so you see no sense in wasting your time on books written by people who didn’t even know telephones (from the greek: τῆλε, tēle, ‘far’ and φωνή, phōnē, ‘voice’, FYI)? then first of all let me tell you the boys i’m talking about barely missed the invention of television (oscar wild: less than 30 years, marcel proust: around 2 years) and — to get to the point — what they teach you is absolutely useful (plus you don’t have to feel bad for stealing their books). marcel proust will teach you the art of loving and oscar wilde will turn you into a martini drinking, velvet wearing dandy in a class of your own (proving it: ‘if i am occasionally a little over-dressed, i make up for it by being always immensely over-educated.’ - algernon in ‘the importance of being earnest’). and if you already know it all you can at least get inspired to give your neighbors’ cats better names than they got from them. say hello to lord henry (and yes, he behaves like a lord as well…)
take a look at this cutest of all comics — doesn’t it feel like looking at the essence of your inner smiths fan? a tip: blow the dust off your record player, i guarantee you’ll feel the urge to use it soon.
01 battles - bad trails 02 gustav - we shall overcome 03 whomadewho - keep me in my plane 04 golden boy with miss kittin - rippin kittin 05 animal collective - my girls 06 osborne - 16th stage 07 masta ace - da grind (feat. apocalypse) 08 john maus - do your best 09 scarlett johansson - i don’t wanna grow up
click here for more of masaru tatsuki’s wonderful pictures & some great interviews
rediscovering my love for those leather and shades wearing heroes called the jesus and mary chain i have an advice to give: do yourself a favor and don’t get lost in glossy ralph lauren hell. do your best to stay the wild child who broke into houses and lay down on the bedroom floor playing air guitar to ‘april skies’!
to start the week under this pastel blue sky goes together very well with ‘little pop rock’ by sister vanilla — if you don’t forget to take your daily dose of sister sledge. this is important because mondays usually start off worse than every other day of the week, but at some point you just have to get over it. and what could be better to get over something than such a peaceful song about crashing your car while listening to the pastels on a record that made two brothers get over a fight that lasted for years?
let’s just bring it down to this: whenever i feel like adulthood doesn’t suit me very well and jarvis cocker’s “big julie” makes me nod my head vehemently i run into my astra utopia’s arms — and they always hug me carefully, for they know flowers can easily be damaged.
do you know those crucial scenes in movies when you stop liking them and start love-love-loving them? like when alex takes his droogs to the korova milk bar or edward norton shows up at work with a black eye for the first time? or maybe just think of the beginning monologue from trainspotting. it can be a smile under tears or the way someone flicks the ash off his cigarette (and i’m thinking of james dean right now) that makes you think “what kind of crazy shit is this, please?!” and knock your hand against your head, those scenes or even small sequences are what makes you want to watch the movie over and over again.
what happens when the moment where that certain spark is spreading on all your synapses is missing is sad to watch and leaves you disappointed on a whole new level. unfortunately, it’s what happened to me when i went to see ‘the imaginarium of dr. parnassus’ yesterday: i’m not saying the pictures weren’t absolutely lovely and very well animated or that the actors (i mean, they had tom motherfucking top hat wearing waits!) didn’t do an amazing job, it’s just that particular spark missing that would not only give this movie its right to exist but also make it a new classic. but this way it feels like – and that’s what the trailer show before the main film started made me realize – the art of film making right now is in the same state as painting was in the 90’s: all the directors are using the same aesthetics and you can see the development stagnate. the soundtracks are way too blockbuster orientated and interchangeable and somehow all the movies are set in the 19th century – which i find quite annoying: to me present and future are so much more interesting (don’t forget to make exceptions, they make you vulnerable which – in this case – is a good thing).
to get back to ‘the imaginarium of dr. parnassus’ let me just say that although it is fun to watch (and not even only because it’s starring johnny depp and jude law) the story really doesn’t do the pictures justice, gaps really don’t serve crazy shit very well. the sometimes a little tacky acting by lily cole didn’t cover that up either, it seems like she’s not really the kind of girl to get into a fight (the one with fists, not words) with her father and when she called herself a ‘selfish bitch’ while dancing with mr. nick (tom waits) i couldn’t help wondering why anyone should call her that.
but maybe my brain just died from popcorn…
listen to those bongos, they will keep you entertained easily all day long, while i’m having lunch with my family and watching the imaginarium of doctor parnassus (something that i’ve been looking forward to all week). i think we all need more saturdays, especially when this one’s the first day since i don’t know when with more than just daylight — for those of you who don’t remember: this is F’N SUNSHINE!
i love disco classic with a message that gives you goose bumps each time you hear it. still easily spinning you around the room is oliver cheatham’s “get down saturday night”: a song with lyrics so good you don’t know which part to quote, so put on your acoustic roller skates for six minutes in dance floor heaven and make love until the morning comes in new york, in detroit — even in L.A.
knowing that he’s been told by raybone jones how to spin records when he was 11 doesn’t make kyle hall’s work any less impressive for listening to the first few seconds of one of his songs gives you the certainty that at the age of 18 he’s producing shit so good that it will be out of sven väth’s reach for eternity.
i discovered him by accident and was immediately blown away by the lose and yet strong sound of “fuse n me” which has been released on his first 12” called “worx of art”. he’s combining glimmering jazz elements with the light deepness that has always been so attractive and unique about detroit techno — what makes it sound like he’s creating a completely new direction of it and me say if i wasn’t part of it kyle hall would give me back my faith in youth (he’s wearing braces!).
…if that’s not convincing enough check out what deejay.de wrote:
“HOT JAZZY KYLE HALL FASHIONED DEEPHOUSE THAT CAN SERVE A LOUNGE AND AT THE SAME TIME BANG EVEN HARDER ON A DANCEFLOOR. KYLE HALL’S EXPERIMENTALIST OFF BEAT ANTICS MEETS SMOOTH JAZZ WOULD BE A WAY TO DESCRIBE THE SOUND. POLY RHYTHMS EVERYWHERE BUT AT THE SAME TIME A COHESIVE GROOVY SOULFUL FEEL. OVERALL THIS EP IS A MUST BUY FOR ANYONE WHO IS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE ELECTRONIC MUSIC GENRE AND ENJOYS QUALITY.”
and most of all his way of making school a better place…
11th-hour When and why did you first begin mixing and producing?
Fabrice At the age of 12-14, I liked to buy some records, LPs at the beginning but after that I turned more to 12”, the best format for dance or club music. I think I started to buy House/techno 12”s at the same time as R&S records was born. After one or two years I had so many records I wanted to play for my friends. Some records I wanted to share.
I think ‘Share’ is the most representative word for my DJing approach, my first motivation as lots of other DJs I think.
[…]
11th-hour Much has been made of your ‘acceptance’ by the fathers of Detroit Techno. How does this make you feel, and do you think that it has had any effect on your success and your musical output?
Fabrice I don’t know. It’s something we talked about a lot in interviews, so I suppose it influenced the media to pay attention to me. But it’s something more important for me, it gives me energy to continue in this way. You know, it’s like a small child who wants to play with some elders. If elders put you out of the circle each time you want to play with them, you stop and go away, or wait for few years…
But when they say, okay man, come with us, it’s really cool.
The difference here, is in the fact that I was from Belgium, and them from Detroit. I was white, they were black (personally it wasn’t a problem), they invented that music, not me, I was just inspired by what they did…
11th-hour Many commentators have singled you out for praise because of this – viewing you as ‘crossing the racial divide’. Do you think that this issue of race is still relevant in todays global Techno community?
Fabrice Not at all, never. Techno is a worldwide movement. That’s why it’s so interesting. That’s why it changes and progress all the time.
But in another way, I understand Black people from Detroit, US or the World, who want to keep their true roots. They knew some situations we didn’t know, some racial problems against them.
For me, to be the ‘first white man’ on KMS is really important. I’m a little bit like a guy who signed an eternal soul contract between black people from Detroit and white people from everywhere. (I talk about music of course, I’m not a politic or something like that)
On another side we have to cross that barrier. The Soul doesn’t have a colour. But unfortunately, the soul is not what the people are looking at first in other people…
[…]
11th-hour Can you sum up what you love about Techno, and electronic music?
Fabrice I like it because everyone can express what they’re feeling thru the music even if they can’t play an instrument (like me) or if they are not a genius player (like me too ;-)
Also techno is club music, so it gives you some pleasure, energy, feelings, emotions, so many things we need in our life.
You know, we can compare it with what they’re writing on the ‘Kellog’s’ boxes: ‘everything you need for a day, vitamins, calcium… and blah blah blah…’
