picture taken from Dutty Artz

As I´m too busy celebrating Germany´s victory over Portugal, I just wanna quickly drop some links worth visiting:

- FIRST Magazine: The Sandbox (this is “street” art, not stencils)

- FIRST Magazine: All Jamaica Invitational Grill Off (I can smell the jerk just from looking at the pics)

- Artschoolvets: Lagerfeld in a warning vest

- Fader: brandnew Killer

- DancehallMobi: uplifting Vado

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This event looks like heaven. Pictures from the Mad Decent block party in Philly. Photography by Joshsisk, Shane McCauley and Chocolate Eclaire.

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Illustration © Chris Dent (via Bored & Beautiful)

Today´s the day. My flight to NYC will take off in the afternoon. I´m pretty excited to visit the city of cities and meet not only my graphic designer who returns from Kingston, JA, and a few early days university friends, but quite a few of those people whose work I´ve been appreciating via the internet for many years now in real.

Of course, I´m also excited to spend some money I don´t have in some hipster boutiques and downtown clubs. Here´s some stuff Gabe and me already have on our schedule:

- 22.05. - Max Glazer (Federation Sound) ls. DJ Gravy (Anchor Bar)
- 25.05. - K-Salaam, Max Glazer & 77 Klash (Midway)
- 27.05. - Collie Buddz (S.O.B.´s)

Any other tipps regarding NYC (Brooklyn in particular)?

P.S. On the flight, I´ll of course listen to the next hot mix out of Tim Turbo´s living room.

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© Gabriel Holzner, seen.

Only a few weeks after Peter Dean Rickards featured “Thursday Nights at the Fights” in the online magazine we set up together with him, and only a few days after the story appeared in Lodown magazine, the Tivoli Gardens fight night made it on international TV. The BBC´s Nick Davis just covered the event and called his piece “The ‘safe’ fights hitting Jamaica”. Click here for the whole article and video footage. (via FIRST Magazine)

Yes, yes! First is finally getting the attention it deserves and will be happy to take it to another level in the upcoming weeks and months.

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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!

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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?

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