Kids in Latvia wilding out to Bi-Polar Bear’s “Love Begins To Die” from their 2009 album “Today I Found Happy.” What better compliment could a musician receive than to see a video of kids literally doing backflips to one of their songs?

Happy New Year yall. BIG THINGS COMING IN 2012. BELIEVE THAT.

(The following is an excerpt from Tom Robbins’ “Jitterbug Perfume”, which happens to be my favorite book. With 2012 upon us, it’s time for humanity to decide whether or not we once and for all rid ourselves of our dangerous reptilian instincts in order to make way for the next stage in the evolution of consciousness. The other option is to keep doing what we’re doing now, which really doesn’t seem like an option anymore.)

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DANNYBOY’S THEORY

(WHERE WE ARE GOING AND WHY IT SMELLS THE WAY IT DOES)

To put it simply, humankind is about to enter the floral stage of its evolutionary development. On the mythological level, which is to say, on the psychic/symbolic level (no less real than the physical level), this event is signaled by the death of Pan.

Pan, of course, represents animal consciousness. Pan embodies mammalian consciousness, although there are aspects of reptilian consciousness in his personality, as well. Reptilian consciousness did not disappear when our brains entered their mammalian stage. Mammalian consciousness was simply laid over the top of reptilian consciousness, and in many unenlightened, underevolved, underdeveloped, individuals the mammalian layer was thin and porous, and much reptile energy has continued to seep through.

When our remote ancestors crawled out of the sea, they no doubt had the minds of fish. Smarter, more adventurous and curious than their fellows who remained underwater, but fish-minded, nonetheless. On the long swampy road to a primate configuration, however, we developed a reptile mind. After all, in those tens of millions of years, reptile energy dominated the planet. It culminated in the dinosaurs.

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A ways back when me and Snafu were making “A Miraculous Kind Of Machine”, I was going around with a little “tape” recorder, collecting audio for a series of skits that never ended up making it to the album. I was asking people “If you could build a machine, any kind of machine, what kind of machine would you build? And what would it do?”

I had the good fortune during that time of meeting Junot Diaz. If you don’t know him, dude is kind of a genius. He wrote “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” and “Drown”, which are both classics to me.

Anywho, Mr. Diaz was kind enough to indulge me, and this was his answer to my question / humanity’s question (please note how he doesn’t pause at all before he describes his machine):

Peace on earth, and goodwill towards everyone. Happy holidays from all of us at Modern Shark. 2012 is going to be a big year, more on that soon soon soon.

Our favorite rap radio show is back! Noah Uman hosted Coffee Break For Heroes & Villains on New Jersey’s WFMU for 7 years. Over that time he has also been a tremendous supporter of all things Nuk Fam & Modern Shark. After moving to Nashville, Noah decided to keep the show going by posting regular episodes every Wednesday night on his Soundcloud page. The first one is up already, go check it here.

If you like the show in real life, your digital self can go over to the show’s facebook page and like that too!

Apparently Tone Tank signed this lil phenom to the label without consulting me. At first I was mad, but then I heard him rap. SON CAN FLOW.

Only problem is, he needs a name. I wanna call him Lil Donnie Sharko. But I know if we put our heads together we can do better than that. SUGGESTIONS?

New Tone Tank raps! Tone Tank feat. R.A.M. “I’m From Long Island”.

“The way these people rap man, that’s no way of flowin / Take em all on a 2 day rap retreat / Then flip it like ‘Surviving The Game’ with Ice-T”

Art by Jeru Gabriel. Music from Impossible Nothing, Serengeti, Tone Tank, Cool Calm Pete, J. Howells Werthman, Big Urban, Cavalier, Scott Thorough, Junk Science, Bi-Polar Bear, King Guttah I, Pre, & Instant Cities. Yup.

Click the pic to see it bigger and badder.

Collaborative freshness from Bi-Polar Bear’s upcoming album “When Ledge Is Home”. The track is called “Ledge” and it features vocals by August, Ugly Orwell, & Baje, cuts by Snafu, and a beat by Blue Sky Black Death. Pretty cool.

New Goodies at the Scumlife store!