Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Lizzo Presents a statement about her Powerful Video My Skin


Lizzo Playing 'Late Show With Stephen Colbert' Tomorrow.

 Big GRRRL, Small World LP available Friday December 11 on BGSW Records.



This is a summoning of bodies: all shapes, sizes and shades to unite in their pride, and wear their skin like the gift it is.

My Skin literally matters. It matters because it’s the largest organ on my body. Because it’s my exterior. It’s been stretched, sunburnt and covered in glitter. It’s the first thing you notice about me. My skin is dark brown, but if you asked someone they would say it’s black. My blackness is my largest assumed ‘accessory.’ Not my gender, religion or wealth. Because of it, I’ve experienced countless misconceptions from people— neck rolls and gratuitous gestures, overt southern dialects superimposed onto my own voice, perceived “ghetto-ness.” I laugh it off because it’s seemingly harmless, but when we think about where this originates it’s actually poisonous. Being black in America is a unique experience. All people have a unique American experience, but I can’t speak for all people. I can only speak from my unique experience as a black woman. The “African-American” myths that cloud non-black people's judgment are taken from the worst part of our struggle and paraded as fact. I could write this essay trying to debunk “black-on-black crime” and fill it with pleading persuasive prose, but I’d rather just tell you what I know.
I met a boy who told me he “thought I was cute, but not anymore” because he thought I was “lighter skinned in person.” That is what I know. That is a fact. If you are not a person of color please ask yourself if that has ever happened to you. No? Now imagine if it did. I’ve heard of rejection for being “too fat” or “too skinny”, "too poor", even “too ugly” but guess what? Bodies change, money comes and goes and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Skin does not change. It is our permanent marker in this life; a calling card to ethnic pride. I was appraised and judged based on the color of my skin, and trust me I am not the only one.

Twelve days ago while laying in bed I heard several cop cars whizz down my street with deafening sirens. As a north Minneapolis resident living next to the precinct, it was something I had gotten used to. Shortly after I found out a young man was killed while in handcuffs. His name was Jamar Clark. I don’t think it’s fair to kill someone if they’re already in handcuffs, but I found out many Americans beg to differ. As the days passed, the crowd at the 4th Precinct has grown and grown. Activists from Black Lives Matter, the NAACP and many others that fight for human rights began to camp out and protest. People were hurting and crying; the pain of losing someone coupled with the pain of thousands of slain black men and woman hung like a heavy mist in my neighborhood. The leaders were benevolent and strong, yet another emotion began to creep in from outsiders and agitators: Fear.

Where does this fear come from? Why do people justify the execution of a man in handcuffs by saying the officer “feared for his/her life”? What is there to fear if a person is unarmed and detained? And then it hit me: his skin. His blackness was seen as a lethal weapon and used against him. Logically unsound yet so ingrained in American history is the vilification of its’ black citizens. In studies conducted by researchers in the field of child development, time and time again 4 to 10 year-olds favored lighter skinned dolls and believed that darker skinned dolls were “bad”. Stereotypical profiling begins at a young age. We are constantly bombarded with subliminal and outright prescriptive messages from the media, our parents and our environment. So in the same way people pet my hair and call my afro “fun”, black men are seen as ‘dangerous’ and are avoided like it’s second nature. My sister’s best friend is a 6’2” black man with dreadlocks, he has never hurt a person a day in his life but still has to vie for the minimum amount of respect that keeps pedestrians from clutching their purses and crossing the road when he walks by them. He’s suddenly ‘armed and dangerous’ but all he has is his skin.

We are reduced to our stereotypes. We ALL are. But black stereotypes have made us the pariah of the privileged. “My Skin” is a stance against the racial profiling of ALL ethnicities and the blind hatred that poisons our perceptions. I performed in this music video being fully aware of the consequences. The amount of shame people place on others’ bodies has evolved beyond the quiet murmurs behind backs. "Body shaming" and hateful, stereotypical slurs are flippantly exchanged on social media and youtube comments. This video will be seen, scrutinized, laughed at, hated, loved, but most importantly appreciated. My afro-hair, fat, muscle, bone and melanin are not a punchline-- I was born in it, and I will proudly wake up in it everyday. This is a summoning of bodies: all shapes, sizes and shades to unite in their pride, and wear their skin like the gift it is. -Lizzo

Friday, December 4, 2015

Miami's Krisp To Release More Synth Infused Music

 Krisp are a synth pop band from Miami Florida (but don't hold that against them), who formed in 2011.  I am loving their hooks from the upcoming album Sonic Monarch which is due January 15 from Gummdrops.  Yes the official description of their music strikes me as silly. They are being promoted as an "indie rock, chill wave, dance band" which means absolutely nothing to me, but I'm a curmudgeon of a blogger when it comes to labels.  I will say that they bring some of the good bits from the early and mid '80s electronic bands, but manage to blend it with a positive attitude that feels organic and cheery. They seem to be happy to be making music and that vibe shines through on their record. It makes me curious to see what I missed from their EP Mamani Vice.


When asked how their sound has progressed, Alex Lopez told Indie Shuffle, “On our first EP, Mamani Vice, we used a lot of synths and electric drums. For the new material on Sonic Monarch, it’s more organic, because its instrument-driven. We’re still using Charlie Wood’s synths, but not Juan’s or mine. We’ve got a funk/indie/electronic style going.”Band member Juan Ledesma comments, “The way we write has always been through practices and jam sessions. The tracks are always developed collaboratively and we adjust each other’s playing to accommodate our collective sensitivities.” Have a listen for yourself via Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/krispband/167k

About Gummdrops:  Gummdrops is a talent house based in South Florida, servicing the best musicians and performing artists in the region.

Larytta Release :Something Good" Remixes


In early 2015, Creaked Records released Larytta's sophomore album Jura. "Something Good" is the fourth single taken from Jura, and the track is being released today alongside two remixes of the track: one from Swiss hip-hop/trap producer FlexFab (who has also contributed a remix to XL-duo Ibeyi), and one French tropical bass aficionado Rafael Aragon.  Stream the "Something Good" remixes here: https://soundcloud.com/larytta/sets/larytta-something-good

BIO: Larytta is the Swiss electronic group formed by Guy Meldem and Christian Pahud. Founded in 2004 by Pahud and Meldem, Larytta debuted their off-kilter electronic style two years later with Difficult Fun — an album that XLR8R called "a hallucinogenic ride through an amusement park of off-kilter beats, soothingly psychotic vocals, and multi-dimensional melodies." Six years later, Larytta released their effervescent follow-up, Jura, again delivering an entirely idiosyncratic — if occasionally distorted — take on electronic pop music. Lead single "Osama Obama" received a colorful and comical animated video treatment that exemplifies the group's tongue-in-cheek approach.

Noel Fielding & Kasabian's Serge Pizzorno Reveal Xmas Song Ft. Idris Elba

Noel Fielding & Kasabian's Serge Pizzorno Under the Moniker Loose Tapestries Reveal Video for Xmas Song Ft. Idris Elba

Noel Fielding (Mighty Boosh, Luxury Comedy) and Kasabian's Serge Pizzorno under their musical pseudonyms Vacuum Cloud and The Decision, respectively, have released a video featuring a rap by actor Idris Elba (The Wire). The video "Can't Wait For Christmas" was directed by Nigel Coan who has previously directed Fielding's Fielding's surreal series Luxury Comedy.

Speaking earlier to NME Pizzorno revealed,
"What's so amazing about Loose Tapestries is that it can be absolutely anything. On this new record there's an all-out pure disco tune, which I could never get away with usually. It's got the most incredible line in it that goes, 'Cocks in all directions / From flaccid to erections.' I don't think it gets better than that."

The new single "Can't Wait For Christmas" features the lyrical gems "Wanna thank you baby for this blue exercise bike and by February I'll be tapping up your sister"  and "Feels so good to cover my body in a bucket of goose fat.. and my wife is a walnut. A Christmas Walnut." Clearly this is the Christmas song the world has been lacking, so thank you Noel Fielding and Serge Pizzorno for the gift that will keep on "coming and coming" every year.

Loose Tapestries: Can't Wait for Christmas


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