Keep On Ridin'

Honest Abe

All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind. - Abraham Lincoln

Yak

Holy

I would take so much Ecstasy at a Chuck Mangione concert.

 I saw Chuck Mangione perform solo as a young boy, I remember his playing "Feel So Good" and being blown away by his sound; he's got such a smooth, soft tone on the instrument I also remember him just beaming with happiness like he is in these clips, great persona, which comes through in his playing. The flugelhorn lends to a softer tone but usually at the expense of sounding sad or mellow, but Chuck Mangione's playing is bright and ecstatic.

 

R.I.P. King of the Hill

Octopus Subvertisement

Built From Seed: print in progress

Music From A Tree - Diego Stocco

The End of the World is Coming

Emeralds

 

Deep Water Funk

The End of the World is Coming

It Never Rains - Tony! Toni! Tone! (New Jack Throwback Track)

Heartbeat - Nneka (Beautiful New Hip Hop/Soul)

Listen To The Lorax

Labguest's iNudge Beat

This is a really awesome little music production widget - here's a beat I made on it, and here's a link to iNudge. Check it out, it's an awesome tool/toy whatever you want to call it.

Labguest Apartment Design

Delia Derbyshire: Reel-to-Reel Beat Matching Virtuosa

Great TED Talk On The Myths of World Development

Life Is Better: Q-Tip & Norah Jones Video

Getz It. (jazz hip hop beat)

Carnivorous Plants - Psychedelic Hip Hop Beat

Beat St.

Pluck (Territarem) - hip hop/electronica sampling Memento

Got Til It's Gone - My Favorite Hip Hop Track

LEGO: Architecture

This stuff is awesome, although it probably appeals more to adults that are into LEGOs, any precocious young Lego enthusiast would get a kick out of these. I'm down - this is making me start thinking about taking up my old Lego hobby actually.

The Taj Mahal (not officially in the series but the coolest):

My Favorite, Frank Ghery:

Looks just like Seattle's Experience Music Project

Moss

A Building In My Wallet

Boys With Kitten – Harar, Ethiopia: photo © Javed Iqbal

Art & Beat - Youtube Video

Khoda: Hand-Painted Animation

Milk & Honey (Doodles: Drawing+Beat)

Holland's Response To Bill O'Reilly's Foolishness

Bill O'Reilly tries to spin Holland's lax drug laws into a havoc-wreaking source of misery for the country. According to people that are actually from Holland, Bill O'Reilly's totally ignorant and a good deal of them are offended by his comments. Why are people with zero journalistic integrity allowed on television? Personally, I think Bill O'Reilly was a direct precursor to the abundance of comedy news programs on television today. The man is a joke, it's comical to watch something as biased as his show be passed off as "fair reporting." That right there is the irony of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report - yes, they're satires of Bill O'Reilly & co., supposed "news shows" that are more about serving a plate of their own B.S. than dishing out recent events. But in the sorry state of journalism today (thanks to O'Reilly), Stewart and Colbert have become in a way respected journalists, largely because so much of America is familiar/comfortable with biased reporting.

For more about O'Reilly's antics, read this post by a magazine editor ambushed on his morning commute by some of the show's hit-man-like interviewers. 

 

We Need Lasers For This Rhino!

found by [@supereffserious]

8-Bit Trip: Psychedelic Lego Music Video

via [The Pat Piffington Files]

Just Got Paid - Family Guy Music Video (New Jack Throwback!)

Unfortunately, the official music video for this classic track has the embedding disabled, but I found this homemade music video made up of Family Guy clips. It's actually really well done, the guy managed to match up a lot of the lip syncing and got most of it on beat too. But if this doesn't do it for you, you can view the original "Just Got Paid" video. This track used to come on all the time back on the Michael Baisden show, when I'm back in Jersey or NYC I'm almost always listening to Kiss FM when I'm driving around. I have no way of verifying this, but I feel like I must be one of like 2 or 3 white guys that regularly listen to the Michael Baisden show, which as far as I know doesn't air here in Seattle. Anyway, follow this link for more New Jack Throwbacks on labguestloops.  

The View From Above - sketches by Susan Rudat

one of my favorite flickr discoveries of all time is artist susan rudat, each of her drawings is a unique experience of form, movement & texture. although her style is almost eerily consistent its cartoonish look makes it comforting - but where cartoons lack detail, susan rudat's sketches are filled with it.

Rejuvenate

Boundless

D.Black's Return

The Return - zSHARE mp3

Here's Seattle emcee's latest track "The Return" produced by Jake One off D.Black's upcoming album "Ali'Yah." Hebrew for "ascending," the word is traditionally used in reference to being called up to perform a spiritual duty, which perfectly fits D.Black's intentions. According to Black, this is his last album - "Giving up rap is hard. But it's God's decision, not mine. It's like he's saying to me, 'By you leaving the thing that you love the most, that would be the greatest testimony, because it shows that you're being obedient to me.' It was tough on me. At first I shed tears, but I'm ready to move on." But before he leaves, Black has some things he's got to say. His first album was full of rap star intentions, but his second attempt has real purpose, "I wanted to challenge the community," he says, "I'm talking about rappers, preachers, pastors, rabbis, sheiks, whoever is up to take the challenge, and put forth better thoughts. On Ali'yah there's a whole lot of 'we,' as opposed to just 'I.' I want to speak in terms of community." It seems that D.Black's ascension from hip hop and his spiritual quest through Christianity and Judaism have helped him, giving him a reason to rhyme. "What [Ali'yah] has that D.Black's first record lacks is focus. Primarily produced by Vitamin D, Jake One, and B.Brown, Ali'Yah does not contain a variety of tracks with a variety of motives—one that should produce a hit, one that should maintain or reinforce street credibility, one that's just right for the club. Instead, it is unified by D.Black's singular concern with the substance/meaning of his life—a life that is in the mode of hiphop and made up of very close relationships with his friends, family, and community."
D.Black attends synagogue and follows many Jewish traditions such as the traditional headcovering, the kippah, undergarments, tzitzit, and sabbath from Friday at sundown to Saturday night - yet does not identify himself as Jewish. This is because he still believes in Jesus as the messiah, but was inspired to delve deep into the Hebraic roots of Christianity on his own spiritual journey. Now, D.Black runs a small ministry out of his apartment building in Seattle's South End. Personally, I'm planning to someday attend one of his Friday night services; if and when I do I'll be sure to post. The above image is from The Stranger article about D.Black, The Outsider. The quotes from this article are from Jonathan Cunningham's article in the Seattle Weekly.

Pat Piff - Hungry As A Hippie [New Mixtape]

Pat Piff's new mixtape, "28 Grams Later II: Hungry As A Hippie" is some long awaited original, heady hip hop. Pat Piff's flow is reminiscent of too many rappers to name, he has aspects of Devin Tha Dude and when he spits quickly he reminds me of Gift Of Gab. Piff drags his flow up and down his vocal range, and actually adds to the rhythm & melody when he raps on a beat as opposed to many rappers that just rap on top of it. The intro track "Boundless Space & Time" is a great track, one of my favorites, and "Piffapalooza" basically just Piff's shout outs on top of an "Air" instrumental is unique. "People Talk" samples Led Zeppelin and turns them on their head, morphing them into a smooth hip hop jam. "No Hook Pass" has some of Piff's most clever rhymes and "We On The Way" has a fantastic beat, real original production by Alo Genius. Whether it's opening hip hop's ears to French electronica, or taking pop culture references from jazz musicians and not just what's on the TV (although he doesn't shy away from shouting out Billy Mays), to just rapping about tie-dye and sampling tracks from the sixties, Pat Piff is clearly out to change hip hop and set trends. Piff's not trying to box himself into some sort of "hippie hop" image either, his mixtape contains equal parts heady stream of consciousness and more conventional club hip hop. Recommended Tracks: "Boundless Space & Time" "I'll Be Alright" "People Talk" & probably one of the best songs about L rides: "Smoke & Drive."

DOWNLOAD IT HERE

Hayao Miyazaki Hip Hop

Temptations' Remix - funky hip hop beat by labguest

I Can Turn Back The Hands of Time

Lampin'

Bill's Grass - Psychedelic Hip Hop / House ( Bill Murray Tribute Beat )

Floral Cat

Bobby Brown - Don't Be Cruel (NJS Throwback)

Sooner or later I had to throw in some Bobby Brown, the father of new jack.

Unemployed: Hip Hop / Electronica Beat

Another Jazzy Synth-Hop Beat

Mee Sum Pastry, Seattle

Barely a month into the move and Seattle has given me a new favorite food: Cantonese hum-bao rolls, steamed pastries filled with anything from BBQ pork (the best) to curry chicken, vegetables, and a lot of other things. There's a lot of confusion surrounding the name, wikipedia has an article about them entitled baozi which has them credited to " the scholar and military strategist Zhuge Liang (3rd century AD)" either way they are absolutely delicious. They're on the menu at Mee Sum Pastry as hum-bao's and insanely delicious there, I've been to their shops in the university district and down by the market downtown and both serve up crazy good chinese bbq pork pastries that always leave me feeling like "I want Mee Sum More."

New Jack Throwbacks

I'm officially kicking off what's hopefully going to be a staple of this blog, The New Jack Throwbacks. This is going to be a section of the blog with updates featuring old skool New Jack Swing R-n-B music videos and throwback tracks. You can just follow the label new jack throwback and i'll occasionally post links to the New Jack Throwback section in addition. I've already posted some videos of Commissioned, Troop, & Tevin Campbell to the section, and to start things off right here's some dope french new jack swing proving that new jack had success as well as serious talent internationally. Here it is, N'Groove:

NEW JACK THROWBACKS!

Hemp Farming Now Legal In Oregon

From NORML.org:
Oregon: Legislation To Regulate Commercial Hemp Production Becomes Law

Salem, OR: Democrat Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed legislation into law this week that seeks to license farmers to cultivate hemp as an agricultural commodity. Hemp is a distinct variety of the plant species cannabis sativa that contains only trace (less than one percent) amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana.

As approved by the legislature, Senate Bill 676 authorizes the state Department of Agriculture to regulate the commercial production of cannabis containing levels of THC under 0.3 percent THC.

Similar legislation was also signed into law in June in Maine.

A handful of states – including North Dakota, Montana, and Vermont – have enacted regulations to allow for the licensing of industrial hemp production under state law. However, such production remains criminally prohibited under federal law, which defines all varieties of cannabis as illegal under the Controlled Substances Act.

Legislation pending in Congress, HR 1866, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009, seeks to amend federal law to allow for the state-licensed production of hemp, free from federal interference.

Hannibal Buress (StandUp Clip)

Blue Beat - psychedelic jazz hip hop

Today's New Jack Throwback: "Spread My Wings" - Troop

Touch The Sky (Reach Out Remix) - labguest glitch-hop mix

Love Is The Way

Commissioned - "Love Is The Way" Written by: Chuckii Booker, Fred Hammond, and Mark Luckey

gotta love that new jack swing!

Heidelberg Brewery

Today's Fresh Beat! Jaco Pastorius Jazz Remix

Birdland Hip Hop Beat (Weather Report Remix)

beat conceived & created in audacity

Conscious

Just discovered Conscious - rapper, thinker, musician, artist, poet; here's how he describes himself:

Epitomizing, the attitude of a spokesperson for the anti-pigeonhole movement, Conscious is an artist of many facets. A lateral thinker that not only contemplates outside of the boxes that society attempts to create for him, but reshapes them to fabricate art in multiple forms.

Here's his reference track for "Simply" off his upcoming project 1984 Complex, the song's obviously a work in progress but even the bare bones are beautiful.

MAGNAVOK7 DOSSIER

SIMPLY: THE REFERENCE TRACK

Blue Scholars Take The Light Rail

"In celebration of Seattle's new 14-mile light rail system, which 92,000 passengers tried out for fun on its inaugural weekend (July 18th), Sabzi of Blue Scholars, rode the environmentally friendly means of transportation to announce the recent deal in which Duck Down Records signs to Blue Scholars to market their upcoming "OOF! EP" available at all digital retail outlets on August 25th. Fans can enjoy a sample of the instrumental named "Postal" playing in the background, which will be available as part of the 5 song/5 instrumental "OOF! EP" project." - via [ the 9 elements ]

The Prime Ordeal Soup

video: primordial dance by karl sims
music: underwater outerspace by labguest

Escaping Seattle's Heatwave

i read somewhere that only 13% of seattle has air conditioning. sure seems like it - i'm writing this from the downtown seattle public library, as reviews of it on yelp.com illustrate, it is regarded by some as beautiful and others as an eyesore. to say the least, it's an interesting building and it's very pleasant once you get used to the bizarre layout.

yes, there are a fair number of homeless people but personally i think it gives the space more character and feels like a real public space. it's not the most quiet library in the world (although it's got plenty of cute old lady vigilantes that shuuusshhh at talkers). but everybody's pretty happy to be here. especially today, like i am, most of the people here are trying to get out of the heat. i think the library is a great space, unique, interesting, definitely not boring, but still well divided and extremely practical. and the air conditioning is superb.

Searching For Miles Fisher

this dude is amazing, i want to hate him out of pure jealousy - but he's too good at what he does. this song and music video are brilliant - and his impression of tom cruise for the superhero movie (although i'm sure that movie is not brilliant) in the commercial is so spot on at points that it's creepy. this guy really is a multitalented artist, and his album is available for free at www.milesfisher.com

Weather Report - Birdland (Live Jaco Music Video)

Update: I remixed this song, focusing on sampling the intro synths - my favorite part of the song. Turned it into a nice, chill hip hop beat.

Hip Hop Beats On HobNox

David Byrne & Gift Of Gab Collab. / Animation

N.A.S.A.

"The People Tree" (Featuring David Byrne, Chali 2na, Gift Of Gab & Z-Trip)

Art by Marcel Dzama

Directed and Animated: Syd Garon and Johannes Gamble

Producer: Susan Applegate

Production Company: Squeak E. Clean

Transfer House : New Hat

Film: Lance Accord

Telecine Artist and Blood Donor: Adolfo Martinelli

Photoshop: Jeremy Kaller and Jennifer Fujikawa

N.A.S.A.'s debut album "The Spirit of Apollo" hit the shelves 2/17/09 on Anti-/Spectrophonic Sounds.

© 2009 Spectrophonic Sound under license to Anti- Records

found via {junkratgirl}

Miles Davis Plays Michael Jackson's "Human Nature"

this is my michael jackson tribute, an amazing rendition of "human nature" performed live by jazz great, and another one of my all-time favorite artists, miles davis.

Saxamaphone - A Smooth Jazzy Hip Hop Chill Out Beat

Whitechapel - Teitur

delightfully catchy pop song i found on hobnox, give it a listen you won't regret it, the lyrics are wonderful and the melody is nice and cheerful

U.S. Energy Source InfoGraphic

Oakland Dispensary Tax Update: Landslide Victory

Medical marijuana tax wins landslide vote in Oakland, the Associated Press reports:

"OAKLAND, Calif. — Oakland residents overwhelmingly voted Tuesday to approve a first-of-its kind tax on medical marijuana sold at the city's four cannabis dispensaries.
Preliminary election results showed the measure passing with 80 percent of the vote, according to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.

The dispensary tax was one of four measures in a vote-by-mail special election aimed at raising money for the cash-strapped city. All four measures won, but Measure F had the highest level of support.

Scheduled to take effect on New Year's Day, the measure created a special business tax rate for the pot clubs, which now pay the same $1.20 for every $1,000 in gross sales applied to all retail businesses. The new rate will be $18.

Oakland's auditor estimates that based on annual sales of $17.5 million for the four clubs, it will generate an estimated $294,000 for city coffers in its first year.
Pot club owners, who openly sell pot over the counter under the 1996 state ballot measure that legalized medical marijuana use in California, proposed Measure F as a way to further legitimize their establishments.

"It's good business and good for the community," said Richard Lee, who owns the Coffee Shop SR-71 dispensary and Oaksterdam University, a trade school for budding dispensary workers.
The measure had no formal opposition; in November 2004, a ballot initiative that required Oakland police to make arresting adults using marijuana for personal use their lowest priority passed with 63 percent of the vote."

Young Duece

i usually don't post other hip hop tracks, but these guys sent me a message on youtube and i checked them out. once i realized that duece is not mispelled its just not the same as deuce and heard the synths come in on this track, i became a fan. one of the dudes in the video reminds me of kid cudi, the whole vibe kind of does, but they're 18 from cincinatti and definitely bringing something unique to it. ive got to say i'm a fan.

Planning Stages

Planning Stages

Last Day Dream

Last Day Dream [HD] from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

via [ J U N K R A T G I R L ]

Who wants higher taxes? Oakland dispensaries are down.

Oakland medical marijuana dispensaries are agreeing to submit to higher taxes in order to build a better relationship with the city. Hopefully people will start to see that maybe there is a correlation between california's pot consumption / dispensary situation and their budget crisis. all of the money that goes into these dealing operations, from growth to sale, to much of the paraphernalia its smoked with is like a bottomless pit. the money ends up in the hands of drug cartels that use it to buy weapons instead of taxed and given back to the consumer with the taxed amount going to things like paving roads etc. Anyway, here Salwa Ibrahim speaks with YouthRadio about Oakland dispensaries' new plans to pay higher taxes and generate more state revenue, she makes some excellent points and she's also unbelievably cute:

UPDATE: Measure passes in landslide victory, read about it here.

New Brunswick, NJ Seeks Solar Power

ironically as soon as i move to the west coast to pursue sustainable architecture jobs and studies, new jersey, my home state, has finally started looking towards renewable energy sources seriously. i'm also happy to hear that these are urban locations and they get a lot more exposure. (not sun exposure but publicity exposure, ha.) getting it in the public's view is important though. Here's a clip from the article, Four New Brunswick agencies look to solar power their buildings via myCentralJersey.com

"The City Council, Board of Education, New Brunswick Parking Authority and New Brunswick Housing Authority have reached a shared-services agreement to jointly explore the feasibility of placing solar energy panels on some or all of the nearly three dozen buildings operated by the four entities.

The City Council formally approved the agreement Wednesday while the parking authority approved the measure Thursday. The housing authority board and the school board are expected to vote on the measure soon.

"New Brunswick is demonstrating again that the public is best served through innovative partnerships,'' Mayor Jim Cahill said in a news release. "This agreement will enable the city to take the broadest possible approach to the implementation of clean, renewable energy in New Brunswick.''

The four parties have hired Cranford-based Birdsall Engineering to study which schools, parking garages, open land, or other buildings would be suitable for solar panels installations, said Mitch Karon, executive director of the New Brunswick Parking Authority.
...
Karon said another advantage is that the deal would involve a long-term contract, perhaps as long as 15 years, which would stipulate electricity rates for each year of the deal. That price stability will make it easier for the four entities to budget, Karon said.
...
Karon said the parking authority would like to put solar panels on its parking garages. Doing so would provide 100 percent of each garage's electricity." - Jared Kaltwasser

HobNox Fiddling

Wake Up In The Future - Ray Kurzweil sample beat

More Love - Victor Wooten Remix Beat w/Gram

Handmade Pocket Synth by Livin' Peace Productions

Atari Punk Console
$15


There's nothing quite as soothing as the pulse-width-modulated square waves emanating from an APC. As soon as you hear one you'll realize why "Atari" is in the name: it's super blippy. It has two controls on it: pitch and pulse width. Don't worry about what pulse width means, it just changes the sound in a certain way. Pitch is controlled by a knob while the pulse width is controlled by a light sensor that reacts to different levels of brightness. The APC features a built in speaker (or a 1/4" jack by special request) and runs on a 9V battery which is not included (come on, they're expensive!).

The APC also features a stashable LED (inside the case) for use in dark situations.
via LiVin'Peace Productions