A younger counterpart to the YBAs, M.I.A. is a medley of confidence, controversy and 21st century multi-media sensibilities, Ms Arulpragasam has always known how to get people talking – ‘Bad Girls’ isn’t any different.

Another collabo with director Romain Gavras, the video features middle eastern racing boys and girls performing car tricks and Hip-Hop dance routines in traditional dress. Visually stunning, from the tricks, styling and lighting to the dope x-ray style car.

Any artist that manages to get coverage from both The Wall Street Journal and Pitchfork on what they are about to do next is doing something right. M.I.A. understands the ‘what’s’ and ‘why’s’ of cultural relevance to markets, the media and the perception of being an innovative multi-media ‘artist’ and plays the right tune to get everyone moving. That’s not to say there isn’t artistry to what she does, but like Young British Artists before, M.I.A. is in the business of selling her vision.

Check out her label N.E.E.T (yep that’s right, the Not in Education Employment Training acronym) for epilepsy inducing graphics and a roster of artists including NY hipster-rockers Sleigh Bells.

Zebra Katz, from Brooklyn NYC, cleverly subverts the played out hyper masculine narrative to make a record about education.

Don’t think you can get a read on his character from this video alone, as Zebra also appears to be quite the Hipster.

You’ve 2 days to catch The Insomniax‘s debut on Earnest Endeavours as part of the Gilles Peterson show on Radio 1. Sure we’re chuffed at the airplay, but this only the very start of the journey. The track forms part of an upcoming promo release that’ll introduce the world to the EE roster; and what a fine little roster it is.

There’s a lot of exciting times ahead for us as we build The Insomniax brand. We plan on making daydreams a reality in 2012.

Bored with your over sized headphones already? Looking for alternative amplification? Well Mr Simo have got you covered with their Boomcases.

Take a leather or wood vintage suitcase, add a couple of sub woofers, top with a few customised features and there you have it; your own super stylish sound system.

Definitely targeted at the discerning muso and those with an undying love of handmade craftsmanship. The Boomcases are a quirky example of an up-cycled product made for new technology. A perfect pairing me thinks.

We’re dead proud of our former twenty%extra Art Director Samuel Craven, who’s gone on to pursue his dreams of being a music video director.

Sam’s latest work for Brownswood Records new artist, Gang Colours showcases his penchant for found Super 8 footage which he has used spliced with some original film to give a warm and familiar feeling.

A skeleton family, stripped of love and understanding for each other, coming together through a natural disaster to find the full embodiment of what family values really are.

A literal idea and description. Lateral execution and creativity. Remarkable work, all built, shot and edited by Craig Murray in 4 days in a very unremarkable room in Dalston, London.

As a record label with a vision, Stones Throw know that to thrive they need to go live. The modern artist need to be able to cut the mustard on stage. Much like the old skool artist in fact, but these things have a way of coming full circle.

Throughout the year, Stones Throw have been producing a series of live shows in a recording studio facility in east L.A. The shows are being recorded directly to vinyl with no computers, tape, or digital accessories used in the recording process.

To go Direct To Disk like this speaks volumes of the quality one is likely to expect when catching any of the Stones Throw roster live, which bodes well for artist and label alike.

Palm trees are the flavourGuitars, synths and sunshine. Calming blue sea and MJ in his prime. Lo-fi vid meets future hi-fi to create nearly 5 minutes of bliss from this Western Australia Dream Pop outfit.

Dam-Funk and Outrun. 25 years apart yet born of the same time. This is no retro remake folks, as the video is original footage of the game.

The music captures the feel of my memories from playing Outrun in the arcades to tee, thus connecting 25 years of good times. Am I showing my age? Aaah, whateva…

A really nice minimalist player and visual mechanism by Build for ‘Close’ – an anonymous music collective – comes slightly undone by a webpage that annoyingly rescales the image and has no pause on the player. The beautifully shot images by Benjamin Grillon are in a very high resolution, so you can scale them until your hearts content. but it’s the ‘scaling down’ that is the issue.

Bit of a shame, as this promo site looks pretty damn sexy. The music’s not too shabby either (I’m particularly feeling Beam Me Up). It’s worth noting that the Build boys are some of our favourites in the design stakes. It’s just that a little bit of polish in the programming / coding department would have seen this project do more than come close, but hit the mark entirely.

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.

When Friday Comes it should always sound like this. Another sneaky treat from the forthcoming Love She Wants EP by The Insomniax ft. Roses Gabor.

The Insomniax will be hosting an After Carnival Party Special today at Life on Old Street, with DJ’s Rapzcallion (Blacktronica) and Dan Anderson (A2B Records), not to mention a live performance of material from The Insomniax’s forthcoming Love She Wants EP, and live radio broadcast on Nasty.fm from 12-2AM.

Don’t say we don’t spoil you, ’cause we do.

It’s Bank Holiday Weekend! If you’re in London for the weekend we have two hot spots for the diary.

Today Earnest Endeavours, Black Atlantic and Dante Fried Chicken team up to bring you Ride or Fry an alternative carnival cook up. DJ’s include Alexander Nut and Fatima, Jon Phonics and more. What started as the KFC R.I.P. loft jams in New York almost a decade ago comes to Mare Street, Hackney. Good music and music come as standard, so do like me and start making room in your belly now.

If there were any debate as to how much talent is required to make it in a very competitive world of creativity, the debate ends now.

Nikita von Teickenberg is a graphic design student from Hannover, studying at Fachhochschule Hannover (FHH), which is – you guessed it – Hannover Germany.

Nikita”s video for Anstam as part of a University project sets the standard for work ethic and execution. Plus it’s a liiiittle bit spooky, with references to The Grudge / The Ring to boot.

Out in the streets, people are doing more than shopping for new clothes and furniture. History has shown that democracy in action isn’t always pretty. Many are now realising that their democratic rights can’t be fought from the comfort of the living room sofa.

If there were a soundtrack to ‘conscientious uprising’, Africa Hitech’s ‘Out In The Streets’ would be it. At twenty%extra™ we created our own version of the video in response to the poignant chorus, which could literally be a soundtrack to our times. Spread the word.

New music from The Insomniax. The Love She Wants is the music you need. If you have bass bins then I suggest you turn them up, because laptop speakers won’t cut it.

Stones Throw are marketing geniuses. The Stones Throw Video Contest which launched back in April and ends today is proof of that.

Such is the nature of genius that it attracts, well, genius. Enter Samuel Craven with a final day entry that’s already got the attention of Mr Perkins himself.

Sam’s video for Flowers provides all the essential ingredients for a summer video: it’s beautiful, calming and uplifting and works in perfect harmony with the track. Sure I’m biased but it deserves your vote, or at least a play or two.

If you’re making a film or advert, there are few things more crucial or overlooked than the soundtrack.

During our recent work on Green Stories, ‘the soundtrack’ has been an interesting challenge. Thanks to Sam’s eclectic ear and The Insomniax’s knack for composition, it was a challenge that we rose to.

The subject indirectly leads me onto one of the catchiest and utterly spot on pieces of music for the Ikea Kitchen Party spot by Mother. The campaign launched last year and has recently made a resurgence, with a soundtrack so good that I initially thought that I’d heard it before. Turns out that I probably had.