Supreme I.N.K., Lazymane and Kosherbeets, is one of the funkiest hip hop duos in the Atlanta scene right now and their newest mixtape, Sell it to Me Free, includes some original production by Lazy, but also Ethereal - the new signee to Slumerican, the same label with Rittz and Yelawolf - and also Introspective Minds, all really talented producers. Go and listen, support Supreme I.N.K., and enjoy.
Ethereal is another one of my favorite acts to come out of Atlanta and his latest 20 minute jam is a great example of how Ethereal is making his own lane, crafting a sound, and owning it.
I recently spent some time at the home of studio where Back Pack Music: Back to School Vol. 1, was created, in Snellville, GA. Jon Malmgrem, the Owner of Back Pack Music, made sure that the studio feels like a home away from home for everyone that comes through there, and is why he created this project, to unify all the artists that pass through the halls of BPM. I'm anxious to hear what else comes out of BPM, because I am a really big fan of Broken Wax Wings that has already been on this page before.
I've written on Delta Rae previously, but they are continuing to up the ante with the release of their newest music video for "Bottom of the River" and free download. They really took the style and genre seriously with this one. With the help of Phi Beta Sigma step team they were able to create human percussive instruments to accompany Brittany Holljes ferocious vocals. I love that the song defies any and all normative structures of popular music - I'm really not missing the trance synths with this one.
Although this is a short and stylistic piece, it does not mean that it lacks talent. Everything from the make-up, the framing of the shots, the choreography, to the hum and clap of the accompaniment is executed with precision. Manifested from their musical piety, Delta Rae's artistic quality is as always, made of and for the soul.
Marry Cantwell of Mount Vernon Presbyterian School in Sandy Springs, Georgia, is the director of the first Designed Thinking K-12 initiative in Atlanta, and one of the few in the country. Grown from the Mount Vernon Center for Designed Thinking the i.Design Lab is modeled after the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, or commonly known as d.school, wherein 21st century learners are not only encouraged to solve problems, but to define them. Cantwell has taken the d.school’s approach for designed thinking and applied it to develop her own new and unique “going D.E.E.P.” process, (Discover, Empathy, Experiment and Produce), and used this model to help students think about problems in new ways.
The program has been a success so far, beginning with the first project given to the lower school students last year, which was to design the 25th century classroom. Since then, MVCDT built that classroom and invited an Atlanta based CEO to help develop with another project in designing apps. i.Design then paired high school and lower school students together to build the apps which the students designed together, combining designed thinking and digital learning.
Melody Cannon, Language Arts teacher at MVPS has fears, though that 21st century learners unavoidable pitfall will occur as the role of technology turns into a crutch. Cannon bills digital learning not as a be all and end all.
“You need to be able to walk outside and find out what clouds are made of. Learn what a birds song sounds like,” says Cannon.
Cannon says digital learning can be a “distraction” and people are used to “googling.” Cannon believes tablets and laptops pose a threat when games and other distractions are readily available, but hand held web-driven devices such as Kindles or Nooks can transform the way educators and students interact, but criticizes them for not having e-textbooks readily available when the iPad has programs such as Inkling and Our Choice.
Doctor Hite, 9th grade World History teacher at MVPS believes that there is a gap in understanding how digital learning is done though.
“There’s a common misconception that young people understand technology right off the bat… that old people don’t know how to use technology,“ says Hite.
Hite believes learning how to use a laptop in the classroom is no different than learning the fundamentals of note taking.
Hite says, “A pen and a pad don’t make you a good writer” and the same can be applied to digital learning since, “just because you have a blog doesn’t mean you can write well.”
Technology is a tool, but without the proper training it’s useless, however Hite asserts technology’s ability to aid student’s organization skills, general performance and output in school is boundless.
The outlook of 21st century learners rely on innovative processes much like Kennesaw, Georgia based iSchool Initiative. iSchool, founded by Kennesaw State University student Travis Allen, aims to empower students through revolutionizing the way we learn using all technology. The iSchool Initiative has gathered that buying an iPad can save money versus total costs of textbooks etc. in the long run and predicated that within the next 10 years, textbooks will be gone from the classroom. From Designed Thinking to Digital Learning, It is the voice of Allen’s and every other 21st century learner that will shape the way we learn in the future.
Allen says, “Technology is compared to Oxygen, ubiquitous and invisible,” and much like learning it’s all around us, but it isn’t until we start to think about the way we learn that change occurs.
Reynolds Price once said that we can survive without some of the most basic things such as love, shelter, or food and water for at least a little while - but we can not survive without telling stories. There are talented artists that have not gotten the chance to share their stories, but in the case of the young men and women in Delta Rae, their talent is giving them the opportunity to do just that. Ian Holljes who apprenticed under Price, managed to pull a group together to develop a musical project called Delta Rae a 6 piece Alt-Pop group. Delta Rae was named after a classically influenced novel about a southern girl who summons a Greek God, so the Greek Pantheon and literature is as integrated into Delta Rae as the time signature on their sheet music or the pitch of their instruments. The connection to such humanistic qualities suggests that Delta Rae is not any ordinary group of harmonizers. In the Greek fashion, they are a group brought together by the forces of the Muse.
A note on "The Muse": The idea that 'the muse' is the source for creative inspiration has been around since before the Hellenic period. Plato’s myth about the cicada says when the Muses were born, men never stopped singing, not even to eat or drink. Eventually, they sang until their deaths, but from them, the tribe of locusts arose. Being granted a gift from the muses, the locusts were able to sing continually without the need of food, water, or basic sustenance on one condition - they were to report back to the Muses who honored them the most.
Plato's myth is grounded in the long standing belief that the muse and human being are firmly tied together in creative indulgences. Indeed, the muse has had an impact on our society and can be explicitly seen, for example, in the etymology of the everyday words “music”, “museum”, or “mosaic.” Though, in Greek, music means a lot more than it does in English. In Plato’s Dialouge of Phaedo, Plato represents music as anything that relates to the mind. Plato puts a premium on the the intellectual worth of music by arguing that education should begin with “music for the soul.” Not only that, Plato claims that “music ought to end in the love of the beautiful," and Delta Rae's muse has an affinity for this abstract conscientiousness.
Delta Rae is composed of three siblings and three close friends. Ian Holljes, Eric Holljes, and Brittany Holljes moved from Cobb County, Georgia in 1996 to San Rafael, California where they met Elizabeth Hopkins as grade school students. As a sophomore in high school, Brittany decided to fast track to Berkely and while her brothers got their high school diploma’s she graduated Berkely at 19. In 2003, the Holljes brothers moved to Durham, North Carolina to attend Duke University where they began campus band, “Running Lights.” By the time of their graduation in 2007, Eric had met and begun writing with Mike Posner, which resulted in the song “Cooler than Me” being written, Posner’s 2010 #6 Billboard and double Platinum record. Ian, though, was the driving force and inspiration to get a practicing band started.
As the last of a total 25 caretakers, Ian apprenticed under terminally ill Pulitzer Prize Nominee, Reynolds Price who was treated for a malignant spinal tumor with radiation therapy which left him paralyzed from the waist down. Ian looked after Price in exchange for his own space and time to write alone, which is when Ian began writing songs. Ian saved enough money from his fellowship with Price to buy a house out in the secluded woods of North Carolina with his two other siblings and close friend Elizabeth, where they could live together and make music at all times of the night and day.
In September of 2009, Delta Rae played their first rehearsal in the secluded woods of North Carolina. Less than a year later their first EP was release. Mike Mckee and Grant Emerson added a rhythm section to the 4 part vocal ensemble shortly after. Then, in a two month period, the band was able to raise 28,000 dollars to produce their first full length album through an online fundraising campaign via Kickstarter. Soon thereafter, the band went on the road and even stopped by my home city Atlanta for Project 99x: Unplugged in the Park at the Park Tavern with Carbon Leaf.
The muses have bonded Delta Rae together - allowing the members to grow organically. Cultivated for no one genre, pulled together from across the country and planted in one house in the smoky hills of North Carolina, the grassroots efforts of Delta Rae has yielded a genuine sense of intimacy with their fans. Spreading like pollen from a dogwood, the group is traveling across the country and even performing on quaint national talk radio shows. Reaching deeper and deeper for the seed that will grow into a reckoning musical force, nurturing the ebbing bud of their skill, they've shown a quite a bit of range, so far. Delta Rae’s four vocalists Ian, Eric, Brittany and Elizabeth can harmonize in any fashion: as a group, solo, all at once or none at all - so expansive they even act as the percussion sometimes. Delta Rae has captured audiences with a religious gospel, “Down by the River”, to a cover of Kanye West’s, “All of the Lights.” The season is coming for Delta Rae's crop of music to flourish. Ian says “all good music transcends boundaries” and it’s certainly clear here that Delta Rae does not fit easily into one field. Delta Rae is “a hell of a lot of Harmony,” Ian said, but they are not just that, they are also passion. Talented passion bred within a nursery of music for the soul.
(Courtesy of http://www.scenesc.com and Rupert Hudson for doing the investigative reporting.)
While doing a little web surfing on Donald Glover's new alter ego, Childish Gambino, I ran across this blog post detailing a pretty incredible story about some fans meeting and hanging out with Donald and his band after Atlanta's show @ Variety Playhouse.
What I found interesting in this story, though, was that these guys from South Carolina, who spent one night in Atlanta ran across the self-proclaimed, "little five poet guy."
I've met him once or twice before and he's the nicest dude and he'll tell you about his life story or spit some free-verse poetry right in front of you, using only the subject matter you give him.
I remember him walking up to a group of 5 people or so and I, introducing himself as "the little five poet guy" and then asking us to each give him a word rhyme and riff on. I can't remember everyone's word, but of course someone had to say "orange," but he took that challenge and ripped it apart like a Kleenex. I think his line went something like, "...just like the word orange, I am confused for I can not concentrate as much as the orange juice you get at the super market..." Amazing.
Soon, Ian Holijes guitarist and vocalist of Delta Rae, will give me a one-on-one interview prepping for Delta Rae's 99x Unplugged in the Park appearance at the Park Tavern Carbon Leaf this Sunday.
More details to come, but for now, enjoy some good vibrations in the form of a remix of local act heRobust by Star Slinger featured on Pitchfork.
Starring some of my favorite local acts, the Atlanta Indie Fest on July 30 is headlined by Project Pat, J*Davey, Cyhi Da Prynce will be featuring dope music all day. The all-star lineup includes Lazy Mane and Kosherbeets, Ethereal, Keith Charles, Micah Freeman, Aleon Craft and many many more. Tix are 20$
Supreme I.N.K. (Lazy Mane and Kosherbeets) > 4:00 Basement
Ethereal > 2:00 on the Main Stage
Keith Charles Spacebar > 2:45 Main Stage
Micah Freeman > 3:00 Main Stage
Aleon Craft > 6:00 Basement
Project Pat goes on at 5:00 in the Main Stage. Be there folks.
Tyler Duncan of Ella Riot said that if he had to give a thesis to the project that is Ella Riot, it would be about "losing yourself in the music."
The Beginning
Ella Riot first got together at the University of Michigan as a bagpipe lead Drum and Bass group of seven. In the beginning, they tooled around with sounds, but even before they considered themselves in the context of a touring group, they still "rehearsed everything very thoroughly" said Duncan. Seven shrunk to five and My Dear Disco was created. The band added a vocalist Michelle Chamuel, Duncan said "we were blown away, and it changed everything."
In early March, 2011, My Dear Disco died.
And Ella Riot was born!
Dancethink
They call themselves a "musical Frankenstein." Their unique musical style, according to Duncan, is influenced by music all around the world such as Irish celtic music or tango. With such a diversity of sounds, Ella Riot employs a rhapsody of off the wall personality seamlessly laced into the music they play. Duncan said, "I don't know anybody who does what we do."
Playing at Lollapalooza and traveling around the country on their album release tour has added to the bands burgeoning movement that is described as "Dancethink."
The group coined the term Dancethink for the feeling you get when listening to this music, "the effect of the music is the focal point... that [utterly uplifting] feeling" Duncan said. The band relies not only on excellent production quality for their music, but it is in the live performances where the bands essence is purest since "it is more of a rock show, than a dance show," according to Duncan.
Perhaps the best example of Dancethink is shown in the bands newest music video, It Could Be, from the album "Love Child." The video shows a listless character catching the bug, apparently hearing the soundtrack to his life and most importantly living unbarred within the next 4 minutes and 30 seconds of his life. Disregarding previous biases, social norms and mores, this character shows how he is able to tear down the walls of his Superego and by allowing the music to take him away, he succumbs to every desire of his Id.
On Stage
Ella Riot is musically talented and a band at heart, not just dance music. The ability to play all of their music on stage, "using no tracks", adds a whole new dimension on the dance music party atmosphere. The suggestion that Ella Riot is more of a rock show in that sense, than a dance show begins to set them apart from the dance music that is generated to just make people jump. Duncan said his favorite track to play live is "Just One Way", a solid track with breakdowns, a catchy hook, and fierce vocals, that gets the crowd "poppin'". The fact that Just One Way isn't the albums single, yet Duncan says is his favorite to play, lends some credence to the assertion that they are a true musician's band and they do what they love, to give the fans a good time.
Speaking of live performances, as a part of their nation wide tour for the album, Love Child, Ella Riot will be playing in Atlanta on April 16, at the Highland Inn Ballroom.
Another redux by Ella Riot is Mustaches by That 1 Guy. If you've never heard of That 1 Guy, he is another musician that takes his live performances seriously, so seriously in fact he crafted his own musical 'gizmo' that allows him to produce a unique sound that no one else can replicate (except with the help of a little remixing of course.) If you want to see what I am trying to describe, here is the remix and the original That 1 Guy song. Watch closely and you can see him play his one of a kind 'gizmo'.
From the album Love Child, Ella Riot has a some obvious and not so obvious influences. For example the song It Could Be has some Daft Punk-esque bass lines and trance like sounds.
One song that I think that stands out from the rest, though, is Clubbin. A purely instrumental song. The bagpipe is a big part of this song and gives it a triumphant feeling, the sort of feeling that is played as an anthem at the climax of a Pixar movie.
As Ella Riot continues it's nation wide tour, they are still reeling over the fact that played Lollapalooza last year, said Duncan. So they are along for the ride. Duncan says to expect more music videos, cds, and 2012 will be a big year for Ella Riot as they try to release more CD's and music videos. Ella Riot is still gaining momentum, fan base, and what you should expect from Ella Riot is more touring, the key game Ella Riot is playing at this point in time.
That being said, if you catch a show, your in luck. Because it is not Ella Riot's M.O. currently to make huge magazine covers, nor headline the biggest shows out there, because they are still a growing band, and humble at that. It would be a stretch to say that they would make the cover of Rolling Stone tomorrow, but with the right fans and dedication to the music, I gotta feeling, Ella Riot has one way to go, and that's up.
I Gotta Feeling (Ella Riot Remix) by Ella Riot (Ella Riot is: Michelle Chamuel on Vocals + Keys and studied Performance Art Technology//Bob Lester on Guitars + Vocals and studied Performance Art Technology//Tyler Duncan on Keys, Bagpipes + Vocals and studied Jazz Performance//Mike Shea on Percussion and studied Classical Percussion)
Ella Riot, the electro pop funk dance [insert synonym for party music] band gives me 15 minutes to quiz them. I'll be at their upcoming show April 16th at the Highland Inn Ballroom and hopefully get some sick videos.
Of course.. this is just a teaser. I'll post up the conversation Tyler and I had soon. It could be a little while, but I will try to get it up tonight!
I was nominated for my story on the Chess Club (which sadly has not taken off like described in the story. I walked past a meeting the other day and saw two guys, one chess board, and one liter of cola. Really?).
The awards ceremony was a good time, with lighthearted antics and humorous speeches. There was food, but I abstained because I felt like the Campbells soup I had for lunch had just roundhouse kicked me in the gut)
Share magazine broke the ice with some humor and presented their awards first. Most of Share's awards were jokes, like "Most Likely to be Found Dead in the Office" award. [Upload video and insert here]
Tomorrow I will be attending the first ever Student Media Awards at Kennesaw State University as a nominee.
I hope I don't win.
I'm excited to be a guest and get recognized for the work that I did. I appreciate the paper and all of the staff for all of their work too, so I am not saying this out of disrespect.
But, I want more.
I want to be told that "I can do better." Because, I know I can. Right now, I am still a student crafting a platform and developing a writing style, so there must be room for improvement.
If I get an award tomorrow, I will accept it, shake hands, and put it on a wall, but I will not be satisfied.
Sentinel, light a fire under my belly. Tell me I'm not good enough. I dare you.
It will be the best decision that you could have made.
Georgia native, Rittz and DJ Burn One tag teamed for this new mixtape labeled "White Jesus." Featured on the tape are the likes of Big K.R.I.T., Shawty Fatt, 8ball and Yelawolf.
March 23: Rittz will be at Tavern 99 in Buckhead starting at 7:00.
What you can expect in this album are jazzy beats, melodic flows, and the introspection required by the heady-type hip hop fans that are growing to make this artist not just a man, but a movement.
Songs of interest: Introspective Minds ft. J-Coop-This spacey beat blends smacking snares and hi-hats to synthesize hype over the lyrical criticisms - "On that introspective minds, watch me disrespect your mind". Like the hook says "who's that on the cut??? YO ITS INTROSPECTIVE MINDS!!" And if you haven't taken a look at Introspective Minds yet, you need to!
From the imagination of the lighter skinneded half of Supreme I.N.K. , Kosherbeets presents this post-apocalyptic version of "just some random shit" HAHA, "Last White Man on Earth."
Pash Lima contributed the art, excellent rendition I must add. Beat by Lazymane Futuristic update type stuff (What's coming up?): Expect a mixtape to drop featuring the dynamic duo Supreme I.N.K. (Lazymane and Kosherbeets) in conjunction DJ DiBiase.
April 20th 2011: New appearances on Ethereal's 42Degrees. Last years appearance featured "Wednesdays" with Lazymane and "Bluebird."
Living social is hosting a one day deal, two movie tickets for NINE BUCKS!
All you need is a valid email address, and I think they will send you more deals, so mark it as spam if its unwanted, or if your like me, send it to your spare "deals" and "free stuff" email address.
So, it took me a while to get around to this discussion page in my American Lit class, but who knew how much fun it can be talking about yourself. Anyway, give it a read folks.
"Welcome one, welcome all - meet Josh Pate, English major and writer from Sandy Springs, Georgia. He is an introspective fellow. He's tall and skinny and at one time he threw a mean curveball and batted .400, but that was about 50 pounds ago.
He hopes to land an internship at a publication of broadcasting network and make some moves to one day write for Rolling Stone. Josh thinks that would be just swell.
Before college, Josh didn't know what he wanted to study, but it was a couple of high school teachers that motivated him to pursue writing - since he thought and wrote a little unusually. Different. But, different can be good sometimes.
After he graduated from Mount Vernon Presbyterian School he picked up a part-time job with Aidells Sausage Company, doing demo's on the weekends. Now, he is the lead for an Atlanta Costco team and travels to several different Costcos a month, demonstrating the tasty deliciousness that is Aidells sausage and meatballs.
He still works. He still writes. He still goes to school - sometimes. Only joking, really, he goes to school. Or else he gets the belt.
Josh wants to learn how to scratch a record, so anyone looking for a heady writer-type musical mixer, give him a shout.
Well, it's been real talking to me, I hope to do some more ego driven third person exercises soon.
Wow, I have a thing for finding obscure giveaways while aimlessly browsing the web, but here's one that most of you will not know about. Personally, I think it's pretty sick.
So, apparently, contestants have to send their entries to babblecontest@gmail.com with the subject line "Yo Gabba Gabba is for Me Too". The contest goes like so -
Find where the song from this performance on Yo Gabba Gabba originally debuted (Happy Birthday - The Ting Tings.) Could be a movie, could be a show, could be a number of things, but there is one hint - Molly Ringwald is involved.
Yes, Molly Ringwald. So, the answer could be Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, or anything else here on her IMDb page.
So grab your VHS's, plug in those VCR's and any gather any other triple-letter acronym type stuff you might need to find the answer to this puzzler and submit! I would if I knew the answer.
Oh, did I mention the grand prize has a retail value of 150$?
Ah, the beauty of Kennesaw - mountains, commercial property, a college campus and a bit of rush hour traffic gingerly spice up this area everyday.
What remains to be seen about Kennesaw is waiting to be reported on, at k-saw.blogspot.com, but some news has peeked my interest, and may just set off the blog right -
We all love a little free press, so why I don't I give Goodreads a simple SHOUT! shout!shout shout... Ha, see what I did there?
Anyway, moving on, Goodreads - right.
Goodreads allows you to see what your friends are reading and allows you to search and file books under bookshelves like "to-read", or "currently reading." It's use goes beyond just sharing books though, users can write reviews and recieve updates on books by current authors. The site is interactive in a sense that you can use it as much as you want, or as little, a little like facebook with more words.
But, alas, the portion where I tie goodreads and the blog (and thusly, the plan) together - the "my writing" section. Users are allowed to upload their own writings and allow others to read and comment, a very rudimentary way to self publish and get reviews. (the poor mans publisher)
This function is very useful for a number of reasons, but here I say to my followers (that's you mom haha) check out the Goodreads page every once and I while and I'll start to update it more often. Hopefully as often as this blog page.
thats all.
oh, and one more thing!
I started a new blog, its about Kennesaw, it's called Kennesaw Watch. And I live here so, why not!?
P.S. don't forget my work at the Sentinel. Expect a new piece in there soon about the New Year, c'mmmmmon front page.
With out a plan, where would I get the fodder for which to write on this blog? For "josh the writer" is roughly a plan in itself. The action of calling myself "the writer" creates a vacuum in which the virtual me will live in. It is the drop. The cataclyst. The genesis. In the beginning, there was darkness, then Josh said, "let there be text". In the virtual world, I am "the writer", but I am also "the creator" of my very own amusement park of text. I set the parameters and dictate the very essence to this wasteland of prose. "The procrastinator", I hesitate to announce, is the title I hold on to, day after day if I decide to neglect my duties as the writer - until I step inside the arena of the text box and mark out what the true Josh knows what must be done. But, that won't happen. I have already chosen the path and thrown down the gauntlet. "The writer" is the plan, but to what ends do I justify these means? Well I'll tell you.
