It's been a while since I've posted and I apologize. I've been going thru some struggles with depression. It feels good to be sharing with you all again. Today's track is a song that I've been looking for since 2008 (I think). I can't be certain of the date, but I went to see the DJ, Dave Seaman at Soundbar in Chicago around that time and this was his closing track. I found it quite easily this time after having tried and failed numerous times before, it's funny how that happens. Anyway, Dave played a great set, and I remember saying to him as he was finishing up - the dumbest thing … "My ex is from Manchester." Which is pretty close to Leeds, England; where he is from. He just said - "Well that sucks!"
As for the track itself, the remix was created by Stuart Price aka Jacques Lu Cont aka Les Rythmes Digitales aka Zoot Woman aka Paper Faces aka Man With Guitar aka Thin White Duke. Stuart is also from the north of England, North Yorkshire to be exact and he creates dope remixes. I'm so glad I was able to retrieve it from the vault of my mind and listen to it again. It's been on repeat, as of late, because it is a great motivational song for just moving the fuck forward in life. It's also good for workouts. So, what the fuck are you waiting for?
Yacht Rock or 80's New Wave ... Joe Jackson's Steppin' Out was a perfect combination of both. As if a transformation of Cinderella to the ball - this song is the perfect pre-party jam. Joe, not to be confused with Joe of the famous Jackson 5, is an English Singer / Songwriter ... most famous for Steppin' Out, He has also composed classical music. He has recorded 19 studio albums and received 5 Grammy Award nominations.
This song has been stuck in my head for a while. Also, in my ears. I've been listening nonstop since I learned the name about two hours ago. Originally, I had heard it through the ether or internet or somewhere. Anyway, I heard it again when my bawse sister played it for me. This is an iconic remix of a Yacht song, as well an iconic song! That bass line ... and you can hear feedback in those first two measures! OMFG! Classixx transformed this song almost completely. The original almost songs like the remix after hearing this so many times. Great tune!
Wow, this one brings back a lot of memories! Ned's Atomic Dustbin was pretty crucial in my life in the early 90's. From Britain, They developed skate rock into early emo. I bought a VHS tape of their tour through the UK and Europe and would play on repeat. Happy is a sweet gem of a song. It hit's all the right points in a bouncy bob your head kind of way. The band didn't last, unfortunately, having released their last album in 1995. They did reunite in 2008 for some reunion shows but haven't produced any new tracks.
Need some nice chill tuneage? I've got you covered. This Kiasmos remix of Josin's Company is midtempo chill at it's best. Josin's voice reminds me of Radiohead's Thom Yorke in a slight way, and I mean that as a compliment. You can check out more of her work in the Soundcloud profile below.
First of all, I've got to thank my sister Sara for introducing me to the Yacht Rock series. With all my time on the net, this one had completely passed me by. I was familiar with the term Yacht Rock and what it described - but what was the real history and the origin of the name? The Yacht Rock series was released in 2005 after being written, directed and produced by J.D. Ryznar and co-produced by David Lyons and Hunter D. Stair. It's a fictionalized mockumentary in 12 episodes, following the smooth rock superstars of the late 70's and early 80's. It follows the careers Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Hall & Oates, and others. In fact, the term "yacht rock" was used to describe this genre of music only after the release of the series in 2005.
The storylines are hilarious and the caricatures are completely over the top. You'll recognize comedians and other celebrities such as Jason Lee, Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Steve Agee, and Drew Carey. Go now, watch all 12 episodes (they are roughly 5 minutes each) and enjoy. You can learn more at:
Happy Mother's day to all you special moms out there! I want to dedicate this post to you. Les Sins aka Toro Y Moi aka Chaz Bundick is a talented mutherfucker. His first full length album as Les Sins, named Michael, is blowing up. Let's go back though, 5 years to be exact. Grind is one of those tracks that is instant classic. With soulful vibey synths and "yeah" samples throughout - this one gets that ass waggin and feet shuffling. Check out anything and everything by Toro Y Moi or Les Sins - you won't be disappointed.
It's great having friends with taste in music. This tasty tune comes from my friend Weston and it might be the beginning of a new genre - dare I say it, Chill Acid. Not much is known about Roy of the Ravers. He comes from the UK and is indeed from the ravers. His Facebook profile said this:
In 1981, deep within the laboratory of the Roland Corporation, Japan - Tadao Kikumoto invented the TB-303. But when Kikumoto heard it was being used to create the acid sound, he ordered that all TB-303s should be recalled and DESTROYED. However, soon after; Kikumoto discovered that the last remaining TB-303 was in fact owned by Roy of the Ravers and vowed to destroy both Roy of the Ravers and the TB-303, putting an end to the acid sound FOREVER!!! Long live acid! Check him out on Soundcloud, Bandcamp and Facebook.
It was at least a few months ago, that I was at a so-called "speakeasy" in Atlanta. You see, Atlanta has drinking laws so that you can't drink out past midnite on a Sunday, but there are ways around it, such as making a private club and charging membership. This was the case, at HUSH in East Atlanta Village, where I first met Prisca. She was there with friends and I quickly learned that she was a singer/songwriter. She has some real talent. I'm so grateful because she tonight took some time to talk with me about her music/life/career.
First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today! Now, I met you in Atlanta. Did you grow up there?
I moved to Atlanta about 11 years ago to start my music career. I Moved from Ohio where I grew up. Nothing brilliant in Ohio going on.
That's what I hear. So how old were you when you started singing?
I started singing at age 4 as the special music for my dad's church - I would join my mother on stage. The first concert I attended was Etta James when I was about 8, and from that point on, I connected and grew from soul music - but from an early age, music meant something more than just words or notes. I had a feeling that was the case. There's something about singing in church that carries through. Is that also where you learned piano?
I started piano lessons when I was six for a few years - my grandma was a piano teacher. When my parents split, the piano didn't make it in the divorce - I started writing songs with my voice and cassette tapes at age 8, recording harmonies in stereo without really understanding what I was doing. Then a few years later, my father got me a keyboard when I was 13, and I started writing via the piano. Well, your dedication definitely shows. When we first met, you told me you were a singer/songwriter. When I went to listen to your music the next day, I was blown away. Particularly, with the song Kamikaze, which you collaborated with KB on. How did that come about?
I wrote a song called Kamikaze with my writing partner and producer Nick Chahwala, and we released a one take live version to YouTube. The rapper KB and his team found it and ripped it offline, created a dope rap around it and called me into Reach Records to listen and approve for it to be on his EP 100. It was a quick and beautiful experience and the song ended up being my first charting song on Billboard - his EP made it to #1 on the Christian/Gospel Billboard charts on it's the first week of release. ❤ It has been a beautiful ride with that song. There have been incredible covers of our song Kamikaze online, and also super dope choreography videos submitted from all over the world. ❤ It is so so wild and I am still excited about that song! 🙂
Well, it's a great song - all the different versions. The video with the carjacking is really powerful too. Let's talk about Nick, you guys started a studio together, yes? Bravo Ocean?
Nick Chahwala and Charles Malone started it about 15 years ago, and 10 years ago I joined in as the first artist they wanted to develop after they had had some of their first successes. I wrote so many songs that eventually we became an incredible system together and were called upon to write songs for a lot of major label artists alongside indie artists.
It has been a wild ride, and I am happy to say that we have found new hats to put on and are working as updated gears in a beautiful system at Bravo Ocean focusing on the independent artist.
The mission statement on the website is everything:
"All under one roof, our three divisions specialize in helping recording artists recognize and create their own unique avenues through our approach to record production and brand content development." Yes, I see that you've had a lot of artists record there, from Post Malone to Raury, who is honestly a personal favorite of mine. It must be great to be able to work with a lot of great talent. I understand you were picked by Kelly Clarkson to sing on her tour. How did she come across you, was that through the studio?
I was chosen by Kelly Clarkson as her Open Mic Night winner from a cover video I submitted on her fan page. I had signed up on her page when I had recorded a cover of one of her songs with my friend and fellow singer and creative Ulrika (who is another member of Bravo Ocean) -- the song I submitted caught Kelly's attention and I was informed the day before Kelly's Atlanta tour date by her musical director via email. I actually misread the email and deleted it the night before, but later double checked and I'm glad I did! It was such a blessing to be able to get up on that stage and rock out for her fans - she really believes in music and has a genuine heart. I hope I get to meet her again to thank her again in person and maybe even sing with her! 💙
The talent that comes through Bravo Ocean is crazy - we love that every day is different and unexpected, and we love pouring our hearts into every moment. Wow, that's crazy! I think one of my favorite songs you've done is Skin. It is hauntingly beautiful. How did that song synthesize?
That's a great question, Skin was actually a song I wrote years ago that I never showed anyone. I was involved in relationships that weren't conducive to self-growth, and I wrote/played that song as a mantra to feel stronger. I rose with that song out of the depths of my own insecurities, and then one day as I felt strong, I happened to play it as an intimate house concert. Afterward, I was approached by audience members that were touched by the song; including Rachel Truitt of gotta dance who then convinced me to play that song as a feature in her large production of Surface that included dancers from Gotta Dance Contemporary. The song kept growing, and there was a demand for people to take it home with them, while I was still learning how that song would live and breathe as my mantra, it was thruster forward into another performance art show, and then I created a Kickstarter campaign because I realized the importance behind the visuals. I hadn't worked that song into my budget at all, I wasn't even supposed to play it out loud to anyone - it was my secret. As the Kickstarter and concert raised over $6k, we then were able to make a music video happen, and today, I have learned and been reached out to by listeners of its impact. It brings me to tears saying this, but the song has saved 2 people's lives that I know of, and it is bigger than me. My purpose to speak the truth and be unapologetic has then, in turn, helped listeners get over their hard times and decide to live. I don't have words to describe the feeling, but what I can say is that I feel like my work as a human is finished and that this life is now icing, I feel called to write the only truth, and help others see their own beauty by being their true selves. ❤❤❤ ⚡️😭😭😭
And that's my short answer. 😬😬😬😳
Sam green and Steve Pitts - the director and producer, Rachel Truitt the choreographer from Rite Media helped produce it and it featured the genius Bubba Carr who has shifted the dance community with his brilliance. It was a Wiiiild ride!
Wow, that's incredible! You are truly something special. You've certainly touched my life with the raw beauty and emotion that pours out of you. Supernova is another one that does that. You like to have fun too, I can tell. Robot boy is a great song and it looks like that was a ton of fun making that video? Yes?
Thank you so much! ❤❤❤ Making that video with Rite Media (Sam Green and Steven Pitts) was the best!! They took my vision and ran with it!! I also made most of the cardboard props and had some help, took us a few days! Steve Pitts and his wife Dri made the robot, and I was blown away - it was a week-long shoot of a few hours each day and different locations! I have a silly side, and although slowed down robot boy can be a very somber song, I decided to kick it up a notch and really dive into an opposite emotion from skin, and embrace the layer of myself that just decides to say "beep boop" in a song hahaha it was very freeing. 🙂 All of my friends have special cameos throughout the film as well, and my co-writer, Jean Kelley, is my maid of honor in the video. Gosh, we really had some hilarious times during that shoot! Nick is my doctor in the music video, and I just laugh every time I watch it or even answer my phone on an abnormal day and people start our conversations with "beep boop" hahaha!
All of my songs are produced by our team at Bravo Ocean as well, which makes the recording process fun because you are having a blast the whole time!
It is fun to play Robot Boy live at my concerts because everyone joins in and it becomes a theme that brightens everyone up. I just love making people smile.
I love it. I know you also toured with one of the greatest songwriters of our time - Ben Folds. I bet that was a great time. Can you tell us a little bit about working with him?
I had the privilege of being Ben Fold's as an he second (love dying my hair btw) and after the second show I did with him in Pittsburg, PA, there was an open letter online written about The Singer With The Purple Hair that an audience member wrote that Ben Folds found. He mentioned it to me and shared the info with me during sound check at the Cleveland, OH pavilion. He thought it was something I should read and thanked me. He passed me his phone during sound check and the woman said that my eyes watching Ben Folds and the way I rocked out to his music as his backup singer made her fall in love with his music. So through my inspiration, she was inspired, and I had no idea, I was just a giddy child up on that stage singing with one of my idols 🙂 Dude ... there are so many great memories and pieces I hold dear to me like the Segway moment haaha which I won't share with you but dang, haaha yes, I had a blast, and that was the first time I realized that something was bubbling in me to release my own music by watching him.
Alto and Soprano for a few dates on his tour in 2014, and it was such a lovely and memorable time. He influenced me so much as a songwriter, and when I found out that I got the gig, I flipped out, cried a bunch, and then got straight to work. I had to learn twice as much material because some shows I would need to be a soprano (sing the higher parts) and some shows I would need to be the Alto (lower harmonies). It was a symphony tour, so the practice routine was intense, we would spend a few hours with the city's symphonic orchestra and then have a break and then blast off during the show. There was a lovely and striking moment on tour though - I had bright pink hair for the first date, and then purple hair for
Well, you are the true genuine article. I knew it from the moment we met. You give the best hugs, by the way! I want to know some of your early and current influences. You mentioned Etta James, what about male singers? I'm a big fan of James Blake. His singing is so sexy. Can you share some of the music you like and would be playing in your car?
Thank you so much Noble! You have a genuine heart and I always give my best hugs out to people who have kind eyes. In my car, I am blasting everything ... haahaa, as long as the song is timeless and can stand alone with one instrument and one vocal, I am a fan for life. I was. Blasting James Taylor and Queen yesterday. I can't get enough of Stevie though. ❤
Stevie Wonder?
Yessssss! Stevie, Elton, Billy Joel. I'm a sucker for an artist who plays the piano.
OK, because Stevie Nicks would be acceptable too. lol
Yes, Stevie Nicks is raw and powerful. I also rock out a lot to Janis Joplin ❤❤❤❤❤❤ and Alanis Morisette. String chicks give me goosebumps.
So, I love that you said that your life is icing now. There's still got to be a dream ahead though. What are your future goals? I want to release my debut album and tour more in the years to come- I have some intense plans in the works right now that I wish I could share with you!
Well, surprises are always good too. I know you've been performing regularly in Atlanta. Is that going to continue? I love performing in Atlanta and the surrounding states - it has expanded over the past few years and am planning more traveling and music soooooon !🙂
I look forward to that. I might be able to help get you some gigs in Nashville. I certainly want to help in whatever way possible. I am truly a fan for life. Anything else that you want to add before we wrap it up?
Thank you so much! I love Nashville and everything helps!
Oh, I don't know! Any personal questions that you have that don't have to do with music?
I have 2 cats named Chicken and Baby Kitty.
Yes, what is your favorite food?
My favorite food is Biscuits and Gravy, and every year I make it on my birthday. ❤
I love Biscuits and Gravy! But the kind with the real sausage in the gravy. Yuuuuummm!
I'm a great cook! 🏄🏼♀️
You just had a birthday, recently! Congratulations!
Thanks! I turned 32! And I'm excited for this time in my life.
What a perfect age. I remember 32 so fondly!
32, single, 2 cats, following my dreams, eating egg rolls currently ... it's a good life.
Electric Forest Documentary by a Nonsense Man & Space Dragon A Nonsense Man
I just wanted to share today an excellent Electric Forest documentary by my friend Zachary aka a Nonsense Man. I visited Electric Forest in 2008, and I was blown away. My friend Zach created a documentary, in which he explains the magic of Electric Forest. The highlights are an interview with Dixon's Violin - an incredible live violin act and a wedding at the festival. One of the other highlights is an impromptu Nonsense Man video. Zach's got talent and a real skill at sharing that experience. He loves to stare at pretty hoola hooping girls and who doesn't. Beyond that, he captures the magic which is Electric Forest ... and the fact that he's not an undercover police officer.
It should be no secret that N'to is one of my favorite producers today. His music can only be described as minimal house / tech / whatever with a hint of French Touch. At least that is the feeling I get when I hear it.
The Hound is a dark and stormy night ... but that dog has the scent. He's closing in, as you run into the void trying to evade him. It's inevitable, you can't escape from the Hound.
Album reviews are typically out of the norm here at Barrel-dEM, but when one of my favorite bands released their new album - Riot, Right? I knew I had to. I've been a fan of Nihilist Cheerleader since I saw them back in 2016 in Atlanta. I had the pleasure of interviewing lead singer Flynne Collins at the time.
The band is from Athens, GA and they've been touring the southeast for a few years, so make sure you check them out in a town near you.
Their newest album is simply a pleasure to listen to again and again. It contains the perfect combination of politics, angst, sex, memorable melodies and punk rock. The track Drenched In is one of my favorites. The opening guitars are reminiscent of New Order creating a pleasing sound before the chorus breaks down into a crunchier sound. The lyrics seem to tell the story of loss and regret - repeating never look back.
Who's Gonna Hear You is another great track. The tempo is stepped up on this one compared to Drenched In. Basically, it's a song about moving forward, stop throwing a pity party and take charge of your life.
The song Miss You Forever is another stand out track. Like many of their songs, there are tempo changes throughout. A lost relationship is the main theme here.
Finally, & She Takes It, the last song on the album is a wonderful feminist anthem. It's a perfect closing song to an incredible album.
I hear it all the time ... Hip Hop is dead. Trap killed it. Without digging it's easy to accept - with artists like Lil Xan, and all those face tattoo mumble rappers who aren't worth mentioning. Post Malone at least tries to pay homage to the past. But if you just dig beneath the surface, you will find artists like Skyblew. This guy is positive like Raury, walking tall like Camp Lo and doesn't need autotune to sound good. His production is on point.
Skyblew is a bit of a mystery. He grew up in Alabama but currently resides in Chapel Hill, NC. Not much else is known about him other than his influences are Common, A Tribe Called Quest, Lupe Fiasco, Nujabes, 2Pac, De La Soul, Scapegoat Wax, Blue Scholars, New Radicals, Common Market, Michael Jackson, Arrested Development, Sade, and Amy Winehouse. He's the kind of artist that get's me excited to hear everything he's put out.
This song brings me incredible joy. Played primarily on the dulcimer by Laraaji, The Dance #2 is from the album Ambient 3: Day of Radiance. The album was produced by Brian Eno with Laraaji playing instruments. It's the third in Brian Eno's Ambient series which includes Music for Airports (highly-recommended).
This one is equally great for quiet meditation or crank it for some overpowering chords and energy.
OMG, yes Public Enemy ... keeping it real. For those who don't know, there was a group that sprang up in the late 80's - they were everything controversial, had the best samples, and bridled the passion of the black struggle. Public Enemy had it all, a leader in Chuck D who was the messenger and delivered a message from the heart that people could believe in, a hype man - Flavor Flav who kept it fun and knew what his role was and a production crew - who knew how to sample and create the freshest jams time and time again.
Public Enemy as a group wore many hats but always stayed true to their cause. They were one of the first who collaborated with Heavy Metal bands like Anthrax to remake their songs. They had internal strife, with Flavor Flav and Professor Griff, about Flavor's drug use and antics. Professor Griff went on to say anti-Semitic things in accordance with his Nation of Islam stance and was distanced from the group.
Nevertheless, Public Enemy prevailed. They were inducted into Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. They still continue to produce music to this day.
Public Enemy never had to shy away from controversy, they embraced it, but at their core they wanted to make hype music to hype people up.
Dinah Washington - This Bitter Earth (Max Richter Mash)
Some songs just go perfect together - case in point ... Max Richter and Dinah Washington. This was my anthem in my darkest times last year - so beautiful and so haunting. I couldn't help but listen multiple times, usually in a drunken stupor and shed tears. This song has that power.
I've come out on the other side, but I lost my brother in December and playing this at his memorial just made everyone break down emotionally. Life is a journey, and it's not all roses ... if you can respect the sadness in the world, you can appreciate the good times. R.I.P. Daniel Paul Long!
It feels like a gift when you come across a track like this. Lupe Fiasco, Talib Kweli, Hus Kingpin, Rozewood and Forever M.C. all on the cut. I won't pretend to know that I've ever heard the last 3 guys. For what it's worth, they brought their A game.
If you are a regular, you know I pour my heart into this site. The things I share almost always have a deep and profound meaning to me in some way. I love documentaries and it's no secret that I love the ones that make you FEEL the most. Whether it's joy, heart-ache, hatred, loneliness - does it make you feel something? All great art does.
The Look of Silence makes me FEEL ... like no other documentary. Why? Because it's the simple story of a man confronting the killers of his brother. Those killings took place in 1965, but unfortunately, the power and the influence remains in the story of the killers, until now. Indonesia has always been a place of great struggle, whether against nature itself or other people. It's been a place of cannibalism ... recorded until the 1960's. One of the Rockefeller family members supposedly fell victim to it.
This movie is about moving on. We can't move on without dealing with the past. Like a bad relationship, it's about a closure. Make sure you watch it's predecessor too - The Act of Killing. Directed by the same person, at great risk to his safety - Joshua Oppenheimer. This movie also had a lot of risks for the main protagonist. It takes a strong will to ask those questions. It's also necessary.
Maybe not the first, but a powerhouse in the ecological music movement was Midnight Oil. The 80's / 90's was a different time for artists. It wasn't easy to make it as a successful artist to the mainstream expounding political agenda, in the 90's that would change and thanks in part to bands like Midnight Oil. The Australian quintet did not give a fuck.. Their mission was to try to preserve the Australian the wildlife through threats of the big guys - oil companies, mining companies, and neo-governmental aboriginal settlement agencies.
Midnight Oil started playing with that in mind and more. Their biggest hit - "Beds are Burning" literally played out the plight of Aboriginal Australians. With justice against them, they have literally overtaken with fire from the aggressors, the backward thinking policies. Blue Sky Mine is off their second album, also titled Blue Sky Mine. It is one of my favorites.
The Vietnam war era was a time of great turmoil and great truth. Many were using drugs and music to either escape or try to change the world. There were some great songs that came from that era including "I'd Love to Change the World" by British psychedelic rockers - Ten Years After.
The refrain is universal. "I'd love to change the world, but I don't know what to do ... so I'll leave it up to you." I know many of us have felt that way at times in our lives.
This was the bands highest charting single in 1971, and it was getting airplay on both AM and FM radio which was a rarity at that time.
This song has always held a special place in my heart. I'd like to think it was influenced by the Stone's - Satisfaction (Can't get no). Who knows? This is genuine raw punk rock. As a fan and a recovering alcoholic, I get it. The best songs come from the worst of times. That's what the great artists are known for.
If you know the band, lead singer Paul Westerberg had a lot of troubled demons going on. You see, Paul and the band had a problem with alcohol and playing live. They were notorious!
Take for instance their later performance on SNL. Not only did they get banned from performing in the show. All Warner Bros. artists were, in effect banned.
It started with bassist Bob Stinson who was mentally ill and had self-medicated through drinking. That night, the band started creating problems with the sound check. They were too loud and the studio turned them down. The band was essentially locked in for a few hours and Bob needed alcohol, to which it was smuggled in. The host - Harry Dean Stanton, knocked on the green room door and proceeded to get fucked up with the rest of the band. During the first performance, the Replacements were at their drunken best. At one point, Paul yelled at Bob, "come on fucker" to cue his solo. At the finish, Bob did a somersault, in which he ripped his pants baring his ass. Producer Lorne Michaels was fuming and this began the banning. They were allowed to finish the show, but they wouldn't play television for another 3 years.
There are lot's of other examples, the point is that the Replacements would never be satisfied and that's why their sentiment is still gold today!
Again, I get it. We drink and we play music because something is missing in our lives. We are unsatisfied!
Some people say Progressive is dead. Some say trance is dead. Punk, grunge, shoe-gaze, disco, blah blah blah! Does it matter? Categorizing music is a double-edged sword anyway! The best producers will defy genres anyway. Take for instance Joachim.
Joachim Pastor is a Paris based producer. He is great at what a lot of French producers are great at - the melody. Take Daft Punk, Justice, Modjo, Alan Braxe, Fred Falke, Surkin and DJ Falcon for example ... all great french dance music starts with a great melody. Here Joachim takes us to Iceland with his melodies.
Ross From Friends, is the pseudonym for British producer Felix Clary Weatherall. Recently, he was signed to Flying Lotus' label Brainfeeder.
The song “originally began life as a tune for this goofy hip-hop project that me and my pal Guy from back home always do when he’s in London,” Weatherall explains. “I’d be making the beat and he raps. It’s always a refreshing approach making tracks in that atmosphere because we’re both always on such a spontaneous tip. When I’m making music alone, I’m obsessive and everything takes hours, whereas with Guy, we’d try and get as many tracks finished as possible in like a few hours.”
This song is incredibly groovy and downtempo. If you don't know who John Cage is, look him up on Wikipedia. We can keep some air of mystery to this.
Felix has a new EP called Aphelion coming out next month. - No Boats
The 2008 Canadian documentary Carts of Darkness, is a story about those on the fringes of society. In North Vancouver, there are those homeless that collect cans and bottles in their shopping carts to sell for money. This enables the typical past time of drinking. Yet, there is another even more dangerous and possibly detrimental past time - shopping cart downhill. Basically, hauling ass downhill with only a shopping cart between you and some major road rash.
If you aren't familiar with the terrain, North Vancouver is jutted up next to a steep mountain. The downhill is very serious, and some of these racers have reached speeds up to 70 km/hr or 44 m/hr, with only their shoes as a break.
Some of them don't want to live by societies rules. Some of them can't. I believe it's a healthy point of view to see on occasion. They allow director Murray Siple into that world.
Carts of Darkness can be viewed in full on Youtube. Check it out embedded below.
Today's find comes from my buddy Weston. Guts is Paris DJ who got his start in 1990 with the creation of a band, the Alliance Ethnik. Guts music has always had hip hop and electronic sensiblities. He can skirt the line when it comes to the irreverent too. Dirty Otter is a straightforward throwback jam, synth heavy and nostalgiac.
Cosmo's Midnight - Get To Know (Official Video) ft. Winston Surfshirt
Not going to lie, today has been an exceptional day. Let's keep the ball rolling with some excellent tunage from Cosmo's Midnight. Cosmo's Midnight hail from Sydney, Australia and the Ozzies are twins. Cosmo and Patrick Liney have been making music for half a decade now. Like some other Ozzies, they are doing it right - must be something in the water there or all that sun. Get To Know features Winston Surfshirt on flow and is just a really good feelgood song.
I want to dedicate this song to someone special. You see I've had my own personal angel looking out for me as of late. I try to look out for her as well. We keep each other on the path through mutual respect, unconditional love and a healthy dose of humor. She's come across 444 and 4444 recently and asked me to look up the numerology meaning:
Repeating Angel Number 444 is an indication that you are being surrounded by angels who love and support you and their help is close at hand, always. When the number sequence 4444 appears repeatedly, it is an indication that you are surrounded by your angels.
Angels & Airways was started by former lead guitar and vocalist of Blink-182, Tom Delonge. Tom and band capture the sound of what I like to call epic space rock. It was introduced to me by my best friend in the universe since before skaters were posers - Nate "You need some salt" Wilson. Love you bro!
When the first thing on-screen is boobies you know this is going to be an interesting movie. I asked my best friend Nate for a movie that I should watch and review, he picked this - Thankskilling. So despite my pre-conceived notions, I watched it. I had to after all, for better or worse.
If you haven't figured it out by the title alone, this is a B-movie. The acting is bad, the jokes are horrible. There are lots of fart and shit jokes. Yet, somehow it's still entertaining.
A cursed killer turkey comes back after 500 years, just as 5 college kids are back at home for Thanksgiving break. He starts by killing a dog, then killing the parents of the main guy, then another secondary guy and girl after he has sex with her - while saying "You just got stuffed!". He then kills the other girl's dad, who is the sheriff and takes his face so that the group thinks he is the sheriff. They find a book on how to kill the turkey, but part of it is in code. I know, there's a lot that doesn't make sense. I won't say any more, as I don't want to spoil it.
Here are some good points. At 1 hour and 6 minutes, the movie is relatively short. The turkey has mannerisms similar to Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, though not as funny. The turkey will randomly produce a shotgun, which is really a rifle - ridiculous! This movie never pretends it isn't something it's not, which is kind of endearing.
Thankskilling was directed on Jordan Downey on a budget of $3,500 - money well spent. Luckily for us, there are sequels!
So, I had read that there's this new horror movie out that was so scary that people were not able to finish. It was a foreign movie, from Spain, dubbed in English and it was on Netflix. The title was Veronica.
I'm not easily scared, so I waited until the wee hours of the night and put it on. Veronica is the story of a young teenage girl, who is stuck taking care of her younger siblings - two girls and a boy, because her mother was always working and the father had died of unknown causes.
Vero (for short) decides that she wants to contact her dead father by using an Ouija board and decides to do the ritual during a solar eclipse with two of her classmates. During the ritual, something happens and Vero goes into a trance and passes out. Somehow, she had unleashed some demons from another place that weren't going away easily. Little does she suspect the horrors that await her and the family.
This film was great in my opinion. It doesn't have as many of the jump scares as Americans are used to from Hollywood horror films, but the sense of dread and camera angles make this a must-see film for horror fans.
It could be argued that the French do many things better - cheese, wine and of course music. This tune is proof. If dolphins had their own soundtrack, this would be it. Hungry Music label creator and talented producer N'to really broke the mold with this song. Petite was only the third track released on the label in 2014. It's become a classic.
