My guy, Offwhyte,
just put out his third album Mainstay (on
Galapagos4).
I haven't heard all of it yet, but when we did some shows
out in the San-Diego area earlier this year I heard him
rock quite a few of these tracks live...and, yes, they were
live! So I'm excited to check out the full album. You should
too! And while you're listening, you may notice a little
track on there called Somedaywhichfeatures Lord 360. I'm glad to finally see it out
there too, we recorded that song YEARS ago and I always
dug the bugged-out dream concept..and the tempo (produced
by Meaty Ogre). Check it out!
Nice
cover, yeah?
So, here's the press release.
On his
third studio album, Offwhyte offers a soundscape filled
with charismatic philosophies and cogent imagery. "Mainstay"
provides a magnificent listening experience for the vibe-driven
styleenthusiast and lyrical junkie alike. Boasting a beautifully
eclectic range of songs and sounds, thealbum is a breath
of fresh air in this era of identity crisis and unwarranted
braggadocio.
Since
its inception in 1999, Offwhyte has been a mainstay of the
Galapagos4 empire. A co-founderof the label, Offwhyte set
things in motion with Galapagos4's first full-length release,
"Squints by Offwhyte". Since then, he has played
a major part in the label's operations - both behind thescenes
and behind the mic, releasing "The Fifth Sun"
LP in 2002 and the controversial "Bow ToThe Sceptor"
EP in 2004.
Throughout
it all, Offwhyte has been a mainstay of underground originality
and sly wordplay. Withthis new release he personifies this
notion. The artist has tapped into a new grittier sound
withtracks like "GWARN!" and "Whimsical",
while never compromising his mellower soul ballads like"The
Metropolitan People". The album also packs plenty of
surprises, including a few tracks withsubtle reggae influences,
and a storytelling track about his grandfather, "Wise
Conscience".A highly-anticipated album, "Mainstay"
finally emerges on November 13, 2007. With 15 tracksand
almost an hour of music, the project flaunts a fluidity
that transforms a collection of greatsongs into a monumental
album.
::::
16 November 2007 :: I guess I'm hitting all the right notes
::::
Oh,
forgot to mention Chris Cypher (AKA Lord 360) was featured
in an October 27th weekend Redeye article, titledHitting All the Right Notes. It was some kind
of "Meet Your Neighbors" thing where I'm talking
about various Chicago spots, Rogers Park, Morseland
and music. Check out the online version of the article on
Metromix.
(also
added to the Press section
in Propaganda.)
MEET YOUR NEIGHBORS: Chris Cypher, 27,
musician/patron at Morseland, photo by Kinga.
Ha,
actually it kinda lies saying I'm 27 when in fact that's
wasn't technically true...at the time. However, next week
(on the 24th) it will be........um, yay.
-C.
Cypher
::::
23 September 2007 :: New(ish) Music to Listen to ::::
The track Previously Pillaged (featuring
Blueprint) is now posted on my...myspace.
If you haven't heard the album, check it out...if you have,
I don't know, listen to it again and add it to your profile
page or something. ha
Expect
another track from the album to be added later in the week
or so!
Yeah, it's been awhile. I've been hibernating. Playing too
many videogames, but even more important been making a lot
of new music! A little hiphop, but mostly other stuff. There's
the DubZootSig project, which is the more electronic
based stuff (grime/elektro/drum&bass/house/dub/blahblah.etc.ish.whatever)...featuring
360 emceeing with vocals by Chris Cypher. ha. I've also
been writing a lot of songs for Te Cypher project,
which is all singing....should be...eclectic, yup. I'm also
recording some tracks for other folk's albums which I'll
elaborate on closer to release. So things are quiet at the
moment, but there's more to come. Who knows, maybe I'll
put some clips or something up in a bit.
Oh,
and I've taken down the forum until I can properly deal
with the influx of spammers....it's getting ridiculous!
Yeah, thanks!
-360
::::
22 July 2007 :: 360 is Simpsonized ::::
Now, I'm still not getting my hopes up about this upcoming
Simpsons Movie. I mean, it could be good, but the
30 min. series to 2 hour film conversion hasn't typically
had a great track record so I'm keeping my expectations
very safe and low. However, I have to admit I've definitely
been liking some of the marketing that's accompanying the
movie release. First there's the 7-11/Kwik-E-Mart conversions
(more on that later) and a Simpsons game which maaay
not actually suck. Then the website,
which while I'm sure has other interesting stuff I wouldn't
have a clue since I came for one thing only...to be made
into a Simpson.
Let's take a look at the 360 transformation.
360
in real life.
360
as self-interpreted with marker.
360
via Matt Groening (kinda)
So there you have it, although the designers seemed a bit
lacking on the curly hairstyles..so that was the best I
could do. Again here's the Simpsons
website to make your own character.
Now go post one of yourself in our Message
Forum....or even post up other people.
In
(very) local news, I have to say I was actually kinda proud
of the little Rogers Park Clark Street Fest that
went on last week. It was on (of course) Clark Street and
only spanned about 3-4 blocks starting from about Morse
going Northward...but it was actually very well attended
on the Sunday I went, had a lot of neighborhood restaurants
representing with booths, a few spots selling decent beer,
and live bands playing at each end of the festival area
(and without the sounds of one interfering with the other
somehow). Obviously since it's on Clark, it was heavily
weighed towards Mexican tastes but there were some others
representing like Morseland,
Harold's, and a few Caribbean spots, Heartland Cafe, plus
some chains..and for some reason there were HELLA stands
selling (I assume) knockoff sunglasses. I mean I find it
pretty hard to believe one can offer a "buy-one get-TWO
free" deal on Armani shades...unless, of course, they're
knockoffs (...or stolen). They, of course, also had the
typical jewelry stands, music stands, knick-knacks, and
so on. Quite a few catered towards children and various
churches too. So it wasn't the most impressive festival
ever, but it was our neighborhoods and for what it was it
didn't suck. Plus, Harold's was hookin'up 4 legs with fries
for 4 bucks (and more importantly without the usual 10 min
wait)...this pleased me.
Actually for me though, the highlight of the festival was
this street artist who had this alternative spray-paint
technique. Unfortunately I forgot his name, but he used
spray-paint in a manner quite different from your run-of-the-mill
graff artist. When I first saw the familiar mist of paint
in the air, coming from a graffiti past I was naturally
expecting some type of graffiti-themed art, but instead
his style revolved more around space, pyramids, surreal
landscapes and a few city skyline pieces. Not all of his
pieces were really to my taste, but watching his technique
was enlightening (and it was due to more than just the cloud
of spray-paint fumes I was inhaling). He'd spray on layers
of paint, then use a variety of tools (like sheets of paper,
knife and brush handles, etc.) to scrape out the colors.
I've since found a whole bunch of footage with the same
technique on youtube (of course) so lemme just show you
a few rather than try to explain.
So go ahead and click, but I'm warning you, you may want
to turn off the volume first. Here's a suggestion, mute
this video and go put on some Pink Floyd or something.
Here's another clip where an artist takes this technique
in a different direction.
Yeah,
so I made up for my brief lull in updates by making this
one too long.
Oh well, til next time.
Technically I'm not posting this on the 4th, but since that's
my headline I'm gonna use a little creative license...I'm
sure you won't lose sleep.
Anyway, rather than BBQ-ing like every other warm-blooded
American, we just went for hamburgers at Moodys....hey,
at least I don't go to sleep smelling like charcoal, that
counts for something, right? stretching, yes.
So... more exciting we have Swift's new album Get
it How You Want It in stock. Just newly released
on Jacob Thomas Entertainment, this zoot is definitely coming
right with this one! Check out some of his tracks at Swift's
myspace page, then head on back here to purchase it
at our CI Shop.
(So,
let's have a look at the album cover.)
So pick it up, it's tight! Representing
from Evanston (that's right north of Chi for y'all out-of-towners)...I've
known this cat for some time now and he's good people, but
forreal the album speaks for itself. Then again, I don't
really put garbage albums in my store anyway, so let that
speak as well.
enjoy.
-360
::::
28 June 2007 :: The Fly has Blown ::::
So, last Saturday was an....interesting show. It was at
the Note, and attendance was sparse, to say the least. Now
of course to me, this unfortunate circumstance was greatly
magnified by the fact that I had to take on the honorable
role of the opening-opener, which I admit I haven't had
the "pleasure" of doing for quite some time now.
;)
First
of all, I have to thank the work crew (and company) for
coming out to support and damn near doubling the audience
during the set. ha
So, Scheme, Decay, and Astonish (of the Molemen)
went on and rocked a solid set. Which, unfortunately, I
missed almost half of due to a necessary desperate-cheap-fast-food
hunt. But the part I did see, I thought was pretty good,
so I'll have to check out the full set next time. Blueprint
went afterward, and by then the audience had SWELLED from
a mere drizzle to a....slightly harder drizzle. Still, he
put on a good show playing a lot of new unreleased songs
to a small but enthusiastic audience.
Finally,
the insanity that was Blowfly. Now I'm not gonna front like
I was previously well-versed on their former legacy, essentially
precursors to the whole Miami Bass scene...but the little
I knew of them had me expecting insanity and hijinks...maybe
even a shenanigan or two. First of all, off jump you gotta
give it to a 70 year old frontman who's able to scream like
James, say "muthafucka" enough to make Scarface
blush, and get women not half but a THIRD his age up on
stage dancing. Honestly though, beyond "muthafucka,"
"bitch," "dick" and "R.Kelly"
I couldn't really understand much of what he was saying
anyway...still the band, who were dressed as equally strange,
played a good funky backing and they all had their respective
energy. Speaking of dress, OK I think these two pictures
(courtesy of Kinga)
can sum up the whole evening:
All
in all, yes..an interesting night. Well, at least I got
to catch up a bit with Print, as well as PNS. The smaller
audience also provided the opportunity to have deeper dialogue
with some of the folks in attendance...and sell a little
merch. So to Kinga the photographer, Mr. Enthusiastic MC
with the arm-microphone tattoo (who got points for having
the old Slaughterhouse V album), and the chill dude by the
bar..thanks for the chats. And respect to MPShows
(and Overflo)
may next time be bigger and better!
-360
::::
21 June 2007 :: A Fly is Blowing ::::
Show Update (yeah, kinda short notice)
This Saturday, 6/23/2007
08:00 PM @ The Note
1565 N. Milwaukee
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Cost:12 at door (10 presale)
In
other news, the forum is now back up and working, so sign
up and start posting!
(Click here)
That's all for now.
ez.
-360
::::
13 June 2007 :: Late..Spring Cleaning in Check! ::::
So here we are again. As you can see, the format has been
remixed again. I'm trying to take a "simple is better"
approach. This is also going to be a bit more blog style.
Keep it casual and direct.
As
of recent, I admit I've been hibernating a bit, working
on some other projects which should come to light soon.
However, with the summer you shall see and hear much more
out of the CI camp. Now for an image that I hope is familiar
to you by now...If not, please get acquainted.
So, have you picked up the Lord 360 Album yet? **Note:
this means purchase, not download. ha...nah, but really**
The
Anomaly LP (The Battle Cry)
is for sale at our store, so show your support! Not
only is it a hot album but it features my artwork as well,
so support the endangered CD media format while you still
can. Click on Projects to listen
to clips from the album.
