Our friends over at elitaste are at it again with a mixtape to end all mixtapes featuring more exclusives than TMZ. Their SXSW mixtape features unreleased tracks from Mike Posner, XV, WALE, Chester French, our good friend Gigamesh (Discotech), Minneapolis act Estate, and asscrams more.

Download the whole tape HERE

Exclusives:

Mike Posner – Open Up Your Eyes (Gigamesh and Discotech Remix)

Estate – Write (Gigamesh Remix)

Benzi feat. Chester French and PRGz – Sometimes I Ask Myself

Mike Posner – Cooler Than Me (Skeet Skeet Remix)

edIT (Glitch Mob) & WALE – Freaxxx (Scratches by DJ AM)

2AM Club “Nobodys In Love (Xaphoon Jones Remix)

XV – Mirror’s Edge Feat. Mike Posner (DJ DStar Remix)

Photos by Justin Andert

Washington’s The Lonely Forest came through Portland last night and played a vibrant set for a full crowd at Doug Fir. The band is touring with We Were Promised Jetpacks. Check out some photos below:

More photos lanjut →

The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Have To is the debut novel from writer/actor/rapper DC Pierson (Mystery Team, Community). This novel features your run-of-the-mill teenage plot development. Isolated, awkward high school boy loves to draw. Awkward boy meets extra-awkward boy who is equally isolated. They bond over love of science fiction. They become best friends. Awkward boy falls in love with girl. Best friend ends up taking girl. They fight, they make-up. The End. Oh wait, somewhere in there, extra-awkward boy admits he can’t sleep and has never been able to. Awkward boy becomes determined to test the bounds and limits of such a power/ability (or lack of ability). It turns into a fast-paced adventure when their greatest fear (The man in the suit) finds out and tries to capture the ‘never-sleeper.’

Pierson’s novel is  full of charm built on the basis that growing up is hard no matter who you are. Throw in an abstract ability like not having to sleep and its bound to complicate the already tough high school lifestyle. The characters drive this tale, which goes past analysis of teenage culture to add evocative moments on top of brooding science fiction action. The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To is a novel that provides entertainment, humor, and adventure that works for anyone, young or old.

***ABOVE THE FOLD is giving away TWO COPIES of Pierson’s new book! E-mail contests[at]above-thefold[dot]com with DC Pierson in the subject line for your chance to win a copy. Winners will be chosen February 17.***

Purchase the book HERE

Pierson took some time to answer a few questions about what his new book means to him, his own high school experience, and more: lanjut →

Photos by Justin Andert

Last night Rhymesayers did its part for the people of Haiti when they put on their benefit show at First Avenue. The night was witnessed by a sold out crowd who with their ticket purchases and kind donations helped raise over $30,000 according to Slug. The show featured performances from local superstar Brother Ali, Sage Francis and B. Dolan, I Self Divine, Sims, and more.

To see more photos from last night jump lanjut →

Photos by Justin Andert

On Saturday night we saw First Avenue turn into a venue for a Haiti benefit show that featured some of MPLS’ most talented performers. The night was a huge success as Jen Boyles of City Pages announced at the end of the night (700+ tickets sold).  We had monstrous performances from both Solid Gold and Mark Mallman seperately, as well as one song together when Mallman guested on Solid Gold‘s cover of Kenny Loggins’ Highway to the Danger Zone.

Solid Gold put on a high energy show, which First Avenue crowds have grown accustomed to in the past year. But no performer matched the energy of MPLS’ favorite showman Mark Mallman

Leading into Mallman’s energetic performance was one of my favorite MPLS music acts Peter Wolf Crier. This duo’s songs will take you to new heights of emotion in all directions, but ultimately leave you with a smile on your face.

The night’s opening band was Zoo Animal who has somehow taken a played out sound and turned it into something completely their own. It is very exciting to see these newer MPLS acts pushing the envelope.

To see more photos from the night’s festivities jump lanjut →

The sexual tension that we’ve seen randomly flare between the study group on Community came to a point of rupture last night. The episode begins with Jeff and Britta noticing that Annie is earning the affection of one “micro-nippled” hippie named Vaughn. From then on the ‘friends’ set out to put a halt to the blooming romance by getting Annie’s lifelong love-interest Troy involved. They are able to get Troy to look at Annie as a sexual-being for the first, but when he attempts to work his game on her, things go awry when a tiff starts between him and Vaughn. After Troy lets the cat out of the bag that Britta and Jeff are behind the mess both of the young group members lash out at them.

Things get extra spicy at the group’s next meeting when they address the sexual tension between group members.  There’s a hilarious glancing session letting us in on who has a chance with who. (Including Shirley giving the nod to Troy! and Abed giving the eyebrows to Jeff)   We find out Britta is actually a ‘girly girl’ who was jealous of Annie and Vaughn due to her previous relationship with the shirtless wonder. But in the end, we see a sincere gesture from Vaughn as he apologizes to Annie and writes her a sweet, honest song. She gets the go-ahead from Britta and we have a new couple on Community.  Should be interesting to see where it heads from here.

Vulture interviewed the show’s creator Dan Harmon who gives us insight on the show’s direction

City Pages and Gimme Noise have worked hard to put together a show in support of Haiti with a rather mind-blowing local line-up. We will see the likes of Mark Mallman, Solid Gold, Zoo Animal, Peter Wolf Crier hit the stage with Jimmy2Times and co-sponsor BRLSQ’s Mike the 2600 King spinning DJ sets between acts. Please go HERE to purchase tickets for $12. 100% of proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross for Haiti Relief & Development Fund & Architecture for Humanity. If you get a chance thank Andrea Swensson and Jen Boyles for their hard work to make this happen!

Passafire brought their warm weather music to the cold weather state last night. The Savannah, GA reggae band has been making waves with their new album Everyone on Everynight and their live set matched the hype. The group is on tour with The Expendables so be sure to check them out if they come to your area. Check out some photos from the show:

David Byrne recently announced that his collaboration with Fatboy Slim about the life of Imelda Marcos titled Here Lies Love will finally be available on February 23. The package will include 2 CDs with 22 songs featuring vocalists Florence Welch (of Florence + The Machine), Sia, Santigold, Nellie McKay, Sharon Jones, St. Vincent, Róisín Murphy and many more. It will also come with a DVD with videos for 6 songs and book explaining it all. If this weren’t enough to get you excited Mr. Byrne has made one of the songs from the album titled Please Don’t available for free download today. It features Santigold on vocals. Download it below and be sure to purchase the package!

David Byrne & Fatboy Slim – Please Don’t (Feat. Santigold)

The students of Greendale Community College returned for Semester two of the year fresh off a Holiday break where Britta thinks she might have gone to Amsterdam while Ahbed and Troy played what can only sound like The Sims the entire break. Jeff comes back from break with a new ‘I’m going to make the best of my situation‘ attitude on life. While he’s embracing his laidback mindset, he is offered a job as the new Editor for Greendale’s resurrected student newspaper The Greendale Gazette Journal Mirror. He takes the job when he finds out it comes with the perk of a cushy office and a staff to manipulate. While things seem to be going swimmingly for Jeff, the study group gets thrown for a loop when their Spanish classmate Buddy (Jack Black), that no one ever noticed except Ahbed, decides he wants to force his way into their group. We see typical Jack Black antics including awkward jokes, failed trendsetting attempts (“You Go Girl!”), acoustic guitar, high leg kicks to Jeff’s face, and a breakdown involving getting dragged out of the library. In the end, Jeff realizes his new Hawkeye from M*A*S*H attitude is not who he truly is and Buddy gets accepted in the cool group (featuring a cameo from Owen Wilson) claiming Jeff’s group was his ’safety.’ A great return from Holiday break including plenty of LOL moments. Looking forward to the rest of the season from the best new comedy on TV.