when i heard they were making a new teenage mutant ninja turtles movie, completely cgi, i groaned–the comics were good, the cartoon was ok, the movie was awful (the videogame was kinda cool though). . dark, sinister, sleek and quick. ok it looks pretty cool now. (thanks, sizod)

also, as referred to in the comments (and thanks to mr. t.m., and jkvr) — peter cullen, the gravely voiced optimus prime from the original cartoon series, . for cartoon comic nerds, this is HUGE. if you don’t know the voice of optimus prime, get on youtube right now and .

“the dream team is in the house” by is one of the early west coast rap singles. it originally came out in 1985. sneakmove’s ultrapal, , has remixed this old school number and given it new life. the dream team is rudy pardee and snake puppy. their raps sound a bit like kurtis blow mixed with melle mel. this is a really fun song. they pump up the crowd, kick some verses, and even break it down to the tune of the gilligan’s island theme song. listen to original and the remix and see whatcha think.

listen to:
the l.a. dream team “the dream team is in the house (quarterbar remix)”
the l.a. dream team “the dream team is in the house”

is one of my favorite dance music producers. he started off doing mash-ups under the name and went on to write and produce awesome tracks for m.i.a., annie, and many others. in 2003, he released a cool album called in my opinionation, the grandest song of the lot is “finest dreams” featuring the always-awesome it uses samples from songs by the human league and the s.o.s. band and has sort of an ’80s chaka khan thing going on.

one of the greatest metal singers of all time (frontman for iron maiden, for those of you who haven’t sold your souls to the dark side yet), is also a licensed pilot who has
200 people from the escalating madness in lebanon.

here’s an mp3 that seems suiting but also kinda terrible because that shit over there is really serious: run to the hills.

played with fela kuti in the 70s. his song “la la la” is about heartbreak. the la la la’s and hey hey heys sound like someone crying out in sadness. somehow, the song is really funky and danceable too. holy gosh i love it.

listen to segun bucknor “la la la”

has released tons of stuff. lots but not all of it is great. i like his approach, though. he presents a wealth of sounds for listener to dig through. it’s like he’s creating his own set of record crates. listening to him, you really get a sense of his “craft”, for lack of a better term. there’s a not-for-sale comp. called that has a bunch of the songs he’s sampled and another one called that some of his blue note samples. both are worth checking out. i also really liked his track from the .

listen to:
the free design “where do i go? (madlib remix)” from the free design: the now sound redesigned
andrew hill “illusion” from untinted
alain goraguer “le bracelet” from the crates

just 2.7 million for the rights to the entire hammer back catalog? “turn this mutha out,” “too legit to quit,” “can’t touch this” — someone got a if you ask me.

listen to: turn this mutha out

got a boring business trip to boise idaho? afraid you’ll suffocate in the blandness of potatoes and heartland without any good, hard metal to keep you fueled up and raging? then this site needs to go on your bookmark list: . and guess what–boise’s got one pretty sweet entry.

our fave recent brooklyn transplant grabbed a quick vid of brazilian girls singing the chorus of the best song ever. “pussy pussy pussy marijuana!”

it’s from her phone so we’re not talking top shelf quality but the teaser will make you wish you were in nyc for all the free summer concerts they put on every day.

(thanks, audz (, ).)

EDIT: some people were having trouble viewing the vid. just put it on youtube to solve that:

i met this guy from , fever1. really solid breaker. some buddies of mine where i used to work are doing a live action/animation piece with a few of the members. fever1 had been breaking out west for years in seattle before heading out here to brooklyn and linking up with in ‘97 or ‘99–something like that. we got talking about seattle hip hop, which, for the most part, relegates to sir-mix-a-lot’s bass thumping “my possseeee’s on broadwayyy.” maybe xavier mcdaniel or shawn kemp tried to make a rap album, blazing crossover grounds for shaq, iverson, or ron “the wild card” artest, but i think not. (side note: when i was 14 i was driving with my dad down broadway and i saw the fattest, ugliest tranny. she easily weighed 130 kilos and was wearing black boots, fishnets, a vinyl mini, and a feather boa. the gut poked out enough that there was no need to even attempt a tuck back, or fanny-pack cover up. i am guessing she wasn’t in mix’s posse.)

seattle has always seemed to be short on producing widely-released hip hop. west coast freestyle/backpack culture grew in a time when grunge ruled, and the synapse of space between the bay area and seattle seemed to leave the pacific northwest open to much more influence from the east coast. writers, djs, and breakers found their niche up there (thanks pinoys!), as evidence shows in alleyways and clubs, but that seems to be about it. there is an argument to be made that much of the pinoy influence can be attributed to the close ties between the black and filipino cultures through the 50s/60s/70s, but that’s for another friday. as far as the music, even the conscious era in the mid 90s would have appealed to the granola factor of seattle, and i am sure that it did/does but i don’t hear anyone rapping about rice cakes and holistic living anymore.

so what? nothing really, just some thoughts, and i could be wrong. the is out of seattle, though. you could catch a boom bap gig with some quannum folks, or dead prez if you were in seattle for a little summer vacation (a vacation which i would highly recommend). their music doesn’t really shake my tail feather and reminds me of anything from LA in the 90s produced by anyone associated with dilated peoples, but still, they do their thing:

, by the boom bap project

as a side note, thanks cynicole d, because true or not, .