[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYHFx7IOC_w 540]
So we sampled Utada Hikaru’s This Is the One album released just today at AC Gears. Instant reminder of how it was like being a freshman in college – great for late 90′s/early 2000′s, when we didn’t know better. But seriously, after almost a decade and the third English album to date, this Columbia drop-out (no pun intended) hasn’t improved much. I mean, I am sure the music will still appeal to recent high school graduates on weekends before having their parties in dorms.

Funny how mainstream music all eventually sound the same, no? Utada’s appeal to her non-Japanese market sounds just like when she first made it big. Even m-flo, Japan’s very own J-Pop/hip-hop duo that debuted around the same time retained their edgy core after making it. Their music’s still continues to be (most of the time) fresh with each album/remix release.

So here we go, our GEDDEM alternative recommendation instead. Looking for a sensual, raw, smokey voice that’s distinctively Japanese, and yet, a little bit Jazzy, a little bit groovy, try ACO:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3wrsDZufzY 540]

Another J-Pop nonetheless, but so much more flavorful.

L-R: The original and Walters’ remix

From an ongoing series by freelancer Logan Walters that he’s calling the “Wu-Note Project,” here’s the most recent entry uploaded to his Flickr today: a re-imagined cover for Killah Priest’s Heavy Mental.

L-R: The original and Walters’ remix

Walters began the project inspired by Olly Moss and M.S. Corley, who were thoughtfully crafting design remixes of their own — exercises in design purity and throwbacks to a more classic era.  And, as far as Walters was concerned, what could be more classic than Blue Note?

Side-by-side: A Blue Note release and Walters’ Ghostface design

I know there’s a certain nostalgia that comes into play with hip-hop cover art. Wu-Tang records are loved to death, man, and change is hard to get used to. I get it.

But just look at what happens when you strip away the clutter. And Blue Note Records is the perfect reference point — seeing these covers re-imagined through this filter, it’s easy to picture the Wu cats thriving in that era; sessioning with McCoy Tyner, blowing minds with Ornette Coleman, kicking back with Coltrane and Monk.

Plus, look how nice Walters’ Itunes looks now. The ODB remix is my favorite. Isn’t it exactly what it should be?

Image credit to Itsallthewaylive.net

Sometimes you luck out with a hype show at a good venue on a warm night with solid openers and a sold-out crowd that’s somehow just the right size. And sometimes luck drops a free ticket in your lap day-of. And sometimes, just sometimes, Kid Cudi shows up, too.

Thanks to my friend Tyler for the hook-up. Wale, who’s been bringing D.C. hip-hop to new ears, dropped into Le Poisson Rouge last night and set it off with a few friends. He comes with a full band, keeps it live, acknowledges that a DJ might suffice but that he “loves the energy.” Energy’s something he’s got in spades.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTstFaMf-4E

“Doin’ what I gotta do, flyer than the rest of ‘em…” This video was directed by Chris Robinson who’s done just about every T.I. video I can remember, some real classics for Alicia Keys and this Grammy-nominated joint for Nas’ ‘One Mic.’

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9jau9BLAb4

Big names — but Wale’s right there with ‘em. Mark Ronson himself, who signed the kid back in ’07, throws Nas into the mix (along with Lupe Fiasco and Lil’ Wayne) in describing Wale’s signature delivery.

So consider it just a bonus when, in the middle of an already-rowdy set with Wale clutching (and downing) a bottle of Patron, up pops a cheerfully wastey-faced Cudi sipping from a plastic cup. Props to Wale and the crowd for giving Cudi no way out and to All the Way Live for getting this up pronto. For your review — an mp3 of Kid Cudi’s Day N Nite feat. Wale at Le Poisson Rouge.

In the upcoming week-of-May-11 issue of The New Yorker, Sasha Frere-Jones gives a nice little run-down of the much-publicized yet still fun-to-follow Grizzly Bear. Focusing primarily on the group’s inspired use of vocal harmonies, the piece tracks the band’s progress from 2003 to the present as they prepare to release Veckatimest at the end of the month.

Teaser shots from the Two Weeks set (via Stereogum)

Frere-Jones touches on the new record at the end, comparing it in equal parts to Sonic Youth’s Sister and Radiohead’s Amenesiac and calling my personal favorite ‘Two Weeks’ a “big fat ice-cream cone of a song.” Whatever he means by that, it seems to make perfect sense. At least it gives us more to chew on as we wait for the Patrick Daughters video treatment…

In my inbox today: Illustrator and comic artist John Malloy points us to some album artwork he’s done for These United States‘ new record ‘Everything Touches Everything’. What do you think? I’m feeling it.

These United States is a collective that hails mainly from Washington, D.C.. I’d heard of them originally through a music festival called Mission Creek held annually in my hometown of Iowa City. Turns out one of the main players in TUS, Jesse Elliott, spent some time there for college before relocating to D.C. From an interview last year with Elliott:

“College in particular was a pretty magical experience for me. Iowa City’s an amazing little oasis of thought and sound and fury and art and love and corn and — well, you know…”

Right on.

At any rate, for more from These United States check out one of two studio sessions the collective has done for music website Daytrotter.

To get a look at John Malloy’s other inspiring work, including his recent fine art series ‘One Out of a Hundred,’ click on through to his website.

I’m reminded of Tyler Durden’s Seventh Rule of Innovation: “Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.”

Now, The Bear took early fame by summiting Everest at age 23. Pretty cool.

So how about trying highest mountains on every continent while being a few years older?

In early 2003, a Wall Street banker named Bo Parfet set out to accomplish just that. Follow the incredible story of one man’s battle against his own limitations from dodging avalanches to crossing a ladder over a bottomless crevasse. Find out what it takes to bury a dead teammate at 27,000 feet. Be there for every near-death experience and be inspired and reminded to defy the odds of chasing our dreams.

Check out his blog here.

There’s really only one path to enlightenment, or that of culture, nay, that of life: get out there and walk it.

So what those Daft Punk girls on Youtube are actually missing for their routine are these new Eskuche Headphones, which arrived to our store last Friday.

The designers behind these Daft Punkish headgear are in fact the masterminds of Boosted Headphones – candy colored headphones on acid. They were extremely popular when they were still available. So it was no surprise that the new Eskuche brand is stylishly innovative.

We gave them a try and at $59.99 a pair, they are not bad at all. Sound stage is fairly decent, and the lows are tight without being too boomy.

The Eskuche’s are currently available at Urban Outfitters’ (in gold) and AC Gears (in silver), and three other fashion stores, mainly as fashion accessories.

Finally a company to bring out the Daft Punk in all of us as we rock out discreetly those electro classics from the 90′s.