[Review] Mad Decent Block Party returns to Chicago
Diplo’s Mad Decent Block Party returned to Chicago despite negative feedback from previous years. This year hosted in Chicago’s heart of the Museum Campus, Northerly Island, Mad Decent definitely received a much needed facelift. On the shore of Lake Michigan, Diplo headlined the event at the First Merit Bank Pavilion. The beautiful city skyline was a perfect match as the background met the sounds of Mad Decent.
Surprise electric Chicago duo artists Louis The Child joined the lineup, making them the only Chicago based artist to Mad Descent’s stop in Chicago. The duo worked the growing crowd with there headlining caliber set list.
The clear fan favorite was pop mega star Kesha. The fans came in droves to see the new leased on life artist. With support from The Creepies. Kesha didn’t disappoint the crowd with her crowd pleasing performance of TiK Tok, Your Love Is My Drug, and Take It Off. Despite her recent legal issues Kesha’s performance speak for itself. Currently on tour, Kesha hasn’t lost her groove leaving Mad Decent fans with a rock out set.
Rae Sremmurd’s short career is met with discussion of their successful hip-hop longevity. The Mississippi brothers have proven time and again their place in today’s hip-hop discussion with record breaking single from No Flex Zone, No Type, and Come Get Her. Festival fans were treated with a hip-hop thrill ride. The non-stop energy seeped through the crowd as the duo of brothers didn’t stop giving an energy packed performance from start to finish. Definitely one of the biggest take away from Mad Decent is seeing these young hungry hip-hop artists.
Mad Decent creator and one of the biggest faces in electric music, Diplo closed off the night. Diplo a true music jack of all traits kept the Mad Decent crowd going into the night with a mixture of electric, hip-hop, and house classics. Diplo’s long list of hit records were present with performances from Where Are U Now, Revolution, and Take U There. The music master had incredibility balanced all type of electric music from trap, big room house, reggaeton, and moombaton.
Minor setbacks from the volume to time in-between sets didn’t hinder the fact that Mad Decent found it’s footing in Chicago.
A true treat Diplo had in store for Chicago was hiss final five minutes of his set. After thanking Chicago for it’s day one fans he ended his set with Chicago house and juke jams. A true appreciation for Chicago's music scene we’d love to see Mad Decent and Diplo come back bigger then before.
Mad Decent Block Party Chicago 2016 - Photos
Brutal DIY Weapons of the Ukrainian Revolution
Photos by Tom Jamieson
Ukraine has been in a state of political unrest for quite some time now, from protests, to the situation with Russia in Crimea. Meanwhile, photojournalists have been on the scene giving the world a glimpse of what's going on, and most of what we find are powerful images from the frontline. However, photographer Tom Jamieson went a different approach, instead of going after the frontline of battles that ensued, he became intrigued with what civilians were using. It was their homemade weapons that became subject to a series of portraits by Jamieson to show how determined these protesters were. Whether to fight or defend against government security forces, some fought with little more than sticks, bats and sledgehammers, and others were a bit more creative with their weaponry.
As Jamieson got a closer look, he noticed that some of these weapons were marked with names of home towns, messages for their intended targets, and some were decorated with religious symbols, or political cartoons. Each of these personalized tools of revolution were made with what he describes as a "DIY nature" that held a sense of pride among their owners, and each were detailed to tell its own story. In design, each were made with a specific and brutal purpose: "clubs and maces for bashing, slingshots and stones for hurling, and forked pikes for ripping the shields out of the hands of police."
In this photo series, the weapons are shown in the hands of their owners against a black backdrop, but far from a photo studio. Along with his assistant, Jamieson carried a black background cloth with them and they would set up outside in the square, in occupied buildings, or near the protesters’ tents, when they found a protester carrying an unique-looking weapon. Another interesting point of this series is that had to be shot specifically in the early morning or twilight hours to keep lighting consistent from one subject to the next.
Check out the following photos of the extraordinary weaponry found, and be sure to keep tabs on more of his work, as he sets out to visit Crimea, and separate trips to Eastern and Western Ukraine to shoot much more than weaponry.
[Via Wired]
Paper Diamond Announces Wynn Residency with Diplo Remix
The EDM world is a fast-moving one, and few know that better than Colorado-based producer/DJ Paper Diamond who rode a successful 2012 into performance at last year's North Coast, TommorowWorld and his own headlining tour. It's enough to keep anyone's head spinning, but Paper Diamond just keeps it coming, today announcing a Las Vegas DJ residency at The Wynn which starts March 26 at Surrender. The announcement of the eight months residency came alongside the drop of PD's remix of Diplo's "Revolution" track, which comes as part of the fellow Wynn resident's Revolution Remixes EP out today on Mad Decent and streaming below. The residency comes on the heels of Paper Diamond's 2014 headlining tour which takes off tomorrow in Birmingham and runs through March 2. Check everything out below.
Tour Dates:
1/23 Birmingham, AL Workplay *
1/24 Knoxville, TN NV *
1/25 Nashville Anthem *
1/28 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle *
1/30 Asheville, NC Orange Peel *
1/31 Athens, GA GATH *
2/5 Charlottesville, VA Jefferson Theatre **
2/6 Philly TLA **
2/7 NYC Webster Hall **
2/8 Boston Paradise **
2/12 Washington DC 9:30 Club **
2/13 Syracuse, NY Westcott **
2/14 Burlington, VT Higher Ground **
2/15 Portland, ME PCMH **
2/16 Northampton, MA Pearl Street **
2/18 Pittsburgh Rex Theatre +
2/19 Columbus, Newport +
2/20 Cleveland, OH Beachland +
2/21 Detroit Magic Stick +
2/22 Grand Rapids Intersection +
2/23 Urbana Canopy Club +
2/26 Milwaukee Turner Hall +
2/27 Madison Majestic +
2/28 Chicago Concord +
3/1 Minneapolis Mill City +
3/2 Omaha, NE Slowdown +
Manic Focus *
Gent & Jawns **
Branchez+
Pussy Riot Released From Prison
Two members of Russian all-women punk band Pussy Riot were released from prison two months early, after having spent nearly two years behind bars for performing a punk-infused protest in Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow. The act brought hooliganism charges against three of the band's members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich. Shortly after their sentencing Samutsevich was freed. Both Tolokonnikova and Alekhina, released just before Christmas day, issued a statement claiming their release to be a publicity stunt by the Kremlin, prompted by the impending Olympics in Sochi that have drawn stark criticism from world human rights leaders for the imprisonment of the band members, as well as noted repression of gay rights. For now, the pair have pledged to help inmates and continue working toward their progressive movement. Watch more on the story below.
[Via The Guardian]
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Diplo previews new track, announces "Revolution" EP
While putting in work and rocking crowds at each stop he makes while on tour for Mad Decent Block Party, Diplo announces that his new EP, Revolution, will be set to release on October 8th. Diplo has already given the people a taste of what is to come when he dropped the track "Crown" featuring Riff Raff and Mike Posner as Boaz Van De Beatz. This time he gives us a one minute snippet of a track titled "Biggie Bounce," which features Angger Dimas and Travis Porter. Rappers Action Bronson and Mr MFN eXquire are both featured on the EP as well. Take listen to the track below and get a taste of what you'll be in store for come October 8th.