The current wave of electronic artists range from the wickedly fresh to the bizarre; with genres that occupy the umbrella of worldwide sounds coming together on a dance it can be difficult to find a stand-alone identity in the midst of it all. Then there’s Egyptrixx, a Toronto-based producer that has made massive steps in securing a dark, foreboding sound in supposedly house tempos. While he’s been on a fantastic remix tip (ranging from Subeena, The Aikiu, Brodinski) it’s his original productions that spark up something…different on a floor (i.e. “Liberation Front). The sound embodied is dark, moody and powerful, striking chords with people who want something more out of their night on the floor. With a rampant international fanbase, Egyptrixx plays out constantly live and each performance changes from the next, with something to look forward to every time out. Finally, in 2011, his album Bible Eyes will be released on the almighty Night Slugs label. Luckily for URB, Egyptrixx not only took the time to answer a few questions, but also premiere a scintillating music video highlighting a piece from his upcoming album. Check out “Start From The Beginning” and the interview after the jump.
There are simply no words to express how beautiful, cool, wavy and fresh this track by Azari and III & Friendly Fires titled “Stay Here” is. This song is part of Bugged Out! Presents Suck My Deck which Friendly Fires mixed. The release features cuts with people like Redshape, The Egyptian Lover, Bot’ox and many more. I love what sounds like a Donkey Kong inspired conga break. I’m going to have to bust out my wig and ball gown cuz this songs got my heels on fire! You can pre-order this release over at Rough Trade
For those not paying attention, there is a vital movement in Canadian hip-hop going on right now. Artists are popping up left and right, placing lyricism first. It’s truly a refreshing change of pace – one that emphasizes musicality and art above all else. One of the finest of the (relatively) new crop of Canadian emcees goes by the name D-Sisive. Already he’s established quite the resume, working with some of the finest artists in the world of underground hip-hop, and his 2009 album, Let the Children Die, received highly favorable reviews from bloggers and journalists. Fresh from his latest album, Vaudeville (set to drop June 15 in Canada on URBNET Records), D-Sisive gives us his first single, “Ray Charles (Looking for a Star)” feat. King Reign. Give it a spin and leave us your thoughts!
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Manifesto Community Projects is a non-profit grassroots organization working to unite, energize, and celebrate Toronto’s vibrant and diverse music and arts community and find innovative ways of working together towards common goals.
Everything we do is geared towards fulfilling our mandates and the desires identified through community engagement and feedback, using a multi-disciplinary approach including arts and music workshops, professional development programs, art exhibitions, filmmaking, concerts… whatever’s clever. Without a doubt though, our focus is the annual Manifesto Festival, and our point of origin lies in hip hop culture – in its spirit of ingenuity, raw creativity, and people power. We strive to stay out of boxes though, to create a platform with the potential to act as a catalyst for cross-pollination, collaboration, and the growth of new forms in this city of wildly talented people.
The first ever Manifesto Festival in September of 2007 was a huge success and went down as one of the largest and most unique hip hop festivals in Canadian history. The festival brought together over 100 artists and thousands of spectators for 4 days of art and music, culminating in a massive free outdoor event at Toronto’s civic heart, Nathan Phillips Square, where many of Canada’s revered hip hop pioneers shared the stage with some new blood in a celebration of our nation’s hip hop legacy and future.
With the ever abundant amount of billboards we have you think we might be able to come up with something similar to what is now going on in Toronto, Canada. I think the Canadians might be onto something here in they way they support art in their public spaces. (Or would like to)
I recently watched 2 fellow artists try and catalogue all the public art in Knoxville, TN… why you ask? Because the city has no public arts funding and had very little clue as to what they actually owned. Funny that.
Now, it would be easy to rack it up in your head and say, “Oh well, that is the south for you.” but the fact is that every metropolitan city in the state had the budget for arts but not K-Vegas. …
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