d-e-l y'all...

a photo from the del show the other night. a good time had by all. it was a little funny, a-plus mentioned on stage the time they played in london ten years ago, when half of the souls of mischief crew didn't get across the border, for whatever reasons. kind of cool to see these cats ten years later. i've been a part of bringing these dudes to london a few times now, over the last decade, and it was cool to see them still having a good time in london, and the audience still into it. a lot of these kids in attendance were ten or twelve years old the first time hieroglyphics came through. crazy to think about. this blogger site is hella slow for uploading photos, so i put the rest of the photos from this night up in an album on facebook. hiero y'all!

the salmon dance...

fatlip fans, you'll be pleased to know he makes a guest appearance on the new chemical brothers album, featured on the song "the salmon dance." (download) a fun little cartoonish song for the kiddies, it's good to hear "jammer d" getting some work. i just found out he played a concert in toronto last year, and apparently, nobody showed up. (well, like 30 people, from what i heard.) crazy. my friend wes showed me a few pictures he took, and yeah, it was EMPTY. crazy. i wish more people liked good rap and went out to see good shows. if people will actually pay money to go to a club to see some idiot like fabulos (sp?) stand around in pressed gear and pretend to perform, why won't they go to see somebody who is actually an MC? i don't get it. dude is dope. and by the looks of the photos i saw, he needs money. badly.

ps. i have to wait another week for the thrills' new album. my local record store won't get it until next tuesday. shitty. i suppose i could download it, or go to one of the chain stores and get it today, but fuck it. think global, buy local, right?

polaris music prize...

holy crap we just found out we got nominated for the polaris music prize!



































(just kidding.)

there goes THAT idea...

you know when you're an MC and your freakin' RAP NAME is FRITZ THA CAT and for YEARS you plan to make a video for one of your songs using footage from the DAMN MOVIE and you finally make a rough cut of a video and you're like "shit, this looks HELLA FRESH," and you decide that for your next album you're gonna hire somebody to do it up all profressional for you since you don't really know how to edit video footage all that well but you've already spent hours and hours capturing all the footage so you're ready to go and then your friend geoff in vancouver emails you a link and says "ya'll peep the new Guru track (feat Common) "State of Clarity" video starring Fritz the Cat? kinda ill..." and you're like WHAT THE FUCK???!!!!!

yeah. here it is...



fuck. don't you just HATE it when that happens?

there goes THAT fuckin' idea...

c'mon guys, it's my fuckin' NAME!!!!!!!

fuck.

ok cobra remix files...

i have set up this page for anyone who is interested in completing a remix of one of our songs for the upcoming ok cobra remix album.

these are links to download the acapellas:

child in rhyme
bury the bodies
on the bus
beautiful
fall dumbass
hush
juggernauts
time flies

and, if you need a copy of the original album, you can download it here.

ugsmag.com interview...

new interview with me up at ugsmag.com. click below to read it. thanks jon.

Fritz Tha Cat (aka Ryan Somers) is probably better known as the rap editor for Vice magazine when underground rap was really fashionable. His start in music journalism came with his super low-budget magazine In Search of Divine Styler that began as a collection of photocopied pages stapled together. Although the magazine only had 8 issues, it proved to be somewhat of a phenomenon spawning a number of other counter-culture rap magazines. An anthology of the magazine was published earlier this year and is available through MudScout. In addition to music journalism, he’s also a rapper with a new album and a group he formed with long time friend RecordFace called Ok Cobra. The album covers an array of topics from girls, boobies, atheism, heartbreak and drugs. Normally, I don’t like conducting interviews without meeting the person first, but after missing his book launch in April, I had to “meet” this fellow some how. As a result, I conducted this interview from Edmonton using an instant messenger application while Fritz Le Chat downed a bunch of beers in London, Ontario...

sliced...

"The horror... the horror..."
Marlon Brando, Apocalypse Now
Fresh off of winning a Bessie for John St. Advertising's disturbing Ideazon campaign, we've completed yet another twisted viral, this time for Vex through GJP and their client Vincor. A homage to the teen slasher film trailers of the 70's and 80's, "Sliced" was our first foray into working with an exclusively all-fruit cast.

A group of teenage fruit retreat to a cabin deep in the woods for a weekend of sexually charged debauchery. True to form it isn't long before things explode in a juicy orgy of fruit desecration. Packed with references to Saw, Hostel, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and The Evil Dead, "Sliced" was written, produced, shot and edited in-house under the watchful eye of director Alex Wittholz and GJP's Gerald Flach. The spot uses detailed miniature models that took 7 weeks to build and 5 days (and nights) to shoot, resulting in over 170 separate shots.

Having done two very violent virals back to back, Helios is now looking forward to working with an agency that loves unicorns and rainbows. And kittens.

Anybody?

Watch Sliced Here

out of the fryer...

art show last night. chicken wings and veggies. 90s rap music. had my first moment of selling a piece i didn't want to let go. gave me a strange feeling. there was one piece, one, that i didn't want to let go of. i wanted to keep. all the others, whatever. sell, sell, sell, i don't care. this one, no, i needed it. it said something to me. dude comes up to me to buy it. i hesitate. it's on the wall. there's a price on it. why won't i sell it? this is gonna happen, there are always going to be ones you don't want to part with. it's part of being an artist. he says all this to me. i don't know. he says think about it. he walks away. i think about it. i want to keep it. of all of them, it's the one i want to keep the most. then i realize, this is art. this is a feeling. this one particular piece gives me a feeling inside. the other ones, sure, they look okay, they're maybe not bad, but there's no feeling in them. this one though, there's something about it. i'm not even sure what it is. he wants it. so do it. i want to keep it. the fact that i don't want to part with it is precisely the reason why i decide to let it go. i don't want there to be grasping in my life. i don't want to be somebody who holds on to things. things are meant to go. movies, music, people buy things and you still have them. this, this, there is only one, and there will only ever be, and you will never see it again. and it makes sense to me, if this is the one that gives me a feeling, that it would give someone else a feeling. i'm not saying i don't like the other ones, he says, but i want to buy this one. sold. we shake hands. i'm breaking out into a cold sweat. i have empty feeling in my gut, like part of my stomach is missing. light-headed. dizzy. i have to go outside and get some air. i can't speak. i'm numb. this is what it's like to sell your first painting. other ones had sold before, but this, this was different. this was my first. this one counted. this was my emotions. this was part of my soul. this was something entirely. this wasn't just something that looked kind of cool. now i know what it feels like. if i never sell another painting in my life, i've had this feeling. i've experienced it. it hurt me. i feel free.

yes...

bbq with boz...

my man boz from the nextra crew got some new stuff out. click here to download it and find out a bit about dude...

whutcha want...?

nine is back...

a boy with a coin...

remember my "iron & wine" dream a while back? so, then i found out there's a band, with the same name, or, a guy, who records under that name. anyway, today, i've listened to it about a half dozen times already, but i can't get enough of "boy with a coin."

ice-t in toronto...

cadence & cobra...

hey kids. got a few things to tell you about, and not really much time (deadlines, deadlines...), so i'll get right to it.

tim was in town last night. we played a show at the alex. with cadence weapon. it was fun. it's been almost a year since tim and i played a show together. i've been holding down most of the touring/performing duties myself. he came to my crib in the afternoon and we were both a little bit "blah" about performing. just the same ol' songs, you know? i think we're both ready to quit doing shows for a while and just put ourselves in lockdown until we get this new record done. it's been tough, living in different cities, trying to keep motivated. but we had a great conversation, threw a few ideas back and forth, and then, when it actually came down to performance time, it was like "oh yeah, THIS is why we do this shit..." cadence put on a dope show as well. i hadn't seen him before, but i've peeped his album a few times. i'll post up some of the photos when i have time. (shit, that reminds me, i still have a TON of photos from europe that i haven't had a chance to share with you yet. in due time, my friend, in due time...)



on the writing tip, look out for this new little magazine called UR, coming out of toronto, i just did a couple things for their september issue... talib kweli and triple ave. i'll post the q&a's up here, once the stories come out.



just spent a week with sarah at her cottage. it was amazing. i loved the feeling of driving out of the city and turning my phone off. done. no calls. no messages. no internet. no work. nothing. for one week. of course, coming home to magazine deadlines and art deadlines and a show and extra shifts at the bar and all of that is a bit of a mindfuck, but whatever, it was worth it. we canoed. we caught fish. we motorboated. we grilled steak. we swam. we had bonfires. and most important, we relaxed. didn't even have to look at a clock or know what day it was. there's nothing really better...

new website for our booking agency, spherical productions.

props to our homies at wydu for posting up a little something about our song "time flies."

okay, fuck it, i'll take a minute and post some pics from last night...



peter did the drawing on the chalkboard (above) - talented dude!




















everton from beatdock saints.

shad. (who i'll be playing with on thrs. july 26th, at rum runner's, opening up for del the funky homosapien.)


my man drew skitt from london calling.

my girl, sarah.



cadence, dj weezil, yours truly, recordface. (small world, weezil shares a flat in edmonton with my homie conspiracy from sbu.)