With the news MCA – Adam Yanuch is battling a rare form of glandular cancer thus forcing the delay of the release of the new Beastie Boys album we take a look at the many phases of the terrible trio and ummm and arr over which was our favourite…..
Rick Rubin right from the top, big guitars and live drums the Beasties exploded with VW medallions and head banging stadium rock. License to Ill shook the world.
No Sleep TIl Brooklyn
Delving back into the underground and to much less critical acclaim the Beasties explored their psychedelic instrumental side….
Somethings Got To Give
Returning with a bang and possibly greatest album Ill Communication has it all. The production, the collaboration, the concept and of course the videos….
Sabotage
If Hello Nasty was your introduction to the Beastie Boys this will be your nostalgia of cutting crazy shapes on the indie dance floors, and looking through Arco catalogue to find your hi-vis jump suit. The Beastie were now officially Three MC’s and One DJ.
Intergalactic
To The 5 Boroughs is quite simply a self-produced, post 9/11 record, released as a homage to NYC. Home of the city that spawned them.
Ch-Ch-Check it Out
The Mix Up saw the band kick back and relax. Money Mark on keys and not a rap in sight. THis lounge record may be a strange choice for a Beastie fans favourite but doesn’t it have a time and a place?
The Gala Event
If Too Many Rappers is anything to go by we’re back on track with Hot Sauce Committee Part 1. Big studio beats and cranky raps packed full of attitude. Get well soon MCA.
Don’t those images look gorgeous? I love the simplicity of the colors and it pays tribute to the original whilst propelling it right into 21st century. But before you see these images come to life and watch the video, read about the amazing viral scavenger hunt campaign that went along with it.
Earlier this week many offices of popular film review sites across the internet received a interesting package from Disney’s PR. The package contained a USB stick with an animated .gif and some code and two shiny ‘Flynn’s Arcade’ coins. Upon deciphering the code, people found out the next step was to visit www.flynnlives.com – a site dedicated to Kevin Flynn – who was played by Jeff Bridges in the original TRON film. Other internet boffins had notice www.homeoftron.com was live too – which was the tagline on the back of one of the coins mentioned earlier. The guys at Slashfilm.com documented their TRON viral package.
Some other TRON-ites realised the countdown clock on one of the sites counted down to Thursday 9.30:pm and upon further investigation they found a San Diego address on the site’s privacy policy. It became clear to folk that this led them up to the hotly anticipated San Diego Comic Convention.
Thursday came, and thousands of people gathered at the address in San Diego where they were given special instruction to look for TRON posters dotted around the city. They were given mysterious maps and ultra cool blacklights to decipher messages. After numerous false starts and mis-mapping, eventually this led people to a large nondescript store front. It was neon lit with the word’s ‘”FLYNN’S”. A massive queue entailed, but inside was a retro festive array of arcade machines, concept drawings and the unveiling of a full size beautifully lit light cycle.
Goodies such as posters and tees were brandished, and it’s fair to say Disney were quite happy to spend a ton of money to hype this film way before it’s release, so this is set to be BIG! But what an amazing way to promote a cult film, engaging original fans / geeks, modern media and inspiring a new generation all at the same time.
Forget all that media hype. Are you really afraid of Swine Flu?
As of July 6, WHO officially listed 94,512 laboratory-confirmed cases including 429 fatalities. On June 25, the CDC estimated that 1 million Americans had so far contracted the H1N1 swine flu, noting that it generally produces mild illness with a fairly quick recovery. By comparison, an estimated 15 million to 60 million Americans are infected with the seasonal flu each year, leading to roughly 36,000 deaths.
Got to thank my main man Derek Deal for highlighting these on his blog. These are 8 bit mash ups of old school nintendo theme tunes and rapping. The mix is tight and works suprisingly well! Youtube ain’t just the basis for lame Channel 4 programmes after all.
I’ve only just got on to this, but this is a great little book from the creators of Found Magazine – the regular collection of found items. This book carries that theme of discovering of other people’s real life love letters, notes, doodles and to-do lists, but also adds more context with a little short story from the finder themselves.
It’s certainly an interesting concept, particularly when these finders are celebrities from all different arts and media. The contributors to this book include Chuck D, Kimya Dawson, David Simon (The wire), Kori Gardner (Mates of State), Billy Bragg, Damian Kulash (OK Go) and many kind folk.
It’s less than £10 and about $10 too, so you american folk are getting a bargain! Got to love the illustrated cover work too – you all have no excuse!
Just a shout out for Abi and Des at Doodlezine to let people know there are still copies of their fabulously A5 hand crafted zine full of brilliant doodles. It features a double page spread from Jon Burgerman and the front cover was delightfully illustrated by Bish
You can also stay up to date on the Doodlezine Blog for future issues, and you can even submit your own doodle. Go on, get your biros out!
Directed by Jon Humphries and Jason Hernandez, it was also filmed with Joey Ruiz, and Chris Middlebrook. They followed the Nike SB team riders Daryl Angel, David Clark, Shane O’Neill, Theotis Beasley, Justin Brock, and Grant Taylor to 10 countries. The project took 10 months in total and has been touted as one of the most progressive skate videos of the last few year, both in skateboarding and it’s eventual media production. The download is available till 24th of July. The Blue Ray Disc is also now available at SB retailers worldwide.
I have to say, I’m pretty impressed by this, even though I’m not the biggest fan of Skateboarding (See my earlier post this week about Hawk / Hoffman ) Whether you’re a fan of Nike shoes, Skateboarding or just awesome HD cinematography, this is well worth the download. Props up to Nike who have released it for free as well – perhaps it’s an anti consumerist statement of sorts.
I’m not a huge fan of The Strokes, but like the odd tune they put out, and caught them a few years ago at Leeds Festival, and thought they put on a great show. Julian Casablancas always stood out as a great frontman with a lot of Charisma, so it’s no suprise he’s done a solo album.
I’m really liking this preview video for the debut album in question entitled “Phrazes for the Young”, and look forward to hearing the full record when it comes out.
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