Lodown magazine #61 is out and features FIRST´s “Thursday Night at the Fights” story (pictures by Peter Dean Rickards, words by JJ). Go get your copy now.

Another Byte FM show that sounds worth being listened to: “Hardcore Riddimwise“. Lars Brinkmann, author for Spex and (!) Riddim magazine, will present first results of his studies on “Hardcore & Reggae” following Kevin Martin´s legendary quote:

90% of all music is crap. It´s that 1 percent (sic) hardcore in every genre that draws my attention.

Interested? Tune in on www.byte.fm. Tonight, from 8 to 11 p.m. CET.

Wow. What a Thursday night. I went to Berlin to see Diplo doing Germany for the very first time. He was the headliner of Daniel Haaksman´s third “Ghetto Blaster” party and he met all my expectations. Wicked, wicked selection, perfectly presented on an impressive soundsystem. I especially enjoyed him asking the crowd “How you like my warmup?” after having mashed up the Tape club for 1,5 hours already. “Mental!” as my man Tim Turbo would say. Damn right.

Btw: only one day after upping his “Usually Drink, Usually Dance, Usually Bubble” mix - which basically is all my musical dreams becoming coming true in 30 minutes playtime - TT put another package of highly audictive Blue Magic in the virtual stash: Peppeppeppeppeppa Dem. To all radio hosts and promoters out there: you better put an eye on that kid before he takes over your shows without even giving you a chance to book him.

P.S. Big thanks to Martin and Alex for giving me such a warm welcome in Berlin!

One of the biggest blessings of the interweb is the huge amount of high quality DJ mixes you find almost on a daily basis. Today there´s three of them.

Tim Turbo “Usually Drink, Usually Dance, Usually Bubble” (Download)
I´m happy to see Tim on the decks again after I really enjoyed listening to the last mix of his crew - Mischke´s Unlimited - and was even more impressed by the selection he presented in Berlin´s “Vorspiel” bar a few weeks ago. Also check his Muxtape.

Mumdance “Mums the Word” (Download)

Just put it straight to your ipod. (via Mad Decent)

Ghislain Poirer - “Bring the Fire” (Download)

New mix from the bassmaster extraordinare. (via Discobelle)

And ye, there´s a non black & white flyer for the Man Recordings night (yep, the one with Diplo) in Tape Club, Berlin, on Thursday out now.

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via FIRST Magazine

As Gabriel, seen´s design boss, is passing NYC when returning from Kingston after three months, and I haven´t been there for 10 years, we decided to meet in the city of cities and are now planning our schedule for the time between May 21st and May 29th.

One of the events to which we will definitely go is the probably pretty intimate show of Bermudan sensation Collie Buddz in legendary S.O.B.´s (Myspace) on Tuesday, May 27th. In case you don´t know:

Collie Buddz broke into the public eye with 2007’s “Come Around”, and while the song rapidly climbed to #1 on Jamaican charts, an unauthorized remix by Busta Rhymes helped the tune pick up steam in the U.S., eventually peaking at 23 on Billboard Rap Chart. Buddz followed up with 2 more solid singles, “Blind to You” and “Mamacita”, both slower-tempo, more soothing tracks, that further built his fanbase and grew his buzz. Incorporating influences from hip-hop to soca, Collie’s distinctive voice sounds equally comfortable over roots reggae or dancehall rhythms. His versatile style has helped him to defy music industry odds, being a white musician in a predominately black genre, but after hearing his tunes once it is easy to see why the reggae/dancehall phenomenon garners so much respect from fans and his peers.

If you´re in New York at that time as well or even living there and want to go to the show as well - Tickets are available on Ticketmaster and the S.O.B.’s Box Office (212-243-4940). Doors open 7pm, the show starts 9pm.

Btw: Are there any other shows/sessions you know of which we shouldn´t miss?