My main companion is a trusty MacBook Pro and my Kindle E-reader which got a new custom made felt ‘owl’ cover.

Besides that I spot my Golden Half camera and some film, a spork, moleskine notebook, handkerchief, scarf, earplugs, usb cigarette lighter plug, markers, lip balm/chap stick,  broken ipod (which urgently needs replacing) and an ear light which regularly comes in handy. Also as I’ve just moved I’m carrying around  a measuring tape, has come in handy on a regular the passed weeks. Lighters, pens, … and a toothbrush finish off the clutter more or less.

Latest addition is a Duracell usb charger by the way. Got my hand on the larger version and have been testing it for a while as my iphone is not that reliable anymore. You can easily charge a variety of USB-powered devices with it and the battery itself recharges through a wall socket at home. I can only repeat that its a comfort having back-up power on-the-go in this day and age. Previously I had been using my PowerMonkey (and still do sometimes), but Duracell offers a battery that can handle any device through its own usb cable.

Besides all the other stuff I’ve also got copies of The Word Magazine‘s & Subbacultcha‘s latest issues. Worth a read!

Now as I’ve shared my junk… what do you carry around on a daily base

Gunshots, people running mad in the street and lots of cheers yesterday as Spotify deployed  its services in Belgium. Or was it just twitter and my facebook wall that got flooded with Spotify related content? All I know is that lots of people were giving Spotify their praise while other unhappy hipsters were calling the music service evil and complaining about some ads that passed by every now and then?

I must admit I had been using Spotify, through a loophole in their system, for a while already. It was accesible, without any ads in between the streams, as they still had to officially get started in Belgium. Now the people from Spotify blessed  me with a premium account. No ads, unlimited access to their service on- & offline … I will extensively use this throughout the next weeks, test their service in on the road with the ol’ trusty iphone, … but reckon I already know the outcome as I have already learned that € 9,99 a month for unlimited access to their database on- & offline is not a lot of money.

For the readers who haven’t tried it out, its pretty easy Just hit the download Spotify app button, install and log in with your facebook account (OH NO, not my facebook account?! Yes, you can only log in with you facebook account and it works like a charm.) Next all you have to do is sit back and enjoy some fresh or older tunes.

“We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists“ is an upcoming documentary on Anonymous and the history of hacktivism. Expect this.

“There is no algorithm to define cool, you just know it when you see it“. – Anonymous hipster.

I have been meaning to digitalize a selection of analog photos for a while now. This is one of the first scans I got sent to see if I was happy with the result. Cracks me up every time I see it and looking forward to see the full collection. I’m betting its gonna be priceless.

There’s a new ipad app in town. For the natives, you can read all about it on Freaky.

“HeyHey Colors brings the colorful world of street artist Bue the Warrior in an amazing iPad coloring book to your child’s fingertips. Bue the Warrior’s iconic figures have been bringing joy and color to cities around the world. Now everyone has the chance to dive into his amazing universe.”

Nothing but love for this kids’ colouring app and the people behind it. I tested a beta-version of the app a while back and was blown away by its simplicity & great design. If you have kids, or to be honest even without kids, I would suggest you buy it and start colouring right away.

So, its official, we now have our own 22 curators under one roof as last night (the 22nd of June) at exactly 22:22 hours 22tracks launched its BE counterpart. For those of you who are unfamiliar with 22 tracks, we had previously mentioned this musical weapon of choice a while back #youlaggards.

With Bruxelles added, the guys behind it all are right on track with their global expansion. We’ve been fans since day one and can’t wait to see which cities get added to the magical list of 22 in the near future hopefully.

On the Brussels roster we find Lefto (World Vibes), Deg (Techno), Sound of Stereo (Electro), Murdock (Drum’n Bass), … amongst many others. Our favorite selections right now are the tropical selection by Funky Bompa & the moody selection by @Nosedrip (although we also got a nice taste of dubstep).

22 selections means there’s something to float everyone’s boat, so keep an eye (or even better ear) on them lists.

Parra and Amsterdam’s Tom Trago released their latest Parra Soundsystem album. Great tunes declaring summer officially opened.

ParraSoundSystem | Von Smallhausen by ParraSoundSystem

A new spot opened its doors in Ghent last weekend: nº 13.

A contemporary home which will be open for 13 weekends and this until june 13. Better keep an eye on the planned activities as they promised to do some cool stuff before closing them doors for good. This Saturday a Red Bull Music Academy Q&A [you have to register for this btw] with Morgan Geist, Retro/Grade and Fredo for starters.

A facebook ad drew my attention today. That’s right, one those little banners in the side. The ad was for Laid Back’s compilation project, something I had been meaning to mention overhere for a while.

As you might gather in the message below, Pierre de Schaetzen (a student at Belgium’s first college for music management, PHL Music) decided to join up with Laid Back for his end of studies project. As you will hear/read, in order to graduate in June, he is required to complete a music related project on a professional level and that’s when they devised the idea to release a 15 track compilation album which will be gathering 20 artists with whom LDBK has collaborated since 2002.

Now for those of you who are not familiar with LDBK, it all started almost ten years ago with a weekly radio show on a local radio station in Brussels and has grown out to be so much more with amongst other things their online radio player which is one of a kind  You can read more about it in a post we previously had put all over the interwebs.

Release date for the compilation with a good looking line up is June 10th, 2011. That’s not all that long for people to show their support.

Line Up

MonkeyRobot (BE)

ClassicBeatz (US) & Lisa Preston (NZ)

Melissa Czarnik (US) 

Bongholio Iglesias (DE) 

72 Soul (BE) & Flow State (UK) 

JoBee (BE – PL) & Dr. Kwest (BE – RDC) 

Strand (BE – ES) 

40 Winks (BE) 

Amede Soundsmith (UK) 

K’Bonus (BE) 

The Compositive Two (BE) 

Lefto (BE)

Turtle (BE)

Incks (US)

Cris Prolific (BE – FR)

This means that us, the listeners, followers and/or collaborators have to spread the word and gather the necessary funds they can use for pressing CD’s etc. The total cost for the project is $7500 and it’s going to entirely be funded through crowdfunding.

I just pledged my mighty dollar$ and reckon you ought to do the same. You are gonna get your money$ worth, all info on IndieGogo!!

Oh, and @laidbackradio go for a white shirt!

Charlie Sheen got the interwebs buzzin’. Got to love the man! Anyone remember Hot Shots?

The fastest certified twitter account to reach a million followers and he’s destined to make a whole lot of money with it.

I can’t help but wonder how this elaborate marketing stunt came to be and guess its about time someone gave the man his own reality tv show. You’re either in Sheen’s-Korner or you’re with the trolls and right now he’s winning. Definitely check/follow his Ustream casts, they are hilarious.

The following is a documentary about a journey to “The Edge of the Earth”. The Gates of the Arctic National Park. This Arctic park, with no roads, facilities, or campgrounds, is one of the northernmost national parks in the U.S.

“For the next two weeks you must survive using the knowledge, skills and gear you bring with you. You will walk or float through intact ecosystems where people have lived with the land for thousands of years. You will experience solitude, self reliance and nature on its own terms. Are you prepared?”

Its a great piece of work and inspiration for journeys to come.

New video for Gold Panda‘s track ‘Marriage’:

I was touring throughout December and January (with the Glitterbug live show), so the only way to make a new video for Gold Panda was to make it along the way. So I filmed the people and places I met. I wanted to keep the personal humbleness of the track, it’s warmth and beauty and to simply focus on people and the notion of something shared, regardless of place, situation or climate zone…

I always showed whoever I filmed footage from previous shoots, so people would see one another, and in some sense strangers became friends and the video grew a life of its own. The funny thing was that many strangers came up to me along the way so fascinated by the light of the lantern and asked me if they could please have one… So I left most behind and came back home with almost none, loving the idea that the video just continues on its own…

The project was created by Joris Debeij, a European currently residing in LA, who wants to document the city through portraits of intriguing and unique personalities living there. Each single one on people who found a specific niche for themselves in a city of millions.

Enjoy the selected clips, we know we did.

Salvador Preciado has lived in East LA for most of his life. Growing up, he always was impressed by the tattoos worn by local gang members and he later decided to become a full-time tattoo artist. Sal is now the proud owner of El Clasico Tattoo, a tattoo shop in Echo Park.

Sean Martin has been riding bikes for over ten years. He started out on a BMX and now feels “one” with his fixed-gear bike while riding through the streets of LA.

Imagine this: There are mature fruit trees planted and cared for all over your neighborhood, so you can just pick fresh fruit and enjoy it as you walk down the street, without ever needing to go hungry. The guys of Fallen Fruit started 7 years ago as a one-time project that involved mapping out the locations of public fruit trees.

Smoking, an addiction like many others. Besides smoking I reckon the interwebs is yet another big addiction us humans have been continuously developing. Some more than others. A need to be connected, 24/7.

Remember how, once upon a time (about two/three years ago) so-called smartphones were something you could see business people typing away on whille enjoying their laté in their local Starbucks? Hammering away, pinging each other, … And then something happened. Smartphones suddenly became a must have item.

Strangest thing, how people become dependant on a piece of plastic. Something of which science hasn’t even decided on if its signals damage our body just like smoking does.

Sometimes I ask myself: how did we do everything before this all? Right, we planned everything out.

I wonder if I would survive a period of total offliness. I guess not. Hi, I am ****** and I am an addict.

An interactive architectural mapping by 1024 Architecture, projected on the facade of former Lyrical theater the “Celestins”. The building deformations and figures were controlled by the audience, using a microphone and an audio analysis algorythm.

An unscientific point of view on the beginning and evolution of life … and how it could probably end. A wall-painted animation by BLU.

I am a Mechanic, part 1 of 2.

Thursday we found ourselves heading to the Belgian Tron Legacy première in Ghent. The people behind it all were so kind to send us an invite and before we knew it we found ourselves walking up a red laser-beam carpet amongst good company.

Curious to see what all the fuzz was/is about, we took our seats, put on our 3D glasses (the movie is partially 3D, partially 2D), sat back in our seats and waited to get blown away by the sequel to the 1982 film Tron.

First off, you don’t go to see Tron Legacy for the dialogue or story in my opinion, you go for the graphics/visual thunderstorm they blast at you & the already legendary Daft Punk soundtrack.  I also have to add that you must go see the movie in a theatre as I doubt you can have the same experience on a home screen.

That’s what makes it a good movie and I expect that the film savvy people of the interwebs will share their professional opinions the next days/weeks, making my opinion utterly irrelevant

When you regularly read blogs and/or surf the web you usually have heard of the following fella: Scott Schumann, aka, the sartorialist who shares photos and experiences from his daily life with over 70,000 readers each day.

New video for Before I Move Off by Mount Kimbie. Can be considered as one of 2010′s revelations for us.

The duo have developed a truly unique sound whose experimental rhythms lend themselves to the fringes of dubstep, wonky and hip hop, but ooze with emotion and echoing ambient soundscapes that take the listener to an entirely different place.

Their EP’s and debut album Crooks & Lovers was released on Hotflush in July 2010, and met with critical acclaim. If you digg this definitely check some other stuff by them.

PES is back with a new short video called “The Deep.” PES has been an OOTB favorite for a while now and a must see. Enjoy.

Couple of people asked me if I had any 2011 resolutions. Answer at first was no, but I had totally forgotten my #wordoftheday project.

As I got the urban dictionary day to day calendar I will be tweeting a #wordoftheday every day throughout the (working) week. Curious to see what will pop up amongst the our newly adopted lingo

I finally folded and went for a PS3. After years of SNES I finally got a piece of modern technology fitted right under my TV.

Right now where hammering through GT5, but will pretty soon be needing some much needed diversification when it comes to the games department, so all tips are welcome.

You can find me under AndrewVassallo on the playstation network btw. Holla!

Met some great people, had some great experiences, (re)discovered artists, heard some great mixtapes, saw wonderfull street art, got some (product) reviews up and overall featured some great content (although it was not always that great ).

Concertwise we had a good year, with highlights being a studio session by MGMT, the Prodigy concert in Lille, a showcase by Janelle Monae, Chromeo in BXL and the Gorillaz concert in Antwerp.

We also crossed the border several times. Ended up visiting London for Young Scum and ended up there two weekends in a row due to circumstances, went to Paris for the Offf Festival, where we got to stay in the great Hidden Hotel. After that we topped this all off with held a midsummer roadtrip to Croatia & Slovenia before finishing the summer with a quick visit to Amsterdam.

Started reading again in between this all and did some home brewing before finishing everything of with some family time in MT.

As you can see, we ended up sharing all these experiences and still this ended up being the blogpost which read the most throughout the entire year.

All we can say, 2010 has been a blast and who would have thought we would be able to have done it all from one of the greatest cities in the world! Have a great time going from old to new and we’ll see each other once again in 2011! Out with the old one says!

“If life is a catwalk, run like a dog.”

Pahnl is a UK street artist who has been stenciling since 2003 and actively putting work up on the street since 2006. ‘Nowhere Near Here’ is one of his stop motion animations in which he uses a combination of light with stencils & long exposure photography to tell us the story of a dog running around the city at night, doing whatever a dog does.

According to Pahnl “It has over 300 hours in the making, more than 200 stencils involved and too many cold nights spent outside on my knees getting the shots, I am very happy (and relieved) to finally share this with you. Through the course of shooting ‘Nowhere Near Here’, I have dealt with curious drunks, a dog almost peeing on the camera (the irony is not lost on me, haha), the endlessly suspicious police and even someone nearly running off with a tripod.”

Prints and stills from the film are available on Pahnl’s website.

So a documentary on Wikileaks was released by Sweden’s public service television SVT. This one-hour documentary takes us through the history of WikiLeaks. Besides this the Swedes also followed Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange for several months starting from the past summer. It gives us a great firsthand report on the inside story: Where is the secretive organization heading? Who is Assange: champion of freedom, spy or rapist? What are his objectives? What are the consequences for the internet? Stuff to ponder upon once you’ve seen the report above.

through StupidDope

22 x 22 gives 484.This happens to be the exact amount of tracks you get when you visit 22tracks.com, a jukebox consisting of 22 playlists of different genres, each playlist filled with 22 tracks, selected by specialized DJs from Amsterdam.

As they where in Ghent for the TRON café, we had the pleasure of enjoying a quick dinner with the guys behind the project last week. They have been around for a while now (celebrated their first anniversary couple of weeks ago) as musical curators, and we can only assume that they will remain a definite OOTB approved weapon of choice as they continue to grow across the web. Give it a try!

“This film was made over two nights in and around Battersea power station in November 2010 by Dentsu London, using a technology developed by sensaa.com and shot on a Canon 5D Mark II. You can read more about it here on their blog bit.ly/?laser_murals_gtc“

More photos here and here. 

What’s up with everyone falling into those facebook scam like links. Come on, did you really grow up in the 1890s? What are you expecting to see or get out of ‘This American GUY must be Stoned to Death for doing this to a GIRL‘ or ‘I can’t believe a GIRL did this because of Justin Bieber‘?

Nothing is that funny that you have to like it first. Trust me, nothing!

In other news, there is no app (and I am guessing this will never be possible) which tells you who visited your profile. Mark does not want you to know that kind of stuff. Get over it. Btw, I do know who you are, yes you

THIS THURSDAY

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