Here on Killahbeez we post a lot of cutting edge music, artist, bands, and DJs. I consider myself a music snob to the fullest, but often we forget the more important stuff in life. Today (Dec 1st 2008) is World AIDS day, I’m going to start by saying I encourage everyone to go out and get yourself tested. Now that this statement is out of the way lets take a second and highlight a great event that is going down in LA. Tonight Dec 1st W Hotel LA will be host to the exclusive launch of (RED)wire a groundbreaking weekly digital music magazine that not only changes the way music is discovered, but also provides medicine for people who need it in Africa.

You will have inside access to a one-time online music viewing party featuring performances
from U2, John Legend, Sheryl Crow, The Killers, Coldplay and many more surprise guests.
Sip on INSPI(RED) cocktails and sign up to become a (RED)WIRE member on computer kiosks.
Experiencing music never felt so good!

Now some of you must be thinking “how will drinking and listening to music help fight AIDS in Africa?” Well have no fear Neran is here with all the answers!  While sipping and or guzzling on INSPI(RED) cocktails portions of proceeds will go to the global fund. So if you are in the LA area tonight, I encourage you to stop by and take a stand on fighting AIDS not only in Africa but all over the world. If you see me there ask the bartender for 2 drinks and pass one along to me, hey its for a good cause, and will also help put a stop to a disease that is taking over our world.

For more info on the event log onto www.whotels.com/redwire

Chill is a nonprofit learn-to-snowboard program whose mission is to build the self-esteem of underserved youth.

Come out to help local kids, win Burton snowboard gear, and bring in the winter!

Raffle prizes: NEW BURTON BOARD/BINDINGS SETUP, backpacks, hoodies, t-shirts and more!

Drink Specials: PBR, Bourbon & Whiskey & specials
This event is age 21 and over.

$12 Presale/$15 @ the Door (includes one raffle ticket)  Additional raffles: $5

Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Science Club
1136 19th St NW
Washington, DC

Source: UAR

As if we don’t rave enough about these cats, but on December 5th Keys N Krates have a huge show in their hometown of Toronto at Wrong Bar. Be sure to catch this live remix show because if you haven’t yet, then you are seriously behind. Nick Catchdubs from Brooklyn, New York will also be in the house mixing it up on the 1’s and 2’s as well.

Keys N Krates Feat. Nick Catchdubs (Fool’s Gold) & Le Pants Optional Friday Dec. 5th, 2008 Wrong Bar - 1279 Queen St. W (Toronto) Doors 10pm Cover $15 before 12am. Should be a huge show. Come out and show some love and support.

Check out this video interview that we did with DJ JR.Flo from Keys N Krates.

The day started off gloomy as a few of us were unsure if we wanted to hit the M83 show as it was the last day at the office for…ohhhh about 124 of us had our last day. But to be quite honest I’ve never seen a happier group of peeps leave a place before, myself included.

So with a day like that a few of us were in a chill mood, but I was convinced to check out M83. The first act, School of Seven Bells, came on the stage at roughly 9:30pm and WOW! The group, from Williamsburg Brooklyn (figures), came on and played a seriously solid set. I hadn’t heard of them before but I was definitely down with what I was hearing and the next day bought their record, Alpinisms. The band features twin sisters, Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and Benjamin Curtis formerly from Secret Machines. They very much had the crowd warmed up and going crazy. A solid act to look out for down the road most definitely.

After School of Seven Bells 5 – 6 song set, the stage crew came on quickly to re-configure the equipment and shortly after M83 came out to a host of screams and cheers. The group played songs off of the Saturdays=Youth album, but at one point a fan requested something older, to which Anthony Gonzalez replied with a “eeeeh, I don’t know about that one”. The crowd went crazy when “Kim & Jessie” came on and M83 could feel the love as they played with a warm smile on their faces. Actually they pretty much had this look on their face the whole night and the chemistry between Anthony and Morgan Kibby (from The Romanovs) was incredible. They had a certain connection and would send playful signals via quick glances.

Morgan Kibby’s voice is incredible I have to say. She had 90% of the guys swooning over her and I received a barrage of Blackberry messages from my friend Martinez, who was stuck in the back, to get as many pictures as I could of Morgan. Stunning and talented and held her own on stage with Anthony. One of the songs that would really capture me this evening was “Skin Of The Night”, the song is just so ominous with mad ‘80s flavor and Morgan’s voice just melts your face, pretty fuckin’ epic. When the fairly upbeat “Graveyard Girl” came the crowd immediately went into another dancing frenzy. Another song I quite enjoyed was “Up!” its definitely reminiscent of something quite familiar, but with an M83 twist all over it.

For the groups encore they played “Couleurs”, this track is so friggin’ next level. The layering on it alone is bananas, seriously! This was definitely a perfect way to end a night of solid performances from both School of Seven Bells and M83.

I want to thank Timbre Productions for allowing us to come in the house and take photos and write this review for you all. They put on a great production and bring in stellar acts. Check out their site www.timbreproductionsconcerts.com for upcoming shows in your city.

School of Seven Bells photos here
M83 photos here

DT
www.killahbeez.com

Here are the rest of the tour date stops.

Send a text to CMONDC at 69302 for entry.  Big ups to Larry for keeping me posted on this!

Commonwealth DC
1781 Florida Ave. NW
Washington DC, 20009
202.265.1830

You can also download Road To Till The Casket Drops at Complex on December 1s

Full Tracklisting:
1. Intro
2. The Haters Wish
3. Big Dreams
4. Lauren London Interlude
5. So Fly (Now We’ve Had Her)
6. Addiction
7. Pop Champagne
8. Numb It Down
9. S.L.U.
10. Swing Ya Rag
11. Lil Willie Interlude
12. Fed Taking Pictures

After all the Black Friday shopping, I’m sure some of you would want to do something in the evening.  Your hosts with the most, Scotbot and Houston got you covered.  The RIPOFF will be throwing a free event at the Rock & Roll Hotel off H Street.  Illy Emcee from Let Me Ride will be on the mic alongside Scotbot, Houston and the RRRUMP! djs from Atlanta.  I hope this doesn’t encourage Illy to start another rump shaking contest…  But anyhow, if you’re looking for a free indie dance party in DC, this is where you need to be.

Image Source: The RIPOFF
Rock & Roll Hotel
1353 H Street, NE
Washington, DC  2002

Rock-N-Jocks is in giving mood and wants to save everybody some money for the shopping season. So here’s a shopping promo code that you can enter, “rnj15″, at the checkout page and receive 15% off of all new era hats. This Sale is going on from November 27th-30th. So go take advantage of this sale at www.rocknjocks.com.

Art Whino presents Skin Deep. In this exhibit Jason Snyder explores our glossy exterior and how it is used to hide the person and feelings beneath what is superficial. Jason examines the struggle between the internal and external personae and the motivation for the great lengths we go to cover what we perceive as unattractive about ourselves.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Saturday, December 13th, from 6pm – Midnight 

Location:
173 Waterfront St.
National Harbor, MD 20745

Music by DJ Mikel Panda

Show end date: Jan 17th

The event is FREE and open to the public.

This should be another great exhibit featured at Art Whino’s Gallery.

Photo by David Thai

Earlier this summer I had an opportunity to catch Thunderheist at the Virgin Music Festival out in Toronto, except for one thing, I was busy reviewing and taking photos of another act, a small group by the name of MGMT. So suffice to say I was a bit bummed, but then was totally stoked again when I ran into Thunderheist in the backstage tent area, where the good peoples of Bacardi were serving us lots of free booze. I immediately jumped at the chance for an introduction. During this meeting of the minds, Isis performed a freestyle with my online magazine name, Killahbeez, that went on for a good minute at least and drawing a crowd. Then we were on stage dancing during MSTRKRFTs set. Definitely one of the dopest highlights of that weekend. So when I heard they were finally hitting the West Coast I was giddy like a 12-year-old schoolgirl.

The evening started off with the ½ Alive DJ crew which consists of: Tyler Fedchuk, My! Gay! Husband! and Tony X. These guys held it down and warmed the crowd up nicely as everyone was shaking it to their sets. They dropped some old school and I mean like Planet Rock type old school, hip-hop, New Order, MGMT and Breakbot’s remix of Pnau to name a few tracks.

Just shortly after 12:30, Isis made her way to the stage first and shortly after Grahm aka Grahmzilla joined her. Immediately the crowd was wildin’ pretty hard, those at the front, this includes yours truly, were getting squished against the stage. It was all worth it once the first track, “Bubblegum”, dropped. The energy that Isis had was pretty incredible and throughout the night she would maintain this frenetic pace. Showing some love to the crowd she at one point pulled a girl up on stage to dance with her, this said girl from the audience went buckwild and as she left the stage basically tripped over a chord and almost did a face plant onto the floor, luckily she was caught by a whole lot of people. Throughout the night both Grahm and Isis dove into the crowd to do a little surfing, very cool that they were keeping it mad real like that with the fans in the house.

Photo by David Thai

Also in the house for the night was director That Go and model Ana B, whom were both involved in the video / visual delight for the song “Jerk It”. During the song “Jerk It”, which was the last jam of the evening, Isis pulled Ana up on stage and the crowd went wild, then home girl basically threw Ana to the wolves for some crowd surfing, all of it was pretty hilarious to watch.

Thunderheist went on to perform jams that any fan would recognize, hitting “Horny”, “Little Booty Girl”, “Peer Pressure” and “Sueos Dulces”. At one point during the evening Grahm threw on MSTRKRFT’s song “Bounce” and asked if everyone recognized the voice. Of course! It was Isis. She went on to let everyone know that they had her do the track and never gave her any credit or form of payment, pretty wack considering both crews are from Toronto and that song blew up.

The performance was high energy and had yours truly and everyone else from the looks of it, sweating like a mofo. Grahm providing the ill beats while Isis slayed the mic all night long and provided some comedic relief, commenting on how unsexy she felt with the amount of sweat coming off of her and randomly making comments like “OBAMA BITCH!”. The show was great and the audience was dope as you could tell everyone was there to shake their asses to some good music, I would definitely have to recommend that all music heads experience a Thunderheist show as they bring the muthafuckin’ heat. How much heat you ask? I woke up with broken glass in my hair, bruised knee caps and sore calf muscles, wtf??? Much love to Tyler Fedchuk and the ½ Alive crew for hooking Killahbeez up with some tickets for a wicked show. Check out their website for upcoming shows and info: www.halfalive.ca. Stay tuned to the first quarter of the new year, as Thunderheist will have some goodies dropping.

If you like this review vote for me here.

For pictures of the event hit up my flickr page here.

One.

DT

I’m thinking about copping the Apple iPhone. So far, the only thing that Apple has revealed is an internet teaser ad.  The anticipation is building up for all the Apple fans at the moment!

For the Ladies:

Chanel has launched a special website for nine exclusive items, priced at $295-$3125.  These items are exclusively sold at chanel-exclusives.com and are not in stores.  The items are from Karl Lagerfeld’s 2008/2009 Cruise Collection.

Source: Fashion Weekly

100 pairs of Ray-Ban Wayfarers designed by Chris Mendoza will be released at NYC’s Sunglass Hut in SoHo.  Twenty-five percent of proceeds will be donated to Give the Gift of Sight.

Early birds get 20% off their entire purchase of $50 or more from store opening until 10AM at all H&M stores in the United States on Friday, November 28th.

On Friday, at 12:01 AM, the following H&M stores will open early for Black Friday:

Milpitas, CA: The Great Mall at Milpitas
San Francisco, CA: 150 Powell Street
Gurnee, IL: Gurnee Mills
Hanover, MD: Arundel Mills
South Portland, ME: The Maine Mall

All stores will have extended holiday hours. Please call your nearest store for exact hours.

Shopbop is has a special offer for US shoppers:

Spend $250 get $50 off
Spend $500 get $100 off
Spend $1000 get $250 off
Spend $1500 get $500 off

Enter THANKS2U at checkout. Offer ends at 12/1/08 at 11:59 PT.

Revolve Clothing is offering up to 85% in savings! Use code NOTCOTLOVESREVOLVE to save an additional 25% (with some brand exclusions*) or JT for an addition 15% off (no exclusions with this code).

80s Purple will take 25% off your entire purchase.  Use the coupon code: thepurps.

Source: USA Today

Britney Spears graces the cover of the new Rolling Stone issue, which will be hitting newstands on Friday.  Hah - okay, there’s no specials on the new issue but Brit is looking like her old self again!

This sale is only offered at the Flagship Crooks & Castles LA store.

New fitted caps will be released too, I would cop this if I were a boy!

Stussy DC is offering 30% off EVERYTHING, come by Florida Avenue to check out the new releases.

Commonwealth VA and DC will be opening one hour early, check out the exclusive offers.  If I’m not purchasing something for one of my brothers, I’m getting something for myself at Cmon.

DJ AM will be releasing the Co-Op tee at UNDFTD from 12 - 6 pm.  Proceeds from the collobraion t-shirt will go to Accesshelp.org.

The Hundreds will open at 5 AM at both locations.

There is a shitload of other Black Friday Sales on this site.  I will post more ads and flyers as I come across them this week.

Happy Turkey Day All!

New edition here from Digital Gravel with their 50% off sale.

Of all the Black Friday sales coming up, I decided to make mention to SURU first.  My pick of course is as methodical as Dwayne from Whats Happening!! picking football teams based off of how fancy the helmet looks.  I simply liked how the flier looks.  That and I gotta give Neran some kinda love for being a member of the Killahbeez fam.  But realistically speaking, 50% is a big deal, so take advantage of the sale if you’re nearby SURU.

Image Source: SURU/Los Angeles

Riding off of ateks’ previous post, here’s the Kanye West American Music Awards speech that everybody has been telling me to check out. The “I want to be Elivs” speech, which actually didn’t turn out corny but was very well put. My only question on the whole video is, what the fuck is Nickleback doing presenting the award???

Kanye West “Heartless”

Lykke Li recently just rocked and completed her North American tour and has now announced that she will be back starting end of January in Washington DC. Fingers crossed on my end this time that there aren’t multiple acts booked on the same night, which is what happened the last time she was in Vancouver. Yelle and Citizen Cope were both booked that night as well. For this upcoming tour fellow Swedish band Wildbirds & Peacedrums will be joining her.

Here’s an email message that was sent out by Lykke Li:

I am still in New York having fun, before I soon head over back to Europe to kick off my next European tour starting Monday in Dublin. But I´ll be back shaking my hips on these shores soon….

I had so much fun on my last North American tour that I recently finished – many thanks to all of you that came out to dance with me! And since that tour was sold out almost everywhere, I felt I needed to come back and give you folks another chance to see me and my boys perform.

All the tour dates below.

Jan 31     WASHINGTON, DC     Sixth and I
Feb 2      NEW YORK, NY     Webster Hall
Feb 4      MONTREAL, PQ     Club Soda
Feb 6      TORONTO, ON     Phoenix
Feb 7      CHICAGO, IL     Metro
Feb 8      MINNEAPOLIS, MN     Varsity
Feb 11    VANCOUVER, BC     Commodore
Feb 12    PORTLAND, OR     Hawthorne
Feb 13    SEATTLE, WA        Showbox
Feb 15    SAN FRANCISCO, CA       Fillmore
Feb 17    POMONA, CA    Glass House
Feb 18    DALLAS, TX    Granada
Feb 19    AUSTIN, TX    Antone’s

Image: Fader

The Clipse have had their hands tied with Play Cloths since they made the announcement of launching the line in Fall 2007. In honor of the new line, Complex will be releasing a new mixtape, Road To Till The Casket Drops, on December 1st.

The intro to the mixtape is below.

I can’t wait to hear the rest of the mixtape. For more updates, click here to visit Complex’s blog.

On A Related Note:

Play Cloths will kick off the launch of the new line at Commonwealth VA on November 21st. After attending Diplo’s set at Commonwealth DC, I highly recommend early arrival. I spoke to Larry this evening and he mentioned that something is in the works for the DC store. Oh really?

Stay tuned to Killah Beez for more updates later!

Souce: Complex, Play Cloths

From now all the way up until the 28th of the month, Digital Gravel is holding another huge sale.  As you can see on the flier, every two days that passes saves you and additional 5%.  Everything else is pretty much self explanatory.  So don’t sleep.  Off topic, I’m curious as to why the flier has a Skins theme when Digital Gravel is located in DUMBO?

Image Source: Digital Gravel

As of the 28th of this month, the ELM monthly party will be held at the newly renovated Eyebar.  Surely everyone that has gone to an ELM or Ripoff party greatly misses Geisha Lounge on 15th and H.  Despite being a destination club, the parking was abundant and the venue was cozy.  The new home for Everybody Loves Music has a similar vibe, but with the addition of two levels.  And if anyone reading this attended the second to last Hometown Heroes, knows Juan’s set was the best of the evening.  So come out if you have a love for house music and know what the ELM parties are all about.

Image Source: ELM
No cover if you RSVP here

First off I would like to thank Killah Beez for allowing me to blog on the site. This past Saturday we connected with Axis to do his first solo art show at SURU presented by Rose’s Cocktail Infusions. All in all the event was a huge success. The first pictures of the art work are from our friendly neighbor The Reez over at The Glutonny, and the rest of the photos are from SURU. Hope everyone enjoys Axis’s work, and just a friendly reminder if you are at work, or have kiddies around you, some of the pictures are NWS.

Tal Cooperman (DCMA Collective) & Young Dre ( http://www.myspace.com/youngdrethetruth)

Me and my crew

Josh (10deep)

My favorite drink minus booze (Honest Tea)

Linkin Park & Hoobastank

The Reez (the gluttony) and Mr Kim (Mr Kim Says)

Rose's Mixer with Peter from House of Cassette

Creative Contraband : David and Andy Ostroff, Kenny Mac, and Paula Miranda

Pixie from LA INK

Killahbeez and friends will be throwing a party on the third Thursday of each month.  It’s going down on November 20th.  Kick off your weekend this Thursday at the RIPOFF’s new venue, the Science Club. You don’t want to miss this!

Cover: $5

Strictly Enforced: 21+

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/theripoffdc

What up peoples. As some of you readers may know, I also write for Virgin Music. Actually I was selected amongst a group of people to review and write about the Toronto Virgin Music Festival and represent the Vancouver music scene with my reviews and interviews. Well, I’ve made it past the first round and am now in the last leg of the competition and I need your votes. Winning this writing contest will mean that I will be able to travel the world going to every Virgin Music Festival, but what’s in it for you? Well, by voting you automatically are entered into a draw to win two free tickets to a Virgin Music Festival yourself, pretty sweet deal for taking literally 2 seconds to vote. Hit up http://music.virgin.com/vpass-voting/?voteuser=David%20Thai.

Thanks for the support y’alls. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to bring you some of the dope ass interviews and concert reviews and all the other content on this site to you every day. Pass this link on to all your friends as well.

For those of you who are not familiar with Agenda, click here for more information.  I had the opportunity to attend the show in San Diego a couple months ago and had a blast.

San Diego Concourse
202 C Street, San Diego, CA 92101

Source: Agenda