Kim Jong Il is dead, and the North Korean state media isn’t exactly handling it well.

Throughout The Creators Project event series, we’ve been screening ODDSAC, a stunningly haunting visual album created by experimental video artist Danny Perez and Animal Collective. The piece was the result of four years of collaboration between Perez and the band, and its release came at the beginning of a very different year for Animal Collective.

The band took the year off from touring, choosing to focus on individual projects and hit the road with ODDSAC and further their collaboration with Perez. In many ways, this year was one focused on the visual, as opposed to the audio work the band is known for. As they toured and talked about ODDSAC all over the world, they expanded their visual work into the realm of art installations with the debut of another project with Perez, Transverse Temporal Gyrus, at the Guggenheim museum in NYC.

Throughout their journey, we’ve been excited to see the new frontiers the band and Perez have continuously pushed their work into, so, when we heard that they were invited to the CPH:DOX film festival in Copenhagen to screen ODDSAC and present an installation of the work at the National Gallery of Denmark, we jumped at the chance to get a deeper look at this fascinating creative partnership.

While there, Perez and the band not only showcased the installation and screening of ODDSAC, they also programmed a series of films, premiered new work Perez created for Panda Bear, and even added a live component with a show from Deakin and a DJ set from Avey Tare. It was, as they said in their own words, a peek into what their entire world is like. And it is, in a word, trippy.

In Part 2 of New Garage Explosion!!, we meander off on all kind of fun tangents with various garage luminaries, with a tip of the hat to the glorious unit of sound that is the vinyl record—especially the ones rare enough for an enthusiast to blow a month’s rent in exchange for one.

Hear bands like the Black Lips, Davila 666, Pierced Arrows, and the Dirtbombs discuss the appeal of using a four-track, the freedom of recording in your bedroom, the perks of installing a vinyl-cutting machine into your den, and the unique satisfaction that comes from seeing your own record. We also get treated to wild, wonderful, and exclusive live performances from rippers like the Clone Defects, Vivian Girls, and Thee Oh Sees.

To find out what American garage rock looks like (and to know what it’s like to be in an independent band) right now, VBS toted a bunch of cameras around the USA and found a scene that was vibrant, loud, eloquent, fucked up, and nearly impossible to define. The musicians, artists, writers, deejays and label owners that we talked to could only be united by a single common thread—their commitment to music that they enjoyed, on their terms, at whatever cost necessary (or, in some cases, unnecessary). We met nice, smart, funny people who love rock and roll, don’t traffic in bullshit, and had the wherewithal to pick up a guitar (or complementary instrument) at some point in their young lives, put their face to a microphone, and manage to not think too hard about what was going to come out.

See the rest at VBS.TV: New Garage Explosion — Part 1 of 3 - VBS Music Specials | VBS.TV 

His incarceration was to be short, however, as the French public soon grew weary of their hard-earned francs going to support this evil woman-eater, and Issei was promptly deported. Herein followed a bizarre and seemingly too convenient set of legal loopholes and psychiatric reports that led doctors in Japan declaring Issei “sane, but evil.”

See the rest at VBS.TV: Issei Sagawa — Part 2 - VBS Meets | VBS.TV 

On the afternoon of June 13, 1981, a Japanese man named Issei Sagawa walked to the Bois de Boulogne, a park on the outskirts of Paris, carrying two suitcases. The contents of those suitcases, to the lament of a nearby jogger, was the dismembered body of a fellow student – a Dutch woman named Renée Hartevelt, whom Sagawa had shot three days prior and had spent the days since eating various parts of her body.

See the rest at VBS.TV: VBS.TV 

We just got back from hanging out with a bunch of Navajo cowboy folks from Triple B Association—a bronc & bull riding league catering to the Indian community of the American Southwest. Over the course of a week, we tailed several of the Association’s best and up-and-coming riders from across New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. We take a peek into their incredible lives—from training for, traveling to and from, and competing in rodeos to hanging on the rez, dealing with fam, and just trying to make ends meet in some of the most impoverished parts of the country. As it’s received more and more mainstream exposure over the years, bull and bronc riding has become a big-buck industry, but at the level these young Navajo compete in the winnings are low, the press is scarce, and the risks of just getting in the saddle every day are terrifying.

See the rest at VBS.TV: Bares Broncs, and Bulls Part 2 of 2 - We Are All Workers | VBS.TV 

There’s no doubt Daniel Lopatin, the quiet powerhouse behind the psychedelic cosmic synth project Oneohtrix Point Never, has a strong connection with his keyboards. Like his Roland Juno-60, nicknamed “Judy.” She may not be the best in the world, but he talks about her like an old friend, and fortunately for all of us, treats her that way too.

In this episode of Electric Independence, Motherboard heads over to his home studio in Bushwick to talk with one of the leaders of the pack in the next generation of synthesizer masters, along with bands like Emeralds, Stella Om Source and Fever Ray. We also do a little pop music deconstruction – and get a peek at his awesome, charming gear.

Check out OPN at his Myspace and tumblr, and cop the just-released Everything is Working by Games, a collaboration between Daniel and his childhood friend Joel Ford.

See more episodes of Electric Independence

We just got back from hanging out with a bunch of Navajo cowboy folks from Triple B Association—a bronc & bull riding league catering to the Indian community of the American Southwest. Over the course of a week, we tailed several of the Association’s best and up-and-coming riders from across New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. We take a peek into their incredible lives—from training for, traveling to and from, and competing in rodeos to hanging on the rez, dealing with fam, and just trying to make ends meet in some of the most impoverished parts of the country.

As it’s received more and more mainstream exposure over the years, bull and bronc riding has become a big-buck industry, but at the level these young Navajo compete in the winnings are low, the press is scarce, and the risks of just getting in the saddle every day are terrifying.

vicemag:

Since we are about halfway in the epic third season of VBS.TV’s Thumbs Up!, we gave our friend, artist, hitchhiker, and inveterate gambler Mr. David Choe a call to catch up. We wanted to figure out what’s he’s been up to since he came back from China. Turns out he’s living the high-life: painting nude portraits of Sasha Grey and collaborating with Die Antwoord on Tokoloshe, a new film on VBS.TV about a South African demon with a horse-size penis.

See the rest at VBS.TV: DAVID CHOE’S DIE ANTWOORD LOVE AFFAIR - BERNARDO LOYOLA | VBS.TV Blog