LATL – Homeboy Sandman & Fresh Daily “Table Cloth”
Our Friends at Live At The Loft are at it again with an electric performance of “Table Cloth” from Homeboy Sandman and Fresh Daily. This invite only event just continues to grow.
Enjoy
TrVZ
Live At The Loft Gets Primal with Monogold
A couple of weeks back I attended one of the best live shows in recent memory when Monogold played at Live At The Loft. Immediately I downloaded their album The Softest Glow and they have been on replay ever since. This LATL video of their performance of “Spirit Or Something” is sweeter than I remembered. It is Raw primal energy.
As a seen it all, done it all jaded New Yorker there isn’t much that gets me excited enough to get me out of my apartment. But I make it my duty to cross two rivers whenever LATL goes down. For those of you who haven’t found your way to this invite only event, the best way to describe it is… Live At The Loft is like eating a home cooked meal from a 5 star chef. Nuff said.
Enjoy
TrVZ
Live at The Loft Episode 8 – Full Crate & Mar
A few weeks back my former partner Tone invited me to check out a really cool event/show that he created called Live At The Loft . This invite only event feels like a blend between the Saturday Night Live music performances and The old Lyricist Lounge sessions (The live venue, not the busted TV show).
The moment I entered the loft I could feel that this was unlike any show I ever attended. There was a palpable buzz of anticipation in the air. Once the show kicked off Full Crate & Mar treated a house full of modern day bohemians to some good old fashion soul. These long time friends remind me of some combination of Deangelo and Jamiroquai. You don’t have to take my word for it, check out the video posted below and form your own opinion. Going by how full the loft was I doubt most of you will ever get to see a Live Show. Personally I can’t wait to trek it out to Hoboken for the next Live At The Loft show.
Enjoy
TrVZ
EP08 Full Crate & Mar “2U4U” from LIVE AT THE LOFT on Vimeo.
Ralphy Boy – “Peep Game”
In February of 2010 I got an email from an artist who called himself Ralphy Boy to shoot a music video for a track from his mixtape. If you know me you know I rarely shoot music videos. However In this email there was a genuine tone to it that peeked my interest. The fact that he framed the project as a collaboration and also asked for feedback about his budget somehow made it not about the money for me. What can I say I have a soft spot for talented folks with integrity. Here is an excerpt from the email…
“I am sending this email in order to figure out how I can get you to help me shoot an acapella video (sort of like a promo video short) for a song of mine…My budget is about $—- for this. I really would like for you to help me shoot this so, if my budget isn’t enough please let me know.”
After meeting with Ralphy and listening to his music I was pretty impressed and together we decided to go on a 4 video journey with one main concept in mind… Make each video better than the last. In “Peep Game” the last of the 4, we wanted to convey the classic hip hop soundtrack with a contemporary visual feel. Classic yet contemporary is how I define Ralphy’s sound and look. The end result is a video that combined a little bit of the Social Media element, allot of style, and 3 of the 4 elements of Hip Hop. Along with Ralphy’s charismatic delivery that evokes that old 80′s Hip Hop bravado and some clever animation I think we finished our 4 video journey with the best one yet. Ralphy is a true original and ultra talented wordsmith and I am glad he decided to reach out to me with an email that day. We will surely continue our journey to make each video better, in the meantime I present “Peep Game”
TrVZ
Directed/Edited & Produced by Trevor “TrVZ” Bayack
Director of Photography: Marc Miller
Additional Camera: TrVZ
Assistant Director: Brian Butnick
Motion Graphics: TrVZ
Special thanks to the Mark Morris Dance Group for the use of their fabulous space.
Ralphy Boy’s mixtape “HEAR ME, FEEL ME” available now for free download
http://itsralphybaby.bandcamp.com/album/hear-me-feel-me-album
http://twitter.com/thenewpop
http://twitter.com/relentlessnyc
http://twitter.com/pseudocontext
http://twitter.com/its_mystic
http://twitter.com/bgirl_monalisa
http://twitter.com/misslunavega
http://twitter.com/blackangelsnyc
http://twitter.com/talkfame
Album review: ‘Born This Way’ inspired by Lady Gaga’s social media savvy, and her Little Monsters
Lady Gaga Born This Way Regular and Deluxe Edition Covers, courtesy of PopCrush.com
Three days before the release of her album Born This Way, out now, Lady Gaga starred in a Google Chrome video that showed her dancing around on the Brooklyn Bridge. Spliced in were fan-made videos covering her latest Billboard Hot 100 Hit, “The Edge of Glory,” as she sent inspirational messages to them via her website.
And that video is just one of many promotional efforts Gaga employed to ramp up the excitement for one of the year’s most highly-anticipated pop records.
As it stands now, Gaga has officially reached over 10 million followers on Twitter, and over 30 million fans “Like” her Facebook page. This makes Lady Gaga, a blond-haired, New York-bred, Italian-American Catholic (much like a certain other pop goddess she’s often compared to), more popular than President Obama.
So, either America is wrongly prioritizing, or Gaga is a visionary. Though the former can be true, I’ll argue the latter.
Born This Way is quite the achievement, and though “hype” is such an ugly word, it lives up to its own potential, thanks to an incredibly high-bar music industry standard set by Lady Gaga herself. This album was her opportunity to bring on the crazy that the world reluctantly embraced (sales of her 2008 debut, The Fame, didn’t pick up until the following year). With so many millions of people watching, scrutinizing, publicizing and glorifying Lady Gaga’s every move, she had to deliver.
Born This Way is not the greatest album of the decade, as Mother Monster promised. It is a heady adrenaline rush at over an hour long, that is only squelched by any instance in which Gaga holds back. For example, “Electric Chapel,” a melancholic 80s coo of a tune, is one of the few moments on Born This Way where Gaga sounds restrained, poised even.
The public is so used to Gaga In The Meat Dress, or Gaga Dying Onstage, that anything other than total Gaga-walk-walk-fashion-baby-move that-bitch-crazy is unacceptable.
Thankfully Born This Way, for the most part, doesn’t beat around the bush. “Marry the Night,” the album’s opener, is a pummeling assault that hardly lets up. It’s opening church organ sets the tone for a thrilling album that finds Gaga tackling rough sex, religion, famewhoring, immigration, feminism, follicles and unicorns – often simultaneously.
Only Gaga could rope in childhood idols Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band (“Hair,” “The Edge of Glory”) and Queen’s Brian May (“You and I”) for songs that celebrate hair, public intoxication, grandfather love and Nebraska. And only she could purposefully craft many moments like these that beg you to give the album a gold star for a high WTF factor (See: “Heavy Metal Lovers”).
Only Gaga could mix feminist politics with 90s Berlin house, while rap-singing in German (See: “ScheiBe”). “I wish that I could be strong with no permission,” the singer pleads over a skittering gay-club unst chorus. It’s an honest moment for the singer, whose last album, 2009’s The Fame Monster EP, found her about as lively as a vampire in the Twilight movie series.
But perhaps Born This Way’s most impressive accomplishment – despite all the cheese-tastic 80s and 90s Eurotrash-y deliciousness – is how incredibly warmhearted Gaga sounds. She sings here with her whole heart, and the power of her voice is chilling in the right ways. It’s not like The Fame Monster, where Gaga experienced oddly disconnected wanderlust, and as a result, wound up in icy Siberian terrain.
That’s definitely not the case for Born This Way.
Gaga, a star who has always expressed in interviews what religion means to her, sings about her Holy Trinity, in “You and I”: “It’s my daddy, and Nebraska and Jesus Christ.” It’s one moment though, not a tactless #trendingtopic throughout a highly trendy, yet trendsetting album, which makes its revelation that much more powerful.
And that’s the beauty of the bigness that is Born This Way – an effort that aims to empower the powerless, and give people reason to celebrate their existence and stuff. Almost always, Born This Way hits the mark.
It even liberates the always-combustible Lady Gaga, a pint-sized New Yorker who is more popular than the president, a feat that isn’t bad for a second album.
- Mickey Woods
Teaser – Stones Throw Doc for National TV France
Here is a teaser about the independent hip hop label Stones Throw Records that will air on National TV france. Based in Los Angeles, California. Stones Throw was started in 1996 by DJ/ProducerPeanut Butter Wolf and has featured some legendary indie hip hop acts like Madlib, Quasimoto, Dam-Funk, Mayer Hawthorne, Aloe Blacc, J Rocc, and of course the late J Dilla.
Enjoy the teaser
Tiny Feature Saturday’s – Russ Chimes “Midnight Club EP”
This video titled “Midnight Club EP” from the UK group Russ Chimes is a three part mini movie that has an “Alpha Dog” meets Daft Punk “Discovery” story line that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Despite a storyline that pushes the outer-limits of believability and a cookie cutter albeit entertaining trio of dance tracks, the skill used in revealing the plot-line, along with the slick camera work and attractive cast makes this one worth watching. Director Saman Keshavarz does a great job building drama without using a word of dialogue. The cinematography of Justin Gurnari really draws the viewer in, and the editing of Nate Tam is quick and cool.
Enjoy
TreVZ
“Go Jets!”
Coolhunting – Chances With Wolves
Here is a video short about the Internet radio show Chances With Wolves courtesy of the folks at coolhunting.com. This gem of a show has been on my radar for a couple of years now and has provided me with some of my best soundtrack material. I highly recommend navigating to their webpage after watching this video, you won’t be disappointed.
Enjoy
TreVZ
Joe Grass – Without Your Oar to Row
Here is a really simple and sweet melody called “Without Your Oar to Row” from the musician Joe Grass. It was filmed by Derrick Belcham for the Take Away Show series on the blogotheque website. The folks at blogotheque are really good at working with filmmakers who can enhance a beautiful musical moment without being intrusive.
Enjoy
TreVz
Cassius, I Love U SO – Video/iPhone Ap.
The Ed Banger creative team has done it again. Check out this really cool video by CASSIUS for the song “I <3 U SO” that uses an interactive iPhone application to create 8 mouths that you can place in front of yours. For more info log onto Ed Banger Records.
Enjoy
Aloe Blacc – Take Away Show
Many of us myself included was introduced to the soulful sounds of Aloe Blacc via the title track “I Need a Dollar“ on the HBO show How to Make it in America. This track is remarkably relevant for our time and the show, and has such an authentic 70′s vibe that I thought it was sung by some old timer in his 50′s or 60′s. In truth Aloe Blacc is a modern day crooner who got his start as a MC in the mid 90′s with an indie rap group called Emanon.
The first video courtesy of La blogotheque is a brilliant example of letting a moment happen in all it’s lo-fi glory. He performs two tracks the second is the title track from the show. Check it out and if you somehow find yourself not toe tapping, head nodding, or hand clapping, then proceed to check yourself into a morgue cuz your dead.
The second part I was hesitant to play this video mostly due to it’s 13 minute plus runtime and my belief that it could not top the first video. In the first 6 minutes of this video where Blacc performs his track “You Make Me Smile” from his upcoming album Good Things I was moved me to tears. What a simple but lovely moment, what a beautiful song.
Rarely do videos have that affect on me. And to the director Colin Solal Cardo, Bravo! This moment could easily get lost with bad framing, missed shots and excessive editing. This to me is a perfect example of what makes today’s videographer a force. For almost no money and a vision one can do what music videos have failed to do in the past 30 years, that is bring real moments to you that sell an artist without selling out. I’m officially sold on my new favorite artist Aloe Blacc.
Enjoy them both
DBB – Gratuitious Hotness
A friend and neighbor of mine Igor of Driven By Boredom fame who is also the lead character in my web series The Scene did me a favor recently. In return I told him I would hook him up with some editing. In true DBB form he thought it would be cool for me to edit some raw footage he had sitting around of girls making out. Pointless maybe, Hot definitely. Can’t really question his methods since his site which features lots of hipsters bearing their bosoms gets tons of traffic. For a deeper explanation of the method behind his madness log onto his site.
Enjoy
Trevz
Converse – Rubber Tracks
In early 2011 Converse will be opening a community based recording studio called Rubber Tracks that new and emerging musicians of all genres can use for free. According to their website…
“Rubber Tracks will serve as a catalyst for originality by giving new and emerging bands the opportunity to record their songs in a high-quality studio setting. Musicians of all genres will be able to apply in advance for a time to use the studio – for free. As in no cost.”
Artist will also be able to use their social media channels to promote their music. Check out this really cool video that features industry pros talking about their first studio experiences. And then register at their website for free studio time.
Enjoy
New Pop Vintage 2005 – Jneiro Jarel “Quantum Leap”
Back in 2005 I shot my first on location Music Video for the artist Jneiro Jarel. I first heard this track thru a friend who had a line on Quantum Leap. When I heard the track I was blown away and started to put in motion my first music video that was not shot in front of a seamless backdrop. The premise was to have Jneiro exist simultaneously in three different worlds to represent Quantum Leaping. Each world would be represented in a video frame. Not sure how clearly that idea came across but it was allot of fun.
Enjoy
Trevz
New Pop Vintage 2005 – Romashka
Here is a blast from the early New Pop past. One of the first projects I shot even before I owned my own camera was this music video from the Gypsy band Romashka. I met them while shooting my first event ever at the old Galapogos back in 2005. Even though I had no idea what they were saying I found myself dancing in the aisles camera and all. I wanted to capture that same energy in a music video. I shot this 720 X 480 but wanted to make it widescreen in post. To this day it was probably the toughest edit I ever tackled. Adding seamless white isn’t as easy as one would think.
Enjoy
Album of the week: Of Montreal’s “False Priest”
Of Montreal takes listeners to a higher power.
Always a proponent of the ubiquitous glam rock alter ego, Kevin Barnes uses Of Montreal’s tenth studio album, False Priest, to add a new layer to his persona. It is part Prince, part Andre 3000, all holy funk.
However, unlike the past few efforts, False Priest signals a call home from outer space. The result is music that is equally as grounded as it is sublimely weird. It’s their most accessible record to date, if ever, because of their return to live instrumentation. But it isn’t a masterpiece, like their inaccessible 2007 concept album, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? was.
Accessibility doesn’t rid False Priest of craziness.
K. Barnes croons about crazy girls in the outstanding Janelle Monae feature, “Our Riotous Defects.” The first single, “Coquet Coquette” isn’t their strongest tune, but its bassline and guitar riffs rollick like a funkdafied version of a matador fight song. No one ever said Of Montreal wasn’t impossibly epic. Throw in a steamy Solange (Beyonce’s little sis shows some indie sex appeal) collaboration in “Sex Karma” and you’ve got an album full of sonic treasures. “You Do Mutilate?” is a seven-minute overdose on antidepressants and politics ( sample lyrics: “When will certain people realize an afterlife is nothing to live for?”) .
I triple-dog dare you to listen to this album on headphones. Alone. False Priest is enough to make the most cynical of atheists believers.
-Mickey Woods
Album of the week: Robyn’s Body Talk Pt. 2
Robyn's Body Talk Part 2, guaranteed to make you sweat.
Robyn is indeed indestructible, or at least that’s how she would describe herself at the end of Part 2 of her much-hyped Body Talk series.
Robyn is indestructible because she came out of nowhere when everyone stopped singing her delicious 90s pop factory hit, “Show Me Love.” Since her self-titled triumph five years ago, Robyn has been on a mission to make bodies sweat.
Robyn is starting to create music that is layered, aggressive, irreverent, and bloody brilliant. It is different from Body Talk, Part 1 because that album showed Robyn’s potential to take her innovative electro pop to the next level. This is the next level.
Case in point: I was listening to the collaboration of Swedish mastermind Klas Ahlund and the always on fire, Diplo, “Criminal Intent,” on the Hello Kitty speakers in my house. I turned to a friend who was visiting – and who was dumbfounded by the sonic wonder coming from my stereo, and said, “If I EVER hear this song anywhere, I don’t care who I’m with, what I’m doing, or where I’m at, I will lose my fucking mind.” And if I did lose said mind, as Robyn sings cooly in the song, “somebody alert the authorities.”
I don’t know when’s the last time I felt that exact way about a song from Robyn, but I know that the best thing about Part 2, is that there is something so hard, strong, fast, fierce and undeniably effortless about what she’s doing with her music. Her voice, which is in fine form as a dance club diva and a balladeer, glides like butter over an arsenal of nostalgic, yet futuristic blips, buzzes, synths and kicks.
The music video for Robyn\’s first single for Part 2, \”Hang With Me\”
Throw in a hard hitting Snoop Dogg collaboration (“U Should Know Better”) and a Savage Skulls heart-stopper (“Love Kills”) and you’ve got an album of bonafide hits that still appeal to hipsters everywhere. If people don’t get Robyn now, they’ll never get her – and as punishment, will be left behind in a sea of club kids who use their sweat-drenched bodies to take over the world.
- Mickey Woods
Ralphy Boy – Get It!
New video from the charismatic storyteller Ralphy Boy for his track “Get It!”
.Artist – Ralphy Boy
.Directed By – Trevz
.D.P. – Marc Miller
.Stylist – Contessa
.Makeup – Contessa
.Edited by – Trevz
.Actress – Javana Mundy
.Actor – Buzz
.Jewelry by Javana
Album of the week: Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream”
Katy Perry's warm, wet and wild "Dream," on a (store) rack near you.
Katy Perry’s sophomore effort, Teenage Dream, is at times like a message in a bottle to the Golden Coast, and other times a love letter to days begone as an 80s mall punk in neon spanx.
The best thing about the album is that it is so damn hooky. (The lead-out smash “California Gurls” being the biggest culprit.) And while Katy’s sexual advances toward boy crushes often come off as forward as a two-dolla hooker, ( See “Peacock” to have those blanks filled in) she is most times endearing (See “Teenage Dream” or “Not Like the Movies”), thanks to a hefty dose of electro-inflected production from the Ke$ha-lite geniuses, Dr. Luke and Max Martin.
Throughout the album, Perry thrashes her side ponytail about to the pulsing beats and melodies like she just snorted a vat of confectioner’s sugar.
Perry has never sounded sweeter, more charming, sassier or more fun. When interviewed about the album’s ambitions by MTV, Perry said she just “followed her gut.”
Perry’s gut has allowed her to create the ultimate summer soundtrack, fueled by all the things that bring us back to our bittersweet youth, including referencing to melting popsicles, fireworks, and building forts out of bed sheets.
The feel of Dream reminds me of the time my junior year of high school that I snuck out the house late at night to drink poorly mixed homemade margaritas and drag race in the nearest White Castle parking lot.
All of this and then making it home in time to fall asleep in homeroom at 7 a.m. the next day.
It’s this kind of music that makes you want to be young forever.
And Perry’s image, which has always been effervescently youthful, adds to the saccharine quality of the tunes. Remember when pop music used to make you feel that way? Like you could blow bubbles in the bank and leave your house skipping to work on days of sunshine?
All of this isn’t to say that the album is somehow void of meat. Throughout the album are sprinkles of darkness that might reflect the somber stages of teenage development. It is also through this that, ironically, Perry exhibits growth both as an artist and as a human being. Her debut, “One of the Boys” had a similar kind of spunk to it, but the lyrics lacked any depth beyond calling would-be hipster suitors gay and kissing girls (and/or mannequins) for attention.
“Not Like the Movies” finds our heroine pounding her fists on the floor about why love is never, well, like the movies. “If it’s not like the movies, then that’s how it should be,” she croons in the weepy chorus.
“Pearl” is about a woman who used to rule the world and lost her power to the turbulent relationships in her life. She sings it like she was the girl who never got picked to play volleyball with the cool kids in P.E.
Through these revealing nuggets of truth, one can sense that while Perry splashes in her warm, wet and wild fountain of youth, she realizes such youth is not always the dream we imagine it to be. It’s a lot like the picture of real life, it’s just that Perry chooses wisely – in an age of destruction and hopelessness – to sugarcoat it.
-Mickey Woods
New Pop Vintage 2008 – President Wyclef?
Wyclef Jean intends to announce he will run for president of Haiti on Larry King tonight. I thought it would be cool to pull out a vintage New Pop episode from the old Tone & Trevz series featuring the future presidential candidate. It’s always funny to see political figures use bad language.
Enjoy
Trevz
New Orleans Bounce – Big Freedia
Check out this cool piece I found on The New York Times website about Bounce music featuring Big Freedia who was featured on New Pop not too long ago. It is really well shot, and well done.
Go Freedia!!!
Our 2009 Piece on Big Freedia shot at Glasslands
A Cold Splash of MiMA
A much needed cold front is headed to the city, and its coming from the Caribbean. MiMA (Yarimir Cabán) lived on and off in New York until five years ago, when she released her folk-bossa self-titled debut at a packed Joe’s Pub and then headed off to the Basque Country, Texas, and elsewhere. When she landed back home in Puerto Rico, she pretty much tossed all of her beautiful, singer-songwriter crowd- pleasing material and started from scratch. And off she went, on to a winding road of her own, turning down countless record deals along the way and becoming a powerful voice, always stubborn in her DIY approach. MiMA has been constantly playing and experimenting live, but a proper second coming has not released or even finished due to evolving ideas, lack of funds, and her trademark perfectionism when it comes to recording.
Now, MiMA’s second coming will manifest itself in the flesh in Brooklyn, at Public Assembly on Sunday, July 25th. She brings along Macha Colón y Los Okapi, for their first foray outside the island. MiMA will also open for Bomba Estéreo at SOB’s on Tuesday, July 27th. Expect other shows and subway jamming sessions to be announced as well. She says the new album is in the works, due out this fall (for real!). Even if it is, one thing is certain: it won’t be the same as the magic we’ll be fortunate to witness this week.
Let these moving images telltale a glimpse of her potential.
Nuria Net
Light Asylum, Asa Ransom, These Are Powers (and more!) @ Cameo Gallery!
Yo kids,
So I had a great time last night and I’m here to fill you in. My girl Amber filled me in on another show happening in good ol’ BK, so I had to hit it up. This time, we, and a new friend, an indie artist named Lelia Broussard from LA, hopped the L to Cameo Gallery. (Check out her tunes, by the way!)
I’d never been, but was immediately impressed by the sort of cocktail lounge feel in the front, and the standing room only stage part in the back. We sipped a couple $4 Miller High Lifes and (FREE!) shots of bourbon, and headed to the dance floor.
In the back, the room was lit up with strobes and stage lights of every color imaginable. People were dancing and the energy was perfect.
The first group I caught was Light Asylum, which is fronted by Shannon, whom I met after the set. We caught the last song, but I want to hear more. There was something vaguely Crystal Castles meets Yeasayer about them. Shannon announced a (FREE!) show Wednesday on 12th and Bedford, I believe…. you guys should check them out. Whatever it was, it was hot!
I only caught one hot track, but I still got a decent pic! 
As the speakers boomed hood joints all night long (Soulja Boy and Ciara club mixes), I was meeting people. This hot couple below, Marie and Joe, head the band Hexa-Whorra. Their mashup of electronica and acoustic music would’ve suit them well for the venue.
YES.
Next up was Asa Ransom – Amber had heard them before and told me great things, so I went in with high expectations. They were exceeded. They had a very dark, Bowie-glam vs. She Wants Revenge stomp to it. The guitars crunched and buzzed and the bass driven beats evoked something delightfully evil.
I ran into The Loneliest Monk’s Michelle and Miles, from the last post, who were still in town, heading to Providence, Rhode Island for a show. Michelle and Miles played in Chicago with Asa Ransom a few times.
This is how I officially decided they were good.
Check the guitar! Hot, right?
Dark harmonies accentuate bitchin' rock dance tracks.
Finally, I saw These Are Powers. Before and during the show, lead singer Anna Barie was handing out popcorn and candy. When I interned at Secretly Canadian in Bloomington, I remember they were a band signed to SC’s sister label, Dead Oceans. My, has their sound (and look!) evolved.
They hit the stage with what I’d like to call “electro-hood.” Anna caught my attention with her Karen O-isms. She squealed and squawked and purred and harmonized (while breakin’ it down) over some of the hottest beats I’ve ever heard. I hadn’t heard much of their new material til now. Check out their MySpace for more. My fave is “Candyman,” naturally. I’d love to catch up with them for an interview.
THESE. ARE. POWERS!
It was also during this time that I met a “chocolate Marilyn Monroe,” in the form of a man in drag. His explanation?
“Marilyn’s been sleeping.” Marilyn did go onstage during These Are Powers to sing “Happy Birthday” Mr. President-style to a friend.
Tomorrow, I head to an EA Sports event with Trevz- should be loads of fun. In the meantime check out the hot pics after the jump.
The "Chocolate" Marilyn.
Can anyone else say FIERCE? Check out Becca's fly hair.
Amber in her cut up Misfits tee. <3 I. Love.
And yours truly.
XO,
M