"I Don’t Know Where I’m Going from Here, But I Promise, It Won’t Be Boring;" Remembering David Bowie & Aristophanes 貍貓's "Dreams of Caves" (Thin White Duke-approved?)

Rock "N" Roll and quite arguably, music as a whole lost one of its most charismatic, uniquely individual, and beloved figureheads when David Jones aka The Thin White Duke aka Ziggy Stardust, otherwise known as the one and only David Bowie unexpectedly passed away early Sunday morning, January 10th, amongst the company of dear family and friends following an 18-month battle with cancer. I'm not even going to attempt to write a fully fleshed-out obituary to Bowie, hands down one of my all-time favorite performers since I was about 12, but I figured I would at least assemble a few of my thoughts and feelings into an all-too-brief hand-written tribute; a proper David Bowie obituary can be viewed over at Stereogum, which was written by Tom Breihan and served as a loose structural basis for this very piece. Throughout the course of his storied and ever-developing 52-year career, Bowie released some 28 genre-blending studio albums, produced one of the most critically-acclaimed Punk Rock albums (ie: The Stooges' Raw Power), continually wrote chart-topping hit after chart-topping hit, and was even expertly sampled during Jay Z's Kanye-produced Nas & Mobb Deep-slaying rap battle track, "The Takeover." David Bowie's most recent and ultimately, final album ★ was ironically, just released this past Friday, January 8th, which also happened to be Bowie's 69th birthday. Long-time producer, friend, and session bassist Tony Visconti recently revealed that ★ was somewhat surprisingly indirectly influenced by Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly, recently reunited Aggro-Rap group Death Grips, and Electro-production duo Boards of Canada.

Tom Breihan said something towards the tail-end of his R.I.P. David Bowie obituary that instantly struck me as rather profound and compelling: "after suffering a heart attack in 2004, Bowie performed only rarely, though he was a common sight at shows in New York; a band's first big NYC show wouldn't seem that big of a deal unless Bowie was in the audience." So, with that said, I would like to dedicate this piece to the life, memory, and decades-long career of The Thin White Duke, David Bowie... Aristophanes 貍貓 is a young, buzz-worthy Taiwanese femcee, who I personally believe Bowie would be deeply interested in, were he still alive or maybe he had heard of her before his untimely passing. Grimes supposedly just stumbled upon the creative writing teacher turned Taipei rapper whilst assembling her recent critically-acclaimed album, Artangels; Aristophanes 貍貓 was recruited to rhyme on Nu-Metal-leaning album cut "SCREAM" and The FADER previously described her style as "music [that] involves rapping slinkily in Mandarin over seasick, glitchy beats" during their Grimes In Reality cover story. Gorilla vs. Bear founder Chris Cantalini was admittedly "psyched to premiere Aristophanes' first new material since her appearance on Artangels, in the form of the first track to be unveiled from her stellar forthcoming debut EP/mixtape, No Rush to Leave Dreams." "Dreams of Caves" features guest vocals from Tien and particularly self-destructive production work from Tokyo-based producer Hamacide, which sounds something like Purity Ring beatsmith Corin Roddick's recent Hip-Hop-minded material recorded with Chance The Rapper, R. Kelly & Jeremih. Cantalini vaguely promises that Aristophanes 貍貓's own hotly-anticipated debut project, No Rush to Leave Dreams will be "out soon" on a currently unspecified label, accompanied by a rather menacing piece of artwork designed by Zihling.

[W]reckless, Topless American Youth: Lana del Rey - "Born 2 Die" (Britney Spears Birthday 30)

Lana del Rey [Lizzy Grant] effectively became 2011's "It Girl" with the release of her phenomenal debut single, "Video Games" (Stranger) . Like many struggling singer-songwriters, Grant has been signed, dropped, and significantly changed her public image since bursting onto the scene (2009). With that said, it can be assumed that Lana del Rey has collected just as many "haters" as she has avid supporters. To be perfectly honest, the only other artist I can think of that made this much commotion... garnered so much wide-spread buzz/hate and critical acclaim -- right out of the gates -- with just one track is Britney Spears . And maybe in this post- Mike musical era, that's the true synthesis of Pop Culture: Britney Lynn Spears . After months of repeated teasing and speculation, Lana del Rey 's major label debut, Born 2 Die will [finally] be released this coming Jan. 30-31, 2012. Pitchfork reports that it will feature "Off to The Ra

"Let Me Shine for You:" Lindsay Lohan for Playboy (Winter 2011-12 Leak)

Lindsay Lohan essentially embodies exactly "What NOT to Do In Hollywood :" Fame, fortune, success... sex, drugs & Rock "N" Roll . Within a fairly short period of time, Lohan somehow managed to obtain a plentiful helping of POWER @ a very young age. This gradual rise-downfall was captured on film; Between 1998-2010, she portrayed a wide array of roles across the silver screen in movies including: Mean Girls, Bobby , Herbie Fully Loaded , Georgia Rule, Machete , and Freaky Friday . Between rapid-paced film shoots, Lindsay Lohan also found time to record 2 Pop Rock albums for Casablanca , Speak (2004) and A Litter More Personal-Raw (2005). Needless to say, Lindsay Lohan has gotten roped up in a lot of troubles and woes with the law over the last 3-5 years... a vicious cycle of drugs, arrest, court, rehab, "daddy issues," jail time [Repeat]. That's the pure basics of it - But Google that shit for additional info, if necessary. Towards the end of

All-around Breakdown: Sean Martin Discusses Debut Instrumental EP Introducing The Magician As No More Magic (Residual Effects)

Sean Martin is a multi-versed musician, producer, and tattooer hailing from Connecticut. As a guitarist, song-writer, and/or producer he has worked with a variety of well-known artists including Hatebreed, Cold Cave, Wear Your Wounds, Umbra Vitae, Twitching Tongues, Cage, Kid Cudi, House of Blow, Head Automatica, XO Skeletons, Jet Fueled Horses, Handsome Boy Modeling School, and more. His versatility and flexibility within music allows him to blur the lines in-between the confines of Hardcore, Electronic, Metal, and Hip-Hop. Martin is, also, a skilled tattooer at Brass City Tattoo located in Oakville, Connecticut promoting the traditional approach to the craft. Founded by Martin himself between 2020-22, No More Magic combines ominous melodies with downtempo beats to create a dizzying dream-like atmosphere. Paying homage to the golden era of Hip-Hop while forging ahead down its own dark road. For fans of Portishead, Massive Attack, and DJ Shadow. No More Magic's Introducing The

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