Safe and Sound marks Justus Koehncke‘s third long-player for Michael Mayer’s esteemed Kompakt imprint. Here, the troubadour-turned-electronic music machine lets his trademark disco rip through each track at a wonderfully aggressive pace. Put this track on the turntable and watch the dancefloor smoke.
Previously the quartet known as P:ano, Vancouver’s No Kids return refreshed on Come Into My House. With shiny production and inspired collaborators with local scene-makers, the record marries Nick Krgovich’s near-perfect songwriting with romanticized elements of electro-pop, vocal R&B, and modern soul. Opener “Great Escape” is a soft, symphonic offering that is awoken by the rhythmic piano on follower “For Halloween.” Elsewhere, “The Beaches All Closed” could be R. Kelly covering Hot Chip, while “Four Freshman Locked Out As the Sun Goes Down” is all four-part harmonies and a simple guitar. Marked by innovation, Come Into My House is a remarkable achievement.
The godfathers and the up-and-comers of techno will descend on Motor City again over Memorial Day Weekend, for Movement 2008. In an effort to excite electronic music fans for the upcoming festivities–and perhaps also to breathe some life back into the festival–Movement’s organizers have announced their participation in the city’s Winter Blast event.
Stacey Pullen, Rich Korach, John Johr, and Eric Johnston will all perform at the three-day, all-ages event, which takes place on Detroit’s Campus Martius from Friday, February 8 – Sunday, February 10. In addition to the music, Winter Blast will feature a free film festival, food, a wine tasting event, and even some activities for the kiddies.
Stay tuned for further line-up details for Movement 2008, and check the festival’s website for updates, footage from last year, and more.
Pictured above: Detroit techno veteran Stacey Pullen and a crowd shot from Movement 2007.
As reported earlier this week on XLR8R, the U.S.’s VP Records will soon acquire the catalog and publishing of London’s stalwart, 30-year running Greensleeves label. With British label Blood & Fire inactive and Brit reggae distro company Jet Star in financial trouble, the move leaves only a handful of active U.K. imprints, including Mad Professor’s Ariwa, Auralux, and Pressure Sounds. Some reggae industry leaders expressed concern regarding the proposed media monopoly.
Chyna Doll Productions announced a new 90-minute DVD documentary titled Reggae Uncensored, which drops February 26 and promises to do for reggae what The Real World did for reality TV–namely, examine reggae culture via frank interviews and footage. A press released promised “sizzling performances strung together with generous portions of drugs, sex, and the inevitable passa passa.” The first of several episodes features Damian Marley, Sean Paul, Buju Banton, Beenie Man, Sizzla, Mavado, Collie Buddz, Aidonia, Macka Diamond, and many others.
New Caribbean social network Kingston P.O. has launched a dope reggae video channel, with wicked new flicks like Tami Chynn’s “Over & Over Again,” Mavado’s “Dreaming,” and Tarrus Riley’s “Beware.” Big sights!
Singer Jah Cure tops the list of nominees at the inaugural Reggae Academy Awards, to be held in Jamaica on February 24.
One of reggae music’s (and specifically Canadian reggae’s) rarest albums, Innocent Youths’ 1977 recording Earth, Roots & Water, will be reissued soon on Seattle’s Light In The Attic imprint. The virtually extinct album features Johnny Osbourne, Carl Dawkins, Adrian Homer Miller, and Bunny Brown (The Chosen Few), and will be available on digipak CD and vinyl, packaged with a foldout poster with the albums distinctive black and white cover graphics. The album includes “Jah Les’ Lament,” one of the heaviest ’70s recordings ever.
On Friday January, 25 Oakland, CA reggae veteran DJ Common Sensi celebrated his 100th broadcast of his All-Spice online radio show on Big Up Radio.
Dancehall recording artist Esco has a new single collaboration with artist Fresh, titled “Dun Dem Credit,” on Seanizzle Records’ Creepa Riddim, just released in Jamaica last week. Hear an audio sample at the Seanizzle space.
Dancehall superstar Shaggy performed his latest single, “What’s Love,” January 21 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In other news, singer Ali Campbell has left popular British reggae band UB40 after almost 30 years.
A press release from DJ, producer, and singer Michael “Mikey Dread” Campbell’s camp has news of his battle with a brain tumor. “Mikey continues in the recovering stages and is responding well to the chemotherapy treatments,” said announcement. Although Campbell is currently recovering from treatment, according to the statement, “he’s eager to return to the stage to share his heartfelt appreciation to his fans.”
Pictured above: Michael “Mikey Dread” Campbell.
New York’s Top Five Reggae Singles
1. Queen Ifrica “Daddy” (No Doubt)
2. Sean Paul “Pick It Up & Drop It” (Birchill)
3. Pressure “Love And Affection” (Don Corleon)
4. Daville “Fling It Up Pon Me” (Birchill)
5. Etana “Roots” (Freemind)
Did you hear about the monkey who recently controlled a Japanese robot’s movement with her mind? Pretty ridiculous. Now you too can lord over electronic devices via the internet, thanks to a project called ABSOLUT Machines (put together by Sweden’s notorious vodka mavens).
ABSOLUT Quartet was developed by M.I.T. alums Jeff Lieberman and Dan Paluska (whose Fotron2000 was used to make the cover of The Juan Maclean’s Less Than Human album). Their Mouse Trap-esque sculpture is comprised of a marimba played by rubber balls that are shot out of small cannons. A second component is made up of spinning wine glasses played by robotic fingers (just how you did it as a kid). Online users provide melodies via a small onscreen keyboard, which the machine then interprets into three-minute songs.
Meanwhile, Swedish design studio Teenage Engineering came up with ABSOLUT Choir, a series of 10 adorable wooden characters of different shapes and sizes that can belt out notes in different registers and make-up their songs. Participants input words, which then impact the songs’ composition and lyrics.
Check out the projects, which go live January 31st, and register for some alone time with the machines.
Pictured above: Sweden’s Teenage Engineering crew in its studio.
The Pantha du Prince remix here is a moody and pretty tune; a good single to start the night with if you’re feeling love in the dark with a drink at the bar and have taken some early steps on the dancefloor. The last track on the “Kisses” single is called “Party Is Over”: A perfect beginning to the end of the night, right?
With the release of Panther‘s Kill Rock Stars debut just a few weeks away, Charlie Salas-Humara and Joe Kelly prepare their arsenal of instruments and dance moves for the road. Add to that Humara’s newfound talent as a songwriter, and you have a several nights not to be missed. WHY?, who also has an album ready to drop, will join the boys for a few dates, as will punk band Parenthetical Girls and Citay, White Hinterland.
Download “Puerto Rican Jukebox”
Tour Dates
02/08 Mount Vernon, WA: The Retrodoxy
03/01 San Francisco, CA: Rickshaw Stop
03/04 Seattle, WA: Nectar
03/06 Portland, OR: Holocene*
03/08 Salt Lake City, UT: Slowtrain
03/09 Denver, CO: Larimer Lounge
03/11 Oklahoma City, OK: Conservatory
03/12 Austin, TX: SXSW
03/13 Austin, TX: SXSW
03/14 Austin, TX: SXSW
03/15 Austin, TX: SXSW
03/17 Baton Rouge, LA: Spanish Moon#
03/18 Atlanta, GA: Drunken Unicorn#
03/19 Knoxville, TN: Pilot Light
03/20 Washington, DC: Red and Black
03/21 Philadelphia, PA: Khyber
03/22 New York, NY: Knitting Factory#
03/23 Somerville, MA: PA’s Lounge%
03/26 Detroit, MI: Scrummage University
03/27 Chicago, IL: Abbey Pub
03/28 Minneapolis, MN: 7th Street Entry
03/29 Fargo, ND: Aquarium
* = w/ Parenthetical Girls
# = w/ WHY?
% = w/ Citay, White Hinterland
When Boogie’s It’s All Good monograph was released in 2006, all eyes were suddenly on the Serbian-born, Brooklyn-based photographer’s images, which were unflinching, no-nonsense depictions of gangs, drugs, and some of New York’s seediest neighborhoods. Critics praised him for bringing the realities of these underworlds to light, and it was hard to find a review that didn’t use words like “raw” and “edgy” to describe his work.
Boogie, his second monograph, finds the man searching for that same honesty in his subjects, but with the camera often trained on the calmer, quieter moments of human existence. XLR8R recently chatted with him about the new book, living in New York, and finding beauty in the everyday.
Boogie is available now through powerHouse Books.
XLR8R: Can you explain the process of selecting the images that appear in Boogie?
Boogie: My first book, It’s All Good, was pretty heavy, all guns and needles. I really wanted this book to show another side of me. I don’t think I want to be remembered as the guy who shoots only dark and dirty subjects. Especially lately (even more since my kid was born), I see beauty all around, in normal, everyday things.
Since it’s really difficult for me to edit my own work (as it is for most photographers), I asked a good friend of mine, Giorgio de Mitri for help. He has a great eye, and knows me and my work very well. And I trust his judgment. We exchanged tons of emails and then met in Istanbul to go over the final edit. I think we killed it; I’m pretty picky, but I’m very happy with this book.
Do you have a particular favorite image that appears in the book?
I think it’s the pigeon from Barcelona [pictured above].
Many of your photographs have an impromptu, spur-of-the-moment feel to them. Do you ever plan to capture a certain kind of image when you go out to shoot, or do you simply try to capture subjects and scenes that are intriguing to you at the time?
Usually I go with the flow, and the photos are definitely impromptu, ’cause I carry my camera with me everywhere… but I don’t know, sometimes I visualize images, subject, and composition, and then when or if I find that image, it’s great. Even when I’m not out there shooting, I think about what/how/when to shoot, and images are flying through my head all the time.
Are there any particular themes you feel connect the pictures in Boogie?
They are all pretty much everyday life scenes, taken from different parts of the world.
Is there a certain message you hope to convey to the viewer with your work? Do you hope people will come away from the book with a particular mood or feeling?
There is no specific message I’m trying to convey, but it is a very personal collection of work for me. I think it has good flow and energy, and hopefully people will feel compelled to look through it over and over again.
You’ve been living in the U.S. for some time now. Has your view of the country changed at all since you first arrived? Has your time here affected the subjects you explore for your pictures?
I’ve been in New York since the 1998, and the atmosphere here definitely has become more depressing in the past several years. While working on the gang/drug project, I noticed that because of the declining economy, cheaper drugs, like crack, have made a comeback. Also, since the focus of the police became homeland security, I think gang activity has been on the rise.
Subjects I explore [have] changed dramatically, since I don’t hang out in the ghetto anymore. [It’s All Good] really took a toll on my mental health. It was very hard to snap out of it. So now I’m into finding beauty in normality. I also take a lot of baby pictures–my daughter is the most photographed baby in the world, no doubt about that.
Are there places or things you would like to shoot that you haven’t yet?
Oh yeah, a lot. The world is a big place and there is so much out there for me to see and document. Travels are always a great source of inspiration, seeing how other people live is priceless.
Marbert Rocel is Compost’s latest signee, and the trio of Marcel Aue, Robert Krause, and Antje Seifarth pack their debut full-length, Speed Emotions with a frenzy of house, jazz, and electro. Emotionally intense, the tracks on this album are equally appropriate for the dancefloor or a quiet night at home.
German artist Sven Dohse has recorded a full-length under his Don Shtone moniker before, but it’s on this sophomore full-length that the project comes untethered–in the best of ways. Assembling spare techno beats with snippets of retro jazz, Dohse has made a funny little album, idiosyncratic and whimsical but not twee. He’s willing to follow an idea wherever it goes, in some cases more successfully (“Am I Blue”) than others (“Miracles”). The album sometimes tries for a grandiosity it never achieves, but the pops and crackles fizzing beneath meandering jazz samples give it energy nonetheless. When Sonny Rollins gets the urge for techno, he might reach for something like this.
