That awkward moment when Not Obama trends worldwide as Nicki Minaj salutes self-proclaimed Mr. President “Weezy F. Baby.” // #inrelatednews Sources agree: “Our children isn’t learning.”

#damnshame #andyouwonderwhy

When the fandemonium hit the fan, and every stan had their say, Twitter was filled with a bevy of tired AARP inspired insults. Forbes Magazine’s Liz W. Garcia’s put it best, “But in spite of the fact that Madonna is 53 years-old and lept from a kneeling position to standing, over and over whilst wearing spike heels (go ahead, try it, and when you’re done icing your knees, read on) and keeping pace with her twenty-something backup dancers, the focus was on her age.”

Why does this matter? It probably doesn’t. But for me it poses a legitimate question, how old is too old for pop music? A question seemingly only coerced on to pop and hip hop artists. You don’t see anyone begging U2 or Bruce Springsteen to sit down and get off the throne. Even though they should, no one tells Steven Tyler or Mick Jagger to act their age.

“…Once you reach a certain age you’re not allowed to be adventurous, you’re not allowed to be sexual….I mean, is there a rule? Are you supposed to just die?”
- Madonna at 34, defending herself at age 53.

Pop stars have a tendency to die very young or grow old very slowly. The parallels between Madonna and Jay-Z are uncanny. Both have made a career out of being cool. Both have a strangle on the music scene of their respective genres, and both are unwilling to past the torch to their younger contemporaries. As long as you got moves like Madonna, or wordplay like Jay-Z you should keep on rocking, keep on rocking. Our king of pop may be dead, but our Queen is well and alive. 90′s babies may be born this way, but legends like Madonna, legends like Jay-Z basically raised them. Jigga said it best, Bye-byes are not for legends.

“Fear not death, I’ll be alive for a million years, Bye-byes are not for legends, I’m forever young, my name shall survive.”
- Jay-Z on “Forever Young”

Watch This Space: Because I’m not young enough to know everything. But I know, today’s pop starlets always become ghosts of pop past. Now that’s a bit reductive.

Dionne Warwick. Burt Bacharach: Making dentist’s offices swelter with Novocain smooth grooves since 1962. #getfamiliar

 

Using computers and a boyish sense of mischief, Milo creates space age bachelor pad rap songs for kids who think Spock > Kirk. Or for the kids who even catch that reference. He’s been called the champion of Nerd Hop, consistent creator of auditory Art Rap, we’re not concerned with the genre, we just admire the work he’s putting out there. Art Nouveau recently caught up with the 20-year-old emcee for a riveting conversation that covered everything from Nas’ Illmatic, his admiration for Schopenhauer and his upcoming project Milo Takes Baths.

Art Nouveau Magazine: You’re currently based in Wisconsin, How’d you end up there? What’s the indie rap scene like there?

Milo: As a kid, my Pops moved around a lot– my parents are divorced, so I’ve lived in Illinois, Maine, New Hampshire, and finally Wisconsin. The indie rap scene here is nonexistent and of course when I go on record with that statement I will receive a barrage of dudes ready to impale me, but it’s the truth. The scene here is pretty static, and it seems like the same set of dudes have a monopoly on what goes on here. That being said, I don’t really participate much in it. As a student it’s infinitely more convenient for me to by-pass the local drudgery and politics and shoot songs online before I dip to my Asian Philosophy course.

“Nas’ Illmatic is the greatest rap album of all time. That’ll probably be my #1 lyrical inspiration. Nas is not my favorite rapper by any means, nor has he ever been. But Illmatic is a perfect album, flawless, his style on that album is beyond me still.”

AN: Your real name is Rory Ferreira, but you perform under the nom de plume, Milo. Where did the name come from?

Milo: Pulling out my government name! Okay, I can dig. Rap names are important. Without breaking into a really long treatise on language and how it maps the human reality, let me say that anyone who is trying to create realities should really think about names. Milo comes from The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster which is a neat book that you read once every 8 years or so and have a nice introspective moment to. Milo is this sort of every-person character who finds all the things boring. He’s taken on this adventure of wicked tasty wordplay and comes back all the better for it. I feel like Milo.

AN: Tell me about your project I wish my brother Rob was here. What was the initial story behind it?

Milo: A friend of mine drowned in a public pool this past Summer. I was working on a tape prior to that, and when it happened I couldn’t really find anything substantial I could do to make my world feel better. So I scrapped the tape I was developing and started working on this one, which I sort of co-opted the name from Del’s debut cut. All the recording, mixing, and mastering was done by myself in my room at school… and it was pretty rushed. I found the beats online, mostly through forums, and they were ones that typically rap dudes had shimmy’d away from. Which made them instantly attractive. I tried my hardest to double and triple credit the producers I borrowed from or edited from, but it’s surprising how many people think I produced the mixtape. If I had it would have cost you the big bucks– like, General Tso’s Tofu money.

AN: Were you surprised with the initial support the project has received?

Milo: Overwhelmed would be the word I’d use. Especially when the emails started pouring in. Reading about cats the world over who had dealt with a lot of the same mental blocks I have, or social stigmas and how these people felt equally neglected by contemporary music. The blog stuff is cool, and obviously that’s how people find out about the tape. I’m eternally grateful to those taste-makers who gave my tape a chance and subsequently set pace for other blogs to catch up. But really, the most significant and surprising aspect of this project has been the individual interaction with other *nerdy* people.

“I think there is definitely a place for nerdcore, and I love a lot of the stuff coming out of that camp, but there also needs to be a place where we can genuinely express the frustration of always being at odds with the majority of the people around us without making appeals to cartoonish behaviors.”

AN: What’s your definition of NERD hop?

Milo: See, that was the first genre I was operating under. But now, I’d say it’s more like self help hop/computerized soul folk. Which are two titles a pal of mine sent me from an art exhibit in Chicago. Anyway, Nerd-Hop is similar to nerdcore but instead of making caricatures of nerdiness or awkwardness or intelligence I feel like nerd hop is a more genuine depiction. But I don’t mean to pick on my brothers operating under the nerdcore moniker, which is why I’ve since graduated into the aforementioned two. I think there is definitely a place for nerdcore, and I love a lot of the stuff coming out of that camp, but there also needs to be a place where we can genuinely express the frustration of always being at odds with the majority of the people around us without making appeals to cartoonish behaviors. Pardon me if that in anyway comes off as egotistical. I’m not saying I’ve perfected what I’m talking about, but I am aware of what I want to do and am trying to achieve that. No shade on anyone else’s marmalade.

AN: You are a DIY advocate with a strong focus on computer driven work, how do you juggle wearing multiple hats and taking care of your craft?

Milo: To me they are all part of the same craft which is this quest to find Truth. I’m from a heavily video game influenced generation, obviously, and especially within MMORPGs such as Ultima Online, the quest never ended. It was indefinite. I think that the DIY aspect comes out of that because it gives me an opportunity to be more honest. When I’ve been in studios with other people, I feel myself conforming and that’s not at all what I want for Milo projects. Eventually I’d like to get to the point where a Milo tape is completely done in-house by myself, but I need to hone my beatsmithy before that point. To recap: I’m not convinced that there are multiple hats and crafts, it all sort of falls under this umbrella of trying to find genuine, honest expression that doesn’t sell itself short. Now I’m going to pull my head out of my own fancy-aesthetic arsehole, so to speak.

AN: Who are some of your lyrical inspirations?

Milo: Great writing. I read a lot of philosophy and I tend to be long winded because of that. Schopenhauer is a tremendous lyrical inspiration. He’s prone to really wicked and wild analogies. David Foster Wallace’s eye for seemingly mundane detail, that’s a major inspiration. Nas’ Illmatic is the greatest rap album of all time. That’ll probably be my #1 lyrical inspiration. Nas is not my favorite rapper by any means, nor has he ever been. But Illmatic is a perfect album, flawless, his style on that album is beyond me still.

AN: What’s next for you?

Milo: Finishing up my next mixtape, Milo takes Baths. Which is me rapping over only Baths instrumentals that I pilfered off the Internet. I’m hoping it makes me more friends than enemies. After that? I’m not too sure. I’d like to get more heavy into production, but it’s difficult because in Northern Wisconsin there are no notable beatsmiths to learn from. So I’m watching a lot of YouTube tutorials and whatnot, making slow but steady headway. This is all still pretty new to me. Trying to open dialogue with some label folks, and balance a decent GPA, basically.

AN: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Milo: As banal as it is everytime I read this when some other person says it: support weirdo creations. Keep it funky at all times.

Live fast, die young… #badgirlsdoitwell… Maya Arulpragasm – like the Mayans – had it right… even when wrong:

It turns out that the Mayans had it right. History is a giant alarm clock. As the bell starts to ring, we awaken from the dream, and remember who we are.

Bad Girls… from Eve and Mary (and Magdalene), to Cleopatra and Nefertiti, from Frida and Josephine, to Eleanor and Marilyn – are the backbone of wake-up calls and real talk, courtesy of rogue revelry. #doitwell

Top-to-Bottom two cents #topback: History is a giant alarm clock, and discographies are giant phonographs… as the bell starts to ring, and the needle hits the groove, we awaken from the scene, and remember who we are… This year, Maya got back into the groove: Kala style.

Simple, catchy, Child-Rebel-meets-Sri-Lankan sonic soldier lyrics; heavy, heavy, subtly overt socio-political juxtapositions layered beneath sandy cinematography, all colliding over a Bamboo bangin’ beat: guess who’s back?

“Bad Girls”… from M.I.A., is simple and straight low-fi swagger #bringitback

The run-down, on the second come-up: signature sands of the Arabian desert, ghost-ridden whips, the Bollywood choreo on a Nollywood budget with Hollywood tatted on the middle finger, wide angles, stunting horsepower #allfour from behind the steering wheel and atop a stallion, lots of smoke, fears, and fire, and the girls girls girls… set a stage reminiscent of “Haven’t I seen – nah… have I?”

Bad Girls: make Minaj’s Massive Attack seem miniscule, run the world, do it well and break rules, stay photoshoot fresh, lookin’ like wealth, get their roll on and stride in stealth, and if the ride gets too rough, they stop, drop, open up shop #andthisistheanthem

Watch This Space: Bad Girls are born free, this way, around digital bonfires.

Watch That Space: America – because we told you it would trickle down, mananah … #effectualeventualities

Oh that Madge… I can’t help it, I’ve got the biggest Cheshire grin plasted above my chin right now…

See the thing about it is, I wanted to not like this video – hear me out: I wanted to not like this video because after the hoopla and hype, after the media blitzes and reductionism, this era was gearing up to be the bark of Confessions with the bite of Hard Candy #notgreat then, there’s the distractions and the white noise pulling attention from the product at hand and towards the peripheral gossip… in a nutshell: I was ready to not like this video for the same reason I was gearing up to not like Born This Way – because people were going GaGa over Madonna; but lo and behold… Pop never lets you down.

First things first: 2012 – We’ve got Madonna dropping MDNA *and* going on World Tour, and then we’ve got GaGa Born This Way Balling out of control *and,* y’know, Hauskeeping: these are facts. Head-to-head we have the Greatest Generation and the Re-Generation. Brass tacks: beyond all of the Madonna homages, there is the very apparent, clear, and present situation at hand: this is the first time Madonna is presenting a new product to the market, Anno Monstrami, since GaGa. Thus far, Madonna has battled GaGa on laurels – yes, they are some beyond-laudable laurels, but laurels nonetheless. Madonna’s past has fought her way into the future, and now she has to make good on said greatness for the first time since ever. Madonna is proving not only to herself, nor the market, nor to Universal, nor to GaGa, nor to Warner, or to LiveNation, but to Pop Culture that she is still the Franchise Player. Madonna has not faced GaGa on VEVO or the Billboard charts with new material. Madonna has not toured against GaGa. Madonna has not entered the Pop blacktop with her Jumpmans on tight and right against GaGa – until today.

Pop 2012: because this used to be my playground.

SnappIt: Madge… I can’t help but smile… This is a great video, because, well, it’s just a great video. It’s so tongue-and-cheek kitschy… it’s so literally symbolic, it’s so unironically artificial, it’s so amalgamated Pop past, it’s so hollow Bubblegum Pop pastiche, it’s so now, it’s so then, it feels… reductive – it feels so… GaGa. #notlikethat

This: is Madonna on GaGa on Madonna.

So, since Hov didn’t actually write that letter to Blue Ivy, Madonna took up a pen to draft a lil’ something for the next generation – in the form of a music video (before videos became filmhouse shorts) entitled “This Used to Be My Playground” ”Give Me All Your Luvin’”

L-U-V Madonna / Y-O-U You wanna
I see you coming and I don’t wanna know your name
I see you coming and you’re gonna have to change the game
Would you like to try? Give me a reason why
Give me all that you got
Maybe you’ll do fine , as long as you don’t lie to me
And pretend to be what you’re not

When I first saw her, I saw her performing at a very small club in Manhattan a couple of years ago, maybe it was like three years ago, I was actually really impressed by her. I thought she was really cool and she did remind me of me back in the day. I liked her rawness and there was something fresh about there and ballsy, and when she spoke to the audience, she sounded like she had a similar sense of humor to me, quite ironic, and I liked her.

Don’t play the stupid game 
Cause I’m a different kind of girl 
Every record sounds the same 
You’ve got to step into my world 
Give me all your love and give me your love 
Give me all your love today 
Give me all your love and give me your love 
Let’s forget about time 
And dance our lives away

It feels… reductive.

Right so, lyrically, it’s quite clear where we’re at #sufficetosay but the kicker here isn’t the lyrics (c’mon, it’s Pop – lyrics are 10 percent of the battle, if that)

Madge runs the gamut from Hollabackin’ Harajuku Loving Jabbawokee dance crews, to Amy Seeking sideglance suburban chic sets, a splash of the Hold It Against Parisian Nagger dubstep bridge, and more bricks than Jeezy and Rosay sprawled on the “Edge of Glory” wall. Where she goes H.A.M.est in the paint though, is through her own videography – in an ADD, campy, “Generation Too Broke to Pay Attention” way, which is kind of the point. This used to be Madge’s playground, “until these whippersnappers moved in with their constant flow of derivativeness leaving me feeling… reduced.” So, Mo reduces the reduction to a premier production: she runs the gamut from eponymous early days to Dick Tracy and well through Like A Virgin (including ”Material Girl” Monroe nod – in one fell swoop – in, yo’ car bar)

She’s being reductive if only for the sake of showing what it means to be so. Unlike 90% of the Pop playing field though, Madonna is not serious about it… which is kind of the point. MDNA is fun Pop, throwback mixed with a bit of contemporary smoke, mirrors, and synth… so as far as “Luvin’” goes, if this is any early indicator for the album as a whole: “If it’s gapless, she’s golden.”

Random triviality: So… collectively, Madonna shrugs off haters – and, like any Pop figure worth their weight in print, said haters fuel, support, and carry said Pop figure through their careers #loveallmyhaters…

next time you’re watching this video, remember that Madonna went to the University of Michigan, whose bitterest rival is none other than the Ohio State Buckeyes #pauseforlaughter the Buckeyes whose team colors are *gasp* scarlet, silver, and black? like *gasp* the players carrying Madonna through the video, and who inevitably get decapitated by said Pop mistress? #doublenosetap

Watch This Space: Pop comin’ out of my ears today, man #lifeisgood … M.I.A. on the side coming through #hard with THIS #hitemwiththehee

Live fast, die young, bang on the dashboard #kalashrug

It’s that critical moment that every music journalist ventures into. It happens when we get an artist worth digging. We slide our hand underneath the desk to whip out that hideous facial mask of a straight-faced, grade school teacher with red ink in hand ready to carve our music reviews into someone’s membrane. Taking the time to ride the Voyeur voyage was a pleasant treat as it suited perfectly with the rain Gods deciding to pour down some cleansing wash on good music and his Texas land, of course. The music produced by Childish Major with the vocals to match under Rome Fortune’s belt creates an upcoming groove that falls closely to acts like DJ Shadow and Danny Breaks rave crave. The electric boogie definitely comes to light with the duo along with a hint of Atlanta’s rap recipe, but the two are truly doing something astray from other artists emerging in the mix.

This electric left-field relationship between the two young men is definitely worth listening to. It’s a total different scenario from the usual southern, Atlanta rap crews. Childish Major brings his eclectic style of intelligently mixing electric, future 2042 sounds with straight head-nodding, dirty beats of hip hop. It’s a bit of cinnamon and a bit of spice, literally. Major is like a mini Kanye who loves to exert different electric drums and then switch it up with live percussion and snare. As a listener who goes straight for the killer critique of a descent beat (I like my beat super hard by the way), kudos and much respect to the brains behind the production. The engineer can never catch enough credit for quality-earned beats.  The producer has a few good words for his brother-like figure too. “Rome has definitely schooled me on lots of things. I respect him as an artist and a person.  He is without a doubt, a game changer.  I really believe in the moves he chooses to make,” says Childish Major.

The first track of the Voyeur EP, “Drugs to School Children,” automatically catches heat because it’s simply the introduction and sets the tone for the rest of the tracks. The drums set the smooth, laid-back vibe style which is often heard throughout the rest of the album. In this song, “drugs” could easily relate to the heartbreaker mentality of girls or the result a break-up from that one girl. Either way, Rome Fortune speaks some truth by suggesting not rushing into something with a hoochie, and his pride won’t up the ground along with his feelings.

“Other” and “Filter” seem to find themselves on repeat with iTunes as I genuinely dig instrumentals of nothing but pure sounds and noises. A mellowed out blend with blusters of fixed arrangements of music sounds pretty damn good, like waking up to birds on the most beautiful day outside. “Other” is a definite space voyage that could make Gnarls Barkley’s Pandora station or Madlib’s. “Filter” suggests more of a sensual blend between Prince and the Dream’s first album, and something for the ladies to unwind to. That’s a hint, my men. “Wanted” and “Jesus, Gouda” are your ride-out in the city of east Decatur songs. That slight Atlanta rap peaks out and the beat is laid down.

Voyeur’s EP is scheduled to dropped January 30 and with much anticipation, we support the movement. “I want the audience to experience something unusual, accept it, and relate. Be inspired if nothing else,” says Major. The producer goes on to joke that the “Voyeur EP is mysterious and sexy, like a one night stand with a stranger.”

voyeurEP(demo) by RomeFortuneSmallWorld

Not to be confused with anything Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey related, the self-proclaimed “Afro-slash-pop” group, Fool’s Gold, is picking up much traction these days. The five-piece sonance collective showcased their cultured sound while headlining for the long anticipated Red Hot Chili Peppers 2011 European tour. Given their take on African music, indigenous yet á la mode, Fool’s Gold is beginning to accumulate a reputable character and cosmopolitan fan base all the same. Despite the fact, a notable sculpting of their signature sound has materialized throughout their chronology since 2007; Fool’s Gold to Leave No Trace, these guys have attained a collaborative nirvana through positive narcissism in a euphonious self-realization.

Originating in Los Angeles, California, what came to be known as Fool’s Gold is the product of Israeli emigrant Luke Top and California native, Lewis Pesacov’s shared love of African music. Top, a vocalist and bassist, and guitarist Pesacov assembled a twelve member band consisting of established musicians to construct the sound they had envisioned. On their self-titled debut album, Top’s Israeli influence reigned lyrically, as he sang chiefly in Hebrew, only partially in English; because of so, the album became more so a personal journey for him through decoding a culture from which he then felt estranged. The album entered the refreshingly unfamiliar domain of Organic P-Funk.

Considering the Western audience’s distant comprehension of both their Hebrew lyrics and African sound, the communal Fool’s Gold experience was originally centered around the band’s “jam” factor. Today, on the contrary, the Fool’s Gold image has taken a directional shift in its defining ingredient. While still maintaining a Western touch on African roots music, the band has integrated more English lyrics, and subtracted seven group members from the initial twelve, which in turn reflected the more concise, synth-sahara feel on their most recent album, Leave No Trace.

In light of their refined band structure and worldly sounds, Fool’s Gold could ask for no better reward than headlining for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. On touring, Pesacov claims this one “the most incredible tour [we’ve] ever been on in our entire lives.” From their “great fans” in Paris to the “dancy” Dutch, Europe, he says, is “always fun.” Pesacov admits to favoring smaller, more “intimate” venues, wherein “you connect and everybody’s alive when [they’re] playing music,” but the band is happy to play for anyone who appreciates music whether it be a large or small venue.

The music community has only known Fool’s Gold for a mere five years, but the clan has far from failed in connecting with its fans across the world; from California to Israel to Europe, the globetrotting Fool’s Gold remains ever libatious on the ears and light on their feet with their newfound unparalleled complexion, as best dictated in their latest release, Leave No Trace.

The tracks are set to be released via Daz’s upcoming imprint I-Kue Recordings. Sniff, Sniff, no time for cries. Go ahead, indulge and get all the way into this one.

Download: Young Jeezy – I Do (Sammy Bananas Bootleg)

The psychedelic eroticism on songs like “Heartbeat” featuring vocals by Karima Harrison (Noot D’ Noot) serve as pit-stops on the digital safari that is Planet of The Ape$. The effort has an infectious smoothness that you can’t deny and makes the more avant-garde musicality of everything surrounding the lyrics easier to swallow (pun, intended). “Yellow Gran Torino” sounds like something plucked straight out of Top 40 Radio from 1978, and it just feels good for no reason.

If there ever was such a thing as altruistic music, this would be it. Some songs are more adventurous like “Nu Africa” that finds female rapper, Corrine Stevie, boasting about how many gangsters she knows and how she likes to text her lover. She returns tenderer on the song, “Home (I Think about You).” She raps, “Tagging on the streets, just for the love of art.” That lyric explains the entire sentiment of the mixtape. Planet of the Ape$ is simply for the love of art and the desire to create, nothing less and if you feel something more, GREATeclectic isn’t taking responsibility. Each artist has made their niche in this distinctive planet that GREATeclectic has been so kind to let us journey into. Some places feel dangerous like the high-energy, vocoder-laden, Jay Scott-controlled dance floor anthem, “Light$.” “Bea$t” is the softer sister song to “Light$,” but with just as much attitude and danger present in the music. Think if The Eurythmics and Lisa, Lisa & The Cult Jam decided to do a duet, it’s that addictive and seductive.

Planet of the Ape$ creeps in your ear like something new, but on further investigation you can hear the inspiration and the more vintage references as the album has deep roots in downtown, New York in the 1990’s. I’m talking Larry Levan. I’m talking Paradise Garage. It’s probably 2012, but it could very well be 1992. GREATeclectic has curated a tour de force of youthful sounds and ideas, and has consequently made a whole new planet out of his creativity, just in time for Earth’s eminent apocalypse. We just have to learn to share it with a lot of great music and a few primates.