+ MUSIC: STEREOGUM PRESENTS... STROKED - A TRIBUTE TO "IS THIS IT" (DUCKS SELECTIONS #2)

It's been awhile between drinks for the "Ducks Selections" here on The Benjamins but Jonny makes a return to the fold and what a triumphant return it is. Late last night the duck alerted me to a free album by the name of "Stroked: A Tribute To Is This It". This is a very special album, so I'd better give you readers a little bit of background information. "The Strokes" classic debut album Is This It will be celebrating it's 10th anniversary on Saturday July 30. So to celebrate this momentous occasion and pay homage to a truly great album, the folks over at Stereogum asked some of their favourite artists to cover all 11 tracks on the album. What they came up with was "Stroked: A Tribute To Is This It". The album brings together a truly great array of indie artists including Peter Bjorn and John, Owen Pallett, The Morning Benders, Real Estate, Computer Magic, Chelsea Wolfe and more in what is a fitting tribute to this seminal album. For a full run-down on the tribute album head over to the Stereogum.com website or listen to "Stroked: A Tribute To Is This It" after the jump along with artwork, download links and full liner notes. The Duck is back baby!

+ MEDIA: JR - WOMEN ARE HEROES (DUCKS SELECTIONS #1)

Yes the long awaited and highly anticipated first Ducks Selection is finally here! So the duck brought my attention to this street artist by the name of "JR" who does some really cool stuff. I'm not sure how I haven't heard of him before but many consider him to be one of the most prominent street artists around. At the beginning of this year he released his film "Women Are Heroes" which examines some of harshest conditions overseas to learn about the power of women. This is some really powerful stuff and is definitely worth a look. So check out the Kibera, Kenya video after the jump (if you're lazy and don't want to watch the intro stuff go to the 0:40 mark) as well as the full "Women Are Heroes" trailer and a few examples of JR's other work. If you want to know more about the film head over to the Women Are Heroes website for more information. Alternatively if you just want to check out some more of JR's other work for yourself you can see more at his website or stay tuned to the blog because I'll be covering some more of JR's work as part of the Ducks Selections in the coming weeks.

+ THE "DUCKS" SELECTIONS ARE COMING....

So when viewing this post your first question might be "What exactly is this whole "Duck Selections thing?" Well, I'd like to think my good friend, "The Duck" AKA "Duval McDuck" AKA "Jonny Duval" is a man of good taste, and you also might have noticed that the site has been somewhat lacking in architectural content since I started it. Well to rectify this The Duck is going to start contributing some of the gems he finds to the site in what I have dubbed the "Ducks Selections".
You'll be able to identify The Ducks Selections in a couple of ways - Obviously all of Jonny's contributions will be tagged and labelled as "Ducks Selections" and secondly all post images will have a rubber duck image placed on them to give you a visual cue. So the selections will be hand picked by The Duck but all content and layout will still be created by yours truly (thanks for leaving that all up to me Duck). There's plenty of good stuff to come in the following weeks so stay tuned to the site to get your first taste of The Duck. In celebration of the Ducks Selections I have included a few awesome duck related videos which you can view after the jump. So prepare yourself because the duck is going to swoop in and drop some knowledge bombs on you!