There’s a lot of musical ability floating around on the Internet, so why not put them together for a little jam session? Enter Kutiman, a YouTube mixmaster who turns brilliant yet unsuspecting artists into bandmates on his website ThruYou. The online remix renegade helps solo players make the smooth, involuntary transition to collaborator by slicing and dicing their videos.

When Rites of Passage came out in 2000, the underground hip-hop world buzzed about a lyricist called Brother Ali. Rhymesayers had picked up another gem, and every album to follow packed killer rhymes, illustrating Ali’s knack for storytelling. His last LP dropped in 2007, and now at long last we get some new heat on Truth is Here, an EP featuring six brand new tracks and three old hard to find b-sides. The album is bundled with a DVD of a full live show in Minneapolis and a bunch of videos. Check out some of the tracks at his MySpace page.

Countless bands in Tokyo emulate American rock. What allows a handful of these bands to break out and go international is a specific trait — a familiar Western style that straddles the line between innovation and characature. Detroit 7 broke out at last year’s South by Southwest festival, a big move for a band that spent its first eight years smashing it up on the Tokyo scene. The three-piece band’s live show has drawn attention, with the grungy, busted English drawl of lead-girl Nabano and the adorable energy of drummer Miyoko. It’s the kind of music Seattle produced in the early 90s before radio co-opted it. Detroit 7’s self titled album is out today, and it’s crunchy.

Following the Urban Art Auction in New York we told you about last fall, Phillips de Pury and Company is gearing up to auction a goldmine in collectible toys across the pond. As part of the Saturdays @ Phillips auctions, March 14th will see art toys by Kaws, Futura, Frank Kozik, Tim Biskup, Bob Conge and many others go before the gavel. San Francisco’s extraordinary toy customizer Leecifer will be making his auction debut with an original resin figure and painting set. The work ranges from £70 to £2,000 and focuses on urban/graffiti artists and Japanese monsters (old and new). You can preview the pieces online. Art toys begin here.

If you have an HDTV, you’ve noticed the wasted screen space when you’re on certain television channels. That’s a little inconvenience that Studio FRST has remedied with their Double Aspect Ratio 16943 concept, a TV with a slightly odd shape that can handle two viewing formats: a 16:9 format for films and 4:3 for television (hence the name). The clever design makes it clear why it is referred to as a ‘technological sculpure in levitation’. The black screen rests on a clear glass base, giving it the illusion of floating, and the 120mm thickness surprisingly conceals a DVD player.