HARD NYE

My friend Jeff and I were talking the other day about plans for NYE. He mentioned we should head down to LA for Hard NYE. At the time I was like, "Ah, I don't know if it's worth driving all the way down there and dealing with the insane mass of party kids and all the other shit". Later I got to thinking about it and almost punched myself in the face. Since when is a road trip with friends to go see Justice, Peaches, A-trak, Steve Aoki and tons of other kick ass DJs a "pain". Damn, what was I thinking? There's going to be a midnight countdown by Peaches herself, along with acrobats and a special screening of Daft Punks new film Electroma. So if the stars align properly and I am able to take make it to what is sure to be an insane party, perhaps I will see you there.

Wear Palettes

Like most other designers/artists I find myself being influenced by a huge variety of sources. More often than not I get a great idea for a project when I am away from the computer. Like say a color scheme for a website from a well dressed woman walking down the street. The blog Wear Palettes has taken inspiration from the street photography of The Sartorialist and created color schemes using the awesome web tool Colour Lovers, then posting them all on their blog. A great idea for cataloging inspiration for design and fashion. I think it would be interesting to do this with a party photographer's shots, like this one from Shadow Scene. I am sure you could come up with some some interesting schemes.

edIT Drops Bombs

edIT is bringing something new to hip-hop. Something that has been lacking for some time now, a new perspective. In my eyes hip-hop has been stuck in a rut. Sure there have been occasional producers and MCs doing their thing, but when I heard edIT's new full length Certified Air Raid Material it immediately stood out in my mind as something different. This album brings aspects of all my favorite genres and mashes the into one undefinable style of music. It's obvious that edIT has been influenced by the French dance movement, as most tracks have that dirty/gritty sound you might here in an electro dance floor banger, but it's more than that. It seems edIT has also been influenced by a lot of glitch and IDM for this album as well. Stand out tracks in my mind include "Battling Go-Go Yubari in Downtown L.A." (coolest song title ever), "Artsy Remix" featuring the The Grouch and "Crunk De Gaulle" featuring TTC and Busdriver. These MCs and edIT productions skills are a recipe for an instant classic, as well as a dance floor shaker.

MP3 :: Battling Go-Go Yubari in Downtown L.A. (Highly recommended)
MP3 :: Crunk De Gaulle (ft. TTC, Busdriver & D-Styles)

In Love With Bountee

Strait to the point here... Bountee is the coolest website I have come across in a long time. This says a lot because I visit hundreds of sites a day, and spend an embarrassing amount of time in front of this LCD screen. Bountee gives you the ability to design and sell t-shirts in the simplest and easiest way possible. There is no voting necessary in order to have your design printed. You make it. You sell it. You get paid! I love that everything has been done in the simplest way possible and gives the designer the power. You determine the price (anything above the base price), the color of shirt, the placement of the design, everything. After your design is created and uploaded Bountee does the rest, taking care printing, ordering and shipping. I plan on putting this website to use ASAP!

BONUS
CrownDozen and Bountee have teamed up to bring you 3 free t-shirts a week throughout all of December! Head over here for the details.

TheDopeFeed

For those of you who use RSS readers I'd like to let you know I finally fixed the feed for this site. Sorry for the delay. Enjoy.

Mag.nificent

I am a complete sucker for magazines. In fact TheDopeFiend originally began as Mesh Magazine, a printed magazine I was publishing. If you also love the high you get from the smell of a freshly printed 'zine check out Mag.nificent, a blog that features "Magazine culture, obsessively & compulsively documented". This blog covers a huge variety of different magazines and is sure to open you up to more mags to feed your addiction.

Boosted VS Madsteez

I think it was close to 7 years ago when I first started Mesh Magazine I published an interview with Mark Darren AKA Madsteez. His crazy style really caught my attention and I knew it was only a matter of time before he blew-up. Now his name is all over and his artwork is crazier than ever. The recent project he collaborated with Boosted Mobile on is no exception. The Madsteez x Boosted Device Case Collection has pieces designed to accommodate just about any of your electronic gadgets such as cell phone, iPod or Blackberry. In addition to the electronic device cases the collection also offers a larger sized nap sack, messenger bag and hip bag, all of which are made from "vegan-approved" materials. Check out BoostedMobile.com for more info and retailer locations. Also peep this exclusive Boosted interview with Madsteez himself to see what he has to say about his art and his future plans.

Zuriick Fall '07

Zuriick's new Fall/Winter line has been released and it's about damn time. I have been patiently waiting for some of these new shoe designs for months and they are finally here. The line includes new colorways of the original "Ake", which I love for its simple but original design. Zuriick's new line also brings us three entirely new designs including the Jakob (my personal favorite), the Kettle and the Beata. These new styles present some features Zurrick has never had before like laces, high/mid tops and different fabrics. In addition to the new designs Zuriick has made other improvements, making their soles a bit thicker, more durable and stepping-up the quality of their shoes overall. Be sure to check out the new tee designs as well. Head over to Zuriick's blog to find a retailer near you, or their online store to purchase.

Remix Rush: Mr. Miyagi

For one reason or another the Klaxons have been thrust to the forward of the NuRave movement (hate the word or not, I am still using it) being hailed as the genres poster boys. And even though I dig the Klaxons, I don't see much "rave" in their music at all. I would be far more likely to throw several of their remixed tracks into this category. One in particular I recently came across is by hard-hitting duo Mr. Miyagi. This is by far my favorite remix of Atlantis to Interzone to date, and if anyone was going to do it, it would have to have been Mr. Miyagi. The two have been on a remixing roll editing up tracks by Cicada, Melomantics and have had one of their original tracks remixed by none other than JFK. Also check out their official mixtape if you get a chance.

Klaxons :: Atlantis to Interzone (Mr. Miyagi Remix)

[via :: Ohh! Crapp, a music blog very much worth a checkout. They've got some great posts and great interviews]

Humble Voice

Social networks are important for self-promotion, inspiration, boredom, and well... networking! Although, it's getting more and more difficult to choose which social networks to join simply due to the number of them out there. If you are an artist, or appreciate artistic work I would recommend checking out Humble Voice. This is a social network and portfolio site that showcases the portfolios of musicians, photographers, writers, videographers and other artists. It seems like a very to-the-point website that has filtered out all the extra bells and whistes, and focused on the essentials. Create and customize your own multi-paged portfolio, link-up with and browse the profiles of other artists. The website is very well built and deserves a huge pat on the back, I just signed up for my account and can't wait to start customizing it.