KNOTORYUS is in mourning today.

We are fans.

To tell you the truth, we’re a bit stumped. It feels like such a loss.

Our favourite vids and tracks + what I find to be the best Michael Jackson mixtape ever, created by DJ Ayres: after the jump.

DOWNLOAD THE DJ AYRES CHRONOLOGICAL MICHAEL JACKSON MIX HERE

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Beat It. The video that drew me in. I was 7 at the time.

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Favourite guilty pleasure: Liberian Girl.

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The performance that changed everything: “Billie Jean” live at the Grammy Awards 1984 (25 years of Motown celebration)

This Vinyl is from 1969: Diana Ross introduces a new band called The Jackson 5, live on stage.

Favourite MJ tracks of all time:

LGF

1. Man in the Mirror

2. P.Y.T.

3. Human Nature

4. Don’t stop ’til you get enough

5. I want you back (Jackson 5)

D

1. Human Nature

2. Man In The Mirror

3. Will You Be There

4. Remember the Time

5. Smooth Criminal

You are missed.

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One of my favourite artists died last sunday. Sadness.

Regular visitors to KNOTORYUS will be no stranger to the name Nagi Noda. Her quirky, smart and off-the-wall artwork has always been a source of inspiration to me.

So it was with great sadness I have learned that Nagi Noda died on the operating table after “surgical complications” last sunday. She was wearing “a Mark Ryden dress, Chanel boots, and Viktor and Rolf black lace eyelashes” at the time.

Aaron Stewart-Ahn of Giant Robot published this moving anecdote:

“I was lucky enough to have met Nagi. It was one of the more interesting evenings in my life. What was supposed to be a short chat over coffee turned into an up til 3am ramble on just about everything. One time meeting a person is never enough, but she was extremely endearing.

Nagi exuded and lived art, as it was something to be lived. It made me feel like an amateur – so connected was her feeling about life invested in what she wanted to do. (…)

The drawing above was something she put down on the napkin in front of me – she told me it was the secret to the universe, but I shouldn’t tell anyone. I think it’s ok now. She said most of us look out at the world, but if you close your eyes and look up, you’re looking at the universe through your mind, looking at the universe.

She struck me as free spirited, eccentric, and beneath it all incredibly strong. In one evening in her company she affected me greatly. I miss her.”

KNOTORYUS misses her, too.

Nagi Noda gained noteriety as a video artist, producing videos for Tiga and commercials for Coca-Cola, a.o. But aside from that she was a respected gallery artist, producing bizarre stuffed toys and fake  poodle fitness videos.

Here’s the first Nagi Noda video  I ever saw: Yuki’s “Sentimental Journey”.

More videos:

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[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.] (Music by Jack White)

The last video she ever did:

Cut Copy, “Hearts on Fire”.

In 2008, she became an instant internet celebrity when she created a much-blogged series of ‘hair hats’ for Miu Miu.

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The statement from Partizan:

“I wanted to let you know that our dear friend Nagi passed away this Sunday at 4:18 pm. Her passing was peaceful and she was with her friends and family until the end. The funeral was on Tuesday.

In keeping with Japanese tradition, we ask that people to light some incense or a candle for Nagi.

I know this news must come as quite a shock. I still don’t quite know how to deal with it, I am pretty devastated as she was a good friend and one of the most beautiful souls I have ever met. I can tell you that she went well. She was dressed in her Mark Ryden Dress, Chanel boots, perfect make up, Viktor and Rolf black lace eyelashes.” – Daniell Hinde, Partizan

In the new video for ‘Champion’, Kanye turns into a puppet-Rocky and runs is felt-covered ass off.

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Has Yeezy learned nothing from Isaac Hayes?

Running is bad, mmmkay?

Seriously, though. I miss Isaac Hayes already. As you probably know, this giant of soul music collapsed next to his treadmill last sunday and never recovered.

Isaac was bad mother *shut your mouth* and probably my first clue to the vast amount of awesomeness that lies just beyond the sampling archive of your average producer.

Being a middle class white kid, 15 years old with the internet still but a flicker in Al Gore’s eyes, I knew nothing about Mr. Hayes. Until “The Fresh Prince” (yes, that one) made a reference to a certain TV-show called ‘Shaft’. I looked up the name in the local library and came home with a soundtrack that would remain spinning in my cd-player (a solid steel Sony dinosaur, weighing in at about 30 pounds) until I racked up a library-fine hefty enough for me to get banned for life (srsly). But more importantly, that cd would change the way I looked for music. Turns out, this Isaac Hayes character was sampled by just about half the bands I knew. Portishead, Tricky… they all plundered his catalogue. From then on, the first thing I did when I bought a new cd was read the liner notes. Who got sampled? And where could I get my hands on the original?

This is why, when most of my peers would be singing along to ‘Discotheque’ (especially the ‘uhn! aha! aha! part – man, I just don’t get that song…), I knew all the words to ‘By the time I get to Phoenix’.

I’m posting a few extra gems from my private reserve as parting shots, in honour of the big man.

Everyone’s already posting the ‘Shaft’ tune, so I’m trumping all y’all with the simply obliterating funk version of Bernard Purdie, probably the best drummer of all time. It was taken from the full LP ‘Pretty Purdie’.

And of course, still my favourite, ‘By the time I get to Phoenix’.

Thank you Mr. Hayes. You shall be missed.

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“Songwriter, producer, singer, and all-around musical iconoclast Lee Hazlewood died Saturday, August 4, in Henderson, Nevada, after a three-year battle with terminal renal cancer. He was 78.”