Art: Bumpershine collects the best of the 2009 CMJ flyers

Having trouble figuring out exactly where the hell you want to be this week for CMJ? Do you get inundated with text-based invites and need something visual to crunch on? Well then today is a good day for you for stimulation. An extra special thanks go then to our good friends at the Canadian loving Brooklyn-based blog Bumpershine, who've gone and collected over 100 flyers from the various shows, parties and spectacles taking place all over Gotham from today until Saturday, including our little flyer. Check out all of the best of the visual beasts on their Flickr page now. We're sure there are a ton that have been left out and will be probably be added to the collection by the guys at Bumpershine as they come in.

(mp3)    The xx - Islands

Godspeed!

Art: Yeah Yeah Yeahs want you to design their next tour tee shirt

From YYYs mouthpiece Karen O comes word that the band are hoping to have jazzed up tee shirts designed by their fans for their next tour (whenever that is):

Hey Folks, all us YYYs have been avid collectors of t-shirts over the years, what can we say, WE LIKEY A GOOD T-SHIRT. In our travels many of you have chucked a homemade YYY tee on the stage or what not and all the shirts have always been unique and poured over with loooooove. So it got us thinking: how about giving you the fans a crack at coming up with a fresh new blitzin' YYY T-shirt design! It's a natural fact that YYYs have amongst YOU a whole heap of ART STARS! So school's out for the summer and we want you to spend a hot lazy afternoon throwing something together for us YYYs to REPRESENT! And I got a hunch you're gonna bring it! And if you do we'll bring back a little something in return…!! Luv, YYYs

Full rules, info and inspiration can be found here. In other YYYS news, the band are releasing the Heads Will Roll Remix EP will be released next Tuesday and the cover art is amazing.

(mp3)    Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll (Weird Tapes version)

Godspeed!

Toys: A-Trak and Dust La Rock present "Grateful Bear" for Kidrobot

Yes, that's right. Boys and their toys, we suppose. Genius level/mad scientist Dust La Rock (whose ridiculously well-attended NYC show a few months back was just another sign) and one of the most well-known turntable jockeys there is, A-Trak, paired up with Kidrobot to produce an 8" toy collectible that comes complete with such wonderful trappings as a leather cuff, its own igloo, an "A" cap, gold chain. The list goes on. Retailing for $50, the toy is on sale now at Kidrobot storefronts. We're not going to lie, this thing is dope. Would really go well with our handful of dunnys we've acquired over the past few years.

Dust and A-Trak both were signing limited numbers of the bears at the NYC storefront yesterday and they had a sweaty rager of an afterparty at The Annex.

(mp3)    A-Trak feat. Lupe Fiasco - Me And My Sneakers

Godspeed!

Art: Remdog to release book of paintings

UK electronic/ambient artist Remi Morgan aka Remdog is well known in our circles for his arrangements of soft, sometimes sullen yet often brilliant mix of the concrete and the abstract. He's also--not unbeknownst to us--an accomplished visual artist whose paintings will be freely able to be seen in the coming weeks as many of his works have been included in a book titled Lost Colours And Alibis. The work contains 104 paintings collected from Remi's work as the visual artist known as Rough and it can be pre-ordered here.

(mp3)    Jamie Liddell - Feel Good (Remdog remix)

Godspeed!

Art: Scion's "Installation 5" comes to New York in May

Starting next Thursday in New York City, a crucial stop on Scion's fifth "Installation" tour begins. This year's concept was all about the idea of self portraits and artists represented by the show have submitted photography, video art and painting that interpret the concept. The exhibit will take place over the course of May 7 - 21 and the opening reception will take place May 7 promptly at 7pm at The Showroom NYC, 117 2nd Avenue (& 7th Street). Here's a teaser of what to expect.

(mp3)    Art Of Noise - Beat Box (Diversion One)

Godspeed!

Art: NYU open house + solo performance from Chairlift's Caroline Palochek

(photo by Jason Klauber)

Trying to prove once again that a well-endowed school (stop laughing) can still be sort of "hip" and "downtown" and "current", NYU has thrown together a pretty rad looking opening ceremony for a new space which will house hundreds of student-and-faculty-submitted works, all inside the Beaux Arts building.  Everything from painting, photography, sculptures, video, performance and music will be on display and there'll be a special, one-time, solo performance by Chairlift chanteuse Caroline Polachek.

Deets:

New Art in New York City
OPEN STUDIOS AT NYU
MFA & BFA studios, installations & performances
Saturday, March 7
6:00-10:00pm

Here's what's in store for the night (aside from hundreds of on-display works):
6pm: opening reception & studio tours
7pm: "Vampires of Berlin" screening
8pm: solo set by Caroline Polachek of Chairlift
9pm: dance party

(mp3)    Chairlift - Garbage

Godspeed!

Photos: 303GRAND Soft Opening on February 7

Last Saturday night (we know, we've been terribly behind on posting photos lately) saw the "soft" opening of 303GRAND, a new revolving "pop-up storefront" in Williamsburg run by the guys at Street Attack and Famous Friends.  Sidebar, is there anything that Famous Friends can't do?  With a flavor-tripping night and a hang-out-like-whoa happening, we couldn't be more happy for our besties.  Also, we're going to be do a lot of portrait/studio shooting at 303GRAND in the next few months, so stay tuned for castings and announcements.  The official launch of the space doesn't happen until March 15, but take a look at their calendar to see what's in store for you guys in the coming season.

(mp3)    Alex Gopher - Aurora (Riot In Belgium & Knightlife remix)

Godspeed!

Art: Los Angeles gallery salutes the Beastie Boys

(artwork by Eric Tan)

We got an email this morning from Eric over at ItsTheReal, the hilarious video blog, telling us about this LA art space called Gallery 1988.  This week,  the gallery opened up a brand new show which features a ton of amazing artists saluting the Beastie Boys, called Under The Influence: Beastie Boys Artwork.  You can take a look at all sorts of art, from mixed media from Shepherd Fairey to drawings inspired by song titles to the iconic photographs taken of the band by one of our favorite photographers ever, Glen E. Friedman.  A portion of the proceeds from the gallery showing will benefit the Gramercy Housing Group, a charity specifically picked by the band.  The art is on display until January 29.

(mp3)    Beastie Boys - In A World Gone Mad

Godspeed!

Photos: Unibros attack!

Sorry for the delay on everything y'all.   We've been battling with the new upgrade that our hosting site just did (we don't like it 100% yet), so yeah. Our bad?  Anyways, Friday night saw THE CULTURE OF ME heading out to Alphabeta for an art show they were doing for the Brooklyn Art Collective, featuring over 30 painters, visual artists, sculptures, etc.  A few bands were playing and we took some shots, and then we jetted our asses over to Webster Hall for the second-to-last date of the "Attack of the Unibros" tour, which featured Boys Noize and A-Trak DJing for the masses.  It was killer, we haven't sweat that much in a very long time (serves us right for keeping the leather jacket on) and we can honestly say that we haven't seen a show better than this in maybe a year.  The Danger one was close, but this one was ridiculous.

(mp3)    A-Trak - Say Whoa

Godspeed!

Art: Scion presents "Tokyo Nonsense" this Saturday in LA

Scion Installation L.A. is pleased to present "TOKYO NONSENSE", a group exhibition featuring new work by 11 young Japanese artists who live and work in Tokyo.  The exhibition will include works by Ichiro Endo, Taro Izumi, Ai Kato (aka ai*madonna), Sachiko Kazama, Iichiro Tanaka, and the six-member artist group, Chim↑Pom.

Scion Space Presents: Tokyo Nonsense
October 4 - October 25, 2008
Curated by: Gabriel Ritter

The title, "TOKYO NONSENSE", not only refers to the city itself but also references the word "nonsense" in the context of Japanese popular culture, connoting so-called "modern decadence" and the rebellious, anti-establishment spirit of the 1960s student protest movement.  The work of these 11 young artists reflects both Tokyo's frenetic energy and the banal realities of everyday city life.  The exhibition will consist of more radical forms of expression such as performance, video, and installation art in addition to more traditional mediums such as drawing, painting, and woodblock printing.

The opening reception takes place October 4 at 7pm at the Scion Installation L.A. Gallery, 3521 Helms Ave., Culver City, CA. There will be live performances by Ai Kato (ai madonna) and Ichiro Endo and a live DJ set by DIGIKI (Tokyo Fun Party).  All artists will be in attendance at the exhibition’s opening reception.  Check out some samples of the artwork here.

(mp3)    Digiki - Polypunk 34 mixtape

Godspeed!