BE NICE TO EACH OTHER

Yuck have been nice to Porcelain Raft and, in return, Porcelain Raft have been nice to Yuck. The resulting niceness is a new 7" out on Transparent. Yuck have created a stripped back cover of PR's Despite Everything, and PR has delivered a similar compliment by putting his own spin on Yuck's The Wall. Go here to listen to both, lazy, and give those boys a liking. Weird donkey.

ASTER AWEKE

A bit of a different direction for us this one, but who wants a linear listening experience, ay? We came across this digital copy of Aster Aweke's tape on Keifa Records, and thought that you might want a listen too.

Aweke is a Ethiopian born singer, who has often been described as the Ethiopian Aretha Franklin. This is more of a comment on her stature in East African music as oppose to musical similarities as we can't really see the resemblance as such, and most of her songs aren't a pop-style three and a half minutes long.

She moved to America in 1979 to pursue her education, but due to her growing popularity in Ethiopian communities her friends persuaded her to carry on singing and recording music. She is still a massive influence in on Ethiopian music. When she performed in Addis Ababa in 1997, she drew a crowd of over 50,000 people, which is pretty good going as she wasn't exactly able to tweet about it. In recent times, she's played with Pras (Fu gee la) to crowds in excess of 10,000 in her home country. She still makes music and lives in Los Angeles.

We're really into this tape. You should listen to it too, basically, and let us know how you get on.

Side 1.

Track 1

Track 2

Track 3

Track 4

Side 2.

Track 5

Track 6

Track 7

Track 8

WOONING

THE CHILDREN OF SWILL

Most of you will be familiar with the Brooklyn-based creative waste, Swill Children. However, just as some might say “one good deed deserves another”, several impressive releases deserve a mention (at least). For those of you who don’t know what we are talking about, Swill Children release records (see Lucky Dragons, Weekend, Okie Dokie etc.), produce art, put on shows and output creative endeavours like all day every day.

The last few releases from SC have been an exceptionally designed series of prints. The majority of the artwork that they produce is printed on Risograph paper, and looks insanely slick and well thought out, and above are just a quick set of our favourite bits of the multitude of stuff they continue to treat us to.

A C O U P L E O F T H I N G S Y O U M I G H T N O T K N O W

Jesse Hlebo, the schoolyard bully of the Swill Children and extremely over worked creative, has just taken up art direction duties on photography magazine, Mossless. They are lacking in funding (as all new and exciting magazines know all too well. Ahem), so have put a video up on Kick Starter to grease the wheels of financial aid. Go here to take a look at what they got and see if you fancy throwing them some coin.

As with all techno kids, and iPhone fanatics, Jesse has got a tumblr that he updates from his blower. The snaps are akin to Now I Remember or Radburner Jnr type brilliance, so if you ♥ LOLs check it.

S W I L L

BANJO FOR CHRISTMAS

OK OK, so Banjo or Freakout might not be into the most yule tidey of artworks (or usual song content for that matter), but the festive spirit is alive and raging in the BOF house this Christmas.

For the first 1,000 people who visit their Bandcamp, a free digital gift is waiting to be delivered to their wanton hard drives. For defs check it out as it's nice music and that's always good.

WOWO

S E E Y O U T O N I G H T

AMALGAMATE

A M A L G A M A T E

C60 REDUX

We are a little caught between two schools of thought. On the one hand, records and record players are the cat’s pajamas, but on the other, pushing things forward and innovative design gets the bumples-a-gooserling and is so important in every facet of life, not just music. Music is becoming a more interactive experience every year, with every new touch-screen, voice-recognition gadget that N E R D S are turning their Radiohead-loving hand to. Soon we'll all be floating around in orbs having our music disseminated to us through light-feeding robots.

I N N O V A T E O R D I E

SYMPHONIC DIET RAVES

As far as visual/drone artists go, Fatima Al Qadiri has got to be pretty much at the end of the rainbow. Born in Senegal and raised in Kuwait (currently hanging out in NYC), the Eastern upbringing is massively prominent in her music - and not just the warping and distorting of quotes from the Qur'an, smart ass - There are incredible layers of depth in her influences ranging from frantic electronics to steel drums. Chaotic at times, we can't decide whether she is mesmirising/uplifting or terrifying/unnerving...what do you reckon?

Anyways, the visual comment at the beginning of this recommendation wasn't just a crowd-drawer, it was a written tee, yeah! Fatima's acapella project "Ayshay" has brought with it the opportunity to get her video editing steez on as displayed by the hectic video underneath this blurb. Definitely on the conceptual arts tip, for sure.

Fatima has just released her new track "d - medley" (purposefully lower case, of course), which is certainly the most listenable of her creations and a firm favourite in heavy rotation right now...listen to that here.

s y m p h o n i c d i e t r a v e s

POP RE-RUB

This is a really nice idea.

Emails were sent out, ironic songs were collated, and pop was reborn over(many)nights in a bassline-heavy new format. Be cool to think that people will visit the site and give some cash to the kids at the labels concerned. After all, how many of you wasted 35p (or more. Standards tariff charges apply) voting for Rebecca last night and instead getting Daniel Bedingfield the painter? This is a way more interesting way of tossing coins. Friends of Friends could become friends of yours, you never know.

Tis the season an all that. Speaking of which, here is a Christmas song that does anything but suck.

P O P M A S S A C R E

MIDI PENCE

Ever wondered what Jenny From The Block would sound like without that idiot yelping about how streeeeeet she is? Maybe you'd, also, like to escape the pretensions of digital sound quality? Well, my hombreachino we've found your Midi Earth.

This site will cater for all your retarded musical needs, leaving you scrambling around for that long lost Amiga soundtrack, stabbing at your Stylophone in the dark.

Juke's highlights (in no particular order):

Limp Bizkit - Faith

Van Halen - Jump

DMX - Ruff Ryders Anthem

P.S. One for mum.

LOW AND BEHOLD!

For anyone that was lucky enough to catch their show at Primavera in the summer, this'll bring back some incredible memories.

08/12 & HEARTBREAK

08 / 12 & H E A R T B R EA K

MAMUTHONES MAKE POP MUSIC

No, "they" don't.

Mamuthones is the solo project of Alessio Gastaldello (Jennifer Gentle). Named after the festival in Sardinia, where there's a parade of people wearing these epic masks and outfits like the one you can see above (it's far more interesting than that but this is a music magazine, dummy), the music that Gastaldello has created for ear valves is so ambient and free-flowing that we think we are starting to turn into harem pants. His latest record SATOR is out on Italian imprint, Boring Machines, who have a juicy roster of visually incredible and healthily satanic bands, but this sounds a bit more special.

To be honest, whilst listening to this music and reading about this music, two things started to happen. Firstly, we felt as though we were slipping into a worm hole, clawing at astral plains for an explanation, and secondly, it seemed like we were reading about a lost cult or Da Vinci code follow up rather than a musical experience. The album is described as "truly a shamanistic take on Catholic rituals, all performed with an intensity that smells of incense as much as of fire and brimstone. " at one point, which is where my mind started to wander and I feared as though I had become dark matter. However, this is a really diverse drone project and infinitely more emotive than the majority of art students holding their Fender against their amp because they just heard Salem.

M A M U T H O N E S

SO THAT'S HOW YOU DO A MUSIC VIDEO

If this is what a "rave" looked like, I would go more often.

Everyone is talking about it, now we are too. Rad cover, totally rad EP. Listen to it here.

I T S C O L D O U T S I D E

THRASH MUCH?

TO THE SONIC TIME MACHINE!

Who needs lyrics, right? They go on a bit, you usually can't hear them properly, they get in the way of basslines, and they're just a bit unnecessary...well, sort of. A band that don't need voices, warbling harmonies or, indeed, lyrics are Memphis born garage-surf killers, Impala. For the best part of 20 years (sporadically, anyhow) the band have making boogie-down, cocktail stick-chewing, surfological riffs and bringing the party vibes all over the South East States and beyond.

- PERSONAL NOTICE: LISTEN TO R&B FAVOURITES IMMEDIATELY -

Being as though the vast majority of scum suckers (us included) rarely listen to instrumental music, we thought we would get Scott Bomar from the band to give us his top 5 instrumental bands, with his favourite songs by them and a little brief on why they are awesome...because we like to be spoonfed.

Top 5 Instrumental Band's Songs

1. Bill Jennings "What's New" King Records. 1954

"When Impala was touring a lot in the 1990s, we bought a King Records instrumental R&B compilation called "After Hours" at a truck stop in the middle of America and we literally wore the copy out. We would play Bill Jennings take on the standard "Whats New" over and over, it sounds magical. The perfect late night mood music."

2. Booker T and the MGs "Melting Pot" Stax Records 1971

This song gives me chills every time I hear it, Booker T and the MGs are my favorite instrumental group and this is them at their finest.

3. Issac Hayes "Pursuit of the Pimpmobile" Stax Records 1974

"This is from Issac's score to Truck Turner. Issac's scores to Truck Turner, Tough Guys and Shaft are all incredible. Skip Pitts who is the guitarist in my band, The Bo-Keys, is playing on this and he also played the wha wha part on "Theme From Shaft" and all of Issac's 70s recordings."

4. Willie Mitchell "20-75" Hi Records 1964

"Willie passed away this past January, he was my mentor and one of the greatest people ever. Everything he did is great, "20-75" is a good starting point."

5. Henry Mancini "The Pink Panther Theme" RCA Records 1964

"It doesn't get any better than this. I love Mancini but the star here is the amazing tenor sax of LA session saxophonist, Plas Johnson who was originally from New Orleans."

JUMPSUIT BABBLERS

Not a massive surprise that Will Oldham's new strange little band sound pretty sick (well, in between the bad sound quality on this video. Apols). What is surprising are those outfits. Furry. The Babblers played their debut show in a tiny venue in Tennessee and didn't tell anyone about it...but it's on the internet any way. Not so smart now are you Oldham?

R O L L I N G D E E P L I K E E W O K S

LUCKY US

Photo by Christina Kernohan

For those of you who don't know (and you kinda should), Lucky Me are a Scottish-based record label/creative collective made up of artitsts, musicians, promoters and producers who have been burning their own brand on to the faces of everyone who has the pleasure of taking a look.

With a strong sense of style, and a determination to keep matters as they want them, Lucky Me's innovative attitude to being creative hasn't gone unnoticed. What started as a group of mates putting their heads together because they had similar tastes has now gained international acclaim and is keeping them really busy.

Lucky Me have the look, the style, the sound, and all are very much their own. They give away music, stream mixtapes on their site constantly, put out dynamic records, and treat people to a party or two.

Juke spoke to Co-Director, Martyn Flyn, about all the things that make their label different and what he thinks about a bunch of other stuff...

Lucky Me is a very distinctive brand/operation – how important to you think it is now for record labels and musical collectives to maintain their own style?

I think it's hugely important- not even limited to labels and music. Maintaining our own style is a reflection of us and hopefully people who identify with what we are doing, and recognise our influences, will feel that they can be a part of it.

For your own artwork, who would you say has been the greatest inspiration?

Glasgow School of Art, 90s skateboard graphics, too many books and magazines.

What movements in music right now are impressing you the most?

Theres always so much great music locally in Scotland- UK wise always love what comes out of Hessle Audio, Night Slugs and Numbers , always listening to lots of new HipHop RnB production. We, also, clearly love the new Montreal scene of producers: Lunice, Jacques Greene and Ango. They all make really unique music filled with tons of personality and swagger.

In the past 30 years, whose whole package (record sleeves, music, style, performance) has blown your mind the most?

Wow 30 years... Prince, Mahavishnu, Hudson Mohawke, Jodeci, Warp records, Stones Throw.

Which direction do you see yourselves going in the next few years? Are there any new endeavours in the pipeline?

Lots of plans I'm worried about jinxing by talking about. Id like the Art side of our collective get more shine , theres some really great musical projects on the way and some more international label showcases coming soon.

Finally, let us get a top 5 off of you...what are your top 5 hip hop tunes?

Changes all the time...

1. Royal Flush "Worldwide"
2. Juelz Santana "Santanas Town"
3. Pastor Troy "Are We Cuttin?"
4. Baby and Clipse " What Happened to that Boy"
5. Freeway "What we do"

BEATS RHYMES AND FIGHTS

After years in the making, and even longer of us all waiting, it looks like Phife Dawg, Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammed and Jarobi are finally getting their story told. Compiled by actor Michael Rapaport over an extended period, the documentary features everybody from Kanye to ?uestlove all giving testimony to just how important and influential the four were in bringing an intelligence to hip hop that was sadly lacking from a lot of groups. From Bonita Applebum to group fall out, this promises to be an excellent use of your time. Words can't describe.

M A R A U D E F O R E Y E S

JEEP TRACKS

This week Sara down at Work It was kind enough to step up to curate our Spotify player with some of her girls favourite tracks at the moment.

We got her to give us a quick run down of the reasons she likes each track as a way of introducing the playlist. Cheers Sara!

Mary J Blige- Be Happy

"Swinging bass, positive lyrics about being…well…happy! Enough to make you do the "Mary Stomp"."

En Vogue - Don't Let Go

"The ultimate power soul ballad. Could these girls have any more soul?! Great track to sing along to, everyone knows the lyrics."

LL Cool J - Hey Lover

"Any song with Boyz II Men flexing their skills on the hook is going to be hot."

Janet Jackson - Thats The Way Love Goes

"This is "Jeep Music" at its finest. Number one for eight weeks in the US."

Shola Ama - You're the One I Love

"Got to have some UK flavour up in here. Sugary sweet stuff from everyone's favourite nineties teenager. Perfect soundtrack to crush to."

A Tribe Called Quest - Find a Way

"Banging party song, and an instant floor filler."

Erykah Badu - On & On

"A neo soul anthem. Will always be reminiscent of that particular time of consciousness in the nineties."

Be sure to check out the next Work It on December 11th at Visions Video.

T U N E S T O B O U N C E T O

OH SHIT, THE REVIEWS MIGHT BE RIGHT?

N E R V O U S B R E A K D O W N

SONNENZIMMER

There's a whole culture within the culture of independent music that doesn't get given nearly as much press as it should do. The marriage of art and music has always been there (ill-advised or not) and often manifests itself in paper, ink and wall paste radness. We're talking about gig posters, obviously.

Perhaps once the approach to gig flyering was little more than a crayola and fag packet type of affair, but people now take this shit really seriously even in the case of some of the smaller shows - Maybe they try harder because they know how difficult it is to pack out a place if your headline act's fashion line isn't quite ready for general circulation - Whatever the reason, this niche subculture, occassionally, bursts your eyes as well as your ear drums.

In recent times, East side of the pond, showcases such as the Wallfly Exhibition in East London have given artists who work on these type of projects a bit more exposure. When gifted the kind of space in which they can be allowed to speak for themselves as an individual piece of work, not just an after-thought, you can find some truly incredible stuff.

Setting our iris alight with every new project and creation in this area are Chicago based company Sonnenzimmer, who produce some of the most abstract works of this kind, to highest most exceptional quality. The company was set up by Nadine Nakanishi and Nick Butcher, who met and became buddies whilst working in Jay Ryan's space in the city. The space was constantly full of interesting people, and so the couple started collaborating on work for their specific tastes and set up their own print shop in the summer of 2006.

Juke managed to get hold of Nick the other day to ask him a bunch of questions about their amazing projects. This is that.

Why did you decide to set up this particular project?

Sonnenzimmer came about through a series of lucky events. Nadine and I were looking to combine our efforts. She had since moved to Chicago and was working out of her own painting studio. I had moved into my own painting studio too. We were both still printing at The Bird Machine. Jay's career was really taking off and he was getting busier and busier. He was very generous with his resources but it became obvious that we were getting in the way. We had played with the idea of setting up our own print shop and finally jumped at the opportunity when we met a real nice fellow who was selling his industrial screen printing equipment for next to nothing. We bought the equipment and found a space. It took us about 6 months to get everything up and running. At first, we were using the space for more of a "fine art" space, taking on the occasional poster jobs to help cover rent. We were both working other jobs at the time. Things slowly picked up with more poster jobs and about two years ago we decided to really try to turn Sonnenzimmer into a real business. During all this time we were both working at various places. We were both laid off a few times and eventually we just decided to go for it.

What is the creative process behind producing the artwork for different artists?

Our process is always different. In general we start by listening to the band, to get an idea of the kind of atmosphere we want to create. It's also extremely important for us to be excited about what we are making. So, even if the music is not exactly our cup of tea, we try to bring in formal concepts or techniques that are new and exciting to us. Most of all we try to surprise ourselves. Once we've decided on the basic ambient, we then bounce ideas off of one another through sketching, mock ups on the computer, word games, etc. There's no real formula. But it is always important for us to agree on a direction ahead of time, or else it can be to much of an internal battle. Once we are on the same page we work pretty fast. Thats the great thing about a team, double idea power. We usually start by taking drawings or painted elements, photocopying them, and collaging them together to create our film positives.

Most people attach an image to everything, whether they are conscious of it or not. It helps us file things in our minds. For most of our lives, music has existed as an object. So that object, many times came the image we referred to in our brain library. Now that music is once again immaterial, people need an image more than ever to attach to it, in order to file it properly. That can be video, graphic art, anything really.

How do you feel about the artwork that is produced en masse for musicians nowadays?

In general, I feel that art, music, and culture in general is at a stand sill. There's more of it than ever, which is great. But its also very monochromatic, not literally, but there is certain look to everything. We are just as guilty as anyone else. But, I feel a real fear of the future, so everyone is looking backwards. You see it in art, music, everywhere. In general though, I think musicians care more than ever about the art that's on their albums and posters. We live in an image based culture now. In many ways, image is just as important as the content. Its a strange time. A cross roads, I guess.

Are there any particular musicians who you feels artwork is really on point?

I've always loved Four Tet's album covers, especially Rounds. It really hit the nail on the head for the aesthetic of record. I love the covers and labels that Stefan Marx has done for Smallville Records, and of course Kim Hiorthoy's work for Rune Grammophon. I love the simplicity of jazz classics like The Shape of Jazz to Come by Ornette Coleman or Giant Steps by John Coltrane. Utilitarian with a touch of style and class.

What creative collaborations have most excited you recently?

We've had a good run lately of really fun collaborations. We recently worked on a poster for an experimental animation festival called Eyeworks. The organizers, Alexander Stewart and Lilli Carre, are fantastic animators themselves, came in with tons of great ideas. Together we came up a crazy plan. An animated poster, using the screen printing process to make incremental changes in placement and color over the print run. So the stack of finished prints worked as a flip book. Alexander Stewart and Lilli Carre then photographed each of the posters and created the actual animated poster. Which they used as a web trailer for the event. That project really opened up our minds to new possibilities with screen printing.

We also just produced a collaborative art print with local vibraphonist, Jason Adasiewicz. For the project we covered his vibraphones with paper and inked up his mallets. He then proceeded to beat the shit out of them, making some amazing marks, definitely recalling abstract expressionism and all the action painters. We took that imagery as source material to create a print. The final product is part of a project called 10x10 (not the Insound thing, a different 10x10), which was put together by local print shop Spudnik Press and event organizers, Homeroom. For the project 10 printmakers choose a local musician. The musicians created a song and then the printmakers make a print based on that song. The finished product is packaged together as a set. 10 prints with a coupon code for the 10 songs. This project was great, because we got to work with one of our favorite musicians in a very very direct way.

Could you tell us a little more about the thinking behind your recent 10x10 project and how you felt it panned out?

The Insound 10 for 10 project was a huge endeavor for us, also a huge opportunity. The idea behind it was to create something bigger than the individual posters, to add a second layer of interest and concept. Our solution was to make all the posters fit together as large abstracted landscape. Insound's goal was to highlight 10 bands that were shaping the future of music. We wanted to make that shape!

Who would you like to work with in the future?

In many ways I think there is a lot more freedom in dance music. While the structures are extremely rigid the things put in the structures can vary widely. Its a strange duality. I'd love to make images for more dance oriented music. We would also like to work with larger institutions for event posters and prints. Working with museums, galleries, etc would be great. Especially if were able to collaborate with featured artists at such places. We are also looking to do more publishing. We've released one book, Formal Additive Programs, and have another, Field Integration, in the works. Rather than portfolios of our work, both books offer insight into different processes and working methods. We would eventually like to work with a larger publisher for producing similar publications.

SCI FI LO FI

SELECTION OF FAVES

This is just a selection of some of our favourite record covers from 2010 (the music inside wasn't bad either).

I M A G E H E A V Y