The Origin Story Is Genius Tho…

There’s an archived video of the panel I moderated last week during the Together fest. It begins with a six minute opening from me, then I introduce my esteemed co-panelists — Boima, Poirier, Ripley, Max, and Jesse — and we finally REALLY get into the convo about 10 minutes in. From there it’s a solid […]

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B’Town to R’Dam

First, tonight’s (TUESDAY’S) Beat Research is a special session featuring three button-pushing beatsmiths: Hailing from Toronto, Doldrums comes to town during a tour taking him around the US and over to Europe. Omnivorous in his sampling, and known to release VHS-only mixtapes, Doldrums — who often adds video collage and his own voice to the […]

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Incoming / Outgoing

Despite my relative silence here this summer — about which, more soon — big tings a gwaan, especially as the fall semester rolls around. First up, I’m thrilled to report that I leave today for Rotterdam, my first visit to Holland / the Netherlands! I’m fortunate to have been invited to participate in a conference […]

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Nettles, Neighbors, and Nu World Music

I’ve received repeated requests to share the text I delivered in my pre-concert talk for the Nettle residency at Brandeis. It’s only taken me four months to post it here finally. Regular readers of this blog may find certain passages familiar; some are literally cut-n-pasted from posts here (where I do a lot of my […]

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Music Unites Us, Gets Under Our Skins

I couldn’t be more thrilled to announce this — At a time when the arts community at Brandeis is feeling rightly beleaguered, it brings me no little satisfaction to know that we will be putting on a rather art-ful residency later this month, sponsoring the US premiere of such an exciting, provocative, and relevant group […]

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Finnish Lines

Byron Garcia: The ‘Thriller’ Maker 'And the genius behind it all is the prison boss, Byron Garcia, the Cebu provincial security consultant who came up with the idea in an attempt to improve and discipline and morale. The son of Congressman Pablo Garcia and sister of Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, Byron Garcia faced a difficult […]

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linkthink #04933: Super Chooseday, pt. 894593593

J. Griffith Rollefson, “Musical (African) Americanization: Hip Hop and Minority Identity in Berlin” award-winning essay on hip-hop in germany by UW-Madison ethno grad student :: saw a version last month in iowa city (tags: academic essay pdf hip-hop berlin germany af-am europe ethnomusicology race nation) YouTube – BoomBapArchive’s Channel video archive dedicated to old school […]

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linkthink #14294: Strategeric Communications

MySpace.com – ScaryÉire – IE – Hip Hop / Other – www.myspace.com/scaryeire “Hold Tight remix” = yet another zunguzung riff (around 1:30), this time from a mid-90s recording by an irish hip-hop group :: thx to a student @ Brandeis for spotting it ! (tags: ireland hip-hop zunguzung madmad myspace) CIRP Stations :: Caribbean Internet […]

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linkthink #31892: Dilapknapsack

Dave Stelfox on ‘white reggae’, once reviled, but now taking off around the world | Urban | guardian.co.uk Music “Once reviled, ‘white reggae’ is now taking off all over the world – even in Jamaica. But is it any more than a pale imitation of the real thing? Dave Stelfox investigates” (tags: global reggae race […]

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Beat Research :: DJ Gaetano Fabri

@ Beat Research, Monday, April 14 >> Balkan Beats w/ DJ Gaetano Fabri Based in Belgium and Paris, DJ Gaetano Fabri will be stopping by BR as part of his world tour. He is known for mixing dancefloor beats with the traditional music from the Tzigane or ’Gypsy’ culture. The sounds of East European brass […]

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Nella Mia Lingua

Last week I gave a guest lecture in a “Global Pop” class at MIT. The professor, Patricia Tang, asked me to come in and do my thing where I show how various genres cohere depending on tempo and rhythmic pattern. It’s a shtick I’ve had going for years, using Ableton (or, previously, FruityLoops) to make […]

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linkthink #95363: Color Guard

Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) PALAOA – Livestream streaming sound from the antarctic ocean (via bldblg) (tags: audio science sound soundscape nature antarctica) Canyon Cody el canyonazo, studying music in grenada via fulbright, promises to live-blog the making of an al-andulus inspired album, w/ such collaborators as gnotes, over the month […]

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linkthink #35663: Mega, Man

The “Amen Break” and Golden Proportion hmmm. this is clever and fun, but it’s also a classic example of analysis with no regard for cultural value or use. it makes no sense to consider the amen break as a whole, since most simply sample a measure (or less). it’s the timbre that’s golden. (tags: breaks […]

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linkthink #3935tt50: Oxfam Biscuits & Mosquito Nets

Oxfamming the whole black world : Binyavanga Wainaina : Mail & Guardian Online “Hello kitty kitty kitty … Would you like an Oxfam biscuit?” (tags: africa development racism humor critique colonialism) BDubs Volume 2 | stainage.com straight outta brussels :: continental dubstep, grime, & bassline, w/ a touch of acid (tags: europe brussels dubstep grime […]

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Simon Says: I’m a Hipster?

Dang. I think Simon just referred to my blog as “hipster chatter.” Them’s fightin words, Reynolds. I mean, I’m sayin, I only own one belt and maybe 3 pairs of sneakers, tops. For serious tho, I’m very curious to know what constitutes hipsterism — for Simon and for others — at this moment in time. […]

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The People in Your Neighborhood

Something is poppin’ in the state of Denmark. Troels (of Firehouse Sound) recently hipped me(space) to Lady Smita, a Roxanne Shante song-embedding dancehall diva who makes punaany-power traxx with digital Danish producers like Maffi, uses Boba Fett for her profile pic, and starts her heroes list like so — Which made me think: the MIA […]

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Euroteknofolkisch Fußwerk and Other Whirledly Delights

Mashit Records relaunches this month as a netlabel, complete with a blog, and DJ C has been tearing it up over there. He promises podcasts, mashups (of the week), remixes, and all sorts of goodies as they go, including no doubt plenty more Mashit Seratonin. My favorite post so far is Jake’s coverage of yet […]

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The Further Adventures of Blog O’Sphere, pt. 643

Given that urbody’s raving, and rightly so, about Dr.Auratheft’s DoabaGypsyQawwaliFlamenco mix (which I misnomerly bigged up back at the blogspot), I think it’s only proper to point you to Murk’s second podcast, DiasporRoma, which selects for similar socio-sonic suggestions. From a slightly different angle, or yet another node on the bellydance diaspora (no misnomo), here’s […]

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