]BEAT-BOT[

This is the official video for B-Bot, now posted in Japan and other places worldwide. Tris got the beat from Dante Ross (of old school hip hop fame. He was one of a select few to get the "gas face" from 3rd Bass in '88, actually i think it was SevLuv X). Then, Matt Eaton laid down some funky scratching.

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]AUCTION PICS[

Here are pictures of the donated skateboards on the auction block...on top is my design, displayed here by John Hieftje, mayor of Ann Arbor, MI (!!!). The second picture is Tristan's amazing laser-etched board.

Apparently the auction was a huge success. I hope it works out for all the skaters and riders in the city...punkasses.

Here and here are two more links with pictures from the auction.

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]ANN ARBOR SKATE PARK[

Above are pictures of a deck I just finished for a non-for-profit auction in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The proceeds will go toward building a skate park for all the youngin's within the city limits.

This is the first in a series of pieces I'm working on featuring Revolting Republicans! I've been so shocked by the behavior of some right-wing pundits and politicians lately.

It's only a matter of time before they throw on their anarchist armbands and hit the streets smashing cars with their golf clubs and highball glass Molotov cocktails.


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]MUSIC REVIEW #1[

About 8 years ago, I picked up a Warp routine compilation at this Best Buy right by RIT, where I was going to school at the time. I would go there because it had this shockingly huge and in-depth electronic music selection. At the time I was really into the whole IDM (intelligent dance music) thing, (what a dumb ass name) but anyway... Warped Records had all my favorite artists and producers that I was discovering: Aphex Twin (and all his other names) Squarepusher, Plaid, Luke Vibert, etc.

So I picked up this comp, thinking it would be something cool to blast in the studio amongst all the other illustration majors. I figured it would have some sort of cool DnB-ish stuff and cool abstract sounds, and maybe even some stuff that was similar to DJ Shadow that I could zone out and work away to. That way I could also feel superior to the other more talented and popular kids in the studio. This is shit they just wouldn't understand, I'd blow their minds. Sure, keep listening to your "screamocorepunk rock". So short story now made long, I put the CD in the studio player and cranked it up.

First song was a really amazing Plaid song. "Booc" it's called. Still have it on my i-Pod to this day. Really busy but still slow, kept together, and kind of dancy, exactly what I was expecting. AWESOME!!! "Booc" ends, next song is by some strangely named group I had never heard of, it drops....WHAT. THE. FUCK. IS. THIS??!!! It's a song called "Nuno," sort of sounded like hip hop and electronic music mashed up together, rudely cutting each other off before they actually got to be hip hop or electronic music. There were these chopped up Nas "One Love" lyrics over the whole thing, it had the choppiness and spontaneity of turntable-ism. It was like he just refused to let those damn lyrics go. I didn't really have much to blow my mind at that time, music was really all that was going on with me and my friends, so this was huge.

So a few weeks later I picked up the full album Vocal Studies and Uprock Narratives. All tracks just as good as "Nuno" in their own way. It even had some cameos by some underground emcees (at that time): MF Doom and Aesop Rock. Bad ass beats with warm synths and weird clicky sounds, almost all layered with manipulated hip hop vocals. It wasn't "hard" like a lot of the hip hop that I liked, it was quirky but in a really great way.

But now to get to the point of why I'm writing. OK...I want to do album, song, or artist reviews every now and then on here. And it just so happens that Prefuse 73 just put out an album called "Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian."

But now I'm getting kind of tired of writing...but the review must go on.

The new PRE album is really, really good. If you're looking for something that sounds like his earlier work, yet again you will be disappointed. BUT, lucky for you, there are about 800 "glitch hop" dudes out there that are making really good music that I'm sure you can get into. Prefuse 73 has moved on over the last 4 or 5 albums and generally keeps things much more ambient and loose with the occasional burst of Hip Hop gold. It's crazy that his albums (and live performances for that matter) go minute after minute of layering annoying distorted feedback, and clicks mashed over feminine yawning sounds, layered on top of fart noises, yet once he drops the beat, it all becomes worth while.

Anyway, I can go on, but like I said...I'm tired.

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]B-BLOKT[

After almost three months straight of illustration madness, today the B-Bot by Thunderdog is officially on sale at the I-Tunes store.

It was insane seeing the amount of work that Tristan put into this. I helped where I could, doing some of the illustrator line art, shapes, and accessories. Tris would come in day and night to do the coloring and come up with massive amounts of accessories. It was a true labor of love, and I think it came out amazing.

So, if you have an i-Phone or i-Touch, go grab it, be the first to have it, and be the envy of all of your friends. I have a feeling it's going to be big!!

My self-portrait B-BOT:
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]WIZARD SLEEVE SKATE[

Lately I've been getting an influx of blank skateboards. In the past I might have been inclined to say "screw you sucker," put some trucks and wheels on them and have at it in the streets. But unfortunately I realized not long ago that I am god awful at skateboarding and that being in my late 20's, my skills will most likely not be improving anytime soon

So, as an alternative, I've started painting them.

These two were done for a client of mine out in Miami, an online designer toy retailer called Wizard Sleeve. On their site you can check out their wizard mascot, logo, and character pattern...all of which I designed. They use the pattern for t-shirt designs and prints, all available at their website.

Materials: stencils, gesso, spray paint on its last legs, and a dry brush for texture.

Wizard Sleeve is gaining some steam and throwing gallery events in Miami, L.A. and Brooklyn. So, hopefully much will come of these characters in the future, and I may finally make a mark on this crazy designer toy world that I found myself surrounded by since I moved to NYC. As a wise old man once said, "if you hang outside of a barber shop long enough, you're gonna get a haircut"

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