. We happen to have a somewhat massive and highly-tuned sound system here at C13 HQ, so we rarely use headphones. To reacquaint our ears with the intimate headphone setting, we slapped on a pair of Sony MDR-V500 we had laying around. Swapping between the Sony’s and AIAIAI’ Tracks, the latter were significantly more bassy (a trait we certainly enjoy). The only downside to the Tracks was the noise insulation – if you’re pumping tunes, well, everyone else is gonna know it. This is obviously inherent in the design (the Sony’s fully enclose your ear, while the AIAIAI’s foam just sits atop). Other than that, the Tracks look beautiful, sound great, and anyone with even the slightest aesthetic sense ought to geek out over the packaging.

Oh and on a side note, you can get these as a headset, meaning it’s iPhone compatible (mic and everything)!

Good friend and agent of creativity, Greg Hubacek, just finished up this new video for Mike Mictaln (of Doomtree). In order to get the full experience click the link to head to the micro site.

We all had one at one point and if you didn’t, you missed out. Get inspired and learn yo shit.

Unfortunately the song is a catchy little fucker, but it’s the stop motion stuff that really makes me go “HOORAY” Directed by: J-A-C-K in which I can’t really find a whole lot about, so google your little hearts out if you like what you see.

There are a few things that I’ve always wanted to do… 1.Legally change my name to Van-Halen Demerit 2.Get a gold tooth 3.Race through the city on a scooter rocking leather chaps and sleeveless Sturgis shirts. This piece kind of makes me want to do all three!

Creative lead Amsterdam based Ham & Kaas : Produced by Stink Ltd & Darkfibre : Director of Photography Michael Bonvillain : Music by Lullabye Arkestra

I caught these guys at Monolith this year. Reigning from Toronto, Dan Werb and Paul Banwatt are Woodhands. Of all the acts, these dudes put on the best show and the crowd was insane (3 words; keytar, mosh, surfing).

Cristian from ELC turned me onto this stunner last night… thought I’d post up and share… interesting use of still photography for the video ‘Fur In My Cap’ by Rob Roy.

Whats up!!!  So this most recent interview was with Matt and Kim, and I must say the excitement I had was out the roof when I heard it was confirmed.  Their music is energetic and contagious and their most recent album “Grand” does not disappoint.  With the current success of their smash hit “Daylight” and a recent MTV “Breakthrough” video win at the VMA’s for the single “Lessons learned” these two have burst into the ears and hearts of world audiences.  I caught up with Matt and Kim at one of many sold out shows to talk about touring, making the album, and how they create one of the best live shows I’ve been a part of.

I’m a sucker for a good mixtape…. whether it’s analog or digital… the right songs crafted in the right order… can help me in my pursuit to “get right”. In the vein of well crafted mixtapes, I’d like to share with you The Mixtape Club, which is a curated compilation of mixes dedicated to the art of the mixtape. Ten people, ten tracks, ten album covers. A few of the contributors include:… Jeff Staple, The Pressure, Akiko da Silva, Sad Kids.