Design By Humans

I wanted to give a shout out to a pretty sweet site I found recently. Design By Humans is a design based community. Obviously. It's similar to Threadless in that user generated designs become t-shirts for sale by DBH, with incentives for the artists (a.k.a. ca$h money.)

As someone who enjoys designing things this site, and the idea behind it are awesome. Being able to spend some free time making cool designs, and then make a little extra cash off them, and seeing them on t-shirts has got to be incredibly rewarding. Especially for anyone in a crappy cubicle job, where their talent is undfer utilized.

This shirt is one I'm considering purchasing. The only real debate is whether or not I should be spending any money on shirts right now, especially short sleeve shirts. Other than that, this design has me totally hooked.

Here's the link for the ZebrART shirt, and check out the rest of the DBH Store.

Even More Minus the Bear

So I know Matt promised to stop posting about Minus the Bear for a bit, but that promise doesn't include me, and I figured it was about time I got a post on here anyways. On the old blog, Matt never posted, and I always did. Now we're totally reversed, and I think it's time to even it out.

So this weekend was the first time that it actually felt like Fall here in South Carolina; the weather was a bit chilly, but not too cold, there was football tailgating, (we lost to LSU 24-17,) and I listened to some songs that inexplicably remind me of Fall.

One of those songs is Minus the Bear's "Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse." For whatever reason, this song, and this CD really remind me of Fall. And all the songs on this CD have awesome names, that have nothing to do with the song. (My personal favorite is "Get Me Naked 2: Electric Bugaloo")

So enjoy this song, pick up the CD, and seriously, we'll stop posting about this band for a while.

Minus the Bear - Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse

Didiom: Streaming Music on Your Blackberry

So I was making my rounds this morning on the Blackberry blogs, and I came across a nifty little application. It's called Didiom, and it allows you to stream music from your computer to your Blackberry. It also offers a mobile store which is accessed from the application. It offers you the ability to purchase the song for your phone, or computer, or both. It's only in beta right now, but it will surely continue to grow. The way the Didiom gets your music from iTunes to your phone is quite clever. You have to also download a desktop application and have your computer connected to the internet. It then sends your songs over the internet to allow your phone to stream them. The best part is that the application is free. The store and the songs there are obviously not. I'm hoping this will catch fire among other companies creating mobile software because it is a great idea. If you have a PC, definitely check it out and let me know how it works seeing how the desktop software is not compatible with Macs yet.

Music From My Home

This week's selection is a slightly older one. Coming together in 1990, The Pietasters got their start playing small bars in and around Georgetown. They've come a long way from that point now. They've toured with the likes of the Toasters, played at Warped Tour and the late HFStival, and have gone out on numerous headlining tours. They're biggest feat, playing in front of a sold out crowd backing the godfather of soul, the late James Brown. They're gone through many line up changes, hopped around labels (Hellcat, Moon Ska, Epitaph, and Fueled By Ramen) but they're still touring and making new music. If you ever get the chance to check them out live, definitely do so. They're an amazing band that'll get you skankin all night long.

Here are a couple live tracks from the band:
Girl Take It Easy
Drinking & Driving
Biblical Sense


[Amazon]

New Guilty Pleasure - Lights

Lights is a 21 year old synthpop singer songwriter hailing from Ontario Canada. She's cited Bjork, The Knife, and Phil Collins as a few of her major influences, which is very apparent in her songs. She's only released a self-titled EP in March, but there's no word on when a full length will be out. Lights is currently on tour with Copeland, Lydia, and Lovebug.
You can pick up her EP and T shirts here
And definitely check Lights when she's out on tour:

10/17 Toronto, ON - Mod Club
10/18 Fredonia, NY - SUNY Fredonia
10/24 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
10/26 Cambridge, MA - Middle East Downstairs
10/27 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
10/29 Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig
10/30 Chicago, IL - The Bottom Lounge
10/31 St. Paul, MN - Station 4
11/1 Omaha, NB - Slowdown
11/2 Denver, CO - Marquis Theater
11/3 Salt Lake City, UT - Avalon Theater
11/5 Boise, ID - The Venue
11/6 Seattle, WA - El Corazon
11/7 Portland, OR - Satyricon
11/8 Orangevale, CA - The Boardwalk
11/10 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
11/11 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
11/12 Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse
11/14 San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit
11/15 Dallas, TX - The Door
11/16 Norman, OK - Meacham Auditorium
11/18 Nashville, TN - Rockettown
11/19 Columbia, SC - New Brookland Tavern
11/20 Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade
11/21 St. Petersburg, FL - State Theatre
11/22 Orlando, FL - The Social
11/23 Orlando, FL - The Social

(photo courtesy of UR Mag)

Passion Pit at CMJ

My favorite new band released their CMJ schedule not too long ago. If you're gonna be anywhere near New York City, I highly recommend you go see Passion Pit at least once.
Here are their dates:
10/21 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
10/23 @ Fader Lounge
10/23 @ Annex (Club NME)
10/24 @ Piano's
10/25 @ The Yard

And since I have't put up anything since last Friday, I'll be making up for it tonight.

Music From My Home Update

Now I know I already wrote about Wale last week, but new news has popped up concerning the man who's mission is to put DC on the hip hop map. On the verge of his debut album dropping, it was announced on elitaste.com that Wale has another mixtape coming out. This time he's teaming up with LRG and 9th Wonder. So far I've only found 2 songs. He's rerecorded and added another verse to his remix of MIA's "Boyz". The other song is a new one entitled "5 Minutes" and features Skyzoo. Be sure to keep checking elitaste.com for updates on the upcoming mixtape, LRG x Wale x 9th Wonder Presents: Back To The Feature.

On October 15, Wale and UCB will be shooting a video for "Nike Boots" at Mirrors in DC. The video will be directed by Chris Robinson. The shoot starts and 7:30PM and is only for all of you who are over 21.

Lastly, Wale will be up at CMJ on Ocotober 21st at SOB's for the Allido Records showcase. Also on the bill is Daniel Merriweather, Rhymefest, and the boss Mr. Ronson.

Here are the two new songs off the mixtape:
MIA - Boyz (Remix feat. Wale)(2008 Version)
Wale - 5 minutes (feat. Skyzoo)