One of London’s best kept secrets

GHOSTPOET - cash and carry me home

JAY ELECTRONICA : SPOTLIGHT

Marié à Erykah Badu, Jay Electronica est un rappeur et producteur atypique de la Nouvelle-Orléans, connu notamment pour le titre "Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge)". Il est en pleine ascension aux Etats-unis depuis ces dernières années, grâce à son style peu conventionnel et à un titre qui a fait fureur sur Internet en 2009, "Exhibit C" (produit par Just Blaze).ont le percoit comme etant l'avenir du hip hop americain!

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind




exhibit c

FLYING LOTUS & BENGA IN MONTREAL

THU MAR 25 2010 AT S.A.T

FLYING LOTUS - tea leaf dancers



BENGA - green eyes (with goldielocks)

RAHEL : SPOTLIGHT !

is an energetic singer and songwriter from the uk working with eric lau and now with mdcl
i can't wait to see what the future can bring !


RAHEL - hope (with mdcl)



ERIC LAU FEAT RAHEL - confession lounge

LONE - once in a while

EGLO RECORDS - IT'S TIME FOR THE PEOPLE TO TAKE CHANGE

The brand new UK indie label EGLO have been causing quite some noise in the last year courtesy of his quality roosters of talents incorporing the lights of rising stars, Floating Points, Fatima, Shuanise, Funkineven, fusing the electronic sounds of house with hip-hop, soul and rare groove to bring you an eclectic futuristic dancefloor music.





The label was created by Alexander Nut and his friend Sam Sheppard (Floating Points) to expand opportunity to up and coming artists.
Alex Nut says about his label : "We just love music and want to share it with the world. At the same time it's a business and in a way it'a also quite political. We're putting out a lot of hip-hop, soul, house and whatever else we feel is exciting and good. "

After one year of existence there seems to be a lot of exciting things to coming up in the future for Eglo. To give you a little preview and to satisfy your curiosity you can listen to the following
tracks & enjoy!

















ALEX NUT - Anti Focus Pt. 1






















AARON JEROME - Angel lady (Floating Points remix)





















FUNKINEVEN - You!




















FLOATING POINTS ENSEMBLE - mind

Voice - Fatima
Trumpet/Flugel - Freddie Gavita
Alto Sax - James Bateman
Violin - Tsze Yenn Yong
Violin - Mariko McTier
Viola - Matt Kettle
Cello - Magda Pietraszewska
Cello - Michelle So
Guitar - Billy Adamson
Bass - Olly Buxton
Keys/Composition - Floating Points
Drums - Josh Blackmore
Percussion/Vibraphone - Chris Marshall



















TETTORYBAD FEAT FATIMA -UNITE






POTFORMAT FEAT SHUANISE - fairly child





FunkinEven, Fatima, Alexander Nut (Eglo Records)

"We raver third generation, brought up among parties d'n'b, hip hop and techno, we listened to everything and absorbed with the subconscious also things we liked least, whose sounds have become increasingly familiar to us" - Alex Nut

After the acid house, critical mass, the UK has been shaken only by the movement from the explosion of UK garage and dubstep. But even the latter, which has honored the best traditions rave in almost ten years, seems on the verge of collapse or at least launch signals failure. In fact in London do not speak the premature end of a genre, but more proud of the evolution of underground sound, which is increasingly absorbing the rhythms of hip hop, funky house and wonky without abandoning Detroit and Jamaica, and in some cases is rediscovering soul and pop. A development which saw some really exciting music, small independent labels run by young talented DJ and producer with a culture and a musical taste matched only by their resourcefulness DIY. We met the minds of three labels and artists, selected from emerging (the Eglo Records rising star Floating Points and Alexander Nut, protagonist of the pirate radio station Rinse FM, accompanied by Fatima), to understand their background and, most importantly, which direction they are facing.

And 'Sunday evening and the Plastic People, the historic East London club that hosts the evening's most desirable and at the forefront of bass culture (FWD>>), is already packed. Luckily make eye shy of Sam Shepherd, who has just finished his set as Floating Points and accompanies us in the basement. The space is minimal, the temperature hot, the soundsystem monstrous. The Plastician low bounce on the walls and throw it on dozens of bodies piled and swinging, among which we maneuver to reach the console Alexander Rogers, aka Alex Nut. In a rapid exchange of words we agree to a meeting quieter the next night at the diner there in front. Will he, Sam and Fatima Scuderia Eglo.

"I grew up in the 80s in Wolverhampton, a boring city in the West Midlands where people spent their evenings getting drunk in pubs and does not share my interest in music," starts to tell Alex. "In 2003, at age 21, I moved to London and enrolled at the university of music. Here I met people with the same aspirations: producing music, djing, found a label. " How many boys come to London to chase a dream, Alex plunges without wasting time on various experiences of clubbing and promotion. For three years working full time for the agency Zzonked, where he learns the mechanisms of the music industry, the Internet and radio. Then decides to go it alone, to work with friends met at Plastic People or his program on Rinse FM. Among these the roommate Fatima, noted in the club as he leapt on the microphone, and Sam, of which by chance discovered the music on the Internet. "Once you have contacted has sent me over 20 tracks that no one wanted to publish, including the first 12" of Eglo, For You / Radiality "says Nur. "In one year we met and talked about what labels would be suitable to his music, coming to the conclusion that we would open a whole." Sam has at least 12 years of production behind him, Alex began playing in clubs and on radio thanks to my friend Charles Holgate aka Nomad. "We met in an evening FWD linked to Rinse FM and I gave him some mix. Shortly after he offered me a space on the radio on the broken beat. I accepted, even if I put a mix of Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawk and cross whatever kind (laughs). " And while spending generous words for Sarah Lockhart and Geneeus, which for 15 years take up the radio despite two closures, Nut tells how tastes have changed in London in recent years. "There was a mix between friendly genres influenced by the likes of Benji B, Plastician and Dam-Funk, now all the DJs do not play more than just one style of music. Most of our musical tastes have developed on the streets of London, from drum'n'bass to 2step, up to the garage, the grime to dubstep to funky house and clearly as now. In 10 years much has changed in the musical history of the United Kingdom, which has a great tradition of clubbing and rave culture. We raver third generation, brought up among parties d'n'b, hip hop and techno, we listened to everything and absorbed with the subconscious also things we liked least, whose sounds have become increasingly familiar to us. If you squeeze all these styles still get soulful core that unites us and that even in the sounds harder and more violent there is overstepping in industrial or gabber. With its romantic vision of the world and tired of the pervasive cynicism, "record of cocaine and served to shit," Alex wants to control their own destiny and seeks to bring out the talent with sincerity and respect.

GROOVEMAN SPOT : CHANGE SITUATIONS

Hailing from Sendai in the north-eastern Tohoku region of Japan, Grooveman Spot a.k.a DJ Kou-G caught the musical bug as a teenager, first as a hip-hop dancer and then a DJ, influenced by the likes of legendary New York mixtape DJ Funkmaster Flex and Japan's own godfather of hip-hop and b-boy breaks DJ Muro - the "King of Digging".

Inspired by Muro's homegrown hip-hop group Microphone Pager, Grooveman Spot formed the duo ENBULL in 1996 with MC U-Zipplain. Mentored by legendary Japanese DJ and beatmaker DJ Watarai and influenced by American hip-hop heavyweights Pete Rock and DJ Premier (Gangstarr), Grooveman Spot's production talents established the group and producer a strong following in their homeland. Four albums and three mini albums later, ENBULL are entrenched in the Japanese hip-hop scene, and having launched their own label Enbrain Records in 2007 are an independent force to be reckoned with. Their new album Bohemian was released in Japan on Enbrain Records in July 2009.

Having swapped beats and ideas for many years with fellow Sendai hip-hop head DJ Mitsu The Beats (producer for GAGLE), the two ended up as label mates for their eclectic, acclaimed solo albums, which were produced for JazzySport and released on affiliated label PlanetGroove. On his debut album Eternal Development (2007) Grooveman Spot's solid beats were matched to international collaborations with Medaphoar a.k.a MED (Stones Throw), Capitol A, Count Bass D, Miss Jack Davey (J*Davey), Grap Luva, MC Invincible and O.C., and Japanese vocalists U-Zipplain, Hunger (GAGLE), Raythought, Mahya and Yoshika. The album and two CDs worth of remixes gained Grooveman Spot a reputation internationally as an up-and-coming Japanese producer to check for.

Grooveman Spot produced half-a-dozen of Eternal Development's tracks with Jazzy Sport founder Masaya Fantasista, teaming up as the production unit Tettory BLK. Together they produced an album for Japanese female r&b vocalist Mahya, before teaming up with London-based French producer Simbad as TettoryBad to record the album Unite in 2008 with guests vocalists including Ty, Paul Randolph and Fatima.

Grooveman Spot has recently returned to solo productions, releasing the Detroit beatdown house-inspired "Neuralgia/D.D.E" 7" and the double A-side single "Two Things/Down To You" on Jazzy Sport in late 2008 (the latter featuring vocalists John Robinson a.k.a Lil Sci and Musinah). He is now hard at work in the studio completing solo album #2, with a guest list including Grap Luva, Eric Rico, Kissey Asplund and more.

LISTEN BELOW A PREVIEW OF THE NEW RECORD

grooveman Spot "Change Situations" snippet by jazzysport

CHANGE SITUATIOS- RELEASE DATE O7/04/10 ON JAZZY SPORT
























THE SINGLE (12")OUT NOW ON PLANETGROOVE/JAZZYSPOT
FEAT JOHN ROBINSON AND MUHSINAH

DEXTER : THE FUTURE/ SOUNDS GREAT LES VIDEO

Dexter - The Future / Sounds Great Les from MPMTV on Vimeo.

Dexter - The Jazz Files (Teaser) from MPMTV on Vimeo.

AHU(DOLLY) : SPOTLIGHT !

For those of you who have never heard of Ahu she's a real dope vocalist
residing between Istanbul , Seattle Turkey and working with L.A's
Flying Lotus, AND SHE DO COLLABARATION WITH EMMANITIVE ,SOUNDSPECIES,MR BEATNICK,GROOVEMAN SPOT ECT...AND SHE DO SOME DJING YOU CANT LISTEN SOME OF IS MIXTAPE VIA RBMA!

THE GOODS : FEBRUARY

www.myspace.com/nostalgia77

WOODY ALLEN : CITATIONS

«Quand j’ai été kidnappé, mes parents ont tout de suite agi : ils ont loué ma chambre.»

«Hollywood ? C'est une usine où l'on fabrique dix-sept films sur une idée qui ne vaut même pas un court métrage.»

«L’être humain a précédé l’Infini, même s’il n’est pas encore muni de toutes les options.»

«Ce n'est pas que j'aie vraiment peur de mourir, mais je préfère ne pas être là quand ça arrivera.»

«Mieux vaut ne pas trop penser. Se reposer davantage sur le corps : il est plus digne de confiance.»

«L'homme n'amène pas son propre malheur, et si nous souffrons, c'est par la volonté de Dieu, bien que je n'arrive pas à comprendre pourquoi il se croit obligé de tellement en remettre.»

«La réponse est oui. Mais quelle était la question ?»

«J'aimerais terminer sur un message d'espoir. Je n'en ai pas. En échange, est-ce que deux messages de désespoir vous iraient ?»

«Pour l’homme qui pense, la mort n’est pas une fin mais un commencement.»

«J’ai été expulsé du lycée pour avoir triché pendant un examen de métaphysique ; je lisais dans les pensées de mon voisin.»

«Le sexe apaise les tensions. L’amour les provoque.»

Aucun moment n'est le bon, sauf pour les choses agréables!

Je n'ai jamais trouvé aucun lien entre la taille et la grandeur.

L'amour est une sorte de butoir contre la solitude.

EXTRAIT D'UN MAGAZINE FRANCAIS-------------------------------

Pourquoi laissez-vous souvent entendre que la perception que l’on a de vous n’est qu’un malentendu ?
Woody Allen. Quand j’étais jeune, j’étais un grand athlète. Vous avez du mal à le croire, n’est-ce pas ? On me prend pour un intellectuel, un rat de bibliothèque... A cause de mes lunettes, alors que je n’ai pas ouvert un livre avant l’âge de 18 ans. Je ne suis pas inculte mais je ne suis en aucun cas un intellectuel. Et je ne suis pas aussi névrosé qu’on le croit. Si je l’étais, je ne pourrais pas être aussi productif. Le public me confond avec les personnages que j’interprète. J’ai souvent tenté de m’expliquer mais les gens m’écoutent poliment et, au fond, ils n’ont aucune envie de me croire.

L’écrivain américain Philip Roth a dit que “vous n’existiez qu’à cause de la naïveté européenne”. Cela vous a-t-il blessé ?
Je n’ai jamais fait de films pour obtenir des récompenses ! On croit que je suis l’enfant chéri des critiques intellectuels américains... En fait, la plupart n’ont jamais écrit que des choses négatives sur moi. Il y a bien longtemps que j’ai arrêté de les lire !

Pourquoi les Américains ont-ils tant de difficultés à comprendre la passion ?
L’Amérique est un pays très moral, sexuellement répressif. Dans un film, je suis même tombé amoureux d’un mouton... Ça vous en dit long !

Quel est, selon vous, le plus grand obstacle qu’Obama aura à surmonter ?
La résistance dans son propre pays. Comme je le dis dans le film : “Tout le monde a cru, avec l’arrivée d’Obama, que ce serait la fin du racisme. Ça ne s’est pas fait. Mettez-le dans la rue à New York, pas un taxi ne s’arrêtera !”

Comment expliquez-vous que seuls les Juifs sont capables de parler de la souffrance avec humour ?
Je ne crois pas que ce soit vrai. Jacques Tati, Buster Keaton, W.C. Fields, Bob Hope n’étaient pas juifs, ils sont pourtant follement drôles.

Dans le film, vous faites dire à votre personnage principal que la vie est “la chambre des horreurs”. Vous êtes toujours aussi optimiste...
Je ne suis pas nihiliste, pas cynique, simplement réaliste. On vit dans un camp d’extermination. On est sur terre pour une courte période, sans garantie que quelque chose de positif va arriver. Ni l’art ni la famille ne vous sauvent. Vous accumulez des tableaux, des symphonies. Vous vieillissez, tombez malade et mourez sans avoir jamais compris ce que vous faisiez sur cette fichue planète. Le seul soulagement, c’est que la fin est la même pour tout le monde ! Il n’y a que jouer de la clarinette qui m’enlève un peu de mon anxiété. Je ne suis pas très bon mais je sais qu’on m’écoute parce que je suis connu. Je ne me fais aucune illusion.

Vous ne trouvez pas qu’il y a quand même quelque chose de positif à vieillir ?
Quoi ? Dites-moi quoi ! A refaire, je referais les mêmes erreurs. Je n’ai pas gagné en sagesse, je ne me suis pas adouci. Je me pose toujours les mêmes questions auxquelles je ne trouve pas de réponses : pourquoi suis-je sur cette terre ? Ni le succès ni l’échec ne changent quelque chose à votre vie ! Ça ne vous empêchera jamais d’avoir mal aux dents !

Vous avez 73 ans, qu’est-ce que ça vous fait d’être marié à une jeune femme de trente-cinq ans votre cadette ?
Je suis très heureusement marié depuis douze ans. Faire des films n’est plus ma priorité absolue. Le soir, je n’ai envie que d’une chose, c’est de rentrer chez moi. Le mariage est une merveilleuse distraction dans ma vie, mais je sais que c’est temporaire. Votre femme ne peut vous réconforter que jusqu’à un certain degré. Elle vous tient la main quand vous attendez les résultats de votre biopsie, c’est déjà mieux, me direz-vous, que d’être tout seul à vous morfondre.

Si on vous donnait l’immortalité, qu’en feriez-vous ?
Je me suiciderais !

Woody Allen est un homme très secret, sauf en ce qui concerne les femmes. On ne sait même pas encore le titre de son futur film mais on sait qui jouera dedans ! Naomi Watts sera donc de la partie !

Woody Allen préfère garder le mystère sur ses projets, les informations sont communiquées au compte-goutte à la presse, et c’est peut-être mieux comme ça. Nous venons donc d’apprendre que Freida Pinto, serait à l’affiche du futur film au titre inconnu. L’héroïne de Slumdog Millionaire

A PLACE TO GO : BASEMENT MIX

YUSEF LATEEF -THE PLUM BLOSSOM (FOR THE INTRO)
ARTHUR RUSSELL - ANOTHER THOUGHT
COMFORT FIT - YOUR NEXT INCARNATION (BOOM CLAP BACHELORS REMIX)
THE EQUATICS - AIN' T NO SUNSHINE
CALYPSO ROSE - CALYPSO BLUES
BLUNDETTO - NAUTILLUS
THE DAKTARIS - QUIET MAN IS DEAD MAN
CYMANDE - BRA
AYOMARI - I WANNA (JOURNEY)
ALOE BLACC - TAKE ME BACK
MYRON & THE SOUL INVESTIGATORS -COLD GAME
DONWILL -CHIC
ODDISEE - SAN FRAN
DEBRUIT - CHANGEMENT
TY - EMOTIONS(FEAT SARINA LEAH & SHAUN ESCOFERY)
DARKSTAR - AUTOMATING
DARU & RENA - HAPPY
TALIB KWELI - TAKE IT BACK(FEAT MARSHA AMBROSIUS)
SOUL VILLAGE - FUNKIN' FOR JAMAICA(FEAT TIFFANY PAIGE)
LILY M - LOVING UNIVERSE(THE WORK REMIX)
BONOBO - BETWEEN THE LINES(FEAT BAJKA)
RAHEL - HOPE
NAILAH - LILIES & BIRDS
BUILD AN ARK - MAY IT BE SO

SPACE IS THE PLACE : BASEMENTSOUL MIX

EMILIANA TORRINI - HA HA
MASSIVE ATTACK - PARADISE CIRCUS
ZAKI EBRAHIM - DAYLIGHT
JIMETTA ROSE - GLORY US
DEBORAH JORDAN - NOTHING LASTS
SILHOUETTE BROWN - LEAVE A NOTE
KIT KNOWS - FRAGILE
ILLUM SPHERE - AGENT WHITE
SOULJAZZ ORCHESTRA - NEGUS NEGAST
MR FLASH - DIRTY BOSSA NOVA
ANDRES - SING ABOUT IT (FEAT TRACY VOX & KDJ )
BONOBO - EYESDOWN ( FEAT ANDREYA TRIANA )
BULLION - CRAZY OVER YOU
FOURTET - SING
PANGAEA - WHY
HYETAL & SHORTSTUFF - ICE CREAM
DJ ZINC & MS DYNAMITE - WILW OUT
DARU JONES - IT WAS YOU (FEAT JIMI JAMES)
LITTLE DRAGON - BLINKING PIGS 1-O.A.K GOD MAKE ME FUNKY REMIX
THE XX - BASIC SPACE (SAMPHA REMIX)
DAEDELUS - ADMIT DEFEAT
FATIMA - SOUL GLO
GIL SCOTT- HERON - I'LL TAKE CARE OF YOU

HENRIK SCHWARZ & BUGGE WESSELTOFT RBMA LONDON 2010

ERYKAH BADU : JUMP IN THE AIR VIDEO

CITATIONS : david lynch

« Je fabrique des mondes et je regarde s'ils fonctionnent »

«Ce qui effraie le plus, ce n’est pas la réalité, mais ce qu’on imagine qu’elle cache.»

«On ignore ce qui se cache dans l'obscurité.»

«Le monde entier est cruel à l’intérieur et cinglé en surface.»

«Le monde contemporain n'est peut-être pas exactement l'endroit le plus brillant où l'on puisse rêver de vivre. C'est une espèce d'étrange carnaval. Où il y a pas mal de douleur mais qui peut-être assez drôle aussi.»

«Il y a une logique dans chacun de mes films, mais l’important c’est votre logique à vous.»

«Le cinéma, c'est un désir très fort de marier l'image au son.»

«On n’est pas obligé de comprendre pour aimer. Ce qu’il faut, c’est rêver.»

«La musique est un excellent moyen de conjuguer des idées.»

SPIKE JONZE : I'M HERE SHORT FILM !

Tout juste présenté lors de l’édition 2010 du festival de Sundance, I’m Here est le nouveau court métrage de Spike Jonze. Ce film d’une trentaine de minutes raconte les aventures d’un robot à Los Angeles, dont la vie prend un nouveau virage alors qu’il tombe amoureux

EN BONIS KANYE X SPIKE JONZE

jamie lidell's new release"compass"

British Jamie Lidell is set to return this year with Compass, his follow up to 2008’s well-received Jim. The album features contributions from Feist, Beck, Daniel Rossen, Chris Bear and Nikka Costa. Compass is due out on May 18 via Warp and I have afeeling that the overall sound of the new album is going to be slightly different than were accustomed to.

http://www.jamielidell.com/

TURN IT UP ! : BASEMENTSOUL DILLATRIBUTE

THE PHARCYDE - RUNNIN'

PETE ROCK (FEAT J DILLA - NIGGAZ KNOW

JAY DEE - RICO SUAVE BOSSA NOVA

J DILLA (FEAT PHAROAHE MONCH) - love

STEVE SPACEK - DOLLAR

ILLA J - WE HERE

QUE D - CASH FLOW

Q TIP - THING WE DO

JAY DEE - FUCK THE POLICE

AMP FILDER - I BELIEVE IN YOU (JAYLIB MIX)

DE LA SOUL - VERBAL CLAP

GUILTY SIMPSON - I MUST LOVE YOU

GHOSTFACE KILLAH - WHIP YOU WITH THE STRAP

JAY DEE - THINK TWICE

SLUM VILLAGE - FALL IN LOVE

DWIGHT TRIBLE & THE LIFE TRIO - ANTIQUITY

BUSTA RHYMES - SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT

A TRIBE CALLED QUEST - FIND A WAY

COMMON - THE LIGHT

PHAT KAT - DESTINY (FEAT MELANIE RUTHEFORD )

FRANK N DANK - MA DUKES

COMMON - COME CLOSE REMIX (FEAT ERYKAH BADU,PHARELL & Q TIP)

























SUITE FOR MA DUKES ORCHESTRA "TAKE NOTICE" FROM DILLA RUFF DRAFT EP




THIS SONG PRODUCED BY DILLA FOR JANET AND I STILL LOVE this VIDEO!

BACK IN THE DAYS :BASEMENTSOUL MIX

INTRO

A,D.O.R - from the concrete

PAULA PERRY - extra extra

MC LYTE - wonder years

REDMAN - tonight's da night

DE LA SOUL - 4 more

BLACK SHEEP - strobelite honey

MAIN SOURCE - large professeur

POSITIVE K - i got a man

XANADU - sure shot

THE PREMERIDIAN - grooving to the beat

JOE KICKASS - gladys

Q TIP - fever

STRONG ARM STEADY - best of times( feat phonte)

WU TANG VS THE BEATLES - uzi (pinky ring)

A TRIBE CALLED QUEST - LUCK OF LUCIEN
GANG STAR - THE ?REMAINZ
LITTLE BROTHER - SO FABULOUS
DIGABLE PLANETS - DOG IT

BIG L - flamboyant

THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G - juicy

BRAND NUBIAN - love me or leave me alone

NAS - one love

FOR SCOTT C.

ERYKAH BADU - WINDOW SEAT

a second single so enjoy it!

sedan bagcan

Here Goes One Everyone Should Pick Up. The Well Worthiest Of All Turkish Psych Albums. Rediscovered For Many Since Oh No (Stones Throw) Sampled The Shit Out Of It. Also you Might hear It On Adult Swim During Commercial Spots. Don't Miss This One, After Selda Recorded This, She Would Never Release Anything up To Par, In Other Words Selda Wrote And Played What She Wanted On This Album, Talking About Politics, Corruption And Poverty In Her Country, And This Album Stirred Much Controversy In Turkey. The Turkish Gov't Censored And Badmouthed A Lot Of Musicians in Turkey, For Speaking The Truth. And Sounds Like This Werent Heard From Again in Turkey.




sedan bagcan- ince ince

DARK ROOM NOTES:VIDEO

The video, right from the opening credits and later on, in the dance sequence, is based on the famous French film-maker Jean-Luc Godard's Bande à part

ANNA LINA BLAKE

http://www.flickr.com/people/anna_log

http://www.behance.net/annalinabalke

THE ROOTS :DILLA JOINT!

THE ROOTS FEAT MIGUEL ATWOOD FERGUSON DILLCHESTRA-ANTIQUITY

michel gondry

For three, four, maybe even five years, Michel Gondry kept returning in his mind to the image of dozens of dancers wearing brightly colored outfits. “Sometimes you have a concept that doesn’t necessarily reflect some specific narrative,” the French film and music video director (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Be Kind Rewind) tells EW. “I have tons of ideas like that in the back of my head.” From time to time he’d suggest this idea to one musician or another. “They always wanted to add something to it, and I thought it would lose what I like in the idea, the simplicity…I was asked to maybe use it for a commercial, but I didn’t want to. I would rather pay myself and do it in a much lower budget than to ruin the idea and do it for a commercial.”
Then, about 10 months ago, Gondry met West Coast singer-songwriter Mia Doi Todd at a party. “I really fell in love with her music,” he says. “It’s incredibly fragile, personal, and very elevated.” They became friends, and soon Todd penned a new tune, “Open Your Heart,” that Gondry thought would work perfectly with the color-coordinated choreography he’d been wanting to use.
After signing on to direct the video for “Open Your Heart,” Gondry went with Todd to scout locations in east Los Angeles. “Basically, L.A. is not made for humans. It’s a lot of concrete and cars passing by. It’s very blank, which is a great background to put all these people with colors.” Next, they cast their stars. “I needed a group of people who could move together, but it would have been too affected if they were professional dancers. We found this marching band from Riverside Community College.” Over three sunny days, Todd and 100 or so marching band members-turned-dancers brought Gondry’s vision to life. Watch the video below to see how the video for “Open Your Heart” turned out.



Not content to merely direct one music video for Todd, Gondry has also become her live drummer. He’ll back her in a monthlong Tuesday residency at L.A.’s Spaceland club starting tonight. “It’s fun,” he says. “I always wanted to be in a band again. But I don’t think the drum is really the instrument she needs, so I try to be as light as possible. Sometimes she feels I’m a little bit like an elephant. I’m going to amputate my feet and replace them with feathers, to be able to fit her music.”
Any possible amputations aside, Gondry is also planning a separate top-secret project with frequent collaborator Björk. (“It’s very undefined, so it’s hard to give more precision.”) On top of this, he’s busy editing his comic-book film The Green Hornet (due later this year), starring Seth Rogen; preparing to make an animated film with his son; and hoping to find a publisher for a book of portraits based on a recent Web series. “I have a lot of projects,” he says modestly. “People think I would rest, but instead of that, my brain is racing through all the ideas I have, and I want them to come out.”


Rumor: Björk working with Michel Gondry on a new project...
“It’s very undefined, so it’s hard to give more precision.”
- Michel Gondry

georg levin -runaway!

NnEKA:SPOTLIGHT!

"What is life without knowing that death comes?" asks the Nigerian-German singer-songwriter Nneka Egbuna in "Mind vs. Heart." If you're going to wax philosophical on a pop record, you better be able to back it up with gravitas and some great music. Luckily, Nneka has plenty of both. She has a husky, supple voice and is equally adept at blasting out guitar anthems ("Focus") and sauntering through neosoul rave-ups. She's clearly listened to Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu, but the production on Concrete Jungle, by DJ Farhot, is both inventive and inviting. Much of the music here has been previously released in Europe and Africa, where Nneka is already a cult star. It's time the rest of us caught up with her.

JODY ROSEN -ROLLING STONE

ZARA MCFARLANE : GIRL TO WATCH !

OK LET THE MUSIC SPEAK!

UNTIL TOMMOROW

BOPSTAR FEAT ZARA MCFARLANE - CHIAROSCURO