i love the simplicity of this...the percussive flow...the collaboration with his idol, nas. the EP is meant to tide us over until his full-length album is released. you are indeed correct if you think i'm doing some sort of happy dance right about now.
k'naan: more beautiful than silence
1. "is anybody out there" (ft. nelly furtado) 2. "nothing to lose" (ft. nas) 3. "more beautiful than silence" 4. "better" 5. "coming to america"
another slice of awesome from leo37 has just been released. and this time, it benefits a cause that is near to my heart. check it:
After a fantastic international
response for LEO37’s first single, Fanfare,
Toronto-based artist collective, PPFHouse, is proud topresent
the EP’s second single/video titled: Fire Dance. Based on the first living
organism to ever be patented (the
Oncomouse a.k.a. Harvard Mouse), Fire
Dance discusses the widely unknown history of the 1988 mouse that could
have ultimately set Cancer research ahead 10-15 years but due to Harvard’s
patent, ended up doing the opposite and slowed what could have been an
astonishing series of breakthroughs.
Now, at a time when the disease is more rampant then ever and after what
has been a difficult year for several close friends, PPF House will be offering
the single at LEO37.bandcamp.comfor
a pay-what-you-want price from
January 16th -31st and will be donating all proceeds to Lance Armstrong’sLivestrong Foundationas
a tribute to those we’ve lost as well as lend support to those currently in the
fight.
The video itself was shot and recorded at the legendary Canterbury Music Company in Toronto and
edited by Joyce Wong (TorontoReel Asian International Film Festival) and Lillian Chan (NFB, Red Rover,
Guru Studios, Nelvana). The song
itself once again showcases the synergy between producer, John Poon’s aggressive sense of tone and time with LEO37’s equally
aggressive cadences and subject matter that conjure up sensibilities of 1989 (Public Enemy, N.W.A., Paris, etc) while
still being unquestionably 21st century.
Having previously been referred to as ‘one of the most original sounds
in Canada.’ by Exclaim!
Magazine, Fanfare serves as a
reintroduction for LEO37 to the Canadian and International music scene. Having spent the better part of the last 5
years touring (including – all
self-booked -- 3 Canadian tours, Amsterdam, Ireland, 20 cities across the U.S.
as well as 7 countries in Asia), and sharing stages with the likes of: Aloe Blacc, The Bad Plus, Del the Funky
Homosapien, Tittsworth, Swollen Members and Tanika Charles, just to name a
few, LEO37 returns boasting a few more stripes and million more reasons to stay
tuned.
seattle-based ethiopian/american afropolitan, gabriel teodros, is an artist, activist, and blogger. and a seriously dope emcee. and my future partner-in-something-that-i-am-not-certain-of-yet-but-may-lead-to-taking-over-the-world-in-some-way.
he describes his forthcoming second album colored people's time machine as 'an examination of the history, dreams, and future of native people everywhere'. the album will be released on january 19th and is available for pre-order the album, here. in the meantime, he's released his first single, 'blossoms of fire'. check it!
video directed by:
Barni Qaasim and Shadi Rahimi. video inspired by: Blossoms of Fire
canadian/south african afropolitanzaki ibrahim has released a new single from her forthcoming album every opposite. something in the water is a soulful house track and is the first release from her first full-length album, which was conceived and recorded entirely in south africa. i don't know about y'all, but this is the perfect track to lose myself in after a loooooong week.
so we had this idea one day. and it grew into 'illume sessions', a mini-documentary series featuring artists and change-makers. after many misadventures in the editing lab, illume creative studio's first 'illume sessions' episode is up, and it features the brilliant shad k. it was filmed while shad was back in rwanda performing at the kigali up! festival. check it:
i learned so much working on this. and i'm so excited to be working with by brilliant partners in crime. and also: shad is awesome.
bbc radio 1 debuted two new tracks from amy winehouse's forthcoming album lioness: hidden treasures.
as expected, i love them both. she stays true to the sound and style that made her so very unique and memorable. listen to 'our day will come', here, and check out 'like smoke' featuring nas, below.
the phenomenal talent that is meshell ndegeocello is releasing her new album, weather, on november 8.
'On her new, Joe Henry-produced album Weather — out Nov. 8 — Ndegeocello indulges her soulful alt-pop side, expanding on the quieter and more sensual moments of 2009's Devil's Halo. Pairing seductive, Sade-esque vocals with catchy downtempo arrangements, she crafts some seriously affecting torch songs here. Though many of the tracks on Weather convey a sweet soul jangle, they're most affecting when Ndegeocello slows the tempo to the speed of a tender first kiss.
Alternating between expressions of insecurity and brash self-assuredness, Ndegeocello is at her sinewy best here. The heartbreak evoked by "Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear" is stunning, but the real accomplishment lies in the way the music captures the unique sensation of driving past an old lover's house and not being able to shake that feeling of longing, no matter how much time has passed.
Appropriately titled, Weather captures the complex and unpredictable emotions that accompany intimacy, desire and alienation. They're feelings as familiar and as old as time itself, but as this gorgeous, moving album makes clear, they still have the power to surprise and even terrorize.' - NPR
a nomadic afropolitan...a recovering procrastinator...a purveyor of awesome...a work in progress. creative director at @eeloom.
love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place
--zora neale hurston
while falling may be inevitable, it does not have to be crippling; so when I get up, it is so I might master my balance. In balance there is might. --john forté
i am deliberate and afraid of nothing
--audre lorde
[artwork credit: adapted 'wrapped in pride' by raul guerra]
