The Woods - The Final Breaths of a Main Character

Our fellow amigos The Woods from Tallahassee, FL have been getting busy with music and video making (I is proud of yous!). The official release of "The Final Breathes of a Main Character" is creating a BUZZ with their new [EP] The EP Logue. This is the first music video from The Woods singer Ian Dudley, being trapped in a nautical world of his own imagination. Lets all go sailing on beds and make some ocean friends!

The acoustic/experimental/folk artista Ian Dudley released his self/titled project back in 2008 , with 40 handmade DIY CD book encasings (WVFS got one!) that took 11 days to record under Plug Research. The wide release of his official first album - A Bird That Cannot Fly was distributed via the tiny Living with Ghost Records imprint. Definitely check out the previous album - which was recorded as a lo-fi project with friends to help Ian's storytelling come to life. This music video was part of the WondersTV internet sensation . . . directed by Raul B. Fernandez : A WONDERS PRODUCTION!


The Woods was also featured on All Things Considered back in the day, check out the NPR review here.




The digital release for the EP Logue is free!

Pointer Sisters Rewind

The fabulous Pointer Sisters - often found on any funk/soul radio station, were doing it right in the 70s/80s with their impeccable sense of style and grooves. The original gang - Ruth , Anita, June and Boonie Pointer (formed in Oakland)- scored their pop 'n soul hits (featured above) embodying funky rhythms and motownish hollatcha girl attitude.

If you ever were watching Seasame Skkkreet back in the day, then ya'll know that sticky tune on the pinball countdown that looped in your head was sung by the Pointer Sisters.
The "Pinball Number Count" began appearing on Sesame Street in 1976. The music was composed by Walt Kraemer who also scored and provided voices or the Star Wars parody Hardware Wars, working on the George Lucas animated feature Twice Upon a Time.

The pinball animation was directed by Jeff Hale who produced many inserts for Sesame Street including the Typewriter, and Ringmaster series. He also is the founder of the San Francisco-based animation studio Imagination, INC.

To see the fullerrrrr version of the countdown click here.

Hot Chip - One Pure Thought

So our friends Hot Chip are beat heaveaaaan returning with their new[ish] single 'One Pure Thought' which was issued back in early May, taken from the massively acclaimed album 'Made in the Dark' released earlier this year. This music video has been rocking my summer pants so hard.

It was directed by Sheffield Hallam University Alumnis Bevis Martin & Charlie Youle and produced by TRUNK Animation Ltd. (based out of the UK). You should definitely check out Trunk's website for more short film/animations like The Dog Who Was a Cat Inside.

Ninjatronics Events!

The Ninjatronics family has been weaned on the idea of community involvement, performance, and contribution to the well being of the artistic and creative realm. With this in mind, we're pleased to announce the Ninjatronics Events section, which will provide information as to what all us Ninjatrons are up to as of late. This post will serve as a permalink for the events column (listed at right) and will be kept updated with everrrthang we've been doing.

::Likkkkkkkeeeee::



Ninjatronics is now the official host of the East Coast Opera House Open Mic night here in Wilmington, NC!! The new but already well-established [AS AWESOME] artsy-dive bar East Coast Opera House has been a Ninjatronics favorite since its inception -- it's by far the best place in Wilmington to meet progressive, creative-minded people from all walks of life.

Starting June 18th, every Thursday at 9PM we'll be hosting a variety of local musicians (solo acts and bands) who'll be sharing their works whilst jamming with others to network and create a better musical community. Signup is by 8:30PM so come early, support your city, and make new connections!

The open mic is ALWAYS free and always guaranteed to be a good time. So come out, meet some of us, see what Wilmington's underground music scene has to offer, and stay connected!

Ninjatronics Events:

Aug. 20th - Open Mic/Jam Hosted by Ninjatronics @ East Coast Opera House 9PM
119 Grace St, Wilmington NC

Aug. 21st - Photo Show @ the Parallelogram, DJ Teknacolorninja & Visuals Jordan - 526 S. 3rd St, Wilmington, NC



Aug. 27th - Open Mic/Jam Hosted by Ninjatronics @ East Coast Opera House 9PM
119 Grace St, Wilmington NC

Aug. 29th - Midtown Lounge Series: SWOMP Party feat. Teknacolorninja & Visuals by Jordan 10PM - Mellow Mushroom 4311 Oleander Dr. Wilmington, NC


Sept. 2nd - The BASSMGMT Series feat. beats 'n visuals from Ninjatronics & Project Getdown 10PM - 255 N. Front St, Wilmington , NC (FB, Myspace)



Sept. 4th - Body Parts Art Exhibit Feat. Dance After Party w/ Teknacolorninja

7-PM 526 S. 3rd St, Wilmington, NC

Sept. 5th-6th - BE YR OWN HERO FEST 2009- featuring bands from all over the Southeastern board.

Shows: The Soapbox, 225 N. Front St. Wilmington , NC
Workshops: 5th 'n Wooster , Wilmington, NC

I Met the Walrus

In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan (Toronto,CA) snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced him to do an interview. This was in the midst of Lennon's "bed-in" phase, during which John and Yoko were staying in hotel beds in an effort to promote peace. 38 years later, Jerry has produced a film about it. Using the original interview recording as the soundtrack, director Josh Raskin has woven a visual narrative - transforming Lennon’s anti-war stance into a cascading flood of multipronged animation.

Raskin marries traditional pen sketches by James Braithwaite with digital illustration by Alex Kurina (only non J related individual in the project!). I Met the Walrus was nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for Animated Short along with Best Animated Short award from the AFI Fest, Middle East International Film Festival, Manhattan Short FF, Cleveland International FFm, RiverRun International FF.

BIKE HYPE !!! JUNE 7TH, 2009

!!!!Bike Hype!!!! is this weekend ::June 7, 2009:: at Jengo's Playhouse (815 Princess St). This is an all-day bike fest and FUNraiser for Hero Fest 2009 and the Wilmington Bike Recyclery. So all you southEAST bound folks come show your bikeLOVE as there will be an alley cat, a screening of VEER followed by Bike Prom! There are tons of cool prizes you can win for just being a bikeHEAD...show up with your bikeOUT as there will be entertainment from our friends Coup de Grace followed by dance party featuring Teknacolorninja (from Ninjatronics)! Don't forget to check out the Really Really Free Market/Food Not Bombs which has been relocated from 4th and Castle temporarily to JENGOS PLAYHOUSE this Sunday!

Here's the VEER trailer and more info about the upcoming Be Yr Own Hero FEST 2009.

PSST! 3 Pass It On - Burial Sugar Live

Burial Sugar Live from PSST! on Vimeo.

The short film BURIAL SUGAR LIVE was created for the PSST! 3 Pass It On animation collaboration which is a series of short animated films created in collaboration by a select group of motion graphics artists from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Berlin. The collaborative film project has 17 films made by 51 teams of Designers, Directors, Animators and Composers. You can see more films at their Vimeo site.

The film BURIAL SUGAR LIVE was just one of the films featured in the group, as credited in three parts with an amazing cast of animators/composers:

Part 1: Burial

Design and Animation:
Bran Dougherty-Johnson
Curated and conceived the PSST! Pass It On series.

Music by:
Joel Pickard (Portland, OR)
Has an MA in Composition from Mills College in Oakland, CA where he studied with Fred Frith, Alvin Curran, and Pauline Oliveros. He has a BA in Music from Bethel College in St. Paul, MN where he studied classical guitar.

Part 2: Sugar

Story, Design and Animation:
Rex Crowle (London)
"I took the final frame of his film and continued its themes but in my own little animated world of a teenage girls coming-of-age in a Victorian tea-shop." See the clip here.

Music & Audio:
David Kamphatfarm
After playing in bands, deejaying and getting a bachelor in composition at Folkwang Hochschule, he started freelancing for different music production companies, including Adelphoimusic London/Berlin.

Voice:
Emily Newton Dunn (London)
She's got a knack for video games as a producer/designer at Electronic Arts, whilst in the past was a TV presenter for the UK-based show "Bits", a show about gaming.

Part 3: Live

By: Bran Dougherty-Johnson
"Someone dropped out, so I ended up doing both Part 1 and Part 3. I think it worked out, though. I liked answering Rex’s section with my ending."

iamxl

iamxl, aka Jon Hamlin, is an old familiar artist that I recently re-discovered lurking in the tattered remnants of my "Random Music" folder from years past. I have no idea where these songs of his I have came from, but they piqued my interest enough to do a little e-digging and figure out who exactly iamxl is. Working mainly in Vancouver (Canada!) and London (UK!), Jon's apparently been DJing, producing, and consistently pumping out all sorts of mismatched and danceable remixes for more than ten years.

Sometimes relaxed and sometimes housetastic, he's mixed and mashed everything from Ice-T to Joy Division to even Sook-Yin Lee, the woman fondly known to us at Ninjatronics as the awesome sex therapist in the movie Shortbus (definitely worth checking out if you're prepared for some extremely explicit content.) These songs may not be club bangers, but they'll certainly keep things moving mid-set.

Also, for more on Sook-Yin, check out her music myspace here. I didn't know she made music at all, so it's pretty cool to rummage through her stuff.

My Tiger My Timing - This Is Not My Fire

Formed in south east London in early 2008 by siblings James Vincent and Anna Vincent, Jamie Harrison and Gary Drain, this four-piece outfit creates electrobodi rhythms and with vocal heavy melodies to create their "hypnotic dark pop music". The debut single by was produced by Andy Spence of New Young Pony Club, Freakniks and Organic Audio. You can tell why they made a good fit with similar danceable backgrounds. I particularly like the plena-like kick found in bands like Vampire Weekend...or a lil Panamanian infused plena/reggaeton.

The music video was directed by Ian William Galloway, who has has designed throughout the UK, Europe and America, creating visuals, projections, films and graphics for theatre, opera, dance, live music and fashion shows. He studied at Rose Bruford and currently lives in East London.