Well dang. Jimi James might just melt your screen with her smoldering, to say the least, performance in this here video. But if you’ve ever seen Jimi James perform live, you know that she always brings bucketloads of style and artistry to go along with the hotness. This video is no different. Whaddya think?

Lots of Bilal goodness for you today via ArtDontSleep:

Finally, the video everyone has been waiting for…..Bilal’s “Levels,” directed by super producer Flying Lotus a.k.a. Steve Ellison . Lotus is making his directorial debut and this marks as sort of a Plug Research reunion, where his debut 1983 was released. The visually, stunning video was inspired by the Bilal track and also features cameo appearances by Erykah Badu and Shafiq Husayn (who produced the track).

Lotus recently discussed the concept of the video saying, “I originally wanted to keep visual themes with another video from my last LP called ‘mmhmm’ off of my last album. It featured Thundercat as an intergalactic bass player in a super strange world created by ‘Special Problems’. Since Thundercat was part of this song, I thought it could be fun to continue the visual style and feel of this space opera. In the end you have this crazy video made of so much mixed media, geek dreams and lots of love.” This is the third video off of Bilal’s latest album Airtight’s Revenge .

Purchase Levels – EP – Bilal at iTunes

FULL SCREEN
The Sounds of VTech / Bilal Levels

Thanks to LA Weekly’s Urban Nomad for giving us the heads up on this new Little Dragon footage. In this live video they perform a new song “Little Man” at a recent show at LA’s Natural History Museum. We’ll have some interview footage shortly (hopefully).

Go shop for Little Dragon on iTunes, both albums are keepers:
Machine Dreams – Little Dragon
Little Dragon – Little Dragon

This video provides a fascinating look into the creative process of a Sade – a true musical genius. We learn about what goes into making a Sade album and get some great behind-the-scenes insights into how Soldier of Love came to be.

So this video is hella (in internet time) old, ie. more than a week, I know this, but I’ma post it anyway ‘cos I’m clearly not hung up on being the first on everything. The Root’s next album How I Got Over was supposed to come out late last year but has been pushed back to this year. I’m not sure if there’s a solid date yet. In any case, here’s a little taste of what’s to come and it’s sounding lovely to me.

The Roots “How I Got Over” from Okayplayer on Vimeo.

Independent soul artist Russell Taylor, who Soultracks describes as “..among the best kept secrets in contemporary music…” is re-releasing his well-received album Confessional next month.  The single “Press Pause” gives you a taste of what Taylor is all about as he humorously deals with an over-zealous lover.  Keep up with RT at http://www.russelltaylor.net/

Scion kicks off the next incarnation of its  national art tour this weekend in Los Angeles. Installation 6: VIDEO features an all-video lineup which will visit several cities over the coming months. Featured artists are: Dust la Rock (Brooklyn, NY), Eric Nakamura (Los Angeles, CA), Saelee Oh (Los Angeles, CA), Funeral Fog (French + Alan Glass) (London, England), Ill-Studio (Paris, France), Josh Graham (New York, NY), Monihan Monihan (New York, NY), Mark Mothersbaugh (Los Angeles, CA), PMKFA (Tokyo, Japan) and Sage Vaughn (Los Angeles, CA)

January 23rd, 7pm – 10pm (runs through Feb 13)
@ Scion Installation L.A.
3521 Helms Ave (at National)
Culver City, CA. 90232
www.scion.com/installation

free valet | open bar | all artists in attendance

Should be interesting, here’s a sneak preview:

Scion Installation 6: Video – Los Angeles from Scion ART on Vimeo.

Rob Abeyta, Jr is a dope visual artist &  art director who has worked with companies such as Girl Skateboard, Nike, Stussy,  and on projects with Estevan Oriol and Mister Cartoon.He has published a book with Upper Playground, and recently participated in Scion’s Installation 5 national art tour. In this video he discusses the tour and more about his background, starting out by designing punk rock flyers, and his influences.

Rob Abeyta Jr. Interview from Scion ART on Vimeo.

German producer Comfort Fit’s Polyshufflez album is a blistering collection of futuristic soul, electronic hip-hop, broken beat jams and other funky, experimental sounds. In fact I’m still hooked on that album and here comes the Polyshufflez Remixes album, due out December 17! This one is a must-have as well, featuring reworks from the likes of Laurent Garnier, Boom Clap Bachelors, Atjazz, Domu, Jay Scarlett, fLako and more.

Take a listen to the Tim Turbo remix of “Seen Not Heard” feat. Note:
[See post to listen to audio]

Also, recently released is this brilliant video for Comfort Fit’s “Bit By Bit” taken from Polyshufflez. The video features stop-motion photography which goes really well with the glitchy-beat.

Preview the original Polyshufflez album:

Tokyo Dawn is definitely a label to keep tabs on – www.TokyoDawn.net

Groove Armada recently signed with Om Records and are set to release a brand new album BlackLight with them in February 2010. This is the first single from said album -  “I Won’t Kneel.”  I generally like Groove Armada, and this track might grow on me, although on first listen, it’s a bit too much with the 80s influence for me. Sadly this ubiquitous 80s trend does not seem to be dying any time soon :( Still, I’ll be curious to see what the rest of the album holds. Take a listen/look and let me know what you think.