(Extra special shout out to DJ Ese!) Modern Shark is proud to announce the re-release of JUNK SCIENCE’s debut album “Feeding Einstein” in a super Deluxe Edition with 20 tracks for your listening pleasure! In addition to the original digital bonus tracks (the “Outtakes”, “Ebonics Gone Mad”, & “Bancroft”), the Deluxe Edition contains the J. HOWELLS WERTHMAN remix of “That’s The Way” and another rare Junk joint: “Two Minutes Hate”. Cop that.

or listen and buy on Bandcamp

“Feeding Einstein” was originally released in November of 2005 on Embedded Music (a Brooklyn-based indie hip hop label run by DJ Ese aka Jesse Ferguson). The album was released digitally, and on CD, and on a (now rare) double vinyl pressing. Some people seemed to like the album. The press showed love too. We (along with our homie Cool Calm Pete) got to tour with Mr. Lif & Akrobatik. Good times.

Now, after leasing the master to Embedded since 2005, we are once again in full control of the music. Which means that if you buy the Deluxe Edition, the money goes straight to us. Pretty sweet.

Thanks to Ese for believing in (and investing in) Junk Science. Let’s have a beer soon.

(Listen while you read…)

2010 was an exciting year for me and for Modern Shark. Since the birth of the label in May, we’ve released music by Junk Science, Tone Tank, Scott Thorough, Serengeti, Cool Calm Pete, J. Howells Werthman, Kool A.D. (of Das Racist), Iller Than Theirs, Instant Cities, Baje One, Batsauce, SAFE, Willie Evans Jr., MassInfluence, Mr. Lif, Akrobatik, Dillon, Qwazaar (of Typical Cats), Paten Locke, Cavalier, StarPower, Mercury, MC K-Swift, and more.

I’m not gonna make any claims about this thing being a big-time success… we’ve certainly had our share of ups and downs, but I do know that we’ve put out some quality music, and since that’s been the goal all along, I’m proud to say that it was indeed a good year.

That being said, I’d like to offer a sincere thanks to everyone who supported Modern Shark in 2010. If you bought a CD, a record, a tee-shirt, an mp3, or you came out to a show, or you downloaded one of our free releases, or you blogged about us, or wrote about us in a magazine, or told one of your friends about the label, or sent us a demo, some of your artwork, or a nice message… Thank you. For real for real, thank you.

2011 is looking to be another good year for us. Look for a new Junk Science record (featuring Scott Thorough!) in the Spring, along with a full-length compilation of Junk Science remixes and rare tracks. Expect more music from the current Shark roster, as well as music from some new additions… but I gotta keep that under wraps right now lest I spoil any surprises…

So from all of us, to all of you… Happy New Year!

= baje

Shark homies Chances With Wolves broadcast their dusty, eclectic assemblage of awesome every Monday on East Village Radio. This informational video gives a lil insight into the methods and philosophy behind the show.

Chances With Wolves is Kray (of Iller Than Theirs, Big Urban, Nuk Fam etc.), Kool Kear, & Mikey Palms. You can listen to all of their shows on their website.

Shout out to Tim Yu and the good people at Cool Hunting.

I get my inspiration from… weird Jazz fusion music.

There is something about super technical jazz dudes with awesome hair playing music that is waaay too smoov that gets me inspired. Rock music tried to do this with prog-rock, but it was too nerdy. The prog rocks were on some magical elf dragon shit. The Jazz dudes were going to space with romantic warriors. Much cooler. Mars Volta kind of mixed the best parts of the two on “De-Loused in the Comatorium”, in a really dope way.

It all started, when eighteen year old me would go to Don’s Music (a now defunct record store in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn that had all types of weird new and used music in every format imaginable, strange ephemera and an eccentric eclectic by the name of Don Miller). Don was always super-encouraging. I would come by a couple years later, when I started making beats and play them for him. When I started sampling vinyl, he gave me a crate of 100 records for ten bucks (he also gave the same deal to Kray, who still kills it on the digging tip: He has an amazing, unclassifiable, internet radio show, Chances With Wolves, which he hosts with Kool Kear, Mikey Palms and sometimes the legendary Ricky Powell which airs every Monday from 4-6 on East Village Radio).

Don would play me Jazz Fusion records and it was explosive. I was working at a far more mainstream record store in Brooklyn Heights, and me and my co-worker Mark were often on the hint for strange new music to enjoy, One day we were both at Don’s and he played us “Fred”, by Tony Williams

Read the rest of this entry »

$5 CDs

$5 Vinyl (all vinyl except the Baje / J. Howells Werthman EP)

$15 Tees (tees come with a free CD!)

From now until New Years! Head to the Shark Store and get busy on em!

The night is a medium-sized box of seasoned french fried potatoes. That being the case, don’t just take a bite of the night, DEVOUR THE NIGHT!

Side note: that’s a funny modeling job, to be the guy on the fries box… I have to admit I’m a little jealous.

Sean Lynch is an illustrator / comic artist from Minneapolis who currently resides in Japan where he is working on his new graphic novel. He drew this awesome Modern Shark and posted it on his website, where you can check out more of his work.

Thanks Sean!

I get my inspiration from… Mos Def & DJ Honda – “Travellin’ Man” remix

Basically this column is gonna be about what inspires me as a musician, a man, a friend and a lover of all things creative. Like cookbooks leaving out secret recipes, people often hold on to they inspirations- like if they were to share it would make them too vulnerable, too human. I declare here that I am a vulnerable human.

Baje has been openly admitting his affinity for things for years and I think that’s dope. So to start, I’m a share where the idea for my column comes from and one of the songs from that moment.

It was 1999; I was a young, weird kid. I hadn’t even started making beats yet, though I wanted to. This is a picture of younger me, (I’m in the middle) with Ted and Sternfeld:

My friends and I were a lil younger than the Nuk Fam cats so we didn’t hang out that much, but they were always nice to us. Read the rest of this entry »

A bit of sound advice from MF DOOM to kick off the weekend. Thanks to everybody who bumped some Shark music this week. See yall on Monday…

No pause never.