RIP Tower Records
After a 29-hour auction that ended Friday, longtime music retailer Tower Records was sold to Great American Group for a whopping $134.3 million. The company has expressed plans to liquidate Tower, and have already begun the process with going out of business sales that began this past weekend.
Tower has 89 stores in 20 states, and has been in operation since the opening of the Hollywood store in 1969. It filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in August, citing a decline in CD sales as part of the reason for doing so. Friday’s sale and the liquidation to follow will result in more than 3,000 employees losing their jobs, not to mention the end to one of America’s largest record store chains.
Tower’s founder, Russ Solomon, began the chain in 1960 by selling records out of his father’s drugstore. An auction stuffed with corporate jargon and money isn’t the most ideal good-bye for an almost iconic record store chain, but perhaps all we can do is accept it and utter a phrase that’s all too frequent anymore: it is what it is.
The original Tower Records store on Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood.
Morr Music: Indie Dreaming
“Look, don’t call it esoteric,” says Thomas Morr gruffly. He’s discussing one of the myriad adjectives often ascribed to his label, Morr Music, and is slightly irritated. “That word makes me want to kill myself, or somebody else. We are not esoteric,” he continues via phone from his Berlin offices.
If not esoteric, then Morr and his eponymous label certainly are eclectic. Morr’s extensive roster–which includes Múm, Lali Puna, and Electric President–tends to pull from both electronic and indie rock worlds; in fact, genre-twisting and crossover are major tenets of the label. “When we started, we worked with artists that were sick of being in bands and wanted to start producing electronic music,” says Morr. “Sometimes they came from electronic music and wanted to get back into playing in bands.”
Morr started the label in 1999 after a lengthy stint working for record distribution company Hausmusik. “I was a passionate electronic music listener, and mainly into small and indie labels from the UK like Earworm,” he explains. Frustrated with the relative dearth of quality electronic labels, Morr and high school friend Jan Kruse (who guides the label’s visual aesthetic) made a calculated decision to do it themselves.
Initially, the label was envisioned as a tiny, niche-y vanity project, but soon after its first release (B. Fleischmann’s Poploops For Breakfast LP), Morr realized there was money to be made and a gap to be filled. Soon after, he relocated the enterprise from Munich to Berlin, where he quickly fell in with the city’s emerging wave of electronic artists and labels. “There was loads of media that supported the music scene, and we had a very vital club scene in Berlin,” says Morr of the city in the late ’90s. “Every couple of months a new club was opening, and there were shitloads of new artists and companies starting up.”
Morr now says Berlin’s glory days are over, and that sluggish sales of electronic music have translated into increased factionalism and tension within the city’s electronic music community. “I’m just trying to withdraw from the whole Berlin thing,” he explains.
But a lack of coherency in the scene isn’t going to stop Morr from releasing music he believes in. “Ten years ago, I was into really minimal, experimental electronic music, but I can’t listen to that anymore,” he says. “[Now] everything is more diversified. Now we’re defining our own genre.”
The XLR8R Office Top Ten Album Picks, Oct 9
WonderWelcome To WonderlandDump Valve
Wonder is one hell of a grime enterprise. The mayor of Wonderland crushes the competition with his use of chopped-up vocal samples, noodley synth threads, and the treasured distorted bass that’s shaken the English underground.
VariousMusick to Play In the Club Shitkatapult
The latest offering from T. Raumschmiere’s Shitkatapult imprint is a muddy assault into midnight electro. This particular comp highlights the first 11 releases of the label’s 12” series, and it takes no prisoners. With artists like Drugbeat, Motor, and DJ Flush having their way with you, ears will definitely bleed.
CitiesVariationsYep Roc
Cities is one of those bands that has transposed their penchant for punk, indie rock, and avant-garde electronic music into an accessible sound unlike any of their contemporaries. On Variations, the boys bring the noise with the darkest of remixes from the likes of Ladytron, Fog, and Isan. This is a remix album for the books.
KaitoHundred Million Love YearsKompakt
If any label’s breed of pop-oriented ambient soundscapes takes the cake, it is Kompakt. As expected, Kaito’s newest offspring contains the chirping bliss of other Kompakt releases, but with a charming layer scheme that has us ready to spend the night in with some wine and good friends instead of running around all night chasing the ghost of summer past.
BurialS/T Hyperdub
Burial’s self-titled debut is the very first album on Kode9’s Hyperdub label and it is no joke. Forged from the bassy dub decadence and sublte hints of UK garage, things get trippy here very fast. This LP distills the essence of progressive dub.
k-the i???Broken Love Letter Mush
Envision KRS One and experimental hip-hop icons Dalek tripping balls on LSD, each taking turns reciting improvisational poetry at a podium somewhere between earth and hell, and you’re in k-the-i??? country. Mush is on one with this completely deconstructed, one-man hip-hop machine.
MV & EE with the Bummer RoadGreen BluesEcstatic Peace
It seems as though the whole freak folk thing has peaked and Devendra and Chasny enthusiasts are starting to mellow. Things may change, however, with this incredibly cosmic effort from MV & EE with the Bummer Road. Psychedelic music with just the right amount of folk influence has rarely sounded this good. We may have just found our new collective gurus.
Man Man with Steven DufalaSix Demon BagTonearm
Tone Arm is up to some inspired business with their picture-disc series. This offering from the carnie-centric band Man Man is a double-10” release of their Ace Fu album Six Demon Bag, but with intricate artwork from bandmate Steven Dufala. Expect big things from the band and the label!
Various Reggae Hits 36Jet Star
Although autumn has arrived, Reggae Hits 36 will satiate any delusions that summer is completely gone. Complete with new exclusive tracks from Elephant Man, Turbulence, and Junior Kelly, this addition to the classic comp series has got us in July mode once again.
Team DoyobiThe Kphanapic FragmentsSkam
The drill-and-glitch factor is at an all-time high on Team Doyobi’s third full-length. Between the duo’s zeal for zaps and feedback squeals, The Kphanpic Fragments may just be the ticket into the post-Aphex hall fame.
Mush Records Fall Tour
Three of the label’s top artists will be heading out together to some key cities in the US. Daedelus will support his recent Denies The Day’s Demise and Sundown EP, not to mention traveling with his “magic box” that resembles a Light Bright creation and carries an arsenal of sound in its dozens of buttons. Fresh from a tour with Pigeon John, leftfield hip-hop enthusiast Caural will perform music from Remembering Today and the forthcoming Mirrors For Eyes album. Lastly, multi-instrumentalist Thravius Beck will be promoting the recent Thru.
10/17 Los Angeles, The Echo
10/18 Phoenix, Modified Arts Center
10/19 San Diego, Kava Lounge
10/20 San Francisco, RX Gallery
10/22 Portland, Towne Lounge
10/23 Seattle, Chop Suey
10/24 Chicago, Empty Bottle
10/25 Cleveland, B Side Lounge
10/26 Boston, Middlesex
10/27 Brooklyn, South Paw
Shitkatapult Releases Some Serious Musick
It’s fitting that while we at XLR8R have just released the Berlin Issue, a lot of great music from Germany is heading Stateside. Musick To Play In The Club from Shitkatapult is one such release, and the twelve track sampler is tangible evidence as to why we’d want to dedicate an entire issue to the Germans. A collection of the label’s first 11 releases from the Shitkatapult Musick 12″ series, it starts hard and rarely lets up as it morphs from gritty, broken 4/4 beats to darker, heaver tracks meant to fill the dancefloors. T. Raumschmiere, DJ Flush, Peter Grummich (pictured), and others star in this compilation. There is also an mp3 DJ mix of the tracks, an added bonus for the iPod.
Musick To Play In The Club is out November 7, 2006 on Shitkatapult
Tracklisting
1. Drugbeat “Kill Yourself On The Dancefloor Tonight”
2. Jerry Abstract “Mudtsmut”
3. Quasimodo Jones “Love Commando (Tomas Andrewsson’s Loft Remix)”
4. DJ Flush “Baila Redux”
5. Elastic Heads “Kickin!”
6. Peter Grummich “Breathe”
7. Das Bierbeben “Staub (Robag Wruhme Remix)”
8. Magnum 38 “Alligator”
9. Scapegoat “Anticipate”
10. T. Raumschmiere vs. Motor “Krank Im Hirn”
11. Fenin “Batteria”
12. Holz “Glut”
NextAid Presents Bid 4 Beats
Starting this month, LA-based humanitarian organization NextAid will begin Bid 4 Beats, an online auction geared at raising funds for children orphaned as a result of AIDS in Africa, an aim that is NextAid’s raison d’ être. This particular auction features items desirable to music heads, with the catalogue already including Ableton software, gift certificates to Karmaloop and Stompy, releases from Ubiquity, Propellerhead Software, and a year’s supply of Vitamin Water, to name just a few items. The list grows every day.
Bid 4 Beats runs from Monday, October 23 – Friday, November 17, 2006. All proceeds go towards children orphaned as a result of AIDS in Africa.
Nobody To Release Revisions Revisions
Plug Research mainstay Elvin Estela, better known as Nobody, has selected a wide variety of musical styles, everything from hip-hop to psychedelia to indie-electronica, as material for his latest release, a remix compilation titled Revisions Revisions. Revisions the tracks are, in the truest sense of the word, rather than original tracks that have simply had a different beat thrown under them. An artist in his own right, Estela emerged in 2000 with Soulmates and quickly went from being a bedroom producer to a highly sought after artist. He uses this latest release to give a nod towards some of the styles and genres that have influenced his own music.
Revisions Revisions is out October 31, 2006 on Plug Research
Tracklisting
1. Ill Suono “A Moment Of Sympathy”
2. Pepe California “Guadalupe”
3. Busdriver “Unemployed Black Astronaut”
4. Her Space Holiday “From South Carolina”
5. Mia Doi Todd “Autumn”
6. The Free Design “Girl’s Alone”
7. The Postal Service “Be Still My Heart”
8. Clearlake “Good Clean Fun”
9. Build An Ark “Always There” (With Sach)
10. Clue To Kalo “When Tommy Fixes Fights”
11. Presto “Relax”
12. Adventure Time “Whetting Whistles” (With Pigeon John & Ellay Khule)
13. Phil Ranelin “Vibes From The Tribe”
Hard Wax: Marching On
In a city undergoing constant, rapid change, where the hottest party spots can radically alter in just a few weeks–either moving to new locations or disappearing altogether–the world-famous Hard Wax record store is something of an anomaly. Mark Ernestus–who, with Moritz Von Oswald, comprises techno groundbreakers Basic Channel and revolutionary electronic dub act Rhythm & Sound–opened Hard Wax in 1989. Initially the store traded vintage soul, funk, reggae, and hip-hop but quickly shifted focus towards electronic dance music when the first imports from the then-fledgling Chicago house and Detroit techno scenes hit Europe.
Seventeen years on and not much has changed. Hard Wax continues to be one of Europe’s leading purveyors of quality American dance music, as well as the distributor for some of Germany’s most respected labels (including Sleeparchive and the labels related to Smith N Hack and Basic Channel). The store is still located in the same decaying building down an anonymous driveway in Berlin’s largely Turkish Kreuzberg neighborhood. Hard Wax is on the building’s third floor–and the tags and stickers that line the grubby flight of stairs are testimony to the thousands of DJs and producers that have visited over the years. The floor above used to house Rhythm & Sound’s studios and is still home to Dubplates & Mastering, where Stefan Betke (a.k.a. Pole) cut more than just his teeth.
Those who visit Hard Wax on a regular basis can’t help but rub shoulders with Berlin’s biggest DJ talent. Ricardo Villalobos is one of Hard Wax’s biggest customers–he spends a small fortune on vinyl during each visit, either buying new records or replacing those he has given away during gigs. Store manager Torsten–who, in true Hard Wax style, is both serious and rather reticent–estimates that most of Berlin’s leading DJs drop by “every one to three weeks” and explains that a number of them can be found on the other side of the counter, too. “In the past, DJ Hell and Electric Indigo worked here,” he writes, via email. At the moment there is DJ Pete (a.k.a. Substance and one half of Scion), [Perlon artist] Cassy, and Marcel Dettmann (who has collaborated with Bpitch’s Ben Klock and is a resident at Berghain/Panoramabar).”
It is almost impossible to overstate Hard Wax’s importance to Berlin’s vast electronic music community, so symbiotic is the relationship between the two. Put simply, without Hard Wax’s nearly two decades support of exciting new music, Berlin would be a very different place indeed.
Fabric Celebrates Seven Years Of Music, Five Days Of Fun
Named so because the particular area of London where the nightclub is located became revitalized through textiles, Fabric opened in 1999 and quickly became one of the city’s prime spots to hear DJs, dance, and have a pick of several different rooms and musical styles. Over the years, the club has hosted everyone from Akufen and James Lavelle to Carl Craig and DJ Hype, as well as created its own record label.
To celebrate the last seven years, Fabric has put together a five day extravaganza featuring some of these artists who’ve graced the DJ booths of the club in the past. All events take place at Fabric, 77a Charterhouse Street, London.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Fabriclive
Room One:
Chameleon, Goldie, Andy C, Grooverider, DJ Hype, Macpherson
Room Two:
LTJ Bukem, Fabio, London Elektricity, Peshay, Subfocus, Cyantific
Room Three:
DJ Fresh, Ray Keith , Clipz, G-Dub, TC, DJ Devil
£10/£12
Friday, October 20, 2006
Fabriclive
Room One:
Stanton Warriors, Plump DJs, Adam Freeland, Minuit (Live), Ali B
Room Two:
Foreign Beggars (Live), Bonde Do Role (Live), Scratch Perverts, Dj Dexter (The Avalanches), DJ Blakey
Room Three:
Switch, Sinden , Low B, Joe Ransom
£15/£12
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Fabric
Room One:
Craig Richards, Terry Francis, Ricardo Villalobos, Andrew Weatherall, Lindstrom (Live), Rob Mello
Room Two:
Swayzak (Live), Troy Pierce/Louderbach, Matthew Dear, Claude VonStroke, Matthew Styles
Room Three:
The Amalgamation of Soundz, Need2Soul Presents Ron Trent
10pm – Midday, £15/£12
Sunday, October 22, 2006
DTPM
Justin Ballard, Mark Westhenry, International superstar guest DJ TBA
Room Two:
Malcolm Duffy, Ariel, Nick Bridges
Room Three:
Nck Pryce, Guy Williams
11pm – 5am, £12/£15 (£10/£12 for members)
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Adventures In A Beetroot Filed
Room One: Kill ‘Em All, Let God Sort It Out…
Simian Mobile Disco, Filthy Dukes, Modeselektor (Live), Metronomy (Live), Brakes (Live), Sunshine Underground (Live), Goose (Live), Circulus (Live), The Whip (Live), Bricolage (Live), People Are Gems
Room Two: Eat Your Own Ears & Young And Lost
Duels (Live), Cajun Dance party (Live), Fear Of Flying (Live), Reverend And The Makers (Live), Young and Lost DJs, Eat Your Own Ears DJs, special guests
Room Three:
Sebastian & Kavinsky, Surkin, Crispin Dior, Skull Juice vs. Casper C, Stopmakingme
7.30pm – 3am, £11/£9
