Early last month, we introduced you to Boni through our SOUNDCHECK, as the newest soul diva of South Korea. At only 24, this young woman is on the verge of starting a new revolution in K-pop; a revolution that is about bringing back the soul to Seoul. Her music is reminiscent of the late 90s and early 2000s in not only Korean Pop music, but American styles as well. Her velvety voice dances easily between fun dance tracks and smooth ballads without missing a beat, and while this South Korean beauty has just stepped on the scene, she’s already gained an international following. Having just released her debut mini album “NU One” in March of this year, she’s already made the rounds on South Korean shows like Mnet’s “The Pub” and KBS’ “Star Golden Bell,” and now, CrayonBeats brings to you her first English interview, especially for her international fans! Read on as we get to know this dynamic singer, Boni!

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Karl Iglesias, known as ¡Oye!, is an actor, an emcee, a poet, a mentor, and a director. He’s also Puerto Rican and from Milwaukee. He’s a two-time Wisconsin teen slam champion, and was the first artist to accomplish this goal at the age of 19 (which occurred in 2008). In 2009, his team at the UW took second place at the Collegiate Union Poetry Slam Invitational. Among many other things he’s accomplished, he also debuted his solo theater show, “If A Tree Falls“, across the country and was a featured artist in the 2009 Hip Hop Theater Festival in NYC as part of the “Young, Gifted, and Hyped” series.

He’s currently going to school at UW-Madison, and he’s a member of The First Wave Arts Ensemble. You might remember that he dropped his first solo album, “In My Mind“, in December. And two of the tracks from that album were also featured in our blog’s mixtape! Now that he’s been featured here on CrayonBeats quite a lot, it was time for an interview…
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“Women Are Heroes” is a project and exhibition. It’s part of the 28 Millimètres project, by the French artist, JR. Women Are Heroes is a tribute to the women who have experienced great difficulties and struggles in a world dominated by men. Particularly those living in the shadows of Africa, Asia, and South America.

JR films and photographs the women that want to share their stories – their painful pasts – with the world. And in turn, the women become models as their pictures are pasted onto walls of their villages (and all over the world), so everyone can see the life, the energy, and the joys that they still have within them. And see the happy future that they’re trying to build.
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Phantogram had me with the live version of “Make a fist” that I saw on youtube (video after the jump). I really liked what I had heard. Phantogram is a duo from Saratoga Springs, NY, made up of Josh Carter (guitarist) and Sarah Barthel (keyboardist). Their music has this combination of a psychedelic vibe, blended with trip-hop and electro-pop. It’s so good. And Sarah has a soft, beautiful voice.

Definitely a pleasure to come across. While they are new to my ears, I read on the internet that they formed in 2007, briefly took different paths, and reunited once again. For a little while they performed under the name “Charlie Everywhere”, but changed their name to Phantogram, after signing with BBE in 2009. They released a self-titled EP in 2009. They’ve performed at SXSW in 2009 and also opened up for bands such as Minus The Bear, Zero 7, Yeasayer, and more.

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You read the title right. For those of you who weren’t aware, Tiffny and I (Tiffology) were working on creating a mixtape/compilation album for our blog. It’s our very first. And after a couple months of putting it together, it’s finally here!

“The Primary Colors” is a compilation of artists featured in our exclusive interviews, SOUNDCHECKs, and general posts.

We really hope enjoy it. This is, hopefully, the first volume of many others to come. It features tracks from artists such as Stainless Steele, Wize Crack, Nomar Slevik, Elaquent, Dibia$e, Gimm박사!, Richie Cunning, Lilac, and more. Tracklist and download link after the jump.
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May 16th was the kick off to J-Summit NY’s new monthly Japanese Pop Culture festival held at The Studio @ Webster Hall. The monthly festival will host different facets of Japanese pop culture including music and fashion. Last Sunday evening, fans crowded The Studio for a  line up that featured five of NYC’s incredible Japanese rock bands: Lilac, Typherus, NoirceuR, Stella’s Attic,  and Hsu-nami. CrayonBeats was there to catch the first two acts in action.

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Tone Liv, aka Da Mayor, is an emcee from New Jersey. He’s one half of the 2-man group, Remarkable Mayor with B Stilt. And he’s also in the Green Llamas collective (post on that later). Anyway, back to Tone… he dropped “Path Train to Jersey” (on Domination Records) as a free EP. There are 10 tracks total, and it features artists Sosh B. Cardi, Yoshi, and Doh Boy. Production from people like Vincent Price, Tha S Ence, Scotty Beans, and a few others.

A small write-up, the tracklist, and download link are after the jump…
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Identical twin brothers HOW and NOSM (Raoul and Davide Perré) are graffiti artists and professional muralists. They were originally born in Spain, but grew up in Germany. They paint on anything they can get their hands on – canvases, skateboards, sculptures, mounds of snow, walls, toys, and more. They’ve traveled to more than 50 countries, painting their names on various surfaces. Their graffiti can be seen all over the world, including The Bahamas, Hong Kong, Costa Rica, Brazil, San Salvador, the Honduras, New York, and many others. They even blessed the Berlin Wall.

In the late 90s, they permanently moved to New York and became members of the world famous TATS Cru (other members are BIO, BG183, NICER, & TOTEM2). Painting for 22 years now, they’ve grown from hitting subways and trains, to custom-painted murals for corporate clients such as Nike, Coca Cola, Sony, MTV, and Kodak. If you live in the Bronx (specifically 163rd Street and Westchester Avenue), you might’ve seen the Big Pun memorial mural that Tats Cru painted (video at the bottom).

They are artists in various other aspects as well. They do graphic design, live painting / demo shows, promotional media, workshops, lectures, sculptures, writing and editing, and also tattooing.

Below is the interview that I had with them. Check it out…
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