Suite For Ma Dukes Videos

Very special night indeed.

Suite For Ma Dukes Pictures

As seen on Swindle Magazine.

Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy

Easily one of the greatest records of all-time, and one that still gives me chills when I hear it. Originally on the Blue Lines album this cut sung imperiously by Shara Nelson cut through the musical hemisphere at the turn of the 90's like a daisy-cutter. This is still the blueprint to my youth and something that I have been playing incredibly loudly in recent days. Still love it!

Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy

Adidas Originals House Party

David Axelrod - Holy Thursday

I think this is the first time that I have ever put a David Axelrod track on the blog, which in all truth is incredibly shameful considering how I much I love the man's work. David Axelrod is a master musician who was the man who pushed the likes of Lou Rawls and Cannonball Adderly to the forefront of music during his time as A&R and composer at Capitol Records in the late 60's and early 70's. He has been sampled by just about ever person who has ever made hip hop and probably most famously by DJ Shadow who spearheaded the resurgence in his music by letting the whole world know about him through the grooves of Endtroducing. Holy Thursday is an incredibly beautiful and ambitious track that shows just about everything that is good about Axelrod's work and listening back to it you can definitely hear why so many people have sampled him and why he is so influential. This is meant to be played incredibly loudly.

David Axelrod - Holy Thursday

Edgar Müller

I had never seen work by Edgar Müller before and it is a very interesting take on the street art that you see in cities such as Amsterdam, Barcelona and Venice where people paint images on the streets quite regularly. It must have taken him ages to work out the dimensions on these pieces as well as constant reordering of the focal point. Pretty astonishing stuff.

Edgar Müller was born in Mülheim/Ruhr on 10 July 1968 and grew up in the rural city of Straelen in the outermost west of Germany. His great artistic talent to represent its surroundings graphically and picturesquely turns out early, fascinated by painting from youth. He attends the high school in the neighboring town Geldern where the internationally important competition of the street painters takes place for over 30 years now. Inspired by the transitory works of art which meet him on his way to school Edgar Müller take part to this festival at the age of 16 years for the first time. With 19 years he wins this competition with a copy of the picture "Jesus at Emmaus " (Caravaggio).

Within the years following on this he could decide many other international competitions for himself. Since 1998 Edgar Müller owns the title 'maestro madonnari' (master street painter) whom worldwide only few artists bear. This award will allocate on the best known festival of the street painters in the small Pilgrim town Grazie since 1972 in Italy.

Arround the age of 25 Müller decides to devote himself to street painting completely. He travels all over Europe and denies his cost of living with his transitory art. He gives workshops at schools and is co-organizer and member of committee of different Street-Painting-Festivals. Mueller sets up the first and so far only board for street painters in Germany - an internet forum designed for solidarity of the german street painter community.

Edgar Muellers open studio is the street. He presents the people the excellent works of old masters in their weekday, and draws his perfect copies to the observers feet. He invites his audience to his fascination about the old masters art, her expressed view of the world - seeing and understanding it in depth.

Despite courses among well-known artists and studies to the communication designer Edgar is actually an autodidact. He looks for new representation forms for himself again and again. Inspired by the three-dimensional illusion paintings (particularly by works of Kurt Wenner and Julian Beever) he follows this new art form and creates his own style. Based on his knowledge about traditional painting and modern communication Müller uses a more simple and graphic language for his art. He paints over large areas of urban public life and gives them a new appearance thereby, challenging the perception of the passers-by. The observer becomes a part of the new scenery offered. While proceeding their daylife the people are changing the painting's statement on and on. Numerous publications in press and television draw one's attention to its unusual art.

Suite For Ma Dukes

Last night I had the distinct pleasure of attending an event that completely and utterly affirmed my love for music, Suite For Ma Dukes, an orchestral tribute to the music and memory of J Dilla.


The night kicked off with the legendary J Rocc of the Beat Junkies absolutely killing it after House Shoes had gotten the place all nicely whipped up.


Then the orchestra played with a cast that included the likes of Karriem Riggings, Bilal, Diana 'Decibel' Booker, Amp Fiddler, Talib Kweli, Posdnuos, Dweli, Illa J, Common and loads more all conducted beautifully and with an incredible amount of genuine emotion by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson.


The show was shot by B+ and will probably be made available in the coming months but in the meantime check this sneaky film of the finale and the encore that has just surfaced on Youtube.


This was without a doubt a night of music that I would have loved each and every one of you to have been able to experience. I do not have the words to describe how incredible it was.

Tony Allen & Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Documentary