In the dark recesses of the late 90s and early 2000s, a tremor ran through the music industry as more material made its way to the web. Amidst the uncertainty, people questioned what would happen to the music and if creativity would die along this new avenue.

What could not be foreseen was the way the internet and the digitization of media would open the door to a more democratic way of making and experiencing music. Through its floodgates have come (sometimes questionably) talented stars such as Souljah Boy and venues such as MySpace and iTunes.

Fast-forward to 2008 and the ever-talented, ever-ingenious, self-acclaimed analog girl Erykah Badu, has also appropriated the digital world to her own ends. Looking for a remix to her latest non-album single, “Real Thang,” Badu has launched an internet-based remix contest open to any creative body with beats on the mind.

Proving the fast-pace of the web and the ability of its plethora of users to turn out a quick download, you can find a number of remixes to the track already up on the paean to self-promotion, YouTube. The remixes are diverse with sounds that range from dub with 80s Barrington Levy samples, to spacey electronic tracks to a mellowed out Madlib groove (remixers, breathe — Madlib produced the original track and cannot be a part of the contest). Don’t feel limited to “urban” types of sounds either — creativity is key so if you think you can make “Real Thang” rock, literally, go for it.

Sound good? Then plug in and get it poppin’.

For “Real Thang” vocals, grand- and runner-up prizes and more information on the contest, click here.

Deadline for entry: July 31.

What do you get when you cross a French filmmaker and a closet jammed with shoes and books? The neat freaks and green-thinking among us, relax- for Mr. Brainwash, better known as MBW, it is only fodder for his art.

MBW has spent the last nine years attempting to make the ultimate documentary about graffiti art. While filming, MBW began putting his camera aside and making art of his own, displaying a Banksy-esque predilection for coloring on the walls. Graduating from a few hand drawn stickers to giant billboard sized paste-ups, MBW has become one of the most prolific street artists in California.

MBW’s first exhibition, “Life is Beautiful,” opens in Los Angeles this week, running four days in a former Hollywood studio complex. The exhibit features more than 300 paintings, sculptures and prints, alongside installations made from 100,000 of the aforementioned shoes and a life-size recreation of Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks.” MBW also does his own take on graffiti, Andy Warhol and icons of American pop culture- neither Marilyn Manson, Michael Jackson nor anyone in-between, are spared his aerosol treatment.

For more information on Mr. Brainwash’s show, click here

Also, be sure to check out the opening reception, Wednesday, June 18, 7P-11P: the first 200 people walk away with a hand finished limited edition print by MBW himself.

Life is Beautiful
June 19 - 22

CBS Studios
6121 Sunset Blvd

Los Angeles, CA

Something has the canucks excited. Across the blogosphere they are getting hot and bothered and they want more of this all-natural brew of sundry flavor. That brew is Zaki Ibrahim.

Born in Vancouver to a South African father and a Scottish/English mother, Ibrahim lived alternately in Vancouver and Cape Town before landing in Toronto in 2001. Since then the transnational songstress has developed a sound that melds the bits and pieces that make up her life into the smooth composite for her current EP, Eclectica (Episodes in Purple).

Ibrahim’s vocals can be lush and Sade-esque, light and smooth like Ladysmith Black Mambazo or float over electronic arias like Beth Gibbons. Although she stays far from the internet, Canadian press and bloggers have been showing much love for her music which is steeped just right in eclectic creativity.

Currently promoting the Eclectica EP and preparing for a set of UK tour dates, Ibrahim chat briefly with me about the album, her influences and the frustrations she has with technology.

For more info on Zaki Ibrahim and two free downloads off Eclectica, click here and stay tuned for her full-length album debut later this year.

Trace: You have a wide range of musical styles on Eclectica — what influenced you to go in the directions that you did?
Zaki Ibrahim: There isn’t one specific influence — I definitely just try to keep it open. I don’t like to think too hard about it. I started off thinking how am I going to bring it all together and how to fit one song with the next or the next. Then I just said forget it.

I got a lot of questions like “what is this?” and “where are you going?” It’s just everything though, old soul, R&B, folk and influences like Edith Piaf, Roberta Flack, Fela Kuti…I just went digging.

T: Your music defies labels, how do you feel then about being called a neo-soul star?
ZI: Neo-Soul is a fairly new title, created out of not being able to describe what that music is. My album is somewhere between urban, folk, something eclectic. You could call it whatever if it fits I suppose. If it fits there, it fits there.

T: You’ve lived in Cape Town, Vancouver and Toronto. I read that you consider all of these places home. Could you have made this album anywhere?
ZI: Yes and Yes, except for Cape Town. In Cape Town I am surrounded by family and I am dedicated to them when I am there. Toronto now is the best place though — it is where I’ve been able to do my music. I’m looking to spend more time in New York and on the West Coast [of Canada] and London. I have a lot of old friends, like, from teenagerdom in New York now saying come down, Brooklyn is where it’s at so, who knows?

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Some people just know how to bring the vibes, to put you at ease and make you feel all right. A good song or a talented musician could do the same, but of the many talented musicians, there are few whose music you can also feel coming straight from the heart.

Nneka falls into the latter category, expounding on the pain, joy and suffering of the people and things she has seen during her life, growing up in Warri Oil City in the Nigerian Delta and her solo journey at 19 to Germany, where she still resides.

Nneka’s blend of ragga, soul, hip hop and acoustic rhythms have brought about comparisons to Lauryn Hill, which is understandable as both women approach their music with an ethereal kind of passion, seriousness and devotion. But Nneka is no imitation of Ms. Hill — she stands on her own with the music that extends from her spirit.

Currently on tour in Europe promoting her second album, “No Longer at Ease“, Nneka’s single “Heartbeat” is heating up the charts with its staccato rhythms and pleading refrain. Nneka also expresses herself on “No Longer at Ease” in pidgin-english, bearing her soul and pain with social commentary depicting the plight of her people. And like her first album, “Victim of Truth”, it’s not devoid of drama.

Staving off the flu, she spoke with me about her inspirations and one day coming to New York with her guitar to spread the love. Good vibes indeed.

For more on Nneka, click here and buy her album here.

Trace: How do you think your journeys have affected your music?
Nneka: The journey here was a big step because I never planned to go to Germany — it happened suddenly and I had to deal with it by myself and I became a fighter. I was born in Nigeria and there the crime, the corruption, and everything — I saw it and I have to talk about it. Every day of my life inspires me and it 100% influences what I write.

T: Has language helped or hindered what you want to say or express in your music?
N: I have my way of expressing myself and I don’t think it changed that much through my experiences. Although I moved, I didn’t have to change the words I used but what I speak about has changed. I am a very protective person but I learned to be very straightforward with my music. I have more courage to speak my mind.

T: Your album titles, “Victim of Truth” and “No Longer at Ease” seems to hint at a loss of innocence and many of your songs, at a sadness. What do the album titles mean to you? What influenced them?
N: I dedicated my album to my family in Nigeria and their struggles influenced the album titles. Shell [the gas company] has exploited the Nigerian Delta for the past 60-70 years. The area is now an environmental concern; they have a lot of pollution and sicknesses such as asthma. People are dying and losing their lives.

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Thinking outside the box usually represents a paradigm with the ability to slay with conformity all those who try to embrace it. Within the music industry, many feign standing out but instead, like lepers, swiftly jump into a box they cannot escape. Not so for Natty, whose acute understanding of diverse musical forms has him acting as welder, fusing the sounds with a fiery guitar strum.

Hailing from North London, the 24-year-old singer, songwriter and performer is prepped to deliver his signature blend of “mix up” music to the masses and so far, the response has been pretty good in his native UK. Without the ordinary boundaries of genre, Natty has room to do what he wants and what listeners get in the end are solid tunes that span the breadth of afrobeat, hip-hop, reggae, folk and rock.

Natty steps to the mic with a number of grievances about the realities of urban life; anger accompanied by a cool older brother’s sense of reflection and understanding. His star rose last year after quitting work as a studio engineer to pursue his own music. Since then, he signed to Atlantic Records and his “intelligent words on racial issues” have also led to involvement with Love Music Hate Racism and a track, “If Is” on their benefit album.

Working toward social change and setting up youth workshops, Natty hopes “will be something else to talk about when the music is done talking.”

I had a chance to speak with Natty on the day his “Cold Town” EP dropped and — even if he will hesitate to call himself a star — it is safe to say the charismatic performer has star power.

Natty’s full-length debut, “Man Like I” will be released on July 14. Until then, check him out on MySpace or at one of his many shows in the UK through the summer.

TRACE: You started out engineering at Sphere Studios in London’s Battersea; could you describe how you got from behind the production boards to creating your own music?
Natty: I was creating music while I was at Battersea. I was kind of working there to have free studio time. I’d just be there, trying to do what I could early in the morning or after everyone went home. Even before I got there, I was writing music. I didn’t make the transition by working behind the boards and then one day deciding to go into the booth. I just stopped working in the studio and started doing open mics and everything kind of went from there.

T: You have mentioned Lee “Scratch” Perry as one of your musical influences, who are some others?
N: Fela Kuti and Neil Young. Common is a big contemporary one too. I also like Miles Davis for the space he creates with his music.

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History will be made in Brooklyn this weekend as the New York Photo Festival opens in DUMBO — the first international-level festival of photography to be based in the U.S.

In the debut of this new annual event, four internationally respected curators present their vision of the newest and most important trends in contemporary photography:

Magnum photographer Martin Parr’s “New Typologies” highlights the use of the photographic series as an attempt to bring order to the chaos around us. The New York Times Magazine picture editor Kathy Ryan looks at sculptural and painterly qualities of recent photography in “Chisel”. Lesley A. Martin of the Aperture Foundation reflects on “the replication and reproduction of the photographic image in “The Ubiquitous Image”, focusing on how contemporary artists are using the seemingly limitless cache of disseminated images to create their own work”, and Tim Barber of tinyvices.com presents over 300 images in “Various Photographs” that showcase work from well established to unknown photographers.

In addition to the curated pavilions, the Festival features seminars, portfolio reviews, slide shows, book signings, photographic workshops, live performances and events, and a gallery row. The festival is poised to satisfy any culture cravings whether you’re a professional photographer, an amateur or an appreciator. If you’re in New York this weekend, make sure to head under the bridge and check it out.

For tix click here and for more info on the New York Photo Festival, click here.

New York Photo Festival
Thursday May 15 – Sunday May 18
10:00am – 7:00pm

Ten years ago, sisters Helene and Celia Faussart glided onto the French musical landscape with their first album, the beat of a drum and their jazz-tinged voices setting the tone for the their brand of sumptuous soul.

The French-Cameroonian sisters were Africa and Europe. They were Afropean. While embracing an identity shared by many, they were also their own movement. Picking up where Sade left off and trailing close behind Zap Mama, they redefined a souljazzreggaeafro sound. When you listened to them sing, you could feel them opening their arms to embrace you at the same time, as if to whisper in your ear or to turn your face towards theirs so you could meet them face-to-face and understand. The sisters Faussart knew what they were doing and have won fans the world over with their smooth sound and messages of peace, love and strength.

Les Nubians will perform at the Blender Theater tonight as part of a week long U.S. tour so get ready to be embraced and feel the love all over again.

They are set to release an album late 2008 and have collaborated with U2 on tribute/benefit album released in April, covering their hit, “With or Without You”. Concertgoers can expect what they know and be treated to something new. Check it out.

Les Nubians at Blender Theater
127 East 23rd Street
Corner of Lexington Avenue
New York

For tickets, click here and for more on Les Nubians, click here.

Violence, conflict and who we are all converge in French choreographer Rachid Ouramdane’s work to show how we can or cannot, do or do not find a sensitivity within ourselves in this cruel world. The choreographer, of Algerian descent, is one of France’s top young choreographers contemplating self and searching for different ways to show this journey through various multimedia elements.

A true transcultural, Ouramdane performs his new show, “Far…” May 8-10 at New York’s Dance Theater Workshop. Having already made its way across stages in Europe, Ouramdane’s show features his Algerian father’s journals, kept during the French occupation of Algeria and later while a soldier in the French army stationed in Indochina — today’s Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam — to explore how identity is questioned and shaped. Ouramdane’s solo performance also investigates cultural home, and conflict, two themes that recur in his work.

I recently spoke with Ouramdane about “Far…“, as he prepared to fly out to New York for his show.

More information about the show here.

TRACE hooks you up with a pair of complimentary tickets to any performance of “Far…” — email us to claim ‘em here.

TRACE: Why did you decide to take the trip to Vietnam?
Rachid Ouramdane: I wanted to follow my father’s journey as an Algerian soldier in the French army. He was sent to Indochina, which was also a French colony, to fight against those who were colonized by the French, just like him.

After reading his journal, I decided to collect interviews with the people he met and see how colonial occupation influenced their sense of identity today.

The people I met there and the people who I found to speak to me were used to speaking about colonization or had grown up overseas and come back so they were open. Those not wanting to speak about their path said they had no memory. It was interesting to confront those kinds of memories — the official and the non-official, which is the one you cannot speak about today.

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Glass Candy makes good mood music to chill to, dance to, mack to. Yes - it’s good for that mood, too. I first heard Glass Candy at the end of a late night last year as the DJ spun whatever he wanted for the last of us, lounging on club furniture as if it were our own and refusing to go home. That song, “Rolling Down the Hills,” was heady and atmospheric, enough to disorient and make me want more as I decided to leave and not be the last girl standing when all the lights came on.

Singer Ida No, producer Johnny Jewel and drummer Dusty Sparkles are the Portland trio behind Glass Candy’s contemporary disco/electro sound. While they can channel Blondie circa “Rapture” and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at times, they also have fun being themselves and working hip-hop, disco, rock and punk beats into a just-right Glass Candy groove.

Tonight, Glass Candy continues their maiden voyage to the UK with a stop at London’s Cargo with DJ/Producer/Label Owner Mike Simonetti on the turntables. The multi-titled impresario behind the Italians Do It Better label, to which Glass Candy is signed, is bound to heat things up before Glass Candy washes you down with that groove. Sure to end some peoples into the street swooning.

For a taste of Glass Candy, click here and for tix to tonight’s Cargo show, click here.

Cargo
83 Rivington St
Kingsland Viaduct
Shoreditch
£12