Really enjoyed exploring the Project Thirty-Three blog produced by Jive Time Records, a Seattle-based store specializing in used vinyl.

Project Thirty-Three is an archive of vintage album covers that share the fact that they convey their message with simple shapes (circle, rectangles, squares and triangles), bold typography and concise copy. A site that showcases a genuine love for music and a treasure trove of inspiration. Well worth a look.

Bonafide set out with the aim to celebrate hip-hop. Our aim was to explore ‘old-school, mid-school and new-school creativity’, five issues on we’re proud to present the old school x new school issue. In hip-hop chronological order we speak to the Godfather of it all, Grandmaster Flash, profile EPMD, the funky Long Island duo from the golden age of rap and get crazy with ‘the lazy hustler’ and fourth Beastie Boy, Ricky Powell. Still in NYC, we speak to a leading voice for alternative hip-hop, EL-P, who, nearly 15 years on from the release of the Funcrusher Plus (as part of Company Flow), reveals that there’s plenty of drive left in the tank. From the West Coast we catch up with the revered turntablist and Beat Junkie, J Rocc.

In the new-school side of the magazine, we break bread with those responsible for some of the most exhilarating new sounds in British urban music. We have exclusives with DELS and Ghostpoet as they launch their careers with original and nuanced albums. For this issue’s roundtable we speak with the men behind Numbers, the Glasgow based record label that has rewritten the rulebook on how techno, electronic, R’n’B, house and hip-hop music should sound. And the resulting mutant strain of bass music is destroying dance floors the world over. On the visual side, we delve deep into the Brainfeeder psyche, speaking with designer and artist Charles Munka about his contribution to the label’s distinct art direction.

Buy an issue via the Bonafide shop and you will receive a redeemable code (sent via email within 48 hours) for a free copy of DELS’ Gob EP, including the original single and remixes by Dave Sitek of Tv on the Radio (catch a listen here), Untold and Ry9n. While stock lasts.

You can also buy Bonafide in the TATE Modern bookshop, Rough Trade, Fopp, Magma, all good online and physical record stores and for the first time, HMV, from May 15th.

This summer saw the 10 year anniversary of Lewis Recordings. Founded by former Hip-Hop Connection writer/photographer Mike Lewis, the small North London based imprint has quietly gone about the business of releasing quality hip-hop, electronic and pop records in highly desirable packaging by a diverse roster of artists including Andrew Thompson, Stig of the Dump, Cinnamon and most notably, Edan, whose unique brand of psychedelic hip-hop has received critical and commercial acclaim upon his all too infrequent releases.

We have all of Edan’s singles, albums and indeed a sack full of pretty much every Lewis Recordings release in both vinyl and CD format to give away to one lucky reader. To stand a chance of winning just email in at mailbox@bonafidezine.com. with your name, age and address details. Winners will be notified by the 20th November.

This competition is now closed.

As you can tell from reading any issue of Bonafide we salivate like a Pavlov dog over nicely designed and well thought out record cover art – at it’s best the work can almost be a piece of art in itself and emit the same resonance as the music it holds.

One cover that caught my eye recently is for Kode 9 and the Spaceape’s Black Sun LP. Produced by Optigram, the artwork for the Black Sun LP is a dreamy mountainous landscape and seemingly a deft combination of spray paint and digital design. The result is a piece of work that’s a contemporary take on a long lost Hokusai woodcut.

The first track from the collaboration between two East Coast titans, DOOM and Ghostface Killah has just been dropped for their legions of doting fans across the world. The big question is does it live up to the five year hype? It’s hard to say, but with Madlib producing, it weaves both rappers together effortlessly and sates the appetite enough to leave us wanting to hear more. The track itself is Victory Laps (Madvillain Remix), printed on red tape and 12″, the latter of which features the original track, the remix, and both instrumentals on one side of the record. The other side features a Serato tone, enabling you to spin tracks from a laptop with the help of the Rane Serato Scratch Live software. Not only this, the vinyls themselves will be picture-discs, with graphics printed on both sides – a must have for all record junkies.

With the ten-song track-listing and pre-sale orders going viral, the somewhat secretive countdown towards the official release of Watch the Throne seems to be nearing completion. To raise levels of hype and anticipation further of the collaboration between the two hip-hop heavyweights, Jay-Z and Kanye West, the album artwork was unveiled yesterday. In keeping with West’s claim that it is ‘going to be very dark and sexy, like couture hip hop’, the album cover displays a metallic gold imprint designed by Givenchy artistic director Riccardo Tisci. By turns enigmatic, alluring and hedonistic, it seems the perfect fit to a collaborative album that has the potential to stand as a bookmark on the timeline of twenty first century hip-hop.

Watch The Throne, is scheduled for release on August 2, 2011 by Def Jam Recordings.

Words: Lev Harris

Hold up a second, before you rush out to catch Team Bonafide down at today’s Street Fest, take a minute to consider whether you’d like to own a super-rare piece of modern music history.

Prize:
No.1 of a 500 Limited Edition 12? ‘Customtone’ b/w ‘Brain Freeze’ in hand printed sleeves by Emilski. (‘Brain Freeze’ will be a vinyl release ONLY)

How to enter?
Simply follow this link to the Astrophonica facebook page and get your name on the wall! A winner will be drawn at random on the 20th June 2011.

To celebrate the release of ‘Retrospect – A Decade Of Fracture & Neptune’ our good friends at Astrophonica records have a very special limited vinyl release featuring two brand new tracks: ‘Customtone ft. Martin Fieber’ and ‘Brain Freeze ft. Chewie’. It’s a straight up nod to the vinyl heads with this one, as the latter will not see any digital release and the sleeve will be hand printed and individually numbered by Emilski. We covered the sleeve art for test presses of Fracture & Neptune’s killer The Limit a while back, so anyone that caught that ish will know they’re in for some more goodness here.

Fracture says, ‘The vinyl release has been limited to a run of 500 with each of the sleeves lovingly printed by our very own hands and I can tell you now it took a whole weekend to do – Emilski still has ink under his fingernails! They look amazing, like nothing you’ve seen before and we are giving you the chance to win number 001 out of 500! A unique collectors item to say the least…’

Yup, that’s right kids, for a limited time only you can read all back issues of your favourite art design and music magazine (or ‘a fucking hip-hop guide book’, according to Raekwon) online at Issuu.

We enjoy wasting the day away on the Internet whilst pretending to do work as much as the next person, but Bonafide is essentially a print magazine and in order to keep it that way we need to sell it. And to encourage you to buy it we’re giving away a free album from the legendary BBE records with every 2 issues ordered via our online shop. And that’s what we like to call bullshit free marketing.

Courtesy of the good folk over at Black Dog Publishing we have 3 pairs of copies of the first and latest instalment of the piously good Labels Unlimited series up for grabs. The collection includes editions on UK Indie music royalty Rough Trade and Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate Records but in Warp and Ninja Tune Blackdog have nailed 2 of our favourite electronic labels, and you can get a 40% discount on the books by quoting ‘Bonafide’ at checkout.

Warp records need little introduction. The label that began life in Sheffield continues to tread new ground in the world of electronic, left field hip-hop, experimental music and even art school rock (in the shape of !!! and Maximo Park), with acclaimed releases by the likes of Aphex Twin, Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawke, Jamie Lidell and Prefuse 73 among many more. 2010 has been something of a coronation for Ninja Tune as the label marks 20 years in the biz. Stevie Chick’s encyclopaedic and gloriously entertaining tome, Ninja Tune:20 Years of Beats and Pieces – exclusively excerpted in the current issue of Bonafide – accounts the early years of Jonathan Moore and Matt Blacks adventures as Coldcut, and the decision to channel their frustrations at major label treatment into their own maverick set up, Ninja Tune. Always quick to embrace technology and visuals within music, Ninja Tune and it’s hip-hop leaning little brother Big Dada has left an indelible mark on independent music in the UK and indeed the world.

To stand a chance of winning a pair of these handsome swines answer this question: name an artist to have released albums on both Ninja Tune and Warp records? Send your answers into mailto:mailbox@bonafidezine.com with Labels Unlimited books comp in the subject heading. Competition deadline is the 31st December. Winners will be notified in the first week of January which should make provide a welcome pick-up for the post Christmas blues.

Having spent the past few weeks bolted away pouring over the print proofs of Bonafide issue 04, I thought it time to get some air and get back on the digital wagon.

On this tip, with Halloween approaching, it seemed fitting to do a post on Brainfeeder, a label who quite frankly operate out of another world.

First up check out Flying Lotus’ recent cackling cracking cameo on Annie Macs’ show.

Like all good labels Brainfeeder also have a distinct idea about their visual identity. Artists and agencies involved include musician Teebs with his beautiful record cover collages, illustrator Theo Ellsworth, Paulo Rafael and agency We Are Build who did the f*cking lush art direction (excuse my French) for Los Angeles.

Check out our interview with Flying Lotus in issue 02 and keep your eyes pealed for our feature on the Gaslamp Killer in issue 04.