Global Ghettotech vs. Indie Rock: The Contempo Cartography of Hip

“Hipster hedonism takes many forms,” wrote Ned Polsky in reply to Norman Mailer’s hipster manifesto of 1957. “Some hipster groups,” Polsky continued, “have everything to do with motorcycles, whereas others have nothing to do with them.” Similarly, but more in the abstract, in his genealogy of the hipster, “Hip and the Long Front of Color” […]

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Superficial Reflections

“To swing with the rhythms of another is to enrich oneself — the conception of the learning process as dug by Hip is that one cannot really learn until one contains within oneself the implicit rhythm of the subject or the person.” “(And yet crazy is also the self-protective irony of the hipster.” “the nihilism […]

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The War On Error

TSA dude: Yes it is! me: No, technically, it’s not. TSA dude: She deserved everything she got. me: I’d expect you to say that. … (t-shirt deets here)

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Maga Maga Maga! Bo Bo Bo!

It’s a Sooty month at Beat Research. Last week we had the pleasure of hosting Filastine, and tonight we’ve got the mighty Maga Bo! Readers of this here blog surely need no introduction to Mr.Bo. He’s been making waves for a while now with his world-whirling, genre-busting mixes — not to mention his excellent series, […]

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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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Illadelph Dispatch: More w/r/t “Whiteness”

Been enjoying the ASA conference in Philly for the last few days. Our panel on Thursday went pretty well, I think. We actually seemed to have some coherence across our papers and although we had a rather compromised a/v situation (holding a Shure 58 to laptop speakers don’t really cut it in a ballroom), I […]

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Sonidos Aburridos Bastardos!

If I thought something was poppin in the state of Denmark, I have no idea que pasa en Argentina. The ol’ blogosphere radar has been registering lots of blips from that southmost outpost in South America. I mentioned the Frikstailers a little while back, for instance. And of course, there’s the whole cumbia rebajada movimiento, […]

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Filastine Shine

Tonight at Beat Research: none other than the globetrottin, no-stoppin, power-to-the-people’s-party-rockin radical, Filastine! Don’t sleep. Check the profile in last week’s Phoenix for more deets, if you don’t already know —

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iReggaeton?

Next week (Thursday, Oct 11, from 12:00pm – 1:45pm to be exact) I’ll be presenting at the annual meeting of the American Studies Association, being held this year in Philadelphia (at the Marriott, natch, which is offering a lovely “conference rate” of $200/night). I’m not so excited about the hotel deal, but I’m excited about […]

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Let No One Forget About the Hard Part

Thing about hip-hop, it’s laaaaarge. Too often the focus falls on the most ubiquitous figures, images, and myths. But hip-hop contains multitudes. Don’t let MTVH1 and Diet Fiddy colonize yr horizons, kids. I try to keep this in mind when someone who knows very little about hip-hop asks me my opinion of “it,” and it’s […]

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Talkin’ All That Canon: On Hip-hop’s Jazz

Did I say something about “counter” canons? I think I like “loose” canons better. But the gist remains: that is, if we listen to some genre of choice through the ears of another, it can tell us a great deal about both genres (which is to say, about the producers and devotees of both). — […]

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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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Global Schoolhouse Fundraiser

If you roll like a philanthropist (i.e., $50-and-up for tix), come schmooze with me and the people behind Global Schoolhouse on Thursday, September 27, at 120 Walker Street in Chinatown, NYC. I’ll be playing lots of whirled music in support of this global education initiative. More details available here.

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Beat Research – Sept 07

As usual, DJ Flack & i&i & special guests will be conducting some weekly Beat Research over at the Enormous Room. Here’s our line up for the month of September — Sept 3 :: Eggplant Xanadu For this Labor Day we thought we would bring in party DJ Eggplant Xanadu to help keep those free-wheeling […]

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Hallelujah Holla Black

Some readers might remember that I participated in a panel about ego trip’s White Rapper Show earlier this year at the annual meeting of IASPM-US. I’ve been wanting to share my thoughts / comments from that session here for a while, but haven’t had a moment to collect (or transcribe) them. Well, I just spent […]

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Gungo Peas, Feng Shui, and Zen / Zunguzungunguzung-again!

Thanks to Gabriel from Heatwave (and happy earthday, y’all!) for bringing my attn to yet another iteration of the Zunguzung meme. This time around, Damian Marley and Gwen Stefani add their names to the long list of meme carriers. I’m not really feeling the track (which maybe goes without saying), but I like the way […]

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Mash Ave

I’ll be dropping some mashy potatoes alongside DJ BC and Lenlow at their biweekly Mash Ave gig over at the Indo in Union Square.

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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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