I'm Playing at a Massive Hip Hop Festival - Fire In The Canyon

go to fireinthecanyon.com

yeah its gonna be pretty sweet.

i'm stoked to see alot of the artists, hang out and have some fun.

DMLH Live Honest Hip Hop at The Pub at the End of the Universe - Portland, OR - 1/12/11

SO last week it was my homie Joe Cyrus birthday and we were celebrating, with a bunch of heads dropping new material and a badass freestyle cypher late in the night. In attendance was Daps, Gepetto, Abadawn, Wellis Fool, Diction One, Prime Source, Kable Roc, Gavin Theory and many more heads from the pdx scene (dont hate if i forgot you).

Anyway this guy who was there captured video of most of the night and caught my whole set in one take. I was losing my voice to this nasty cold that everyone in Portland has right now, so by the end of it its pretty much gone, but check it out, watch the whole thing or just skip through, this will give you an idea of where my songs are at these days, as I finish up and get ready for my album release party in May.

Just more Honest Hip Hop from my Indie Rap Adventure.
-DMLH

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NIGHTSHIFT at ROTTURE 2.16.11

NIGHTSHIFT is back for a second round. Come party, dance or just chill with the homies while enjoying genre blurring music from some of Portland's finest. Do you like to make party? So do we. Come say hi and join us for a drink. Featuring various takes on electro by START FIRES, THE SEXBOTS and SPESUS CHRIST with an opening set of subtle ambient by WEATHER EXPOSED SKELETON MUSIC to warm up the room.

At Rotture 315 Se 3rd Ave, 9pm,... $5 for the bands, 21+ for the young at heart.
More Info on all the bands is after the jump.
Check out the Event page on Facebook and invite your friends!

NIGHTSHIFT at ROTTURE

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Prayers For Athiests - Psalm for St. Paul Offical Video

Rhode Island based Prayers For Atheists have been getting major props over the last few years for their high-energy, smart, political punk rock. The group started as a collaboration between spoken word poet Jared Paul and musician Alan Hague. Jared's rhythmic poetry caught Alan's attention at a show and the two began to figure out how their styles could work together. The result is Prayers For Atheists, the band, and the EP that is out now on Sage Francis' Strange Famous Records.

Musically the EP is a mix of punk styles that stays hardcore while being extremely danceable and fun. Lyrically Jared explores relevant issues of our day with a critical edge, and a penchant for resistance.

Psalm for St. Paul is a personal account of his true life experience being harassed and arrested by police during a non-violent protest at the 2008 Republican National Convention, and the grassroots campaign to battle the charges in court that followed.

The official video, released today, combines actual footage from that protest with clips of the bands live show and Jared singing his story to the camera. It builds into a dynamic and powerful statement and document of the very real struggle of free people in the police state.

check out the album at Strange Famous Records

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Gavin Theory's Metal-Legged Mix

Gavin Theory has been dropping futurist Hip Hop for a number of years. The Emcee/Producer relocated from Wisconsin to Portland, OR, in 2008, along with emcee Lucas Dix to make a bigger name for their group Hives Inquiry Squad. Over the past two years, the duo have built a solid reputation and fanbase around their high energy show, which owes as much to classic hip hop as it does to a number of electronic music styles.

A few weeks ago Gavin released a new mix to preview unreleased tracks from their upcoming full-length "Edifice", as well as Lucas' new project with DJ Great Mundane, The Jellyfish Brigade. The continuous mix also includes tracks from other well respected Northwest artists like Gepetto, Abadawn, Sleep (of Oldominion and The Chicharones), Cloudy October and Mic Crenshaw, as well as some of his favorite selections from major artists like Aesop Rock and Atmosphere.

The new Hives tracks push their style ahead with a mashup of lyrical styles and heavy eclectic production that is going to destroy some fat subs. The Jellyfish Brigade tracks are also real thick, and its great to hear Lucas get the opportunity to expand across a whole track with his multitextured vocal styles.

The mix is available for free at the Hives Inquiry Bandcamp page, in 4 pieces. Gavin recommends you burn a disc to play with no "gaps" to get the full experience. However you decide to ingest it, this plate is full of banger indie rap, sure to please the palette of any and all heads with good taste.

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Archers Live at HOLLAWEEN! Oct 29, Portland, OR

Madyhampster caught some sweet video of the madness that was Holla Hollaween (scroll down to see the flyer). Apparently the rest of Portland has finally caught on to how fucking awesome Archers are and even the portland mercury couldn't resist saying "while you were sleeping Archers just might have become the best damn band in this town."

All I know is that these boys kill it whether I put them in front of 100 people in my living room or 350 people in a warehouse.



and you should grab the 7" before it is gone.

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HIP HOP HOLLAWEEN - LA to PDX

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HOLLAWEEN

HOLLA HOLLA HOLLA HOLLA HOLLA HOLLA HOLLA HOLLA HOLLA HOLLAWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!

 flyer illustration and design by Rick Delucco - www.rsdelucco.com

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DMLH Live at The Pub at the End of the Universe - Portland, OR - 8/28/10

Daps' Birthday was hella fun in Portland this weekend, thanks to everyone who came out, and mad props to mike for keeping the iphone4 on record.

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"Chapter 134: destination manifestation" - an installation by Leah Violet

This coming First Friday, August 6th, 2010, Denada Gallery will open the door to Leah Violet's imaginative world of personal narrative. Inside this room, guests will find themselves embedded in a tapestry made of the objects and artworks that have collected in her world over the past 2 years.

Chapter 134: destination manifestation is a cumulative response to the cross-country trek that landed her and a backpack, in Portland during early 2008, and the discovery process that followed. The story extends over two years spent living in a SE house known as 134. It begins with graphite drawings and progresses through a multitude of media including paint, handmade paper, textile, photo-transfer and found-object sculpture. Her work infuses post-consumer, recycled folk aesthetics with high-art sensibility to create deeply personal reflections of the physical and spiritual space she inhabits daily. The result is a quilt of coded metaphor in psychedelic tones that sound like the echo of Frida Kahlo heard by visionaries of a future time.

As a complete work, Chapter 134 displays Leah Violet's story of self-actualization with everyday objects and images through the kaleidoscope of hind-sight. Nurtured within her home space, each piece in the room resonates with her energy and vibrates with the ordered chaos of an exploratory life. She shares it now, as she vacates that home for a new journey that has what remains of her belongings filling a veggie-oil school bus. That is the next chapter. For now we have the pleasure of reading this installment to discover our own meaning between her prismatic lines.

More information on the work of Leah Violet and some images of the pieces in progress are available at her blog: http://thisisgettingup.blogspot.com

Chapter 134: destination manifestation
Installation by Leah Violet
Opening First Friday, August 6, 2010
Denada Gallery
1212 SE Division
6-9pm

Mikael Kennedy on the come-up

The homie Mikael Kennedy is getting his propers these days - solo show of 500 polaroids at the Chelsea Hotel, blog write ups, plus this random occurrence. Us VT expats are damn proud of our boy.

Amidst it all he has found the time to deliver a new book collecting Polaroids from 2008. "Passport to Trespass Vol. V - Come Home" documents his journey from New Mexico, back to the East coast, and out to the Northwest during the astrological time of his Saturn Return. We see many familiar faces from the mythos he has built since his first published collection "Still, Not Dead" (2005 interrupt/nine37), but the focus here seems to be on the landscapes he ventured through. Vast scenes in the faded light of instant development, from city nights to mountain roads, offer open ended reflection. Mikael offers little definition for the images until the end of the book where he titles each section to narrate his year of exploration. The images are nostalgic and fresh, memories of right now that remind me of the importance of passing moments.

You can see more images from the collection and purchase this limited edition (100 copies, each signed and numbered by the artist) at mikaelkennedy.com


Also check out this interview which came up about a month ago and I just got around to sharing.

Thirty Days NY Artist Series: Mikael Kennedy from Thirty Days NY on Vimeo.

Album Review: Typhoon "Hunger and Thirst"

Portland’s Typhoon will finally fulfill many fans desire with the release of their new album, Hunger and Thirst, on May 4th by local culture mavens Tender Loving Empire. With gorgeous cover art by R.S. Delucco, the work was produced and recorded by Paul Laxer in the Victorian house they share capturing the beautiful sound and experience of the house shows that Typhoon has become well-recognized for.

It’s been five years since their self-titled debut came out on their own Boy Gorilla Records. The maturity of the group is immediately evident. With seven core members and seventeen players on the record, Typhoon is a mashup of instrumentalists that can pull back to stillness just as easily as they cascade into symphonic emotion. On Hunger and Thirst, they find a taut balance between the two, crafting orchestral folk music arranged for deep impact.

Read the rest of the review on Oregon Music News

Album Review: Graymaker

A while ago I wrote this review of Grayskul and Maker's collaborative project, GRAYMAKER, which came out at the end of 2009 on Taxidermy Records.

Graymaker is the latest release from Seattle’s Grayskul: emcees JFK and Onry Ozzborne of Oldominion and Rhymesayers fame. This project finds them working with Maker, the Chicago-based producer behind the highly acclaimed group Glue.

Maker’s production here is like the soundtrack to a dark seventies crime film. Eerie horns wail over classic soul guitars. The synth is subtle and the drum samples are all very organic, which gives the whole album a classic sound. Jazz and funk elements mesh in spacious loops building an atmosphere of a street late at night.

Read the full review on Oregon Music News

New Music Review - Saudade - Lookouts' Journal LP

I wrote this review for Oregon Music News, which is where it originally appeared.



Saudade is an untranslatable Portuguese word for an irreconcilable longing.

Saudade is also the musical conversation between Jason Gray and Chris Cantino, two artists who met working in a residential psychiatric treatment facility.

They come from different musical backgrounds, and opposite sides of the country, but working together they found a common voice in tonal dialogue. They have been playing shows in Portland since 2007, and their 2008 downloadable LP The Hooded Ones (also released on the cassette-only label Peasant Magik) was well received and made a few top-ten lists in the noise/ambient blog world.

Their newest effort, Lookouts’ Journal, is available this week from Arena Rock Recording Co.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

New Music Review - Adam Kadmon - Teslaphonics LP

Adam Kadmon makes rap music that draws from a multitude of sources and clearly reflects the stew of sound that we encounter on an average day of listening in the aftermath of the blog era. I just googled his name and apparently it references a Kabbalistic character that is the primal soul of all mankind. Good starting point. Teslaphonics is hip hop with all its circuits bent, but not to the point that your ears get overloaded. This is lo-fi, scratchy like vinyl and full of strange tones that linger in the rhythm. Some sound like they are banging out of a bomb shelter symphony (Hark the Herlad), and others sound like they were heard at the Circus-Circus while Hunter Thompson was tripping on ether (Nuggets). His vocal delivery is swag enough to have the current crop of post-Kanye-rappers shaking in their vintage sneakers, and filtered through static like a transmission from earths last radio. The lyrics are poetic, drawing abstract metaphors together with sci-fi braggadocio and vivid images from some brokedown noir film. Wild lines I can decipher include: he held a sign in his hand that said spare change please / and in large bold letters GOD DONT HEAL AMPUTEES, and heavenly trumpets playing from the beaches / kids shooting up the school while they layin with their teachers, and I got a coin-operated laundry list of demands / assisted living off the skin off the palms of my hands / skin of our teeth, our lives are intentionally brief / to keep the meaning of it all insufficiently deep. Clearly you will need to think about these songs and thankfully they are engaging enough to warrant many repeat listens. This record is part of the slew of free releases from the good people at World Around Records, who are committed to developing artists that are creative, honest and personal. Adam Kadmon is, at the very least, all of the above, and this record has me wondering what strange landscapes his music will bring me through in the future. I will certainly be listening.

You can download the full record HERE and check out more great music at WorldAroundRecords.Com

Nanoism - fiction phrased for your phone.

Nanoism is a Twitter-based lit zine (no, really) that publishes fiction of 140 characters or less. As in, the length of a Twitter post. They publish 3 stories a week, and also pay for accepted submissions. Thats not all. They also publish good stories- as good as it can get in that breadth of space. In December they are going to publish a series of serials, each five posts in length, and they are running a contest to find the best stories to publish. The best part about this idea is that they not only have to make sense as a serialized whole, but also must stand alone as individual stories. The theme is the story of life, which I look forward to seeing ripped open across the board.

Apparently there are a growing number of very short story (#vss in the search box) publishers on Twitter and if you like reading quick hits of good words, its worth looking into. It seems like the idea is that you can subscribe to these zines via your mobile device, and get txts of poetry or fiction to brighten your day. Nanoism editor Ben White is blogging about these zines as he finds them at BenWhite.Com. Overall I think this literary arena is worth checking out, because if nothing else, its a quick read.

Visit Nanoism.net

and follow Nanosim on Twitter

Low-Income Housing made from Recycled Materials - Dan Phillips is Doing It Right

Apparently Dan Phillips has been doing this for a while, but I just recently heard about it. He and his wife run a project called Phoenix Commotion, outside of Houston, Texas, that builds homes for low-income families almost entirely out of recycled materials. This project was recognized as the "most innovative housing worldwide" in 2003 by the International Institute of Social Inventions. Its not like you sign up and they build you a house though, instead they set people up with a skilled builder and actually train the new residents in home-building skills. They call it a "homesteading initiative" with the intent to give people homes and skills that they otherwise would not be able to acquire. This seems to impact social problems on so many levels that it is amazing its not being repeated elsewhere (maybe it is, but I have yet to find it). They work with large plots of land that they can break into smaller segments and can create single family homes for about twenty to fifty thousand dollars. In this way they are creating new sustainable neighborhoods that will carry the positive intentions through their lifespan. I would like to see this take the place of suburban expansion, which it just may as the greater American consciousness begins to realize we can no longer live out that lie. Its an added benefit that these homes all look unique and completely rad - these are the types of places you used to draw as a kid, the dream home with cool windows, weird doors and spiral stairs. Imagine if instead of a large tract of cookie-cutter boxes we saw our neighborhoods develop as personal expressions of the people living there. Throw in a small town center with a community building, co-op and a local farm and we are talking about awesome, unique villages that provide a positive space for sustainable life. This guy is already doing it, laying the blueprint for the generation to come.

Learn more at PhoenixCommotion.com

New Music Review - Forest World "Super Bright Skullz" EP

Super Bright Skullz is the new EP from Provo based electropop duo Forest World. This is clearly music to dance with. The bass knocks hard, with kinetic snares that punctuate hi-hats and cowbells. Drawn out background synths hold the feeling while melodic arpeggios bounce in around the drums, amid errant 8-bit accents. The songs build up and release with extended breakdowns that riff off all the elements and create the sense of a live mix. Throughout the EP you hear all of the sounds interact in different ways that continuously re-frame the overall feeling. Both lo-fi and clean tones keep the vibe crispity crunchety in your ears. Sean and Sam share the vocals in a pleasant male/female harmony that gives a sense of dialogue to the lyrics, which seem to be heartfelt glimpses of hope and connection in the modern mundane. I love the refrain from the title track, "all of this is just as real as you can make it," spun through a dance floor crusher that I will be stoked to experience live. The track that challenged me most was 'Jodie Jensen' which is apparently an ode to a high school crush and thrusts a grip of awkward romantic attachment over a sparse beat that takes two minutes to come back from its initial despair. It does come back though, and they follow it with 'The Singularity' which is also low-key but draws me in with its story about living to age 100, only to be alone with nothing but the songs written in your youth. Overall the lyrics are emotional and real, but not overbearing, and never empty, even when distanced through distortion. This is perfect music for sweaty basement dancing, solo city cycling or making out in a car on the side of an empty mountain road.

Listen to most of the tracks at myspace.com/forestworld
or go ahead and get the hand-packaged cd at forestworldblog.blogspot.com (download is available as well)

New Music Video - Tell The Truth "Consoul"

Tell the Truth are street musicians. I have seen them on stage and in coffeeshops or bars but when I see them on the street I know they are at home. They wail out ballads that pull me into the depths of an emotive struggle for understanding the knot of reality, relations and experience. Their music is challenging - the vocals will pierce anyone's wall of cool, digging into your ears, only to apply a sensual massage once there. The guitar is passed back and forth, along with vocals that harmonize or push off of each other, building into a completely shared expression - two people as one voice that echoes through the city.


listen to more at myspace.com/tellthetruthpdx