Joey Hobbs

Got work early in the morning but I just had to get this one out before I go to bed!

My very own mother painted me! Looks better than the version of me she produced 24 years ago.

lindahobbs:

Portrait of Joseph Hobbs 2012 - Oil on Canvas 770 x 1350 mm

My paintiest painting yet, wet on wet coats of oil. Freeman White was tutoring the class I painted this in. I felt so proud when he said it was a good strong work. This is 1350 wide though the image shown is cropped. That is because I haven’t come up with the background yet. It might be of Te Arai beach or our house or the woolshed. Because Joey is living in Sanfransisco I wanted to paint him at home.

Today I’ve been finding connections between three different albums/mixtapes. All of them:

• are free downloads
• have been released in 2011
• are somewhat downbeat, particularly compared to what I’d’ve expected
• either make mention of or feature the artist Drake
• could be classified as alt-urban and either RnB or RnG (rhythm and blues/grime)
• have been listened to by myself a whole lot over the past couple of weeks
• dominate

And here they are:

• Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra
• The Weeknd - Thursday
• Wiley - The Chill Out Zone

Chur.

I listen to a fair bit of music these days. It’s the core of my work and my primary hobby, and luckily I haven’t grown tired of it yet. So, for your convenience, I’ve listed some high quality free music downloads that I’ve been finding myself listening to and relistening to a considerable number of times:

http://ofporcelain.bandcamp.com/ — Amazing downtempo music from the very talented producer Of  Porcelain, more commonly known as Ooah (of the Glitch Mob). I listen to this album to unwind, yet it’s still fascinating to listen to carefully. Also check out Ooah’s SoundCloud profile for some more downloadable gems (some of which are released under the Of Porcelain monicker).

http://yellowthenblue.bandcamp.com/ — I’ve been listening to Yellow Then Blue’s ‘Tosche Station EP’ a lot lately, and I must say it’s very nice. I’m not a qualified music nerd, but if I was I’d call this fluid breakcore, with elements of visual soundscapery, and then I’d highly recommend that you listen to it. 

http://the-weeknd.com/ — The Weeknd has become a superstar in recent times, since releasing his free House of Balloons album. And he deserves it, as I was turned from an RnB h8r to now really appreciating (some) modern RnB, by his superb representation of the genre. If you’re not convinced, just check out how badass this track is. He’s apparently releasing two more free albums, which I’m eagerly anticipating.

http://yeththar.bandcamp.com/ — Yeth Thar is totally experimental, and therefore has created some very diverse sounds. I’m totally into his stuff atm, particularly the album ‘Ready Sorted’. There’re some tracks that are just pure cool, like ‘Docklands’, and some that are pure badass, like the monster cyborg hiphop track that precedes it, ‘Tek Boddi’. This guy has also done the most unique Neil Young cover I’ve ever heard (I almost died when I first heard it). Check it out.

http://www.blaqstarrmusic.com/ — Blaqstarr is a well known Baltimore producer who’s worked with superstars like M.I.A. He’s done a free mixtape which has some very awesome tracks. The track ‘Lullaby’ is so catchy that it’s haunted me for the past month.

Last but not least, two very good podcasts from none other than Flying Lotus. They’re called Lovers Melt and Lovers Melt II respectively, and are published by Stones Throw. 

That’s all for now!

Joey.

Well, after completely redeveloping my website entirely (using node.js, the YUI css framework and plenty more javascript), I learned that flavors.me has everything that my new website did, but with better integration with my beloved web services, e.g. SoundCloud. I may not have handcrafted it all myself, but my website is damn cool now. Right? Big up to Reuben Theobald for his smooth photo of the Auckland glow reflecting off the Hauraki Gulf.

Stay tuned for updated versions of my personal projects. They’ve been taken offline for now, but I’ll be rolling an updated version of each in the coming months!