Music marketing guru and impresario Leeor Brown founded the Friends of Friends record label in March of 2009. It has already provided a window into the future of the record label industry, releasing digital-only content coupled with 100 percent organic T-shirts custom-designed by well-known artists. Friends of Friends Volume 1 features music by Daedelus and Jogger, and a t-shirt designed by husband and wife art-powerhouse, Kozyndan. FoF’s Friends of Friends Volume 2 features tunes by Larytta and Bauchamp, and a shirt by Tatiana Rihs. Flavorpill sat down with Leeor Brown for a Q&A about the Little Label That Could, and the past, present, and future of the music industry. Read More »

1. If you’re in New York: Tonight’s Repulsion show is the Blackened Music Series’ inaugural event, set to bring seriously heavy music to the Brooklyn metal masses. Pig Destroyer and Brutal Truth will also play.
2. If you’re in Los Angeles: The lavishly illustrated docu-novel from artist Zak Smith expands on certain extant themes in his paintings and drawings — specifically those relating to the alt-culture, or indie wing, of the porn business. He reads tonight at Skylight Books.
3. If you’re in San Francisco: Nosaj Thing is the alias of Jason Chung, a 24 year-old L.A. based glitch-hop artist and producer whose perfectionism inspires the of use nearly any object capable of making noise to create his eerie, elegant tracks. Catch him at Mighty tonight.
4. If you’re in Chicago: In Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience, porn star Sasha Grey portrays Chelsea, a high-class escort who visits clients during the economic crisis before the 2008 presidential election.

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Nosaj Thing is the alias of LA-based glitch-hop artist and producer Jason Chung.

Chung’s eerie and elegant debut album, Drift, derives its sound from a wide range of influences (one of the tracks is tellingly titled “1685/Bach”), resulting in a record that at times willfully strays from its glitch-hop roots.

He clearly labored over every oddball production detail and sample, and when he can’t find the perfect sound, he just makes it himself — the beat for one song is derived from a sample of Chung peeling masking tape and jangling loose change.

When he’s not obsessing over every aspect of his own tracks, Chung is a prolific remixer for fellow laptop maestros like Flying Lotus, Jogger, and Daedelus.

Read our exclusive interview with Nosaj Thing, download a free remix of “Coat of Arms” or grab the original,  watch more videos, see him live in SF or LA, and buy Drift online.

Free MP3s are great, but they’re even better when they’re for new tracks from some of the bigger names in indie music. We also like to keep things fresh over here at Flavorpill, so we’ve also included a crop of new faces for your listening pleasure, too. Chances are you’ll probably end up liking them just as much — if not more. Click through for downloads from our last Viva Radio playlist, and be sure to check back and listen to the show itself. We update every week. Read More »

Say what you will about the glitch-hop gang, but SoCal’s experimental beatmakers are riding a wave the likes of which hasn’t been seen since trip-hop’s mid-’90s ascent. And while lines can easily be traced between Flying Lotus and producers like Ras G, Samiyam, and Take, there are just as many less-easily categorized MIDI warriors bashing the android rhythms out.

Chief among them is Jason Chung, who continues to sling bangers and mash under the name Nosaj Thing. While plenty of folks assume he’s yet another Fly Lo disciple, you’d be better off filing his music alongside Burial, Plaid, Black Dog, or even good ol’ J.S. Bach. On Chung’s Alpha Pup release, Drift, impressionist classical nuances share space with brittle percussion and drum rhythms. The Danny Elfman fan and former music-store employee chatted up our sister publication Earplug, explaining how he was inspired by The Smell, what it’s like to roll with Flying Lotus, and what the chat room beatmaking scene is all about.

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