...out today! My pre-ordered copy arrived this morning at 8.30am and I'm listening to it as I type! Monkeytown is a limited edition, signed and hand numbered by Modeselektor; mine is number 354. Such high quality finish; hard cover book with black and white photos, signed and numbered by hand, 2 LPs in clear vinyl, it's all so beautifully made with such attention to detail!
A side really nice, could listen to it over and over again. B side starts with Evil Twin which I thought was a really good track! C side... not my favorite, not even close, don't really like the vocals. The last track is better than the first ones, but still not my thing. D side, like the first track a bit of rap going on there, which I think works quite well and these vocals that so rarely agree with me... here they don't bother me much. And the rest of the side is nothing too impressive either, but I don't dislike it either.
Overall, really happy I got this! Love the 1st LP, not super keen on the 2nd, but such beautiful cover, keep wanting to touch it!..
I've been watching this video of Amon Tobin's Isam, AV show. I missed the last time he played I think back in July or August, but I'll definitely try to make the next one on 23rd November at The Forum. Super cool visuals!
By the way, you can get a free download of Amon Tobin's Surge Two Fingers Mix; all you need to do is visit his website and type in your email!
I first wrote about Death Grips back in June, when I tried to find some information about the project but there wasn't much out there. Last night a friend called me to ask me if I would be up for going to a Death Grips gig... I was quite surprised; firstly I didn't know they were playing; secondly, I wouldn't have thought even if I knew they were playing that anyone would want to go with me!.. So anyway, I found myself at Old Blue Last! The gig was so much better than I expected! MC Ride was on the mic and Zach Hill on the drums, they played for 45mins and there was so much energy in the room. Old Blue Last is not a big venue, but it was pretty much full. At the beginning when I saw that they would play for less than an hour, I thought it was a bit poor, then again I think 45mins was more than enough! If they had played any more than that they would probably have had a heart attack and we would probably have gone deaf! And that is all positive! I loved it! You've never seen anyone as sweaty as Hill, you've never seen anyone screaming and dancing as frantically as MC Ride. Death Grips is definitely one to see live, rather than listen in your living room!..
Had a really nice night at Hearn Street on Saturday night, at a party organised as part of the Alpha-ville festival that was on 22-25 September. Got there at about 12.30 when Truss was just about to start. He played for an hour, his sound was quite raw and industrial, a bit too slow at times for me, but definitely enjoyed it! Then Jennifer Cardini... I was really looking forward to seeing her; I had never seen her before, but I love so many DJs on Kompakt, that I had a very good feeling about her. She played for just under 2 hours, I loved her set, she played some super nice techno! It's also so nice seeing girls DJing well! And finally... Matthew Dear! He played for another couple of hours, quite nice, not too harsh, good for the masses, nice visuals, kept us dancing... Overall a good night out, I expected it to be more busy, but hey at least it was good for us to have more space to move around and not have to queue at the bar or to get in!
On 10 October Andy Stott is releasing his new double EP We Stay Together; 40mins, 6 tracks, the photo above is the cover artwork. To get a feel of what to expect, you can stream the second track; Posers, from The Wire. I really look forward to getting this, I love his dark primitive sound.
So looking forward to seeing him at Corsica Studios on 28 October; great venue, great lineup! Definitely one not to be missed!
Berlin is not all about music... Here's a video about an exhibition at Freedom Park in Berlin; artists were invited to paint on pieces of the Berlin Wall.
So, Bloc has outgrown Butlins Minehead and is looking for a new venue for 2012. I was really sad when I heard the news, I've been to the festival the last 3 years and I've always had such a good time. I loved the setting; the stages, the accommodation, the beach... Then I thought, well change is good and I got quite excited with the prospect of a new, better, bigger venue. I then heard some pretty dissappointing rumors on what the future holds for Bloc... As it's not public news yet, I won't go into details, but I think Butlin's Minehead was better... I can only hope for the best though, and even so I can assure you I will be there for Bloc 2012! And hopefully I will love it! Anyway, I'm sure the line up will be good, no matter what...
For now you can enjoy some of the sets from Bloc 2011.
I saw Hidden Orchestra for the first time. It was really good, really liked that they had two drummers each bringing his own style into the mix. Wouldn't mind seeing them again!
Then a super nice, but short set from Kutmah. He played for maximum 1 hour, building up his set really nicely. My favorite bit? When he played The Cure! But before long and very abruptly he stopped to give way for Daedelus, with whom he used to play music in LA back in the days. Such a shame, he should have kept playing for maybe another half hour... It was really sweet as well when Deadelus, before starting his set, said how much everyone was missing Kutmah back in LA...
Daedelus' set was pretty impressive! I really enjoyed his music, a bit too noisy at times towards the end of the set for me, but overall really good. The visual side was also pretty cool! There was a wall of moving mirrors behind him that were reflecting the laser lights all over the place! Pretty cool! So funny as well when this girl got on stage and went for him and the security had to remove her. You don't often see that with DJs... or at KOKO... Have to say though, the crowd was really young, some of the people looked like kids...
Then a really nice dark set from Raffertie! Will definitely be seeing him again! And Luke Vibert to close the night. Can't say I particularly enjoyed his music and I did leave at 2am, when he still had 1 more hour to play. Can't say it was bad either though, as I was dancing to what he was playing, but at the same time I thought it was pretty old school and boring. Then again there is something I like about Vibert... not sure what that is, probably not the haircut... but anyway he looks like a nice guy and I like it when he sings the tunes he plays! I would see him again, but he wouldn't be the main reason I would go somewhere.
To have a look at more videos from last night click here.
I'm also really looking forward to seeing Tinariwen! They are playing in London on September 26th at the Roundhouse and on the 27th at KOKO. I think I'll go to the Roundhouse to also see Debruit, who's also on that night.
On Sunday I started with Joy Orbison, followed by Kode9 at the Roller Disco, really enjoyed both sets. The left to go to the main stage to see Bjork, who was the last before the closing ceremony. She played really well, again you could really feel the dynamic in the crowd, everyone was dancing and singing. She looked amazing on stage and had a chorus with her. After the ceremony with the fireworks, balloons and these weird massive balloon men walking around the crowd and with some strange choices for music to go with the whole thing, I went back to the Roller Disco, where I briefly saw Joker and then moved on to Bollywood, where Tensnake was playing. I didn't like his set much, it a bit too funky for my taste, so I left to go for a walk in the Ambient Forest, it was magical! Loved it in there! I then rushed to the Big Top to see Derrick May, but to my dissappointment had changed times with DJ Shadow. I think I saw him playing 3 maybe 4 tracks, it was actually quite good, almost drum and bass, and the visuals pretty impressive! Then back to Bollywood to see Paul Kalkbrenner. This was exactly what I needed at that moment! Kalkbrenner played like always most of Berlin Calling which I love and the lights were super cool! And finally Derrick Carter, which for me was pretty dissappointing. We then left and were hoping to find somewhere else with good muysic to go, but we failed. It would have been great if they had organised a little after partty somewhere hidden for those of us still wanting a little bit more techno!.. Finishing at 2am is just too early... Hightligh for Sunday Bjork and Paul Kalkbrenner!
On Saturday I started my festival day at the Red Bull Music Academy with D/R/U/G/S, then October, Al Tourettes and Appleblim. I briefly saw Crystal Castles, but didn't enjoy it, her voice doesn't agree with me... I then went to Rizlab to see Hannah Holland, who played an amazing set, mixing techno with electro and really great visuals. It's so great seeing DJs that enjoy what they do and dance with the crowd! The atmosphere was so positive! At Bollywood I also heard some really good techno from Bok Bok and Claude Vonstroke, even got a CD from Vonstroke, which I still haven't listened... At the main stage I saw PJ Harvey, who was amazing, although I felt like I wanted something more dance at that moment and of course The Cure, that were unbelievably good! They must have played around 2.5hrs, they went off the stage and back twice, you could see how much they were enjoying being there and this energy was projected to the crowd. And i think the last thing I saw on saturday was LFO, who played quite hard and noisy. It was really good, though I don't think I would have been able to have seen them any earlier than last.
What an amazing time I had at Bestival 2011!!! I was there from Friday until Monday and then stayed an extra day at the beautiful Isle of Wight, it's always better avoiding the returning crowds after a festival... While at the festival we were quite lucky with the weather, it was raining a little bit here and there, but it could have been much worse. Overall it was a great experience!
I saw so many good acts! On Friday passing from the main stage I briefly saw Public Enemy, I don't think hip hop goes with festivals... My night continued with some really good techno from Justin Robertson and Lone at Rizlab, then an amazing set from Loefah at Roller Disco and ended up in Big Top to see Groove Armada. My highlight for the evening has to be Loefah! Although I did dance non stop throughout the whole time I was at Rizlab.
I was so excited last night when PJ Harvey was announced as the winner for the Mercury Prize 2011. 'Let England Shake' is such a brilliant album! I went to see her earlier in the year at Troxy in London during her european album launch tour, where I bought the album. The gig was amazing and I knew it straight away this album was a special one and since I got it I've been playing it over and over. Although looking at the other nominees for the Prize last night, there really was no competition for PJ Harvey...
Resident Advisor and Bench have teamed up to produce a series of documentaries on the musical, cultural and creative culture in some of the key destinations in today's music scene; Real Scenes. The first of the series; Real Scenes: Bristol, was out in July. It focuses on the influential electronic music scene in Bristol. The second one; Real Scenes: Detroit, out in August, explores Detroit, the birthplace of techno. And the latest one; Real Scenes: Berlin, came out today and focuses on the techno scene in Berlin.
So, what have I been up to the last two weekends? Partying and listening to Juljan play!.. Whenever the DJ would change, I would just wait until Juljan would be back on the decks! And yes the highlight was definitely the last set on Sunday morning, I just couldn't get the smile off my face!
Very excited to find him on Soundcloud, though quite dissappointed there are only two mixes... Juljan you really need to upload some more music!..
