A Journey Back To Innocence

I long ago professed to DJ Shadow's Endtroducing being my all time desert island disc*. It's never left my side though truth be told I don't listen to it all that regularly. That being said I know it note for note, scratch for scratch and sample for sample. I just recently downloaded  Endtroducing..... (Excessive Ephemera) from the Reconstructed box set and it's a great piece of work. Seeing your favourite album played live in it's entirety is not something that usually happens. I did see Jane's Addiction play Nothing's Shocking and it was mind-blowing, so I'd love to see him play Endtroducing live. Whilst I wait and remain hopeful of that chance something intriguing has come up. To celebrate the 20th Anniversary since it's release INTRODUCING LIVE are back for one last time to perform DJ SHADOW's seminal masterpiece "Endtroducing" fully live. INTRODUCING LIVE are a 10 piece band who have also taken on reproducing the work

You should already be familiar with Martha Cooper's work, her images of graffiti and hip hop culture are world-renowned and widely published. If not then I suggest you check out this interview from last year over at The Hundreds - Inside The Mind Of Martha Cooper . I got the chance to see her in 2007 at the launch of her book  Street Play  but at the time my appreciation for her work wasn't what it is today and regrettably I didn't buy the book nor engage in conversation with her. Having already gotten excited about seeing Janette Beckman's work this week, I then discovered that Martha Cooper is in town for a book signing and exhibition at StolenSpace Gallery. That's a chance to see two of my top five photographers in the space of just two weeks, and make up for my past indiscretion. StolenSpace is proud to present ‘Lifework’ a solo show from the renowned photographer, Martha Cooper. Stories and captures that appeared in her lens were different and timely:

I just found out about this exhibition of Janette Beckman's punk and hip hop photography that's been given the Mash Up treatment by artists including Pam Hogg, Princess Julia, Ian Wright, Horace Panter, Christos Tolera, Dan Holliday, Hattie Stewart, Cey Adams, Marco Aurele Vecchione, Chris Sullivan, Ian Swift, Kosmo Vinyl, Khashayar Naimana, Lorraine Kinman, Sue Tilley, and more. The London leg of this exhibition follows successful Mash Up exhibitions in New York, Iceland and Paris last year. Janette captures the energy and character of both these great musical counter cultures, and now in collaboration with a range of artists has created her new Mash Up Art series, many commissioned just for this show. For those unfamiliar with the name, Londoner Janette Beckman began her career at the dawn of punk rock working for 'The Face' and 'Melody Maker.' She shot bands from The Clash to Boy George as well as three Police album covers. After this she moved to

This one comes by way of a tweet from TOMBREAKS and is a reminder of a post previously on The Reference Council where it was stated that "   ..every so often a new kid on the block will appear to remind you that it’s not all shitty logo flips on poor-quality blanks. Right now, The New Dealers are those guys. " These guys are making the t-shirts you'd make given the chance, and these first designs are now on sale. It's a great opportunity to have original pieces that you can be smug about somewhere down the line. As well as a chance to support what they are doing now and their future endeavours. As much as I like the print of Walt Kowalski entitled Screenshot , the Work or Riot! is my favourite pick. Check out their Instagram page for some magnificent product and scenery shots. - Bossman75

ARTREPUBLIC, THE destination for art online, are offering the chance to win this limited edition giclee by digital artist Billelis. "We've really upped the stakes to kick-start your 2016 - with this incredible giveaway from contemporary artist Billelis. ' Geometric Necrosis III ' is a beautiful Giclee with silkscreen varnish on 300gsm minuet paper with semi-gloss and UV gloss varnish." The piece is from a series of uniquely digitally sculpted skulls, featuring a dark texture base alongside bespoke gold debossing. Hebrew, Egyptian, Alien glyphs have all inspired the style and creation of the piece. This prize is signed and numbered by the artist – so to be in with a chance of winning, enter your details HERE . If you aren't feeling lucky you can buy Geometric Necrosis versions I through V online HERE , including his most recent work ' The Mistress ' which I've been staring at for days now trying to find a way of raising the money to

My picks for this post come via Brighton's Premiere Streetwear and Menswear Boutique, Krusoe . With winter rapidly approaching I'm looking to show some California love to LA label Born X Raised . Although t-shirts might not be first point of call in your sale purchases, they will help with layering and the more worn they get the better, making them perfect for when the heat returns this summer. In any case there is also a sweatshirt and hoody option on the virtual shelves. Focus has been on their latest lookbook and they've recently been in the spotlight with their collaboration with Reebok on the CL model (more on this below). This is a chance to grab some of Born X Raised 's classick designs before they're gone for good, like the Rocker, Flag and of course the Snooty Fox. Click HERE for t-shirts under £30 and the fleeces under £60 with very good size ranges available. To sweeten the deal further Krusoe have given an extra 20% off code to use. Althou

Heard the first track off of Tricky's new project Skilled Mechanics today and immediately knew it was a cover of Porpoise Head by Porno For Pyros. There's a great story behind why he chose it - Tricky explains: “I toured with them in Australia in 1996. My daughter Mazy, who was about four years of age, was with us and she had frontman Perry Farrell wrapped round her little finger. He took all of us to Sealand in Australia. So there was me and Porno For Pyros all trying to get her pram onto the Australian metro. But how many big artists would do something beautiful like that? I think it speaks volumes about him. So I’ve got a lot of love for Perry Farrell and I’ve always wanted to cover one of his songs.” As we wait for the album it's a great excuse to listen to his back catalogue, and in particular for me the Juxtapose album featuring DJ Muggs. There's every chance working with Tricky encouraged Muggs into making the Dust album a few years later. The fusion

For those who like the finer things in life but are on a tight budget, the January sales can offer up some real treasures. It's well worth scrolling through the pages online and with a little bit of luck you could well find what you're looking for. With this in mind I thought I might help by doing this for you, and giving you my picks of the online sales that I've taken the time to browse. Here are my pick of shirts for under £40 from Barbour and Edwin in the The Content Store sale. On last look they all had good size ranges available. Use code news10 for an extra 10% off! Barbour Edwin - Bossman75

I've had quite a remarkable year truth be told. Experienced a few firsts as well as some personal achievements. I'm most proud that I have been able to share the majority of these things with the people I love. I finished the year by turning the grand old age of forty. More on that later. I've procrastinated because I wasn't sure of which moments to look back on, but here we go. I've set it out in as chronological an order as possible with my deteriorating memory, and the help of Google calendar. I started the year by seeing what turned out to be my favourite gig of 2015, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist playing the original vinyl owned by Afrika Bambaataa, the Renegades of Rhythm tour. Seeing two of the World's best turntablists using actual records most of which had their very first spin by a legend. It was something of an audio and visual wet dream. You could feel what this tour meant to the DJs, what it represented musically and the historical significance in