Old is the Nu-Nu

2006-07-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

Sneakerplay goes public!

Up until now online sneakerhead community Sneakerplay has been operating on an invite-only basis while in its beta version. Now that they're switching to unlimited, everyone who has been wanting to join up can do so. Functioning much like Myspace or Facebook (But for shoes, of course, which are infinitely more interesting than people.), the site allows members to display, rate, comment on, and even battle with their personal sneaker collections. The site is for beginning collectors and veteran sneaker afficionados alike. Even some of the more famous enthusiasts are available for chatting, including Josh Rubin, createor and editor of Cool Hunting.
The interface is beautiful and the community can only get larger now that everyone can sign up. So check it out if you have any interest in sneaker culture whatsoever.

2006-07-18T04:39:00.000-07:00

Attention all Typography Fiends!

Helvetica is a font with a lot of history. The Helvetica we know and love was created by Swiss designer Max Miedinger in 1957. The name is derived from Helvetia, the Latin word for Switzerland. The International Typographic Style of Graphic Design, a movement that lasted from the '50s to the '80s , emphasized the grid, and used exclusively sans-serif typefaces, adopted it almost immediately. After only a short time the font became the industry standard for graphic design all over the world. Nowadays, Helvetica is making a major comeback. Take a look around you, Helvetica is everywhere: American Aparrel, the MTA, and Al Gore all use it. And now, to the pleasure of many a graphic designer, Gary Hustwit (executive producer of Moog, that synthesizer documentary) is directing a film about the big H. Not much is known about the documentary other than that it will probably be really awesome.

Keep yourself updated on the film's progress and release by visiting the official site and joining the mailing list.

2006-07-17T13:08:00.000-07:00

Download: Lady Sovereign - "Love Me Or Hate Me"
Download: Lady Sovereign - "Hoodie" (Spank Rock remix)

The SOV has already achieved the status of "biggest midget in the game" through her singles "Random" and "A Little Bit Of Shhh." Now at long last her first full album Public Warning will be arriving October 3 on Def Jam.

Here's a full track list:

01 9 to 5
02 Gatheration
03 Random
04 Public Warning
05 Love Me or Hate Me
06 My England
07 Tango
08 A Little Bit of Shhh
09 Hoodie
10 Those Were the Days
11 Blah Blah
12 Fiddle With the Volume

I trust that "Love Me or Hate Me," her first single, will be receiving a lot of radio play, and hopefully people will start catching the Sovereign Fever if they haven't already. Also, be sure to check out the cache of Lady Sovereign remixes available through Hype Machine, including the remix of "Hoodie" by Spank Rock, Baltimore's own Underground hip-hop/Dirty Rap fusion artist.

2006-07-10T04:35:00.000-07:00

Download: Justice Vs. Simian - We Are Your Friends

Download: Justice Vs. Simian - We Are Your Friends (Lee Cabrera's "Lower East Side" Remix)

Let's face it, gay music sucks. Gay bars sucks. A lot of gay people suck. And being gay can really suck. But every once in a while there comes along a gay anthem that's more than just a song of loss crooned by a busty diva - songs like Bowie's "Rebel Rebel" and The Smith's "How Soon Is Now." These jams get adopted by the younger, cooler gays and lezzies because they are good in their own right but also carry a minor hint of homo. Justice Vs. Simian's single is precisely such an anthem. Any young gay man or woman can jive to it, and their straight friends can dance along too without feeling awkward or silly.

I'm especially fond of Lee Cabrera's remix because it is reminiscent of a lot of Baltimore Club music. It's full of mindless repetition and obnoxious looping, which in my book makes it all the more awesome.

2006-06-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

Download: The Go! Team - "Bull In The Heather" (Sonic Youth Cover)

In the wake of Sonic Youth's new album release, one of my favorite newer groups, The Go! Team, has done a fabulous cover of SY's older songs, "Bull in The Heather." It's a black Kim named Ninja screaming at you, "Tell me that you wanna hold me/ Tell me that you wanna bore me." Exsquisite.

While you're at it, check out Deceptafreak!

2006-06-20T16:14:00.000-07:00

Download: Sonic Youth - "Do You Believe In Rapture?"

Download: Sonic Youth - "What A Waste"

That's right, they're still alive. They're still touring. They're still kicking the music world's collective ass. And, somehow, Thurston and Kim are still really, really hot.

I bought it, I love it. You should buy it, too.

2006-06-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

Myspace Makeover

There are a lot of reasons to dislike Myspace: the time we waste creating, updating, and checking our profiles, the social ineptitude that it breeds (my friend recently broke up with his girl over Myspace), how it makes it easier for idiots and weirdos to stalk us. But the thing that upsets me most about Myspace is the awful level of web design. People cram mp3s, videos, polls, virtual pets, etc. onto the page until it's overflowing with that crap and impossible to read. Part of this is due to some people's bad taste, but it's also a result of the poor CSS that went into creating Myspace that makes it difficult to change and customize. Well, no more.

I was recently browsing my good friend Mikey's Myspace page, and I noticed something. It actually looked kinod of...GOOD! And it was unique. He had a link on his profile linking to Mike Industries, the blog of Mike Davidson, a graphic designer and CEO of online news company Newsvine.

Mike D. has successfully hacked Myspace and come up with a CSS layout that is aesthetically pleasing and easy to customize. He gets around a lot of the clunky design of Myspace by replacing certain text with images. For instance, a person's name is now an image. Just take a look at his sample page for a glimpse of what your Myspace could look like. He even made room for a header!

What's even better is that the process of changing your page is all very simple. Just follow these steps.

1. Download the sample CSS folder

2. open the file named "myspace_withnotes," and copy paste the css there into the "About Me" section of your profile.

3. Go through changing colors, fonts, etc. Pay attention to the NOTES to know exactly what you're changing.

4. Now open the image files that come in the sample folder. Customize your name, header, contacts, and background to your liking.

5. Host them on another website. ImageShack and Photobucket are good ones if you don't already have a photoblog or something like that.

6. Copy the url of those images and paste them into the sample layout where appropriate.

And voila! Your Myspace page is suddenly more beautiful than everyoen else's!

2006-05-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

James Chance - "Contort Yourself"

James Chance was a leader of the no wave movement of the 1970s. Armed with his alto sax, Chance combined disco beats with funk to create a kind of danceable sleaze that few have ever come close to. Occasionally, hew would assault paying members of his audience if they refused to take to the floor.

His three-disk box set, Irresistable Impulse is available from iTunes.

2006-05-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

LCD Soundsystem - "Jump Into The Fire"

James Murphy didn't like this song when he wrote it. "I'm done with it," he said.
Fuck you James Murphy! (Just kidding, we love you.)

P.S. Did anyone else hear that segment on Beats in Space with JM and Tim Sweeney? Was it just me or was James being really rude? Maybe that's just the way he comes accross on radio, the big jerkface.

2006-05-24T07:47:00.000-07:00

I'm growing a Balti!

Baltimore's CityPaper recently did a cover story on the Balti, a haircut typical of North Baltimore's lacrosse players. As a graduate of Gilman, a private boys' school nestled in the heart of Roland Park, I grew up with the Balti all around me (although we never called it that). We just called it a "Lax Mullet."

What I find so funny about the cut is that it's begun to permeate Baltimore's hipster culture. Nowadays you're just as likely to see it making an appearance at well-established locales like The Ottobar as you are to see it on the lacrosse field. I often struggle with what 'do I should take on, but recently I decided to grow my very own Balti, the very haircut that I used to mock. The back coif is already coming in nicely although I have lots of work to do on the side wings.

I'm discovering why so many laxer find this a suitable hair style. It's practical, requiring little maintencance and absolutely no product. I never have to go to the barber because the whole premise of Balti is just to let it grow. And finally, I find myself showering less so that my Balti can remain matted and greasy, which means I'm saving more water. Go planeteers!

We'll be following my Balti's progress in the coming months.

2006-05-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

Tiga - "Burning Down the House" (Talking Heads cover)

I think every good dance party playlist needs at least one good cover. Tiga is most recognized for his remix of "Tribulations" and his single "You Gonna Want Me," but I think that his cover of the classic "Burning Down the House" is also quite good. It fulfills the criteria for a worthy cover, remaining faithful to the original song, but proving different enough to be worth something on its own. I give it my seal of approval.

2006-05-19T04:30:00.000-07:00

Anyone can make a halfway remix of "Toxic," by adding some claps and putting a big beat behind it. MSTRKRFT actually makes songs better by tinkering with them instead of just making them louder, faster, and, well, dancier. How can I ever throw enough praise at them?

Anyway, I'm a big believer in letting the songs speak for themselves, so here they be.

Death From Above 1979 - Little Girl [MSTRKRFT remix]

Bloc Party - 2 More Years [ MSTRKRFT remix]

Metric - Monster Hospital [MSTRKRFT remix]

2006-05-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

Islands - "Rough Gem"

Islands - "Ones"

I know that making comparisons between bands can be tiresome, but I'm going to do it anyway because I feel like it is appropriate in the case of the band Islands. They seem to me like a hybrid of a lot of other good artists, including Animal Collective, Sufjan Stephens, and even Yo La Tengo a little bit. They can be very orchestral at times while at others they go off on little clappy-hand happy tangents. In some songs, especially "Ones" they can be very mellow and somewhat dark. Diverse albums like their Return to the Sea are nice to listen to all the way through and come along only every once in a while. So enjoy.

2006-05-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

Test Icicles - "What's Your Damage" [Alan Braxe & Fred Falke Remix]

My friends are much better at discovering good bands than I am. So when I came accross Test Icicles, I was more than thrilled to adopt them as my cool new thing. Just look at them, they're fucking psycho, and they were all mine. They were even scheduled to come to Sonar in Baltimore back in March. It became my prerogative to see them live...until the crazy kids broke up a week before the show. They had only been together for a year. Sweet.

This remix of "What's Your Damage" is the song that turned me on to them in the first place.

2006-05-16T06:17:00.000-07:00

To be honest, The Knife wasn't even on my radar until I heard the voice of their lead singer Karin Dreijer Andersson on Royksopp's single "Where Else Is There." I found her vocals quite enchanting, so I went rifiling through some of their older stuff, including the song "Heartbeats," which I'm just now beginning to understand was totally a big deal in 2004. Then I got hold of Silent Shout, the new album, but I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. I mean, Pitchfork was calling it "goblin glam" (which is a great thing apparently), but I still wasn't convinced. It didn't wow me like like I wanted to be wowed. Finally, I did a search using our trusty friend, Hype Machine, and it threw the following songs back at me. I think I get it now.

Download: The Knife - "Heartbeats" [Rex The Dog Remix]

Stream: The Knife - "We Share Our Mothe'rs Health" [Trentemoller Remix]

2006-05-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

Destroyer - "3000 Flowers"

Alright, so Destroyer's album Destroyer's Rubies has been out for about four months now, and people still aren't going crazy over it. I just wanted to make the official announcement that it's ok to start liking him. No, really, go ahead, treat yourself. Please? If you need a reminder as to why you should, download the song.

2006-05-12T13:20:00.000-07:00

Sunset Rubdown - Stadiums and Shrines II

Sunset Rubdown is the side project of Wolf Parade's keyboardist and co-vocalist Spencer Krug (top right). Their new albub Shut Up I Am Dreaming is a lot like Wolf Parad'e stuff only rougher, but that's not a bad thing. In fact, I'd say it's worth spending money on.
This song is pretty much them in a nutshell.

2006-05-11T15:34:00.000-07:00

Mates Of State - "Fraud in the 80's"

Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel are probably the cutest married couple ever. They make up the two-piece organ band Mates Of State, which has been around since 1997, but is now attracting more attention with the release of their new album, Bring It Back. The album is really solid and probably worth purchasing although at times Kori and Jason's musical chemistry is sickeningly sweet, reminding me of why I hated couples so much when I was single. You can totally tell that they have way to much sex. Just check out their fuggin' photo page.

2006-05-10T09:27:00.000-07:00

Shoe Spotting

First of all, I just want to let everyone know that I'm crazy over sneakers. To give you an idea of how bad it is, when Diplo came to town, I got a chance to meet him very briefly. The first thing I did after shaking his hand was check out what he had on his feet (classic Reeboks). Sick, right?

Anyway, if any Sneakerheads out there have been hunting the elusive Marc Jacobs Vans, they are available at a Hawaii-based shop called Aloha Rag. They go fast, so grab 'em quick. Check out the rest of their store while you're at it. They have some good stuff to purchase - if you're a freakin' bajillionaire.

2006-05-09T04:15:00.000-07:00

Lady Sovereign - A Little Bit Of Shhh (Smallstars Remix By Adrock)

Hey, what's that loud slapping sound? Oh, it must be your balls ricocheting off your thigh as you shake your ass to this awesome jam. I'll just leave you be so you can get back to booty-wigglin'.

2006-05-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2006

For those not familiar with this Baltimore tradition, allow me to give you some insight into the utter madness that is the Kinetic Sculpture Race. Every year, teams of some of the best and worst wannabe artists construct amphibious vehicles of a fantastic nature to compete in a 15 mile race around the Downtown area and even in the Inner Harbor itself. The Baltimore KSR is the only of its kind on the east cost. It always begins and ends at the Visionary Arts Museum and is personally one of my favorite events of the spring.

There are various prizes and trophies presented to the kinenauts (that is what the pilots are called), including one for coming first, coming in last, one for being the first to break down completely, and one for the most interest water entry. The most coveted award, however, is given to the team that comes in the exact middle, making it the ultimate celebration of mediocrit.

KSR 2006 was this past Saturday, and I was able to be there to see the vehicles hit the water. I also biked alongside some of the sculptures for the last leg of the race from Patterson Park to the AVAM in Federal Hill. I had a blast, and it saddens me to know that I won't be around for it next year.

Want more? Check it out.

The official website: kineticbaltimore.com

Pictures from this year

The Rules (very funny.)

2006-05-05T20:36:00.000-07:00

The Beginning of Something Big

At the beginning of last summer I fell in love with the song " Nu Nu" by the group Fannypack, the spunky chicks from Brooklyn that also brought us the hit single "Cameltoe." I love it so much that I went and started a blog over it. Though it's almost a year old and the group may be named after what is possibly the worst accessory of all time, that doesn't mean you can't put this on, pump up the bass, and shake your...well you know.

Happy Drinko de Mayo, everybody. Please enjoy.

Nu Nu (Yeah Yeah) [Double J & Haze Extended Mix]