I didn’t post much here in July, because I was, as promised, working on a new layout/interface for the whole site. Nothing too drastic as far as colors or navigation really, but packed full of new features. Hopefully the entire process won’t take more than a day, because I have BIG BIG plans this weekend. And, hopefully, the site will be much more enjoyable and easier to navigate. There’s a huge amount of info on here, if you know how to find what you’re most interested in! So, check back in the following weeks to see the new, improved, streamlined for mainlines, HearingTest music news and culture hub! And, once the code work is out of the way, I can get back to writing about music.
The halt in new content is congruous with how busy I’ve been in the “real world” too lately. Last weekend, I had a BLAST at the CaribbSumFest in Long Beach. I snapped some of the most exquisite photos of my career with my new Fuji SLR digicam which I’m now in lOve with. I’ll post those as soon as I get them organized. Also, I uploaded pix from the Dizzee Rascal concert. If you missed the post before this one, jump over there to see the photo stream from my flickr…
Coming up this weekend, I’ll be swooning over Sizzla, Turbulence and Elephant Man at the Seabreeze Festival. So if you’re near Long Beach on Saturday, drop by and say hi. I’ll be in the photo pit again with my Fujifilm, so you can live vicariously wherever you are as soon as I upload the pix.
I wish I could say that things will return to “normal” around here after that, but I think it might be awhile. I’ll probably have to reduce the number of news posts and focus on feature articles with more substance. I just cut my hours at MOG this month, but it’s to make time for school. I haven’t taken more than 1 class at a time for years, so I’m actually pretty excited about it! The classes are journalism related, so I may use this space to explore homework themes or post photo projects. It should be interesting at least. Not sure what this site will be like for the rest of 2008, but I know I won’t abandon it any time soon. I only wish I could incorporate more than music into this space. In the winter, all I really want to talk about is snowboarding and come Spring, I’ll be trying to wrap up work on a new Dancehall/Dub/Jungle/more Scrapbook so it can be published before Thanksgiving.
As you can see, it’s a busy year for up and coming historians like myself. So much to experience, document, hone, tailor, process, upload and present for public perusal. I’m loving every minute of it, so something good has got to come of it.
Maybe I need a personal assistant who works for coffee and sugar highs? Or maybe I just need to outsource some of the stuff I shouldn’t be stuck on, like website overhauls. If you have any suggestions, feel free to email me. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy a nice fat blunt. You deserve it! Lighta!!!!
Wow, Weezy really didn’t put much effort into his new video for “A Milli.” The production is so lo-fi compared to the vid for “Lollipop.” Ladies, however, will enjoy watching Wayne Carter strut around with no shirt on and the part where he poses with the super-shorty is adorable.
…Loefah + Switch + Matty G - Chinese New Year In SF - February 8th, 2008…
Switch didn’t show, but Matty G (SF’s own dubstep defender) and LOEFAH were dropping bass frequencies like they were trying to make diamonds out of the people on the dancefloor. Serious PRESSURE mate! My mates and I were heading straight up into the mountains afterwards for a full weekend of snowboarding, but we danced til our knees felt like jello anyway. ([More →])
…DJ C + Ripley + Kid Kameleon - Surya Dub in San Francisco - May 24, 2008…
DJ C performed an incredible set - full of treats and surprises - at Surya Dub, San Francisco’s BEST dubstep event. The monthly party, held at Club 6 in SF, is hosted by 2 of DJ C’s long-time pals (almost as far back as his Toneburst days in Boston!) - Ripley and Kid Kameleon. Most of the night, I was too busy dancing to remember my duties as a reporter. The string of Top Rankin Selectahs kept the energy high with a mix of dubstep, ragga, jungle and other bass-loaded sounds. ([More →])
July is going to be a bangin month around here, I have a tidal wave of great content to start posting here! I’m back from one of the BEST MUTANT FESTS EVER and I’m feeling super jazzed about this summer. I have a stack of killer albums on rotation that I’m trying to review as quickly as possible, I’m finally catching up on all the concert reviews of the last 6 months and I finally started using my flickr account. BIG TINGS! ([More →])
I wonder if Koda’s Oakland crib is littered with bruised and battered amen breaks, too chopped and screwed to run away? Perhaps that’s why I’m sneaking them out of the Bay Area for a much-deserved break. The new EP, Keep On Destroying Amens Volume 1, features 15 killer jungle choons in a 112MB zipper - 100% FREE and as legal as jungle gets. ([More →])
Venetian Snares, recently emerged from his studio with a fresh barrage of breakcore madness, eager to bully our eardrums (again).Dentrimentalist will be unleashed via Planet Mu on July 15th only to spread like a morbidly-popular plague of zombie strippers. If nasty breakcore is what you seek, look no further and listen to 2 MENTAL selections right now! Here’s the audio for “Gentleman” and “Poo Yourself Jason” off Detrimentalist:
South Rakkas Crew - San Francisco, CA - June 7, 2008
The South Rakkas show in San Francisco last Saturday night was HOT! It’s been years since I’ve seen so many hot ladies at a show (I think there were close to 10 ladies for every 1 guy in the house), everyone was having a great time and South Rakkas were BLAZING! They truly brought the spirit of Miami with them, especially the energy of the dancehall. It was a beautiful night, and I don’t really have much of a review coz you really just had to be there! But, here are a few photos anyway and I’ll be adding a short video and more photos soon: ([More →])
New tradition here at HearingTest - Starting today, I am publishing raw press releases as I receive them. Ideally, this will deliver the breaking news to you faster, without the frills that take extra time and delay publishing.
You Can See The Difference In A Glance
The press releases look different than the articles I write (at least on the site they do), so it will be easy to tell them apart at a glance. The headline for press releases end with [Press Release] and the URL has -pr at the end. Also, the text of press releases are enclosed in blockquotes, shown here in dark brown. That way, you can tell just by looking at the page whether it is a press release or original content.
Now it won’t be so quiet around here when I’m busy doing interviews and writing feature articles!
Enjoy!
GREENSLEEVES RELEASES ‘THE JOURNEY – THE VERY BEST OF SIZZLA’ THE ULTIMATE CD/DVD COLLECTION OF THE REGGAE ICON’S MOST PRIZED WORK AVAILABLE JUNE 26, 2008 ([More →])
