While recently checking out the video below by the Audio Bullys (the UK duo whose third album Higher Than The Eiffel arrives in Amoeba tomorrow) for their great 2008 single-only release "Gimme That Punk" in which they display countless classic album covers (including The Clash, The Doors, The Kinks, The Sex Pistols) it further reminded me of why I love (and miss) LPs and their glorious 12" by 12" cover art work so much. This is why I always look forward to checking out new (and always themed) LP cover art posts here by The Gone World Amoeblogger Mr Chadwick and any record or LP cover art gallery shows like the ones at very top and lower points of this blog, courtesy of Siemon Allen Records, whose current exhibit Records (South African Edition) just ended yesterday at the Johannesburg Art Fair. 

The Audio Bullys' video reminded me of another UK musical duo's video from recent years, dan le sac VS scroobius pip's 2007 video for their hit single "Thou Shalt always Kill," in which they also flip through various classic album covers as they dismiss their respective makers as being "just a band." This music video style, utilized by both this pair and the Audio Bullys, of displaying and then tossing on the ground the LP covers that are referenced in their lyrics is directly derived from the film footage of Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home album track "Subterranean Homesick Blues" in which Dylan is filmed tossing large cue cards with key words from the song's lyrics.

Recently ran into Mista B at Amoeba Music San Francisco (as pictured left) as the famed turntablist and member of SF's 4OneFunk crew (with Teeko, B.Cause, Max Kane) was dropping off copies of his tight new independently released CD SonicSoulSpace.

This latest production by  Mista B comes hot on the heels of his collaborative mix CD with fellow 4OneFunk'er B.Cause titled Record Haterz. That ol skool Bay Area rap mix dug deep in the vinyl crates to deliver a flawless mix punctuated by forgotten gems by such bygone Bay rap greats as Totally  Insane, 415 (feat. RIchie RIch), and 11/5.

Mista B will be flying out to New York in a couple of weeks to represent the Bay Area in the 2009 DMC US Finals Battle - the legendary DJ battle where skilled turntablists from all over, usually with endless hours upon hours of practice, converge in a heated battle that only last minutes but whose results go down in the history books forever. This will be Mista B's fifth time to enter a DMC battle.  "I have mixed feelings upon competing again. Usually, DJs compete just once and [then] they're done.  For me, it's not just about the competition but it's about sharing this so called art of turntabilism," he told me. "I feel that DJ battles are one of very few platforms to showcase the art.  So with me, I still practice because I like to work on my craft, my skill if you will.  Specifically beat juggling for me.  I don't do it to be better than the next guy, but to be better than what I was yesterday and to show how graceful sounding this art is" Always pushing himself to improve and to innovate the SF who has been honing his diligently DJ'ng since 1993, told me that.  "I took a class in college and a professor came up with the concept, "sound art." That concept stuck with me since so I like to consider what I do "turntable sound art."  So now I just look for a medium to showcase the art.  So here I am again, competing on a high level versus the country's best DJs, The DMC USA Finals again."

The brilliant, Ben Stokes-directed video above for Azeem's Air Cartoons' album track "Latin Revenge" (on Oaklyn Records with music production by DJ Zeph) takes place in the Mission District of San Francisco. Inspired in part by Terry Gilliam's work and also by Azeem's music, the animated piece also puts a spin on the role of how police are perceived in society. In the video Azeem gains popularity as he peruses the streets of the Mission (eventually becoming a King Kong-like menace) as meanwhile a host of local neighborhood characters take notice. The police in the video are described by the maker as "enablers and cheerleaders."

I called up Azeem the other day to ask him what he thought about the new video. "It made me a fan and it's my video," he laughed, adding that, "All I can say about that video is that I can really almost take no credit for it. I just made the song. Like you and anyone else, I am fan of the video and I am amazed at the level of artistry that it incorporates." The video's animation was done by Ben Stokes (the video's producer/director) with additional animation by Patrick Siemer, who drew from the thousands of still photographs they shot, then cut up, mixed and matched, and then painstakenly animated using After effects.

Ben Stokes, also a part of Tino Corps, D.H.S.,, &  Meat Beat Manifesto, has been professionally making music videos for about 20 years. The Mission District, San Francisco-based Stokes started out doing videos back in 1990 in his native Chicago where he began directing & producing a lot of the pioneering hometown WaxTrax industrial music artists' videos such as Ministry and the Revolting Cocks.