The hip hop world lost one of its great pioneers today after it was announced New York City native Rammellzee had passed away. Rammellzee was one of most eccentric creative forces in hip-hop, juggling everything from being a graffitti artist, musician/producer, sculptor and performance artist.

Rammellzz's graffiti art was based on the theory of gothic futurism, which unknown to most, was the "theory which describes the battle between letters and their symbolic warfare against any standardizations enforced by the rules of the alphabet; known as 'Iconic Panzerisms' ".

Part of a larger manifesto and philosophy based around Afrofuturism, Rammellzzee was intent on pushing boundaries and knocking walls down within his own race, often dressing in strange outfits and speaking in strange tongues.

A unique and intelligent individual, Rammellzee appeared in various cameos throughout the 80s and 90s, notably in 1983's legendary NYC film Style Wars. Around the same time he even made a small appearance in Jim Jarmusch's iconic Stranger Than Paradise.

But his real imprint on popular culture was with his collective Death Comet Crew; his music can be heard all the way down to Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill and Kool Keith.

Rammellzee did the same for hip-hop and contemporary graffiti culture as Basquiat did for abstract urban art in the 80s, the cause of death for Rammellzee is unknown at this point.

Avid readers of this blog know that we have a soft spot for Lisa Milberg, singer/songwriter and frontwoman of indie-piece The Concretes. We’ve featured Lisa’s mixtapes, always filled to the brim with sweet vocals and heavenly synth and guitar harmonics, before. Now she’s back with more “hits new and old, mostly old” – Nina Simone’s folksy reggae classic Baltimore, sea-breeze pop from John Forde and some laidback loveliness from Ariel Pink, just to name a few.

These salty days are yours and mine from Lisa Milberg at Letsmix.com.

For more Milberg, check out our interview here!

This weekend Love Family Park celebrates its 15th edition in Mainweisen Hannau. Beatportal spoke to Nick Curly, Kiki and Karotte and asked them what they’ve got planned, who they’re psyched to see, and how they plan to make it through the madness in one piece.

Read more on Beatportal

This weekend Love Family Park celebrates its 15th edition in Mainweisen Hannau. Beatportal spoke to Nick Curly, Kiki and Karotte and asked them what they’ve got planned, who they’re psyched to see, and how they plan to make it through the madness in one piece.

Read more on Beatportal

James and Jas of Simian Mobile Disco talk to the We Love blog about their studio, favourite books and wasps.

MOG has been given the nod of approval from Apple to go ahead with its MOG iPhone app, giving MOG a timely entry into the mobile music game.

Matador Records, the all-American independent label, is celebrating 21 years of being in business in October with a get together titled Matador at Twenty One. Where does the all-American label go for such an event? Las Vegas, baby!

Having just finished up a tour with the equally amusing Gogol Bordello, DeVotchKa find themselves holed up in Wavelab Studios in Tuscon, Arizona to pen the next chapter of their contentious brand of music.

Perhaps the coolest of all festivals on the planet (and one of the oldest), Roskilde Festival has the credibility, history, and coolness that literally no other festival in the world has.

Nothing Hurts is a more sombre and sincere take on the current lo-fi wave. There is no pretension or callous irony – just unadorned emotions juxtaposed against sonorous layers of sound.

Ahead of their 7th birthday celebrations at the club next month, the Numbers crew pick tracks for fabric that have defined their Glasgow shindigs down the years. Drexciya, Pointer Sisters and DJ Assault all feature.

The Australian producer gears up for a live appearance at Berghain next month by weaving together tracks from Gaiser, Guido Schneider and Chaim.

I dare you to try and not tap your foot to The Postelles. It might be impossible. "White Night" is the new video by these New York City garage pop-rockers, and it is one poppy song - in the best way possible. The video features the group playing in a dark room with flashing lights, a woman running around, and possibly a disco ball.

The Postelles have also decided to offer up a free download of the "White Night" single, which you can grab at thepostelles.com or via the handly little widget below.

"White Night" is available currently on the White Night EP and will also be on the band's forthcoming debut, self-titled full-length, set to be released October 12th via Astralwerks/Capitol. Did we mention it was co-produced by the Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr.? Right, so mark your record store calendar appropriately and stay tuned for more from The Postelles.

Enjoy at FILTERmagazine.com

The StringPort is a hardware device that processes, converts and conveys to the computer the polyphonic audio from industry-standard hexaphonic pickups through high-speed USB 2.

This USB bus-powered audio interface delivers studio-grade audio performance in a compact size small enough to fit in a pocket. The MicroBook turns a Mac or PC computer into a personal 4x2 recording studio with all the audio I/O and mixing needed to make professional recordings.