Laura Mvula, the small town girl with the big voice headlined the Bowery Ballroom on Monday night and she left New Yorkers startled and pleased — so pleased she received two encores. Before then, we didn’t know much about her. What a great way to experience her — live. Get to know the beautiful 25-year-old British soul singer-songwriter from Birmingham through her latest visuals below:

Latest:

Most Creative:

Most Watched:

This is the first video we watched and we fell in love with Laura.

For more Laura Mvula, visit her well-dressed website and support her debut record on iTunes.

On the hottest day we’ve experienced yet, Aceyalone shares his brand new single from his new LP “Leanin’ On Slick“, dropping next week on Decon. Listen to “Pass The Hint” and if you love it, preorder it here.

Started in 1998, the Los Angeles based Junk Food Clothing is a pop culture licensing powerhouse and the fashion industry’s cornerstone for vintage graphics from over 800 brands including the NBA, NFL, artists, major rock bands, movie franchises, comics and consumer products. Graphics range from popular music television’s rock out brand “MTV” to colorful retro cartoon characters such as Peanuts, Disney’s original Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, DC and Marvel Comics‘ original character series to other top brands like Coca-Cola. They also feature art-inspired tees and simple, edgy, wordplay designs. Items on sale range from short to long-sleeved tees, tanks, and hoodies. Sizes range from small to XXL in women’s and men’s, and they also carry select styles for children.

Graphics have a faded, raw, hand-sketched, or distressed appeal most likely water based prints guaranteed to have a soft-hand feel that will rival your favorite tee pulled from grandma’s dryer. Junk Food immediately became the celebrity t-shirt of choice and has been featured on more A-List celebrities than any other t-shirt brand. Check out GrungeCake‘s celebrity spotting of Junk Food Clothing below:

Most recently, Taylor Swift killed it in and over-the-top stage show at last night’s Billboard Music Awards in Junk Food‘s “Unicorn Tee” during her first live performance of “22“. Celeb Harry Styles rocked Junk Food‘s “Kiss Vintage Inspired Tee” in Milan while blowing kisses and greeting fans. Also, celebrity fashionista Heidi Klum‘s daughter Leni wore a “Batman Hoodie” on a family outing and Cheryl Burke from Dancing With The Stars also donned a sexy off the shoulder graphic tee! Check out Junk Food Clothing and shop this fun American Pop culture brand online now by clicking here.You can also find Junk Food Clothing in these fine department stores: Nordstrom, Bloomingdales and other specialty stores nationwide.

Designer Olivier Rousteing was inspired by Cuban / Latin influences from a visit to Miami. The use of black and white tile patterns and intricate basket woven designs gracefully resemble wicker furniture. Big 90′s shoulders, high waistlines, and loose fitting trousers also make an appearance in this decadent collection. Balmain’s cohesive collection tied together with leather and select denim pieces combined glamour, and royal detailing reminiscent of Kings and Queens. In fact, when I originally viewed this collection, it reminded me of royalty with an edge – I immediately thought of a Queen of Diamonds playing card. The bold black and white diamond patterns trump the other pieces with eye catching chromatic contrast, while couture quality embellishments simply made me fall in love! Rousteing took two seemingly opposite and benign inspirations and intertwined them effortlessly.

We absolutely love it! Kudos to Miley and Olivier Rousteing, the designer of the Balmain Spring 20143 Ready-to-Wear Collection. View their lookbook.

In my brief interview below with Antonio Sabàto, Jr., he discusses the abundance of pressure that men between the ages 35-55 tend to face and often feel when pursuing women in the current times. Because there’re so many things to do during the 24-hour day, dating tends to be the last thing on their minds and it’s becoming quite a challenge. Actually, they prefer finding women online, in their comfort, through dating services like AnastasiaDate.com.

“It’s more exciting and it’s more fun,” he says.

AnastasiaDate.com minimizes the pressure these men feel and not to mention, there are many beautiful, exotic women to connect with on their website. In fact, they are known for having the most beautiful, exotic women in the world. Watch to see why online dating seems to be so successful and to hear what special tips Antonio has for the shy guys.

*This segment was brought to you by AnastasiaDate.com. For more information, start here and happy dating.

I get to create my own Dubstep name? Also there is a DJ “Meme” generator on the site? Awesome, where did you get the idea from to put these on the site?

Dubstep gained a lot of popularity [in] the last few years and I am always a fan of fun, little online gadgets. Something to entertain in a fast and simple way. Dubstep came with some new vocabular – A lot of DJ names sound different — than let’s say — house. So, therefore, I thought it would be cool to create a simple tool that automatically could create unique dubstep names. Some results have a novelty feel to them and others could very well be used as true DJ names.

When it comes to the DJ meme generator it was a bit of the same thing. I wanted to provide the new generation of dance music lovers with a tool to caption pictures of their favorite (or least favorite) DJs. Some of the memes people came up with are quite clever

Your site (Hammarica) primarily was the proper link from media to artist (DJ) in the fashion of press that involved PR Services, interviews and more. Why take on a new venture of the 657 DJ Agency and start booking DJ’s and making it this simple for promoters?

I’ve been a professional in the dance scene for many years now. Since I made a lot of great connections, it makes sense to use these in different ways. I started Hammarica with PR because at the basic level, everything starts with promotion. Artists working with the new 657deejays.com agency can be assured to be promoted very well. Furthermore, as a PR person you need to have everything in order and can’t skip a beat (pun intented) since you constantly work with hundreds of people at the same time. This quality is exactly the same a booking agent should have. I have plans to extend the Hammarica brand in even more directions, but everything at its own time.

Is there an estimated duration of time that you hope a possible promoter would spend viewing bios and completing the booking form associated with those artist’s profiles? Hence you’d like for all information requests submitted be accurate and not arched carelessly.

The most important thing is that the right artist gets booked for the right party. As an agent, I need to know all the details about an event so I can make sure the promoter makes the right call related to an artist booking. Filling out the forms takes a few minutes, but it will take away hours of headache when done correctly. At the same time it’s important that the artist is well taken care of. Both financially and logistically. In the end, we all want an event to go in the books as another legendary night for all parties involved.

Is there a motivation to extend and build your network or DJ’s beyond EDM or are you content with who you represent now?

Hammarica is an EDM/dance music brand and there are no plans at this moment to handle other genres. Dance music is what is in my blood; It’s second nature really. Yet, I do want to build the roster quickly. Adding more artists from more sub genres of EDM. I just added the legendary Dreamteam to the roster. The Dreamteam is a four man group that started 20 years ago. The members of The Dreamteam: DJ Dano, Buzz Fuzz, DJ Gizmo and MC Da Mouth Of Madness were pioneers of the hardcore genre and I’m very excited to bring that sound to The United States, Canada & Mexico.

There is no question Hammarica broadens the channel to connect promoter to artist, artist to promoter through the online site of 657 DJ Agency. How long has the idea of creating this avenue for promoters been persisting?

Hammarica has to be a broad dance music brand not only focusing on one part of the industry. I started Hammarica bout a year ago, but I had always the plan to do it this way. When it comes to the States, there are only a handful well respected DJ agencies. Tons of artists all seem to want to get connected with these. Yet these agencies are already well occupied with their current rosters. I want to break the market open with artists that are deserving of a stage. These artists can be of the new generation, they can be superstars, or they can be legends. But the main mission is to provide the EDM scene with the very best performers available.

To check out the whole roster, simply click here. To stay up to date with everything Dance, join the community on Hammarica and Facebook.

Despite his personal relationship issues — which we really shouldn’t know about or [negatively] comment on at all — Kanye West dresses his world-renowned Dickhead title to a tie this round. Reportedly, our 35-year-old musical authoritarian is set to release Yeezus, his eighth studio album out June 18th. In style, the night before, West premiered a projection rapping the lyrics to “New Slaves” on sixty-six buildings all over the world, in legendary PSA fashion.

Grossly in love with the intensity and fury of his new records and its awakening intent, we cannot help but acknowledge his genuine lamenting. After all, he is the son of a former Black Panther. By the looks of it, Kanye West has gone back to his roots of social responsibility and challenging the oppressors.

We can hear a well-known sports sample (that I cannot credit because I don’t know what to search for) and we are most definitely loving the rock influences. In addition, as designers, we overappreciate the graphics in the videos projected behind him. It really drives the messages in his lyrics home. Lastly, sonically, both records remind us of Saul Williams‘ “The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust“. If you are unfamiliar, listen to it on Spotify here and watch both performances below.

Artwork by Sushi Disco

Hi! I am in the middle of listening and writing a proper review for this project. Because you love doing everything I tell you, you’ll get a kick out of doing what I say below:

Support Nocando and buy Tits ‘N Explosions here.

Contemporary reggae band The Courtney John Project is an audio and visual journey which has graduated from the Yardy dance and EDM sounds of Major Lazer. The Courtney John Project has transcended your typical reggae experience with “Soul of a Man“. The dark, cult like imagery and painted faces, gets the message of hidden faces and lost souls across to the viewer. While “Black Cinderella” and “Nothing For free” are more rooted in traditional lover’s rock riddims, opening with the familiar smooth tunes, and mashed up with a euro-electronica undertone – Which they are aptly calling “rootstronic”. The rootstronic sound is rooted in the rawness of Kingston, Jamaica where the band members are from originally. Their sound fuses core melodies with EDM, and wicked drums and bass gives this group and edginess similar to the aura of a contemporary rock ‘n roll band.

This Kingston Mashup is an exceptional journey into music, bridging many cultural gaps and crossing many genres. The audio journey is not the typical mind numbing sounds that make us move and jump around like zombies, it is however, quite the opposite. While their songs don’t have many lyrics, the few songs that do are thought provoking, real and, groovy. Not just any groovy, it’s like firing up your lighter, blazing your spliff while you let the music communicate with your body – Groovy. The Courtney John Project has successfully created their own lane musically and we are coming along for the ride! Click here for the experience.

Although I’ve never worn a Durag, I must say this is by far genius of The Alchemist. A video that displays fifteen people sporting their durags fifteen different ways. I felt a sense of familiarity with the people that were in this video. You would too. It’s quite rad to see all of these people simply because they all each seem to have a unique story about them. The video’s director Ricky Shabazz and the Boom Bap Boys did an excellent job with the focus of it. No matter how different we all are, we can still share the same tendencies no matter what the circumstance. We may cut corners to look good, but at least us folks try. The video set in sunny side California features cameos by Evidence of Dilated Peoples, an hysterical scene of self-proclaimed rap singer Action Bronson rocking the “Shiesty Albanian Rag” as he swipes a wave brush across his beard and bald head effortlessly. My personal favorites were the “Nomadic Rag” and the “Urban Ninja Rag”. These are the most common styles that I witness.