Randall’s Animals presents new narration for a real clip on the honey badger, “the most fearless animal on earth” according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Randall seems to agree with Guiness, even though he calls the honey badger a sleepy fuck.

I just wrote an article about the Gregory Brothers and remix video, but now I’m a tiny bit remorseful I didn’t find this first.

Spotted this morning: a “For Sale” sign on the front door of Baba. What happened? Another one bites the dust…..

Tonight, catch Nico Muhly and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus performing Tell The Way a collaborative piece based on medieval folk tales. Not only does it feature hit composer Nico Muhly and a bunch of awesome kids, but also Bryce Dressner of The National, Sam Amidon and Bishi. Check out this video from the rehearsal.

You have three chances to see the performance: tonight, tomorrow and Saturday. All at St. Ann’s Warehouse. Check out the Brooklyn Youth Chorus website for more info.

Take a song – in this case songs written by them, but not necessarily – and have Deerhoof play it. They will play it accurately. They will play it loudly. And they will fuck it up in a way that makes you rethink what you thought about songs in the first place and why you think you might play them. Last night the band played a powerhouse set at Europa, celebrated frontwoman Satomi Matsuzaki’s birthday and in general proved that they are one of the most important live bands currently on the scene.
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Cutting-edge British instrumentalist Jaime xx (better known as 1/3 of the critically-acclaimed the xx) makes admittedly strange bedfellows with Gil Scott-Heron, the 61-year-old soul singer whose signature spoken-word style influenced generations of hip-hop greats, as well as black militant activists back in the 1970s.

But collaborate they have, and the result is something unlike anything we’ve heard before. “We’re New Here,” Jaime xx’s album-length remix of Heron’s latest album, adds dubstep-inspired underpinnings to Gil Scott’s gravelly vocals, with warm waves of reggae marrying electronica and hip-hop with remarkable ease.

The album doesn’t drop until February 22, but for a limited time smartphone users with HTML5 can stream the entire thing here, via the XL Recordings/Young Turks “We’re New Here” album transmitter.

The stream is limited to users located within the range of one of the broadcast stations, but that shouldn’t be a problem: according to the website, there are three transmitters in Williamsburg alone, including one near Hope and Roebling, a second at N. 5th and Bedford, and a third at N. 6th and Berry.

If the radio gods still refuse to smile on you this dreary Wednesday day, you can preview one of the album’s most affecting tracks, the hypnotically beautiful, reggae-tinged “I’ll Take Care of U,” here:

Not as good as the original (how could it be) but still pretty amazing to see Joan rock the shit out of this Modern Lovers classic.

Before all the news about the birds falling out of the sky in Arkansas and Sweden and around the world, the original bird-themed terror (if you don’t count Alfred Hitchcock, or whoever…) came from James Nguyen’s masterpiece Birdemic: Shock and Terror. The movie has made its way around the country at midnight screenings in art house theaters, and now it’s coming out on Blu-Ray and we are celebrating!

Rerun theater in DUMBO will host a free screening on Wednesday night. If you’ve seen the movie, you might want to bring coat hangers. If you haven’t, you will probably get that reference after attending the screening. Doors are at 9, so you can get your drink on before the show (recommended), and the screening starts at 10.

Joseph O'Neal, joan of arc, 27.5" x 64" acrylic, chalk on found wood

They say it might snow again this weekend. I am so over this weather. Come in out of the cold, and don’t miss , Imaginary Arms, an exhibition of paintings, sculpture and photography opening Saturday at ARCH Collective NYC, 390-400 Troutman St. The show features bluetan art collective members Joseph O’Neal and recent addition Joe Strasser, along with Clark Russell, Grover Watts and Jeremy McDaniel. Rumor has it, the the avant-garde pirate Alex Chaplin, might show a secret installation.

Joseph O’Neal claims North Carolina as his lifelong home, but resides in Brooklyn. Critics say his work “creates a transcendental dialogue through a system driven by the archaic. Symbols, phonetics, and imagery come descendent from a past that, in the words of Motherwell, ‘…could only have been conceived of at present.” According to O’Neal,

“The work consists of two variables: the problem and the resolution. Both variables are present in the end result, like the shaking of hands at a peace treaty. The handshake dissolves my relevancy.”

Jeremy McDaniel is a sculptor and installation artist from Atlanta. A military school dropout, he feels his art is imperative to his discipline.

Joe Strasser worked often with bluetan, and recently fell in to the ranks. If an artist is influenced by his surroundings, The now Brooklyn based Strasser has a lot to go on; the suburbs of New Jersey, a van on a Hawaiian beach, a campground in Woodstock, to Miami, Fl. Of his work, he said,

“ It has taken me over 20 years to completely paint what I want. My work is mostly about using found material and placing it in a new context and giving it new life. This creates a certain kind of poetry with the found detritus. I also believe sex and death should always be present in a piece…”

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We still have to wait awhile to hear Toro y Moi’s followup to 2010′s Causers of This, but in the meantime, he’s got a mixtape:

Toro y Moi is a bit of a hero here at FACT, and not just for his music. The filter-heavy, daydreamed pop music of last year’s Causers of This found him grouped in with the “chillwave” sect of post-Ariel Pink bedroom artists, but whereas most of his contemporaries revel in the safety of washed out, faux-Polaroid style press shots, Toro y Moi wears amazing clothes, has an awesome dog, and isn’t afraid to show it off in high definition. Fuck you tumblr, Toro’s aiming for GQ.

And as the music so far leaked from his forthcoming second album, Underneath the Pine, appears to prove, Toro’s music contains got lasting power way beyond that of trends. Recent cuts like ‘Still Sound’ and ‘New Beat’ identify him as one of the most natural songwriters to have emerged in the past few years, while recently inaugurated dance project Les Sins invites fans to meet another side of Toro; one also explored in his FACT mix, which features the likes of Motor City Drum Ensemble, Mount Kimbie and Harald Björk.

Grab it here.