The Crystal Ship 2019: The Dictatorship of Art

The fourth edition of The Crystal Ship street art exhibition is built around The Dictatorship of Art, in a collaboration with Theater aan zee. 

If art was a dictator, he would tell you to be free. Basically art has the democratic ability to alter the world.

In 2019 the acclaimed street artists created ten murals, two sculptures, some interventions by Helen Bur who put portraits on inhabitants' walls, three school projects and Portuguese artist in residence Wasted Rita who used the city as her playground.

The tour takes off at the Tourism Office in Ostend, where free cycling and walking maps are at your disposition.

A Crystal Ship Kids Guide is available to make it more fun for the youngsters.

Once again the participating artists came from over the world: from the popular Belgian Jaune, over French Miss Van, German Case Maclaim, American Crystal Wagner to British David Walker, Spanish Escif, Marina Capdevila, Mohamed l’Ghacham and Dutch Leon Keer.

Wasted Rita Ostend street art interventions

https://www.visitoostende.be/sites/default/files/the_crystal_ship_2019_print.pdf

Beyond the Streets

At the moment more than one hundred of the most celebrated graffiti and street artists are showing works at BEYOND THE STREETS in Los Angeles' Venice Pavillion.

Site-specific installations, photography, sculptures and paintings are shown in- and outdoors as a tribute to Los Angeles.

The exhibition includes artworks of Faile, Shepard Fairey, Lady Aiko, Dan Witz, Banksy, Martha Cooper, Invader, Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Swoon and VHILS.

Art collector Roger Gastman( Art in the Streets) curated the show. Gastman is also known as co- founder of Fairey's Swindle magazine and co- producer of Banksy's documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop. Other curators are Evan Pricco( editor of Juxtapoz magazine), David Villorente and author Caleb Neelon.

The must see installations include Faile's temple, a playful, interactive sacred structure, banners of the feminist collective Guerrilla Girls and a playable handball court with artwork by Lee Quiñones.

https://www.beyondthestreets.com

Phonte No News Is Good News

Seven years after his solo debut Charity Starts at Home, The Foreign Exchange artist returns with No News Is Good News, a ten track album.

The title refers to modern social media focused society. 

Love this news!

Tracklist

1. To the Rescue

2. So Help Me God

3. Pastor Tigallo

4. Expensive Genes

5. Cry No More

6. Such Is Life

7. Change of Mind Feat. Freddie Gibbs

8. Sweet You

9. Find That Love Again Feat. Eric Roberson

10. Euphorium (Back to the Light)

Talib Kweli: Radio Silence

Talib Kweli's upcoming album Radio Silence features the track Heads Up, Eyes Open, dedicated to the late Headqcourterz. Javotti Media will release the album on November 17th.

As usual many other artists contributed to the LP: Rick Ross, Bilal, Datcha, Jay Electronica, Anderson Paak, Yummy Bingham, Freestyle Fellowship’s Myka 9,  Waka Flocka, BJ The Chicago Kid and Robert Glasper.

Tracklist

1. The Magic Hour
2. Traveling Light f. Anderson .Paak
3. All of Us f. Jay Electronica & Yummy Bingham
4. She’s My Hero
5. Chips f. Waka Flocka
6. Knockturnal
7. Radio Silence f. Amber Coffman & Myka 9
8. The One I Love f. BJ the Chicago Kid
9. Heads Up Eyes Open f. Rick Ross & Yummy Bingham
10. Let It Roll
11. Write at Home f. Datcha, Bilal & Robert Glasper

Second edition of The crystal Ship

The Crystal Ship 2017: Jaune

The second edition of street art festival The Crystal Ship was officially opened on April 8th. 

One can start the free walking or bicycle tour at the Achturenplein in Ostend. Free maps will guide you towards original public artworks that alter your view on creativity and urban environment.

The participating artists came from over the world to share their installations and murals. Belgians Strook, Hell'O Collective and Jaune, French Outings Projects, C215,  Nelio and Levalet, Argentineans Bosoletti, Hyuro and Pastel, British Phlegm, Spanish Sebas Velasco and SpY, Portuguese Alexis Diaz, American Axel Void,  German Johannes Mundinger , Norwegian Henrik Uldalen left their marks for us to discover.

Thundercat Drunk

Drunk is the third album of bassist Thundercat, who combined soul, humor and playfulness in 23 tracks.

The talented Stephen Bruner is known for his work with Erykah Badu, Flying Lotus, Kendrick Lamar and Kamasi Washington. Bruners father was The Temptations' drummer. 

The album features Lamar, Pharrell,Khalifa and Kamasi Washington.

Tracklist:
1. Rabbot Ho
2. Captain Stupido
3. Uh Uh
4. Bus In These Streets
5. A Fan's Mail (Tron Song Suite II)
6. Lava Lamp
7. Jethro
8. Day & Night
9. Show You The Way (feat. Michael McDonald & Kenny Loggins)
10. Walk On By (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
11. Blackkk
12. Tokyo
13. Jameel's Space Ride
14. Friend Zone
15. Them Changes
16. Where I'm Going
17. Drink Dat (feat. Wiz Khalifa)
18. Inferno
19. I Am Crazy
20. 3AM
21. Drunk
22. The Turn Down (feat. Pharrell)
23. DUI

Run The Jewels 3

Two years after Run The Jewels 2, non conformists El-P and Killer Mike release Run The Jewels 3. 

Tracklist:

1. Down (feat. Joi Gilliam)

2. Talk to Me

3. Legend Has It

4. Call Ticketron

5. Hey Kids (Bumaye) (feat. Danny Brown)

6. Stay Gold

7. Don't Get Captured

8. Thieves! (Screamed the Ghost) (feat. Tunde Adebimpe)

9. 2100 (feat. BOOTS)

10. Panther Like a Panther (Miracle Mix) (feat. Trina)

11. Everybody Stay Calm

12. Oh Mama

13. Thursday in the Danger Room (feat. Kamasi Washington)

14. Report to the Shareholders/Kill Your Masters

A Tribe Called Quest We Got it from here. Thank you 4 your service

Following a 25th anniversary show of their debut album People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, group members Jarobi White, Phife Dawg and Q-Tip decided to come back with their sixth record, eighteen years after their last album The Love Movement.

MC and producer Q -Tip(46) finished the album at his home studio
after the unexpected death of "funky diabetic" Phife Dawg(45) who needed a kidney transplant. 

The entire record is dedicated to their old friend Phife Dawg, with the last track entitled The Donald serving as a tribute. 

Guests include Kendrick Lamar, Anderson Paak, André 3000 of Outkast, Talib Kweli, Busta Rhymes, Kanye West, Consequence, Jack White and Elton John. 

We got it from here, A Tribe Called Quest’s final album because of the loss of their close friend, sounds warm, jazzy, smooth, poetical, cheeky, easy and is all the time on point, just as Phife was.

Tracklist:

1. The Space Program
2. We the People....
3. Whateva Will Be
4. Solid Wall of Sound
5. Dis Generation
6. Kids...
7. Melatonin
8. Enough!!
9. Mobius
10. Black Spasmodic
11. The Killing Season
12. Lost Somebody
13. Movin Backwards
14. Conrad Tokyo
15. Ego
16. The Donald

Shabaka and The Ancestors Wisdom of Elders

Tenor saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings and South African band The Ancestors recorded the contemporary jazz album Wisdom of Elders in one single day without any rehearsals.

The legendary British free jazz musician Hutchings grew up in Barbados.

The Ancestors, led by young trumpeter Mandla Mlangeni, include vocalist Siyabonga Mthembu, pianist Nduduzo Mahathini, alt saxophonist Mthunzi Myubu, bassist Ariel Zamonsky, percussionist Gontse Makhene and drummer Tumi Mogorosi.

This energetic tribute to Barbadian calypso music and Nguni rhythms is available via Brownswood Recordings.

Tracklist:

1. Mzawandile
2. Joyous
3. The Observer
4. The Sea
5. The Observed
6. Natty
7. OBS
8. Give Thanks
9. Nguni

Mr Lif and L'orange The Life and Death of Scenery

Following their singles Twenty Fifty Three and The Lost Nova, Mr Lif and producer L'Orange released their first full album together, entitled The life and death of Scenery(Mellow Music Group). 

Boston native MC Jeffrey Haynes (1977), better known as Mr. Lif and as a member of The Perceptionists, delivers politically and socially inspired lyrics.

Their collaboration resulted in an eclectic, experimental record about an apocalyptic future.

Track List:
1. The Perfect World Radio Hour: Day 279
2. A World Without Music
3. The Scribe
4. The Perfect World Radio Hour: Day 304
5. Antique Gold
6.The Gentle End
7.The Perfect World Radio Hour: Day 341
8. Strange Technology
9. Five Lies About the World Outside
10.The Perfect World Radio Hour: Day 421
11. A Palace in the Sky

Nao For all we know

Former backing vocalist Neo Jessica Joshua(28) from London released a soulful debut album, entitled For All We Know, referring to her jazz background. 

Versatile she is, with a clear passion for music: from having been trained in jazz over grime ghost writer to R&B singer.

Nao's sweet, angel like voice goes hand in hand with the funky productions of British DJ Grades, Loxe, John Calvert and Jungle. The track Trophy features Jai Paul's brother, AK Paul.

A groovy record with a nineties sound, full of interludes, released by Little Tokyo Recordings.

Track list:
1. Intro (Like Velvet)
2. Get to Know Ya  
3. Inhale Exhale
4. Voice Memo 161
5. Happy
6. Voice Memo 162
7. Adore You (featuring Abhi/Dijon)
8. In the Morning  
9. Trophy (featuring A. K. Paul)
10. Bad Blood
11. DYWM  
12. We Don't Give A
13. Give Me a Little
14. Fool to Love
15. Voice Memo 4 (Say Yes)  
16. Blue Wine  
17. Girlfriend
18. Feels Like (Perfume)

William Bell This is where I live

Seventy seven year old American soul singer songwriter William Bell is well known for his songs Private Number(1968), a duet with Judy Clay, and You Don’t Miss Your Water(1961).

Stax released William Yarborough's comeback album This is Where I live.

Tracks:
01. The Three Of Me
02. The House Always Wins
03. Poison In The Well
04. I Will Take Care Of You
05. Born Under A Bad Sign
06. All Your Stories
07. Walking On A Tightrope
08. This Is Where I Live
09. More Rooms
10. All The Things You Can’t Remember
11. Mississippi-Arkansas Bridge
12. People Want To Go Home

Material obesity or experientialism

Due to the Industrial revolution and mass production objects became widely available and affordable. Thrift was replaced by enthusiastic consumerism. This over consumption in society was a bare necessity for economic growth.   
Nowadays the individual and society suffer from the excess, which results in mobility problems, climate change, credit crisis and stagnation of the economic growth.
Too many possessions distract the mind and crowded rooms have an effect on our peace of mind.

Neuro anthropologist John Allen from the University of Southern California declared that our living space is strongly linked to the view on ourselves. The reorganization of our house gives us the feeling we can change our lives. 

There's a need for cultural shifting: to switch over from a high living standard to better quality of life. With material obesity causing stress, a return to the simple life lived in the middle seems to be the essence.  Temperentia is the moderate means between asceticism and indulgence. 

The essence of life is to be found in the essence of existence(from Latin existere): the experience, the conscious knowledge that derives from personal activity and practice. Inner experiences are reflections, sensory experiences are sensations. The empiricists were guided by experience, to them the sole source of knowledge.

Professor of psychology Daniel Gilbert from Harvard University says experiences make us happy because we first look forward to them, then we're glad to go through them to eventually be left with lovely recollections.

German philosopher Immanuel Kant(1724-1804) believed all knowledge is related to experience, without experience knowledge becomes impossible. Sensory perception and reason as the highest cognitive ability should go hand in hand. His writings focused on critical thinking with the use of self criticism to find truth and enlightenment in ourselves. 

Danish thinker Sören Aaby Kierkegaard(1813-1855) gave a new meaning to existence. The founder of existentialism analysed human existence as a reality one should experience instead of a problem to be solved. After Kierkegaard existentialist philosophy, with historical roots in Greek philosophy, was further developed by Sartre, Camus, Marcel and Heidegger, whose existence precedes the essence.

Maslow's fully functioning individual is open to new experiences, people and ideas, for life in general. A healthy individual experiences as a child, wisely using his organism. With his open personality and self knowledge he applies his experience to observe and express himself. 

To be intensely involved in the experience of life, its fulfilments and predicaments, is the best way to live consciously. Simplicity helps to maintain the equilibrium of avoiding extremes. Interpersonal relationships colour our lives

Pleasant experiences enrich life, matter can not in long term.
Quality before quantity, or simplified: less is more. 

Ugly Heroes: Everything in Between

Mello Music Group released Everything In Between, the newest album of Ugly Heroes on June 24th, with the single Heart Attack. The themes producer Apollo Brown, MC Red Pill and Verbal Kent chose go from self-improvement to honesty.

Tracklist:

1.Today Right Now 

2.Daisies 

3.This World 

4.Notions 

5.Peace of Mind 

6.Choir Practice 

7.Place Called Home 

8.Can't Win For Losin' 

9.Roles 

10.Heart Attack 

11.Force Fed 

12.Soul Searching 

13.Unforgiven 

14.Fair Weather 

It was like dancing with a ghost

BILLY FINDS A BOOK OF RIDDLES IN HIS OWN BACKYARD

Filmmaker David Lynch( 1946) studied painting at the Museum School in Boston and the Pennsylvania Academy of the fine Arts. During these studies he made the short film Six Men getting Sick.

Although most people know him for his surreal movies such as Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart, Mulholland Drive, Eraserhead or Blue Velvet, he has always been involved in painting, music and photography. 

Lynch likes his art dark, violent and primitive to represent decay, dreams,distortion, hallucinations. 

Previous exhibitions include shows at Musée d'Orsay, Fondation Cartier and the Garage center for Contemporary Culture.

At The Gallery is currently showing his Couch Series(2008), Distorted Nudes(1999), photographs, drawings and oil paintings.

It was like dancing with a ghost

At The Gallery

Leopoldstraat 57, Antwerp

21/5 - 3/7/2016

Six Men getting Sick

Coloring Book Chance The Rapper

Twenty three year old Chance from Chicago released his third mixtape on the twelfth of may 2016. Produced by Brasstracks, The Social Experiment,Francis   and the Lights, Stix and Lido. The band he worked with makes you shake everything you got...

1.     The Social Experiment Kanye West
2. No Problem (featuring Lil Wayne & 2 Chainz)
3. Summer Friends (featuring Jeremih & Francis and the Lights)
4. D.R.A.M. Sings Special 
5. Blessings 
6. Same Drugs 
7. Mixtape (featuring Young Thug & Lil Yachty)
8. Angels(featuring Saba)
9. Juke Jam (featuring Justin Bieber & Towkio)
10. All Night" (featuring Knox Fortune) Kaytranada
11. How Great" (featuring Jay Electronica & My cousin Nicole)
12. Smoke Break" (featuring Future)
13. Finish Line / Drown (featuring T-Pain, Kirk Franklin, Eryn Allen Kane &             Noname)
14. Blessings (Reprise (featuring Ty Dolla $ign)

Retrospective Karel Appel

Vragende Kinderen, copyright Karel Appel Foundation

Dutch painter Karel Appel(1921) was one of the founders of the international Cobra group in 1948. The group's name derives from Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam. 

The members, such as Karel Appel, Asger Jorn(1914-1973), Constant and Pierre Alechinsky engaged in the spontaneous creation of boldly coloured, expressive, experimental work. The avant-garde group was primarily inspired by Marxist ideoloy, primitive art, children's drawings and the work of Joan Miro and Paul Klee. The artists collaborated in exhibitions, the Cobra magazine and peinture-mot.

After his academic studies, Appel depicted friendly looking animals and childlike creatures. His first major assignment, Vragende Kinderen(1949) caused such an uproar that they covered the painting for ten years. Appel became internationally known whilst living in Paris, where his creations began to be more turbulent and textured.

During the sixties he made colossal sculptures of fantasy creatures out of painted wood, polyester and aluminium. Furthermore his oeuvre includes assemblages, collages, graphic work, glass decorations, theatre and opera decor designs. 
All of these can be admired at his retrospective in Den Haag.

Retrospective Karel Appel
Gemeentemuseum Den Haag
16-1 - 16-5-2016
www.gemeentemuseum.nl

The James Hunter Six: Hold on

Daptone released James Hunter's fourth album on February fifth.
Hunter and his band delivered a soulful, swinging record, which was produced by Gabriel Roth(eg Amy Winehouse).

Tracklist

1. If That Don’T Tell You
2. This Is Where We Come In
3. (Baby) Hold On
4. Something’S Calling
5. A Truer Heart
6. Free Your Mind (While You Still Got Time)
7. Light Of My Life
8. Stranded
9. Satchel Foot
10. In The Dark

Banksy's latest

Banksy's Cosette

Opposite the French embassy, Banksy recently depicted a crying Cosette of Les Misérables with tears in her eyes, caused by a cannister of CS gas, to criticize the French police's use of tear gas against refugees in Calais. 

His previous Dismaland project, a parody on Disneyland, was composed of refugeeboats, paparazzi surrounding Cinderella's corpse, dodgems with skelettons and personnel wearing depressed Mickey ears and a dismal t-shirt.

Meanwhile Brendan O'Neill is spreading his disapproval of Banksy's work. He claims the street artist despises the ordinary man with his "puberal criticism on consumption society". 

O'Neill seems to think street art is about taking risks. The essence of street art never was as superficial: the content of the work is crucial! 

Why should one refer to anonymous people sharing art as being snobby?

Anderson Paak: Malibu

Californian rapper Brandon Paal Anderson released his second album entitled Malibu on January 15 2016. The soulful record includes productions by 9th Wonder, Madlib and Anderson himself as well as an impressive guestlist.
After his first album Venice(2014) Paak featured on six tracks of Dr Dre's Compton.
He now succeeded in delivering an album one wants to keep listening to...

Tracklist

1. The Bird  

2. Heart Don't Stand a Chance  
3. The Waters (featuring BJ the Chicago Kid)
4. The Season / Carry Me 
5. Put Me Thru 
6. Am I Wrong (featuring ScHoolboy Q)
7. Without You (featuring Rapsody)
8. Parking Lot 
9. Lite Weight (featuring The Free Nationals United Fellowship Choir)
10. Room in Here(featuring The Game and Sonyae Elise)
11. Water Fall (Interluuube)
12. Your Prime
13. Come Down
14. Silicon Valley
15. Celebrate  
16. The Dreamer(featuring Talib Kweli and Timan Family Choir)