Countless new hip-hop acts  are loved for sounding like they came out 15 years ago — turning modern rap into an ironic party favor. Because ingenuity is rare, those looking for quality in boom-bap dig back. That’s what the Hoarsemen are doing. The sensibility of this four man group from New York-by-way-of-New Brunswick, NJ is not a throwback, or a style shift … or an adherence to a style. It starts from scratch.

With their debut album Snacks and Catastrophes out for about a year now, it’s a cure for the common record. But their live shows are what they stake their reputation on. The goal isn’t simply making interesting music, but to create an engaging performance to go with it. I’d always hoped someone would redefine hip-hop in some form without attempting to redefine it at all, and the Hoarsemen have delivered on this wish.

The producer of this outfit, Sonny Ray, lays down beats on an MPC and supplements sample cutting with his own instrumentation. MC Long Division delivers bars in a clean voice and a rhyme style fortified with hidden metaphors. Loosie, a vocalist with an original voice, grinds out dirty hooks contrasting with Long Div’s orderly flow. Cuts from outer space come courtesy of DJ Dialect. Together, it sounds a little bit like this.

We sat in Sonny Ray’s LES apartment — also home base for production of the band’s tracks — over home brewed beer and pizza, where we talked the story out.
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A while back, in the heyday of ReadyMade, we learned how to build furniture into our lawn. Now, Shinwei Rhoda Yen has taken that concept a step further. By implanting mushroom spores into the furniture wood, it eventually sprouts into … mushrooms. Eventually, the mushrooms will completely take over and destroy the functionality of the furniture, but you don’t buy outdoor pieces expecting they’ll last, do you? No word yet on whether the ’shrooms are edible or have magic powers.

via Designboom

This is one of those ideas that is so obvious we’re surprised this is the first we’ve seen it. A simple print of a head on the head part of a hoody = Headhoods! All hand-printed from a little factory on the wrong side of the tracks in Brooklyn, the hoodies run $50 to $60 a pop and can be ordered online. They’ve also got a full gallery of various ways to wear your hoody that will deliver a few double-takes from everyone around. Nice little Friday fun fashion, or if you are really brave/cheap you could totally DIY this into a weekend project.

via PoshDeluxe

Artist/provocateur KAWS has only recently begun doing official art exhibitions, but even though his fans may arrive with dollar signs (instead of double-x’s) in their eyes, don’t call him a sell-out. Josh witnessed the KAWS-craze in New York a few months ago, and now it’s set to hit L.A. Beginning tonight, the Honor Fraser gallery will host KAWS’ first West Coast solo exhibition, “The Long Way Home.” The exhibit will include a life-size Chum and several new paintings and sculptures that are likely to feature the artist’s take on the Smurfs and Spongebob. There will be an opening reception from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. tomorrow, and the show will run through April 4th. That should give you plenty of time to avoid the paparazzi who will no doubt be circling like hawks to capture the celebrities and their checkbooks.

It’s true — music videos have been getting ridiculous lately. Some time around when Michael Jackson’s Black or White budget rivaled that of major motion pictures, and the good old live concert video went out of style, people forgot that the video shouldn’t overshadow the song. 99 Dollar Music Videos challenges independent bands and directors to make a solid video using just under a hundred bucks. So far, La Strada has theirs up, and the product is simple and effective, like videos used to be. Lined up for future experiments are Via Audio, Plushgun, Lowry, and many more.

If you’re not an “off-the-rack” kind of guy, or always need to get your clothes altered, custom options kind of suck. Tailors are expensive, and they’re always touching us … down there. But, now there’s a faster way of getting a shirt that looks — and more importantly fits — right. ShirtsMyWay takes individual button-down components and personalizes the measurement, pattern, and material. We didn’t even know what a ‘placket’ was until ShirtsMyWay showed us we could get it in Urban Safari brown.