NTS: a new community radio station based in Dalston, launched in April this year. The community in this instance is the bubbling sub-culture of electronic music influenced by a staple of soul, funk and jazz amongst others.

Their recent short gives you a glimpse into the beginnings of the station, their developing culture and a five-a-side football team. Que Umbro’s involvement and the second reason for my musings.

Umbro having taken tips from Adidas and Puma, have been quietly repositioning the traditional football gear company as a lifestyle brand, producing content featuring musicians Chase & Status, Liam Gallagher and Murkage and other sports stars.

En route to embedding themselves in pop culture, the Umbro Industries campaign focuses on supporting fledgling creative entrepeneurs in Manchester with £10k bursaries.

The trend of courting creative communities looks like one that will last for a while for culture savvy brands, ensuring buy in from taste makers and all that goes with it. Thus giving creatives alternative forms of investment from financial to profile raising.

Wow, we’re living in interesting times aren’t we?

We have a generation of young folk who have acquired touch-typing skills any Executive PA would be proud of, through constant texting/BBing and social media updates. Then on the other hand – an older generation who book holidays and pay bills online, happily declaring themselves as silver surfers.

The virtual world is here to stay. However, with the good there’s always the bad and the virtual world wouldn’t be in equilibrium, but spinning off its microchip axis.

With the genuine revolution of communication via the Internet, it’s also managed to feed the deeply narcissistic tendencies of human nature (along with celebrity obsessed culture, but that’s whole another conversation). Roll on social media, a place where everyone can feel a little loved, or indeed hated and maybe make up for those years of not being the most popular kid in school with 600+ virtual friends.

To help people celebrate and look over those vast ‘social media’ memories, Intel have created an app that allows Facebook users to create their own virtual museum. Now I do not have a personal FB account so haven’t tried it out personally. But because of the wonder of social media, I didn’t have to, I just needed to look at the inevitable YouTube uploads.

As I expected it looks like a super swish, stylish piece of work, making everyone’s ‘social’ life look like it could be entered for the Turner Prize. The things is that it needs to be slicker than the average. Clearly shot with Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind in mind, the Blue Sky thinkers who saw the opportunity to create an emotive connection with the device that ‘powers’ all this interaction – the Intel core i5 – what they’ve actually developed is a virtual stalker masquerading as gallery curator.

Our Sam in the office signed up, and felt a little disturbed by both how much he’d posted up online, and the things this Museum actually had access to. For many though, this app will achieve the desired effect, despite making us perhaps a bit more self-absorbed and a tad more virtually insular, as summarised by a quote on the Museum of Me YouTube page;

“This App is AWESOME. It’ll make you feel special and connected even if you think you’re not” – BiscuitXT 2 days ago

Leah Gordon presents an exhibition of photographs at the Side Gallery in Newcastle taken from the book Kanaval: Vodou, Politics and Revolution on the streets of Haiti .

Published by the stella Soul Jazz Records, this book promises an insight into a cultural event unblighted by threats of gentile Hyde Park routes and fizzy drinks sponsorship.

Notting Hill Carnival this certainly ain’t.

Wiley isn’t so much raising the bar, as he is defining where it should be set.

Apparently music is supposed to be a young man’s game. Over the last few years in particular, Wiley is showing that it’s really a smart mans game, with an alternative approach that continues to keep his growing audience guessing.

1:10 -1:17, second from left – an old skool move that may not show his age, but definitely shows mine.

The joys of Spring brought new faces to the office recently in the form of the Black Atlantic crew. When it comes to the club / cultural experience, Tom and Ben are raising the bar to create the equivalent of a pole vault event.

Only innovators need apply, and this weekend Berlin based producers Modeselektor will be joining Mala, Siriusmo and more at a secret warehouse party (location TBA).

Judging by the two wind turbine sized fans perched by their desks they’re expecting a bumper turnout, and with good reason it seems.

The Insomniax Radio Show on Nasty FM is a weekly musical journey that covers everything from Grime to Soul, Indie to Electro and Dubstep to Hip Hop.

You can catch them tonight and every Monday night from midnight til 2am, but if you have problems staying up past your bedtime, then simply pop to Mixcloud, where you can catch up on a months worth of shows.

Documentation is representation. If you don’t like the way you’re being represented, you’re best advised to get out there and represent yourself.

While traditional news outlets were busy portraying student activists as mindless, fire-hydrant wielding anarchists hell bent on destruction and the end of society as we know it, a young seventeen year old not only chose to organise a protest against EMA cuts in Lancaster, but she saw fit to document it with her own keen photographic eye.

The pics feature bright faces and poignant messages galore. I won’t say which one’s my favourite: it should be obvious.

: :

These images were exhibited last month at the 10 Gales Gallery in Bethnal Green.

There’s a beautiful story behind the late great J DIlla‘s album cover photography. Video director Andrew Gura tells the full story here, but the long and short of it is that Stones Throw Art Director guru Jeff Jank needed photography for the 2006 Donut’s EP. J Dilla was in no position to provide any due his ailing health, and that’s where Gura’s video-shoot offcuts came in.

Gura provided 3 stills from that shoot for possible inclusion on the cover. In turn, what at first might look like a generic shoot spawned what even J Dilla’s mother considered to be the perfect encapsulation of her son’s spirit.

Behind the smile lies a beautiful story indeed.

I’m not the type to be sifting through a 186 picture strong folder on BookFace. Really, I’m not. When those shots are taken by long time forerunner of the UK Graf scene Bunny Bread of Airheads fame then one has to pay attention dagdabbit.

London really is an amazing source of vibrance, vitality and character[s], but if you don’t believe me, then I’ll let pics do the talking. Normally, I’d only choose 3. How I only picked 5 is beyond me.

Soul Litchfield provides a musical tribute to talented graf writers everywhere. The vid features some very rare (and old) footage from Channel 6 News in Philadelphia, while the track features on King Britt’s Saturn Never Sleeps project.

: :

via KingBritt.com

Music through the back door is about to take over the high street.

Two of our family-favs combine as Rhythm Response (formerly known as Demon Sounds) provide cutting edge tuneage for cutting edge programming.

From the ashes of Rise comes the UpRise Anti-Racism Festival on October 3 in Finsbury Park London.

The previous incarnation went down in a blaze of contention and glory. Brazen Bunch, Zap! Bang! and twenty%extra™ have bowed to the will of the people to bring back an event that never should have left in the first place.

We’ve achieved an awful lot in a very short period of time, but there’s still much to do and funds to raise. So if you – like us – want to put our money where our mouth is so to speak, then please lend your support by joining the ever growing £1 Crew [larger donations ARE welcome], joining the FB page or just spreading the word.