Sunday, April 26, 2015

planes.

a jeremih remix.

from chance the rapper and the social experiment.



PITCHFORK: Chance the Rapper and the Social Experiment Remix Jeremih's "Planes"

rhymes like weight.

a video.

starring curren$y.




flashlight.

a video.

starring jessie j.



best friend.

a video.

from yelawolf & eminem.

wrecking ball.

words.

"“Classic” food is seldom seen in contemporary cooking and it really ought to be celebrated.

...A fruit and vegetable supplier told recently of how a restaurant had sent back their kale delivery because the leaves were too small. Their dish required larger kale leaves for it to look right. It’s quite depressing that somehow it was the vegetable’s fault for not being the right size to fit the chef’s menu. It means the chef is doing the talking, not the ingredients.

...Everyone should feel confident enough to cook food simply and not pressured to add more. The simple meals are often the most pleasing and evocative...There is something about traditional, classic, simple—call it what you will—cooking that runs deep into the soul and has the ability to comfort and satisfy in a way that fussy cooking just can’t. In a time when it’s possible to get such fantastic ingredients, there is much less need to decorate."

MUNCHIES: Today’s Chefs Need to Step Away from the Garnish

Friday, April 24, 2015

"what's my name?"

a moment of clarity.

words.

"South Central lags because it's South Central. It's got nothing to do with names. WeHo and NoHo were attracting development and seeing gentrification long before they got their snappy nicknames; they were already places to be. Not so South Central. And urban cores don't need to change names to attract gentrification -- look at Harlem. Part of its success was probably due to the fact that it had a name people knew; it was already branded. Like most big-city black communities, Harlem was associated not just with urban mayhem but with a great history of black ambition that for a long time made it the cultural and intellectual capital of black America. South Central's history isn't quite that illustrious -- we didn't have a literary Renaissance, for example. But we had Central Avenue, the Eastside, and we produced luminaries like Ralph Bunche, Charlotta Bass, Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus (he was from Watts, but that's long been considered part of South Central, kind of its ground zero). Saying that all these people came from SOLA just sounds bizarre. Too, the attempt to rename/rebrand South Central feels uncomfortably like an attempt to dilute black history, to soften its complicated edges, and there's entirely too much of that going around. We don't need to try and make ourselves palatable to the outside world.

...Changing the name of South Central to SOLA may seem relatively harmless, a move by the tourism board. But it's part of the same instinct to make black people and their slave legacy, which includes economically paralyzed inner cities, palatable. It's focusing on advertising when we need to be looking harder at the product. It's nice to think that the advertising focus might actually change things -- i.e., if we rename it, they will come. History has proven that wrong. Over the years we have gone from Greater L.A. to South Central to South L.A., and it's still the same place.

...While other parts of town benefit from nicknames and branding -- WeHo, NoHo, and the ethnic hotspots like Chinatown and Little Tokyo -- black people have been on the losing end of the few name changes made with them in mind.

...But in a movie town, it all makes perfect sense. But renaming South Central doesn't need a sequel. The first show made its point."

KCET: The Name Game: South L.A. or SOLA, It's Still South Central

tom's diner.




starring giorgio moroder & britney spears. 

stream here.

"you say you want a revolution?..."

a moment of clarity.

for your consideration...

words. 

"...when the media asks questions like, “Where have all the rock stars gone?,” what the writer really means is, “Where have all the charismatic, platinum-selling white guys in tight pants gone?”

From where I stand, rock ‘n’ roll is alive and well. It just doesn’t look or act like it used to. From Courtney Barnett to Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis to Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield to Torres’ Mackenzie Scott to Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard, young singer-songwriters who lead their own rock bands have released, or will soon release, some of the year’s best albums. They all also happen to be women.

... much of rock’s current boom revolves around this combination: hyper-articulate personal storytelling atop a reframing of musical traditions, be it ’90s alternative (Speedy, Barnett, and Torres), ’60s psychedelia and soul (Alabama Shakes), or ’80s college rock and lo-fi (Waxahatchee). What we’re seeing is the history of rock ‘n’ roll if women had been invited to the party in the first place.

...maybe the emotional complexity that has been used against women throughout history is actually working in their favor right now, as more women than ever find their place in rock. Or maybe it’s mere coincidence that all of these albums have at least one moment that recalls the relief of discovering a complicated feeling given a proper name in another language.

Yes, our experiences with gender can greatly affect our worldviews — particularly if we’ve had negative experiences — but the sense that female voices are exclusively for female fans is patently wrong. This is the sound of rock ‘n’ roll right now, and it’s as strong as it’s ever been."

FLAVORWIRE: “Woman” Is Not a Genre: Why the New, Female-Led Rock Revolution Is for Everybody

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

withered hand & the ceiling.




 starring thee oh sees.

stream here.

god it.

starring de la soul & nas.



STEREOGUM: De La Soul – “God It” (Feat. Nas)

fly.

a video.

from raury & malik shakur.


wet dreamz.

a video.

starring j. cole.


ric flair.

a video.

starring killer mike.



quintessential.

 a video.

from rick ross & snoop.


hollyweezy.

a video.

starring lil wayne.


Saturday, April 18, 2015

Friday, April 17, 2015

mood.

sandwich and a soda.

a video.

starring tamia.


constantly hating.

a video.

starring young thug & birdman.


the sky behind the flag.

a video.

from owen pallett.


jams.

 with jenny lewis & the late late show with james corden.


inside out.

a spoon cover.

starring justin vernon.



PITCHFORK: Bon Iver's Justin Vernon Covers Spoon's "Inside Out"

uma thurman.

a video.

from fall out boy.


me u and hennessy.

a video.

starring dej loaf.


Thursday, April 16, 2015

a moment of clarity.

an ongoing discussion.

words.

"It is just preposterous that in 2015 we have to be in the business of insisting that Black Lives Matter. It ought not to be necessary to say that the relative invisibility of black suffering and the racially oppressive character of our institutions, especially as they face the black poor, are huge problems. But it is necessary, alas. And surely one of the greatest scandals in the world today is the fact that the “home of the free” has more people incarcerated per capita than any other nation — O.K., except the Seychelles islands — and while less than half of our prisoners are (non-Hispanic) blacks, you’ve got to believe that the general indifference to this vast prison population has something to do with its racial composition.

What kind of person would want to live in a society where half the male population has been arrested at least once by the time they’re in their mid-20s, which is the situation for African America? (Actually, what kind of country has arrested more than a third of its male population of any race by that age?) I think the general tolerance for the level of poverty in this very rich country is probably connected with the association of poverty with black people as well. So, as Du Bois pointed out a long time ago, among the victims of American racism are many of the white poor. My blood pressure literally rises in indignation whenever I think about the depraved indifference of too many of our politicians and too much of our media to these problems. I’ve argued (in “The Honor Code”) that patriotism is above all about having a stake in the honor of your country. So let me put it this way: On these questions, we Americans should be ashamed of ourselves."

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Kwame Anthony Appiah: The Complexities of Black Folk

EARLIER:

thought at work. 

deja vu.




starring giorgio moroder & sia.

stream here.

true survivor.

a video.

starring david hasselhoff.



THE DAILY BEAST: David Hasselhoff's New Video is Bonkers

the chemicals.

 a video.

from garbage.



PURE VOLUME: WATCH: Garbage Share "The Chemicals" Video

bullet proof soul + no way out of here.

sade covers.

starring sam beam & ben bridwell.





PITCHFORK: Iron & Wine and Band of Horses' Ben Bridwell Do "Letterman", Share Sade Cover




american oxygen.

a video.

starring rihanna.


california.

starring e-40, dam-funk, & ariel pink.


frail.



PITCHFORK: Crystal Castles Aren't Dead, Return With "Frail"

jell-o.

a video.

starring ariel pink.


high up (take me to the top).


starring peter bjorn & john.

stream here.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

drop that kitty.

a video.

starring ty dolla $ign, charli xcx, & tinashe.


kim's caravan.

a video.

starring courtney barnett. 


jet in jungle.




starring damaged bug.

PITCHFORK: Thee Oh Sees' John Dwyer Shares Damaged Bug Track "Jet in Jungle"

can't do without you.

a video.

from caribou.


Tuesday, April 14, 2015

city on the hill.

a video.

from desaparecidos.


kindred.


an album stream.

starring passion pit.

PITCHFORK: Passion Pit Stream Kindred

karaoke.

in the car.

with jennifer hudson and james corden.



nsfw.

lupe fisaco.

adoration of the magi.

a video.


fuck, that's delicious.

with mr. wonderful & michael voltaggio.



MUNCHIES: ‘Fuck, That’s Delicious’ Presents: Cooking With Mr. Wonderful Featuring Michael Voltaggio

Monday, April 13, 2015

a moment of clarity.

FILE UNDER: america.

words. 

"I find it particularly disturbing the way that we try to find excuses for killings, the way that we seek to deprecate a person when they have been killed rather than insisting that they deserved to remain among the living.

For me, there is only one issue in the Walter Scott case: he is dead, and that cannot be undone. And not only was he killed, but he was killed in a most dishonorable way: shot in the back as he fled. So, for me there is only one question: Should the dead man be dead? Is there anything, under American jurisprudence and universal moral law, that justifies the taking of this man’s life?

...A life is the most precious, most valuable thing in creation. It cannot be casually ended. It cannot be callously taken. It must always be honored and protected, and the person living it needn’t be perfect; he or she is human.

...It is tragic to somehow try to falsely equate what appear to be bad decisions made by Scott and those made by the officer who killed him. There is no moral equivalency between running and killing, and anyone who argues this obdurate absurdity reveals a deficiency in their own humanity. Death is not the appropriate punishment for disobedience. Being entrusted with power does not shield imprudent use of power. And one of the saddest and most frustrating features of our current debate about police use of force, in communities of color in particular, is the degree to which justice itself has been absorbed into the ideological struggle in this country.

Social justice, equal treatment and violence exerted by structures of power against a vulnerable population shouldn’t become a sprocket in our political machines. This is about right and wrong, not right and left."

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Walter Scott Is Not on Trial

real talk.

FILE UNDER: a moment of clarity.



DEFAMER: Madonna's Greatest Hit Is Herself

sound & color.



an album stream.

stream here.

sunday candy.

a short film.

starring chance the rapper + donnie trumpet & the social experiment. 





ryderz.


stream here.

lazaretto.

jack white. 


LIVE.

at coachella.


mood.



PITCHFORK: Drake Makes Out With Madonna During Coachella Set

the girls on drugs.

a video.

starring wale.

yoga.

a video.

starring janelle monae & jidenna. 


ship to wreck.

a video.

starring florence + the machine.






new york raining.

a video.

from charles hamilton & rita ora.


Saturday, April 11, 2015

truth hurts.

FILE UNDER: a moment of clarity.





Friday, April 10, 2015

a moment of clarity.

words. 

"Late Tuesday, news broke that yet another unarmed American, a black man named Walter Scott, was killed by a white police officer. As with Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and Rodney King nearly 25 years ago, the brutality was captured on video for the world to see. The New York Times put the damning evidence at the very top of its homepage and it quickly spread throughout social media networks provoking outrage, disgust, horror, grief. These reactions have come most vocally from black Americans. The silence from white activists, elected officials, public figures, and citizens has been deafening.

If you're white and have made it to this paragraph you might be thinking, or headed to the comments to write, "not all white people…" To be sure, there are white Americans active in efforts toward police reform. That population is, however, nowhere near the critical mass needed for change. Take for example New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. He made some unprecedented comments expressing "pain and frustration" after a grand jury failed to indict the NYPD officer who choked Eric Garner to death on film. He was quickly pressured to walk back that sentiment and, without the support he needed, did exactly that.

The bottom line: The majority of white Americans believe the nation's police are doing a good job despite that work often ending in the deaths of unarmed black people.

...When we can't complete a news cycle without learning another unarmed black person has been killed by police, one wonders: Where are the reasonable white Americans? Where's the religious right, those patriots and lovers of life and liberty? Even more, where are those good white cops, and what do they have to say about the one who executed Scott and then had the clarity of mind to possibly plant a weapon near him and falsify a police report?

 ...That brings us back to an unarmed Scott, stopped for a busted tail light in a state where you're only required to have one, struck five times from behind as he ran away from a man who'd later appeared to plant evidence on his dead body and lie about administering CPR to him. And, of course, Scott brings us back to Miriam Carey, Aiyana Stanley Jones, Ezell Ford, John Crawford, and so many others. How many more must die, how close together, and under what circumstances before the most empowered Americans feel compelled to advance, legislate and execute police reform? Or is this the system they want?"

GAWKER: White America's Silence on Police Brutality Is Consent

Thursday, April 09, 2015

nightcaps.

mood.

thought at work.

a moment of clarity.   

words.

  I saw this headline and immediately began to get misty eyed and tear up. my days are long, and often aren't about me. and it's rewarding, and it's fulfilling.

and each day, monday through friday, I get an hour to myself. we call this lunch. and on my lunch I take a walk and I sit down in a park that is fortunately not too far away. just me, my snacks, tall bottle of water and a book.

and for the last few months my book has been a borrowed collection of essays:

baldwin. the price of the ticket: nonfiction 1948 - 1985.

I sit still for about 20 to 30 minutes in that park. music curated, alone with these words, his thoughts. I'm about 280 or so pages in at the moment of the 690 page book, and I am in rush to see it come to an end.

                                                                     ******

     this article's headline grabbed me, moved me, because on more than a few occasions, I'd read an essay or passage in the price of the ticket and say to myself, "still relevant (still current) today. respect."

and as I write this kendrick lamar's for free? - interlude is playing in the back. a few years back he, along with a few of his peers (danny brown, schoolboy q, asap rocky, ye) helped me reclaim my blackness and be comfortable in my own skin, and with my own personal narrative.

it's not that i was ashamed of or running from my blackness or being black but I, admittedly, spent a number of years refusing to talk about or refusing to acknowledge it, especially when the world open its door to how the other half (white people) lives.

                                                                    ******
     but a funny thing about getting older is, if you are lucky, you often see things for what they really are, and never stop educating yourself/partaking in this education. let the sun shine in, have a moment of clarity, get a grip and better perspective on things. a change for the better. yeah, a lot of it was me, but a lot of it was/(is) societal and systemic.

(nobody's perfect).

                                                                     ******

     and it was refreshing to, all at once, at a time in my life where I feeling pretty low and unimpressive (with a piece of it being unfortunately attached to who I was, where I've been, and what/where I came from as a black man in america), it was refreshing to know I was not alone. and never was.

(I could never hate you hip-hop).

that I'm part of something bigger than me. that this blackness is part of me, and beautiful, and varied, man. fucking unique. and we're in this together. been through this together. and we're still here. my _____, my homies, my dawgs, my people.

     I, along with these cats (and many others in the rap + r&b game right now), continue to grow and expand upon what it means to be black (and embrace it) in america today while keeping our pasts in the rearview. and I continue to turn to them for reminder of where we've been, and a reassurance of where we're going/will and can go.

                                                                    *******

     and i thank you mr. baldwin for being there, too, with your the cross of redemption: uncollected writings during that period, offering me clarity from another time, still relevant today.

                                                                    ********

     and i thank you now.

     for the clarity you bring me monday through friday presently in the park as I navigate thru all this here blackness in america, two thousand fifteen. where it seems like ain't shit much changed, even though we know that it has.

(or believed this to be true).

     and know that it must.

GAWKER: What James Baldwin's Writing Tells Us About Today




ship to wreck.

starring florence and the machine.


in films.


m'$.




ghosttown.

a video.

starring madonna.


fucking young.

a video.

starring tyler the creator.


Tuesday, April 07, 2015

sometimes.

a video.

from heems.

make it easy.


starring (cut copy's) ben browning.

stream here.

alfonso muskedunder.

a video.

from todd terje.





Sunday, April 05, 2015

Saturday, April 04, 2015

american you.

a video.

starring yelawolf.



ludaversal intro.

a video.

starring ludacris.

mood.

Wednesday, April 01, 2015

mood.

tossed salad & scrambled eggs.

FILE UNDER: QUESTION! & AMERICA.

a moment of clarity.

words. 

"Who is on the right side of this argument — the Army, Mr. Obama, Gov. Jerry Brown of California, Mr. de Blasio? Or Texas, Alabama, Arizona and the Republicans whose resistance to reform has left the nation in this mess? Those die-hard opponents fail to remember that laws and policies that deny rights and promote exclusion have been the source of shame and regret throughout American history. Integration and assimilation are the core values of a country that is in danger of forgetting itself."

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Scrambled States of Immigration

king kunta.

a video.

starring kendrick lamar. 

piss off.

starring ffs.



PITCHFORK: Franz Ferdinand and Sparks Announce Self-Titled Album as FFS

country down.

a video.

starring beck.



so good.

a video.

from tuxedo.


need you now.

a video.

starring hot chip.