Most EXCELlent

Illvibe comin at you with the latest version of ill!tv! (bottom of the page) We got an exclusive interview with our compadre, philly's legendary DJ Excel of the Skratch Makaniks. In this edition, he gives Mr. Sonny James (aka Statik) some insight on his latest decision to move to the west coast and continue his hustle out there. Props to Excel and our extended Philly fam, the Scratch Makaniks Crew. Good luck homey, we'll be out to visit soon!

Exile turns on the Radio.

West coast beatmaker Exile just dropped his new album "Radio". The album is a collection of songs where all the beats are made entirely from sounds that he sampled from the radio. A crazy idea and a sick album.

Check the video for "We're All In Power"


Exile "Were All In Power" Vid from Jonathan Kim on Vimeo.

YES WE CAN... Use an important message and concept to promote TV sitcoms?

Its clearly evident that people all over the world have embraced Obama's campaign messages and iconic imagery and have attempted to spin them their own way. The driving visual posters (HOPE, CHANGE, or PROGRESS. etc) were designed by one of the worlds more famous graphic designer/artist, Shepard Fairey so that helps with the adoption of such a powerful design.... it was done by someone who knows how to create such a thing of impact. Ive certainly loved how the visuals played such an important role in Obama's campaign. They truly managed the brand identity well. For me, as a graphic designer, I believe it has opened more people's minds to the power of design and communication in terms of it being a significant factor in the world. The fact that a design can FIRST captivate and SECONDLY deliver a message is the objective for all professional graphic designers. So seeing all this in motion was a beautiful thing. The adoption was also a great thing to see. There were great interpretations of those posters and the campaign messages. Some of course, were terrible and some were funny and playful. Ill probably have another post up soon with an analysis of what I thought was great and what I thought was terrible. But i'll get to the point of this particular post now that you have some context of where Im coming from.

I was watching CBS after dinner last Sunday night before the inauguration... just relaxing with some mindless TV. Then here it comes.... CBS promoting their Monday night TV shows, and ripping off the Obama logo, poster art and the Yes We Can messaging.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? Well, i yelled an edited version of that out loud as I was sitting there with my Mom and my grandmother, but the F bomb almost dropped. Now, as I said, we've seen people rip-off the poster art so it wasn't too surprising to see that. I was more angry with the fact that they were taking an important message, the "Yes We Can" message, and slapping it around to promote a damn series of TV sitcoms.

This bandwagon-jumping disrespectful approach got under my skin. SERIOUSLY... this IS... not WAS... a message to millions of people during one of the toughest times in our country to overcome issues of race, economic strife, hate, and difference. There was a man delivering to us an idea that we as a people need to come together and put aside our differences, motivate one another, and believe in the power of the human race to be able to overcome challenges we all face. Regardless of this being a presidential race or not, it was still something that was impacting the world in the fashion it was delivered. All his promises aside and whether or not he does a good job has yet to be determined. We all know how difficult it is and he IS a politician. History will soon tell us if he's able to change the game. (and I have faith that he will do a good job by the way) To me, Obama already did the most important thing for our country in his roll as president... he inspired us and reminded us of the power of unity. Something people of my generation and circles of friends have never known in respects to this country. The things my grandmother may have spoke of in years past with other presidents... the feeling of pride with the people you share a country with and the sense of trust that I am somewhat starting to feel now. To me, we are on our way to having the face of the country who we really are... not some old white geezer pretending to know who the middle class is.

So that's why I got so mad at CBS. Shame on them for making an important concept into marketing propaganda. I cant believe no one else has said anything about this either. Are we that used to advertising and marketing folks doing distasteful things. Maybe its part of what they have to do, but we need to check them on these things and keep em in line. That's fundamentally part of the problem in our country today. People act and don't think about the consequences of their actions. How dare they take a powerful message like that, make it feel "fun" and gimmicky and treat it like it was some temporary slogan that was only intended to get a man in office. Its evident that it has done more than that and was intended to do so from the start.

- Panek

The STRINGS of Philadelphia

Peter Humphreys, former recording engineer at Philly's legendary Sigma Sound Studios, talks about Don Renaldo and the Sound Of Philadelphia string arrangements. The string arrangements are what defined the classic Philadelphia sound for the OJays, MFSB, Billy Paul, and a laundry list of grammy winning artists. This excerpt is from the documentary "Philly Pop Music", a film by George Manney. History lesson right here...



More on Philly Pop Music
More on Pete Humphreys

The End of an Error

Bush is done. President Obama is here. America is ready!!!

Interesting Auditory Experience

So yesterday I was crackin away on some design work at the job but I was in more of a chill mood. Not into some hype ish so with my music I was staying away from the rock and the hip hop joints that I been listening to in the car. So i went in the opposite direction on some classic jazz with none other than the great John Coltrane ("The Best Of John Coltrane" to be specific). It put me in the right place of mind. It has its ups and downs and amazing arrangements. I always feel like I embark on a new journey when I go back to classic quality jazz. It tends to be an interesting listening experience each and every time, even with the albums I know well. You have to let it lead the way though so you really have to sit with it. If you are on some A.D.D. ish, you will never get it. In fact, if you are A.D.D. you should force yourself to listen because it will probably fix you. lol. So in saying all of this, I still have yet to tell you why I am writing this post...



Like I said, i was listening yesterday, at work so I was rockin my ear buds. Needless to say, I was getting a full stereo experience. And if you are familiar with how they mixed classic music and jazz specifically, you should know that the engineers maximized their advantage of the stereo spectrum, panning the instruments for the mix. So yesterday I experienced the collection of songs one way. TODAY, when I returned, I experienced it another. How? I haphazardly plugged my ear buds in my ears and realized that they were in opposite ears (apple ear buds are unlabeled and (pause) go both ways). To my delight, it was a rather happy mistake that made me experience the album in almost a full 180 degrees. crazy. Jazz music is truly one of kind, ALWAYS next level timeless ish. Thank you John Coltrane.

- Panek

Dam has the Funk.

Stones Throw artist Dam Funk has been working hard to resurrected the boogie. His party Funkmosphere has been educating the LA masses and his production work has been funking up iPods all over the world. He just dropped an EP for Stones Throw's Rhythm Trax 12" series that is nuts. Straight up west coast instrumental funk. Cop it asap!!!

more info:
http://www.stonesthrow.com/damfunk
http://www.myspace.com/damfunk


Here is a commercial for the Rhythm Trax EP:

Gettin' Dutty

DJ Phillee Blunt will be rocking along with the Dutty Chutney crew next Friday January 16th at Fluid (613 S. 4th St.). Bhangra and Reggae sounds mashing it up all night!

lil'dave's Top Ten Albums of 2008

Happy New Year!!! Our own Dj lil'dave recently gave Phrequency.com his pick's for the most important albums of 2008. Check them out.


lil'dave's Top Ten Albums of 2008
(No specific order)

1. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Pt. 1 (Motown)
2. N.E.R.D - Seeing Sounds(Interscope Records)
3. Jazzanova - Of All The Things(Verve)
4. Q-Tip - The Renaissance(Universal Motown)
5. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles(Warp)
6. IG Culture - Zen Badism(Freedom School)
7. Portishead - Three(Mercury)
8. Janelle Monae - Metropolis Suite(Bad Boy)
9. 2000 Black - A Next Set A Rockers(Third Ear)
10. James Pants - Welcome (Stones Throw)

Read the entire article here: http://www.phrequency.com/genres/electronic/Lil_Daves_Top_10_Recordsof2008.html