# 00027

amsterdam, nl, august 2009

# 00026 - trouvaille 003

okay.. there are numerous ways to start this off.. how the city of Detroit is this seemingly endless pool of musical talent (and it is).. how this tough city in the Midwest is and apparently has always been sustaining so many great musicians, regardless of what kind of music.. and so forth.. but, to tell you the truth, i’ve never been there.. thus, i can’t really tell you anything about it.. so, 'nuff blabla and let's cut right to the chase:

U N I T E D     S T A T E S     O F     M I N D

or short: USM, “is a collective of diverse, yet like-minded individuals who have come together to advance today’s stagnant hip-hop culture. The collective consists of five emcees (Asylum 7, Metasyons, W. Draztik, 5-Ill, & D. Allie) and two dj’s/producers (Crate Digga & Sleepy Biggs)“..

obviously, they’ve been around for some time now and since they make a lot of their releases available online for free, it’s easy to check them out.. but, being caught up in this fast-paced world, let’s focus on two more or less recent releases and one soon to be launched project..

although there have been several releases beneath the collective’s banner – an album (memorably entitled kill the bullsh!t) and several samplers (vol. 1, 2, 3 & 4) – their recent ones have mostly been composed by ‘reduced formations’..

one of them is w. draztik & sleepy biggs' smokers cough

coming along with the record, they’ve released (so far) three enticing videos..

w. draztik & sleepy biggs – smokers intro

w. draztik & sleepy biggs – the rest did it for checks

w. draztik & sleepy biggs – ringmaster

another collaboration would be progress report.. this time usm’s d. allie reached outside of the collective to partner up with eddie logix, “producer/mc/audio engineer [&] 1/3 of MidCoast Most”.. they released an album of the same name earlier this year..

again, there are some enhancing visuals..

progress report – wake up

progress report feat. mayaeni – i’m yours

at last, a look into the near future:

metasyons is about to release his next project in august (on the 12^th), the unemployment lp, produced by crate digga.. as an hors d’oeuvre and to get the anticipation going, the visuals to blackman..

metasyons – blackman

# 00025

amsterdam, nl, august 2009

# 00024 - trouvaille 002

so far, this platform has been made of photographs and some meager words, taken and uttered by me, yours truly.. but eventually, even i have to keep up with the times.. so, despite my turtle-ish approach regarding innovation – meaning being not only annoyingly languorous but also irrationally skeptical about anything new, bright and shiny with – by any chance – more than four knobs on it – , I’m venturing head-on into something that might well be the next big thing: the video..

on a different note and although (or maybe because) i’m considering myself a demonstrative record collector and concert goer, i’ve kind of made a point of not rendering any sort of review or criticism on here.. as hippie as this might sound, this platform serves exclusively to behold phenomena that interest or entertain me in a pleasant way.. having said this, everything posted here is a benevolent suggestion to pass time.. no more, no less..

so without further ado, i’ll humbly present to you the first handful of videos..

the first of the two segments, an ongoing series on ‘sampling’ and ‘remixing’, entitled "everything is a remix", created by kirby ferguson, points out how there really isn’t anything new under the sun, besides the rejuvenating force of creativity (which - as you will learn at the latest in part 3 - is not so highty-tighty either).. so far, three mini-films have been published and the fourth is on its way.. for further information you might want to visit the site of this series..

kirby ferguson - everything is a remix part I

kirby ferguson - everything is a remix part II




kirby ferguson - everything is a remix part III

(yet another proof for his expertise; introduced to me by D.. props, man.. bbh)

as a complement and to tie these crafty films to the realm of urban(esque) culture, let’s close with an appealing film, "the process. (a beatmaking film)" by hypoetical (adriel almirol), on the process of beatmaking (d'uh?!)..

hypoetical - the process. (a beatmaking film)

(stumbled upon on sampling changed our life.. check it out!)

# 00023

st. gallen, ch, december 2009

# 00022

straight outta sittertobel,

live from the open air st. gallen..

st. gallen, ch, july 2011

# 00021

köln, d, august 2010

# 00020

london, uk, february 2011

# 00019

zürich, ch, may 2011

# 00018

zürich, ch, march 2011

# 00017 - trouvaille 001.2

doing nearly everything in my (moderate) power to promote (and re-kindle the fascination for) the pop-culture phenomenon frederick and piggeldy once were (and i mean, honestly‚’tha streetz’ were swept clean, every time an episode of the show aired (or so I remember), BELIEVE THE HYPE!), i’m employing the two attached photographs to complement an earlier post regarding the amiable pig brothers.. they depict both an earlier as well as a later stage of the piece.. while the first and older one concerns itself with the same ballot as the one described in the mentioned earlier post (but prior to it), the second and more recent one comments on yet another rather embarrassing (yes, this proud democracy seems never to fall short of providing those) ballot outcome.. but hey! let again the pig(let)s speak for themselves:

frederick & piggeldy, autumn 2010 (source)

confronting frederick forthrightly, piggeldy poses (in his rather prototypical manner) the question “after all, what is a deportation initiative exactly?”, right after opening with his trademark “hey frederick!”.. quick as a shot, frederick replies (in an apparently cynical as well as amused mood) “it is first and foremost a humanitarian swinishness [pun intended]!”

again, this dialogue took place before the infamous ballot and was immediately amended after its outcome (into the very state already rather eloquently described here).. but just months later, the pig bros speak up again, still shocked by the initial initiative.. and again, a rather discomforting ballot outcome was the bone of contention..

frederick & piggeldy, winter/spring 2011

trying to find a voice between all the screaming ads for brot und spiele, piggeldy speaks up once again “hey/yo frederick!”, only to repeat the already uttered but still kind of unanswered question “what is (again) democracy?” by now, one can not be sure if the following is just a post-traumatic and repetitious rambling or the faint echo of the first disgusted reply, but there, above the often so clever frederick, hovers, not unlike Kurtz’s last ode, (paraphrased:) “the swinishness! the swinishness!”

zürich, ch, autumn 2010 - winter/spring 2011

# 00016

amsterdam, nl, august 2009

# 00015

winterthur, ch, december 2010

# 00014 - trouvaille 001

piggeldy

so far, words have not been my strong suit.. the pictures or whatever should preferably be speaking for themselves.. though there have been moments, i've been feeling almost obliged to pull out my mighty.. hmm.. imaginary pen, reluctance usually gets the best of me.. again and again.. not to set any sort of closing to this fading year, but rather as a signal for the posts to come, i am overcoming my natural shyness and reaccounting a wonderful work i've stumbled upon a few days ago.. along the lines of the already mentioned credo of letting pictures stand on their own, i'm merely translating the depicted dialog..

frederick 

   in this scene, the two brothers piggeldy and frederick, both beloved characters of a german tv-cartoon series, are discussing a current political event..
   as usual (this is somewhat the clou of their purposefully educational program), piggeldy, the younger piglet (and to be blunt, a rather illiterate and simplistic creature), expresses his general lack of understanding of any wordly matter whatsoever through a very concise and relevant question, in this case "yo, frederick!" and then, in a sort of casual manner, "what is democracy?"
   being the lethargic piglet, or rather the lethargic boar for that matter, that frederick is (and all over the world is known to be), he shows no sign of bashfulness and answers his younger sibling straightforwardly "democracy is the governance of a 52 % majority over a 48 % minority, piggeldy."
   any further questions or arguments are missing (or obsolete since no one expects piggeldy to dish out a witty comeback), but one may doubt if the endearing but dull young piglet detected the cynicism (and frustration) the apparently voting frederick has expressed in his very true answer..

   zürich, ch, december 2010

(allne än guete rutsch und äs guets neus!)