With her voice flickering soulfully, Ayo could melt stone. She has that kind of voice, entirely her own, that you will hear once and recognize instantly forever.

But as much as Ayo’s airy yet earthy chords are all her own, so too are her socially incisive lyrics, style and musical composition, which are transcultural to their core, drawing on her Roma and Nigerian parents, her Germanic childhood and her Parisian love.

Don’t miss this one. She’s opening the ground-breaking series, World Nomads, at the Alliance Francaise in New York next Thursday, May 1st.

Also up at World Nomads, which celebrates and interrogates world citizenship from Africa outwards, catch up with literary talents Nuruddin Farah, Abdourahman Waberi, and Chenjerai Hove; a stunning film series on legendary director Ousmane Sembène’s influence on African cinema; an intimate chat with Claude Grunitzsky, founder and Editor-in-Chief of TRACE; and the brilliant beats of DJ Spooky.

Check out of the full schedule of World Nomads here, Ayo’s talent here and DJ Spooky here.

Following the mutually agreed-upon departure of Marina at the end of last year, Gorky and Pedro came up with the genius but slightly random idea of auditioning for Bonde de Role’s new band member through what seems to be the usual reality TV route of searching for one on air.

With the help of MTV Brazil, screening over 100 Bonde wannabes and an extensive schedule of karaoke comps and mud wrestling, the victorious new members are Ana Bernardino and Laura Taylor.

You heard right; they decided not on one but two new female vocalists!! The new quartet have announced plans for a North American tour kicking off in late April in which the band will hit Miami, cross coasts to the Coachella Festival and then work back east from there.

Bonde Do Role will be performing on Saturday, April 26th along with Prince, M.I.A, Hot Chip, Marc Ronson and many more at Coachella, running from today through Sunday at the Polo Fields in Indio, California. Other exciting performances across the weekend include; Black Kids, The Raconteurs, Santogold and Spank Rock.

It’s going to be hot…literally!!

Check out Coachella’s full listing here and Bonde de Role’s schedule here.

Camp-outs and concerts in tandem automatically conjure images of mud-covered revelers at Woodstock swaying to the beat of somebody’s guitar and professing everything is love under a certain herbal haze.

Don’t expect flower power when Cool Kids step on the stage at Coachella Music Festival this weekend. Chuck 23 and Mikey Rocks, the Cool Kids, are better known for the kind of heavy, spare beats and verbal acrobatics that are more likely to knock the petals off said flowers.

The duo got together a few years ago after Chuck 23 heard one of Mikey Rocks’ beats online and reached out to him. It was kismet: they decided to collaborate and good thing for us, it worked out. Over the past two years, the duo rose from the Chicago underground on the strength of their beats and rhymes on a string of indie rap hits that include “Gold and a Pager” and “Black Mags” the latter a shout-out to BMX bikes.

Not content to let the sleeping dog lie, they’re set to release “The Bake Sale” EP on May 20 and an as-yet-untitled full length album later this year on their label, C.A.K.E. Recordings.

For a taste of what they have in store at Coachella, check them out here and here.

(UP)Rising Sonz! is no easy phenomenon to explain. Recently, it has become a book, but even in that form it becomes something more — a collection of connections made with images and ideas.

Created by Mark Felt and TRACE contributer, Scott Kinsey, (UP)Rising Sonz! feels like the lifebook of a micromovement or a mad roadtrip undertaken by ’soul skaters’ who travel through (sub)cultural and lingual borders by skating, experimenting with styles, making art and tagging up their urban global playgrounds.

In reality, UPRising Sonz! started as a simple creative endeavor to connect up with Japanese skaters, travel and kick around on a strong DIY tip.

We caught up with Scott to check in with his own thoughts on what (UP)Rising Sonz! is all about, what exactly a ‘Soul Skater’ is and what’s up with global youth subcultures.

Check out the book here.

TRACE: In your own words, what is (UP)Rising Sonz!?

Scott Kinsey: (UP)Rising Sonz! communicates so many things on so many different levels to each of us that was involved in its creation. We set out to create a project in which we could first and foremost, be creative and
we wanted to work with our friends to incorporate all the things that make us happy in life. The point of all this was to get lost in the moment…Lost in the art of it all with friends and family and share our experience and our art. (UP)Rising Sonz! is our window into the lifestyle of our friends and family. It is creativity, it is skateboarding, it is art, it is a lifestyle.

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