Pitbull – Blanco video featuring Pharrell from the Fast and Furious 4 motion picture soundtrack

Teriyaki Boyz – Work That video featuring Pharrell and Chris Brown

N.E.R.D.- Sooner Or Later video from the album Seeing Sounds

N.E.R.D. – Everyone Nose (Remix) video featuring Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco and Pusha T of The Clipse from the album Seeing Sounds

The 1st annual Pemberton Music Festival

By Aaron “A*maze” Joseph

One of British Columbia’s biggest celebrations of music was nothing short of amazing with over 60 musical acts in three days. The Pemberton Music Festival was a huge success and is now one of the music festivals to rival. The three-day event brought in over 40,000 people to the small community of Pemberton, B.C. a visitor rate that has never been present even in the valley’s gold rush days.

The inaugural year of the music festival was better than gold for some, especially with a lineup which included: Nine Inch Nails, Metric, Jay-Z, Coldplay, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Tragically Hip, Buck 65, N.E.R.D. & more. Music fans finally got the chance to witness firsthand what a music festival is all about, and would agree it was worth the wait and the distance.

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Buck 65’s set on the Lillooet Stage

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Chromeo mixed it up for the people who managed to get into the Bacardi B-Live tent. The line up to get into the tent extended deep into the festival grounds.

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We think this guy may have had a little too much to drink.

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The Flaming Lips performing on the Mount Currie stage.

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Though overpriced, some of the food was pretty good. Right Houston?

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Jay-Z live on the Mount Currie stage. The audience loved him.

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Despite the profanity, drug use and highly sexual vibe, the Pemberton Festival was a family event?

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Matisyahu live on the Lillooet stage.

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They arrived late due to heavy Highway 99 traffic, but N.E.R.D.’s stage show made up for their lateness.

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Sam Roberts Band live on the Mount Currie stage.

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Serj Tankian of System of a Down controlled the audience amazingly during his Mount Currie stage set.

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Slip and slide action for the campers!

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Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers were the highlight for the older crowds.

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Gordon Brownie and the Tragically Hip put on a great show on the Mount Currie stage for their fellow Canadians.

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The infamous Bacardi B-Live tent.

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A glimpse at the audience for Coldplay as they rounded off the event.

* Photo taken by Aaron Joseph. ** Photo taken by Hugo Lunny

The 1st annual Pemberton Music Festival | Pemberton Festival 2008 Photos

N.E.R.D. – Spazz video from the new album Seeing Sounds

LOS ANGELES — Harder. Better. Faster. Stronger. HARD returns with the Summer Music Festival, going down July 19, 2008 at the Shrine Expo Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

The inaugural event, HARD NYE, made headlines as the New Year rang in with headliners Justice, Peaches and 2 Live Crew. This summer’s all-night spectacular will include 2 stages and boast a genre-bending line-up, featuring N.E.R.D, MSTRKRFT, Spank Rock, Kid Sister, A-Trak, Steve Aoki, The Bloody Beetroots, Kill The Noise and many more. Terry Kennedy and friends will be in attendance at the HARD Mini Street Park. If you thought NYE was impressive, prepare to be destroyed this summer.

N.E.R.D. – My Drive Thru video featuring Santogold and Julian Casablancas)

PHARRELL WILLIAMS, N.E.R.D., SANTOGOLD, AND JULIAN CASABLANCAS JOIN FORCES TO CREATE GENRE-BLENDING NEW MUSIC COLLABORATION

Artists Brought Together as Part of Converse Century Celebration

Release of All-New Original Track, “My Drive Thru,” Available for Free Download
Exclusively at converse.com Today Tuesday, June 10

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Converse, the creator of iconic shoes including the Chuck Taylor® All Star®, Jack Purcell® and One Star®, announced today that it had brought together the talents of Pharrell Williams, N.E.R.D., Santogold and Julian Casablancas as part of the brand’s Century celebration. The artists recently joined forces to create a brand new, all original music track, “My Drive Thru,” that will be distributed digitally free of charge to a global audience exclusively on converse.com and authorized Converse web sites around the world. The track will be released on Tuesday, June 10.

“I’ve always wanted to work with Julian and I’m a big fan of The Strokes. Santogold is super-talented and she cares about music so much that it’s not just about sound, it’s a visual aesthetic,” said Pharrell Williams, the track’s producer. “Working together on original music that crossed all of our inspirations was completely refreshing and I love the track. As for partnering with Converse, I only wear and support the things that I like. The Chuck Taylor is the golden goose egg.”

Converse has long been associated with the worlds of music, sport, art and fashion. The brand’s current Century celebration is largely inspired by its role in disrupting the status quo over the last 100 years. The Chuck Taylor shoe has been worn by musical icons ranging from Sid Vicious to current artists like Common and M.I.A.

“As an artist that is just breaking, being asked by Pharrell and Julian to join them on this project was a dream,” said Santogold, whose debut CD was released in May 2008 to rave reviews. “My inspirations come from sources ranging from singers like Nina Simone and Grace Jones to bands like Devo. Working across musical genres was like creating a patchwork where I got to weave together various influences and allow them to co-exist in a fresh and original way.”

In addition to collaborating on the track, the artists also participated in the creation of a music video that will be released during the summer. The song will be promoted, in part through Converse print, outdoor and online advertising tagged Three Artists, One Song. The advertising features the three artists as well as a range of emerging musical talent from across the globe, including Kid Sister, YACHT, Bradford Cox and members of Gallows, Fiery Furnaces, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, and Care Bears on Fire.

DOWNLOAD “MY DRIVE THRU” AT http://WWW.CONVERSE.COM

My Drive Thru – The Line Up:

Pharrell Williams
He can see sounds. Pharrell Williams has already made history for being one of the most successful and prolific producers to emerge during the last decade. As a part of the beat-making duo The Neptunes, Pharrell and his partner Chad Hugo have helped A-List pop stars sell millions of albums and even earn Grammy Awards for the likes of Justin Timberlake, Nelly, and Usher.

N.E.R.D.
Funk rock class is now in session. “N*E*R*D* is who we are. “It’s our life,” Pharrell would say in 2000, in describing the group that includes him, Chad and longtime friend and creative wunderkind, Shae. The three of them together combine for uninhibited explorations of sounds, emotion and truth, adhering to no agenda, subscribing to no rules. N*E*R*D* is the way they live their life, the way they see the world.

Santogold
Worth more than her weight in gold. Her genre of music can only be described as Santogold. She’s a true alchemist in the music lab where she’s crafted a liquid mix of new wave, Wall of Sound era pop, dub and twisted beats. Santi White’s singular sound doesn’t bow down to the expectations of mainstream radio. So if you’re listening, Pop music, here’s your cue.

Julian Casablancas
The underground front man. If you’re looking for synchronized dance moves, you’ve got the wrong guy. Julian Casablancas may front indie rock superstars, The Strokes, but he always lets the music take center stage. With an obsession for songwriting that’s borderline psychotic, it’s his infectious hooks that take the spotlight.

An incredible album. Also be sure to check out my new piece on N.E.R.D., which will be in the new issue of Pound magazine, but you can check out in full here. An excerpt:

While the trio says that the first two albums, In Search Of… and Fly or Die, were experimental and “without a real, true purpose,” every aspect of this third album has been meticulously calculated to a scientific degree.

“There was a thing – it’s pretty controversial – but I was reading how when Hitler spoke, one of the things that made him compelling and super charming to these people is that when he wasn’t speaking, he kept a high-frequency noise going on,” says Pharrell. “[When he'd turn it off and speak], they were totally at ease. It really felt like he brought them peace. I did the opposite; I did things that, frequency-wise, would get you tuned up and make you feel like it’s more energetic than what it is.”

And, on his new blog, the Audacity of Dope, the homie DJ Hyphen explains the story behind “Yeah You,” a song based on a stalker that Pharrell has:

Apparently P met a super wealthy Japanese girl who went to college in Boston backstage at one of his shows. She had a rep for being crazy (”Niiiiiigo told me don’t do it”), but he figured she could be that night’s jumpoff. Little did he know that she was completely psycho, and afterwards, she ended up calling/emailing/texting him literally a hundred times a day…for months. The assistant stepped in, thinking she could handle the situation (”my friend asked me for your email address, she said she’d take it from here”), but the girl just moved on and is now stalking her. As of a month ago, they were still getting annoyed by the girl. I’m not sure writing “Yeah You” about her will help though, but at least it makes for an interesting story. Just like in the song, she’ll just hit pause and give him a call.

Peep the blog for bonus tracks, too.