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Sunday, May 8, 2011

Sugoisounds

Now playing: Sugoisounds - Green & White

Online pleasure for your ears. Enjoy!

Latest tracks by sugoisounds

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Everything Changed Nothing by Trek Life

Mello Music Group keeps giving out free downloads of full albums. This week's download is Everything Changed Nothing by Trek Life which is produced by Oddisee. Highly recommended!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Blu - Untaped

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Stroke.Music

now playing: Moka Only - Sunshowers

Check this out! A really interesting compilation that has been put together for the STROKE.ARTFAIR - the world's first artfair for urban art - in association with Project: Mooncircle. The compilation is called STROKE.MUSIC and it's available on Project: Mooncircle's bandcamp as a free download for the first thousand interested and after that you can name your price.

Teacher trouble

now playing: Pleasurekraft - Tarantula (Original Mix)

One of my contemporary teachers said once that it is her (the teacher's) responsibility what a beginner learns but an advanced dancer is responsible for his/her own learning just as much as, or probably more than, the teacher is. Skill and knowledge enable you to develop your art, recognize what's good and what's not and ask the right questions to improve your learning. A beginner can't do those things.

But how about someone who is self-learned? There are kids who say that youtube is their teacher and kids that simply cannot afford to take classes. And, well, aren't the og's self-learned?

Learning from the internet is difficult for many reasons. First reason: youtube is full of crap.



The Dancin' Kim series is just so hilarious that it's hard to believe anyone would take it for real. But who knows, maybe there are some dancers taking their first steps and thinking that a tutorial in the internet must be a good thing to start with. Same thing with the second clip - anyone who knows anything about dancing sees that this guy has no idea what he's talking about. He cannot do a windmill or anything else he is teaching in those other clips.

But this is a real problem. In the beginning, like my teacher said, it is the teacher's responsibility to ensure that the students are learning things right. These "teachers" do the exact opposite. The only reason to watch these videos is the fun part, the malicious delight.

The second reason why learning from the internet is difficult is that a new dancer doesn't know where the good stuff is. They don't know any names. Third reason is that they might learn moves, not dancing. They probably learn nothing about history or other aspects of dance. Fourth, they don't know where to go with these new moves and what to do with them. Ok maybe to the club to show off. But they still don't have contact with the other (real and professional) dancers. Fifth, they might think that with these few moves they're ready. They have it all. No one told them that developing their own style is the next step. I could keep on listing these reasons.

now playing: Talib Kweli - Stay Around

Let's not be this black and white, though. I know there are also dancers who have been able to gain considerable skills all on their own. Many times they have a really unique style and they are very devoted. They might do things that others wouldn't dare to try. They might create something totally new.

But I know some of these dancers. And unfortunately very often they don't know a thing about different styles. They mix up house steps with hip-hop and popping moves but can't really dance, for example, house to a house track. And some of them aren't even willing to learn the basics of different styles. As a result, we have self-learned teachers filling youtube with the kind of tutorials we just saw. I'd say that is some kind of a teacher trouble.

Luckily dancers are aware. The windmill clip had many comments saying that no one should learn from it, one user had suggested viewers to look up for Storm's footwork fundamentals and many had disliked the video. That's exactly what sould be done.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Oddisee

now playing: Oddisee - Detroit

I assume people know about Oddisee. I mean.. they have to know, right? But if you don't know now it's time to find out. I suggest you to purchase his album Traveling Man which is without a doubt one of the best hip-hop albums there is. It's a true masterpiece that was released in January 2010. All 25 tracks are named after the cities they were produced in and the album has vibes from all over the world.

(Please don't try to search for a free download. Good music and talented musicians need to be supported...)

now playing: Oddisee - Anticipation (instrumental)

After listening to Traveling Man you might want to hear more of Oddisee and I can assure you that all his albums are definitely worth buying. I keep finding his music over and over again and it sounds fresh even after multiple listenings.

Oddisee's bandcamp has many of his albums. He also has a blog - check it out, twitter and myspace. And the Bandcamp page of the Mello Music Group has some of his albums, too.



Oddisee's newest album is called Odd Seasons and it was released in May 2011. This 35-track album is available on Mello Music Groups bandcamp. Some tracks are free. I highly recommend you to take time to listen to Odd Seasons because it is another great album from Oddisee.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Jazzo & Melodiesinfonie

now playing: Jazzo & Melodiesinfonie - Woody Synth

Feelin' Music's "best keps secret production duo" Jazzo & Melodiesinfonie released their debut EP yesterday. Treeology EP is electronic, glitchy and some how catchy even though I can't help thinking of Flying Lotus and Samiyam while listening to some of the beats. But overall the album is very fresh and I'm going to keep an eye on these guys for sure. Check out the album over here.