Summer vibes are definitely just around the corner! Some aestival moments from Mark this week. Julie provides the alternative Midwestern psychedelic rock. Ruairi supplies an eclectic mix of indietronica, post-hardcore and twee-pop. Sarah picks from the re-edit collaboratory effort of our very own Guy Williams and Cagedbaby. All Andy’s choices begin with the letter C, we think he’s gunning for a job with Sesame Street.
A fresh and alternative t-shirt label from Liverpool based graphic designer Russell Reid, Wasted Heroes striking and unique prints really caught our attention. Russell is the designer behind the legendary Liverpool club Circus and is responsible for their history of twisted and surreal flyer designs. As well as his own designs, Russell regularly uses Wasted Heroes to feature and promote up and coming artists and has collaborated with stalwart Liverpool nights Chibuku and Circus on designing their merchandise. It’s clear to see this is a brand born from passion and heavily influenced by genres of electronic and indie music.
Apologies for the rather long wait for part 2 of this short series, it won’t be so long until part 3 we promise. There’s not much intro needed to (cliché as it is) one of the godfathers of techno music. Incase you do, check out the informative intro in part 1. In this transcript (part 2 of 3) of a recent interview he has given to the Red Bull Music Academy Radio. Listen to the radio show in full here or download it here. The accompanying tracklist is as follows:
Jeff Mills – Landscape (Utopian Dream) – Tresor
Jeff Mills – Blue Print – Tresor
Underground Resistance – Eye of the Storm – Underground Resistance
Underground Resistance – Predator – Underground Resistance
Underground Resistance – Base Camp Alpha 808 – UR
Underground Resistance – Final Frontier – Underground Resistance
X-101 – G-Force – Tresor
X-102 – Ground Zero (The Planet) – Tresor
X-102 – The Rings Of Saturn – Underground Resistance
Jeff Mills – Perfecture (Somewhere Around Now) – Tresor
Jeff Mills – The Bells – Axis
Jeff Mills – Transformation B (Rotwang’s Revenge) – Tresor
Jeff Mills – Robot Replica – Tresor
His Jeffness
Other than my trip to Berlin to perform with Final Cut we did not have too much information as to what Europe was like. We could only hear what Kevin, Derrick and Juan were saying about what was happening in the UK, Belgium and places like that. It was the time when the invention of the fax machine had just come out, we thought that that would be an interesting way to communicate with people. So we developed a way of communicating through the fax machine by distorting letters and images. We knew early on that there was a lot of potential for a certain type of fan base so we got into merchandising and started making t-shirts. We treated that at the same level as the music – we started exploring.
It wasn’t until maybe about a year after that we had the opportunity to go to Europe together as a unit. So for a year we were working blindly, we were working off of what we imagined Europe would be like. We thought that America would be the same as Europe. We were working with Urb magazine on the West coast and Billboard magazine in New York. It wasn’t until we got a call from a guy whom neither of us really knew, we knew of him, we knew about him. Joey Beltram called us and introduced himself. He said he had just got back from Belgium and had played one of our records and it was doing really good, he had played it to a crowd of thirty thousand people and we should make more things like that. We were like, “Who the hell is Joey Beltram?”, but “OK” so we took his advice, make more things in that direction and see what happens.
Military attire in early Underground Resistance days
We found a medium of attire, which happened kind of naturally. I was dressing that way anyway at the time, some of it comes from Final Cut which was really in that direction, our attire was really more military. Some if it comes from Mike ['Mad' Mike Banks], and the job that he used to have. He used to put people out of their houses, he was part of a team of guys that used to go to a house when someone didn’t pay their bills and he would physically move the people out. So he would have to dress in that way, he wasn’t a police officer, but very close to it. He had that type of experience so we mixed it together. We were both very much into hip hop, Public Enemy and all those other things so we kind of adopted that. We got a couple of offers to perform in New York at the Limelight and a couple of other places. We thought that maybe it would be interesting to hide our faces, so that people had no idea. They wouldn’t look at us as if we were a group of black guys and the music would stand out more than what we look like. It’s America so it’s very big on pop culture, it’s very easy to conclude what we are by what we look like – this is just a country that really excels in that. We thought that by taking that away we would put more emphasis on the sound and what the music is.
Hood, Mills, Banks
Robert Hood came in, we hired him as an assistant to work within the label at administration. He was a rapper, he was a hip hop rapper at the time. So I think we somewhat influenced him when he first came, he was really into rap. We were like, “That’s fine. But your message must be positive!” We’re not into that certain type of rap. So we brought him in and he started to work for us. We set him up with his own setup to produce music. We taught and showed him how to record it how to program it. He began to work on projects with us (with Mike and I) and then eventually started his own label called Hardwax. We worked with him a little bit to get that label started and then he took it on himself. In a week we could produce maybe twelve to twenty tracks and so we decide to do something different, something we don’t remember or didn’t hear coming from Detroit at that time. Things that we more experimental. So we decided to designate so much time to producing compositions in that way, exploring and using the equipment and machines in different ways. We decided on a name of the project as X for experimental. We would treat it somewhat like a college report, your instructor would give you a subject and you would have to report so we adopted this 101, 102, 103 as if it were a paper. So the first project was X-101, there wasn’t really any concept we just wanted to see if Mike, Rob and I could work together in this way – if we were all on the same page. It went really well so we decided to create X-102. This time we had the idea that maybe this release should really be about something connected to all people, not just certain cultures. We chose the Rings of Saturn.
We are very happy to announce an exclusive residency with one of the smartest and most genuinely humble DJs on the world circuit today. Claude VonStroke was raised in a Detroit suburb and entered the global electronic music consciousness in 2005 with his deep growling vocal and swinging synth anthem, Deep Throat. Since that release on his own imprint dirtybird, he has carved a niche owning and curating one of the world’s premier “tech-funk” labels. Celebrating their 5 year anniversary this year, Claude VonStroke has kindly provided an hour long mix from their raucous birthday party in San Francisco back in February. We can’t recommend a listen enough, download it here and get grooving to those sweaty bass-lines, quirky ideas, and bumpin funk. If your looking to check Claude VonStroke this year in Ibiza, he’ll be playing exclusively for We Love… and only at Space on the following dates, 18th July on La Terraza, 8th August in the Discoteca and then back on the Terraza for the 19th of September.
Is there one book that you have read that has been life-changing for you?
The Count of Monte Cristo. The ultimate revenge story. When I was younger and had more anger and anti-establishment sentiment this was really my favorite book. It also shows that you can do anything you put your mind to even if things look as hopeless as being in prison and in solitary confinement on an island. You can always overcome impossible odds through sheer will power.
Did your parents encourage you to work in music?
They encouraged me to play music. They paid for me to take piano and cello lessons my entire childhood. They were not quite as enthusiastic about music as a career although they never told me not to do it. My parents always supported me in my decisions and always told me I could do anything I wanted with my life. I really appreciate that because I know a lot of people, friends even, who were led to believe they had to do one thing or the other to be happy and now they are miserable at their jobs.
How did you begin to work professionally in music?
I made music as bedroom producer my whole life since I was 12. But in 2002 I made a documentary about techno and house music while I was working as a video editor on commercials. My first released track was Deep Throat in 2005. About a year later I quit my job and took it on full time.
How do you apply your past experiences to what you do today?
I know about working hard from working a ton of real jobs. I know about how to present things professionally from working on big budget films. I think a lot of DJs and producers make it big when they are in their 20′s without a lot of work experience. Then they get into the party scene and they don’t know anything about hard work. I mean really hard work. I sound like the old guy who walked 10 miles to school in the snow but I really believe a strong work ethic is something that separates me from a lot of people who could be a lot more successful if they really applied themselves.
Where is your current studio and what is it like?
The current studio is about to move from a terrible shaped room that sucks for mixing to an amazing new room in the basement of my new house outside San Francisco. I am moving it this week in fact! I am super excited. I had a custom desk built by KK Audio in LA and everything is going to be super fresh in the new room!
The dirtybird crew
How much have you had to consider marketing issues since embarking on your career and how has that affected your creativity?
I don’t believe “Marketing” actually works but indirectly I do believe that selling yourself as a package – something that can be easily understood – really matters. For example, advertising a track is a waste of time and also pretty cheesy – but having a good biography, a good story about who you are does matter. The whole bird thing was more of an accident than a marketing ploy but I saw right away that people liked it and could grab on to it as an idea so I rolled with it.
How would you describe your work?
Hard but really fun. I have a voracious appetite for trying new ideas and listening to new music.
Who were your teachers?
Mostly myself. I have to admit though, without seeing my friend Nigel Richards from 611 Records in Philly do it all years before me I would have never even thought of doing it or even known it was a possible career for that matter. Also the people who were on my DVD project really cleared up alot of questions I had about the industry, particularly Derrick Carter, Theo Parish, and Derrick May.
Your home is burgled but fortunately the culprits are caught and your possessions returned to you. What would you deem a suitable punishment for the burglars?
Cut their balls off or sew their vaginas shut… ha! No, just regular jail is fine.
You have to make one species of animal extinct. Excluding insects, which species would that be?
Your ‘momma.
If you could spend one week in any period of history, which period would you choose?
The 1980s. I would go back, head straight for New York and enjoy the birth of hip-hop.
Many thanks to the Claude VonStroke for taking time to answer our 11 Questions, you can check out our other artists who have answered here. Don’t forget to download the live mix and have a look at the video below to see Claude VonStroke and fellow dirtybird artist J Phlip talking on the roof of our club in Ibiza last summer…
From a man whose appetite knows ever increasing bounds. Be unsurprised that this consumption occurred over the course of just seven days. He is eating for two now after all, with Stella on the way. Regards to La Bodega, Forno Antico, Cafe Sidney, La Vinera and Croissant Show.
The polaroid is a “throw-away” but what exactly does it offer us? Is it the same as all other kinds of photographs? What happens to the photographer if they can see the result of their intuition or reaction or sight of an event immediately after it happens? What effect does all this have on the subjects being photographed?
In continuation of our highlighting some of the best online magazines around, today we look at a more academically focused but still stylish and emotive publication which goes by the name Polarama. It’s a visual journey of photo essays and writings on the subject of “integral” photography – instant cameras such as the Polaroid as well as comparable Fuji products are explored by image and text and considered as valuable mediators between (technologically obsolete) analogue production methods and (ever evolving) digital technologies.
Blocks
As well as collections from different photographers there is an essay with a Barthesian reading of integral photography – a scholarly and esoteric yet engaging piece of writing. Currently in the inaugural publication, download issue numero uno, here. The magazine is open for submissions, so feel free to get in touch at the Polarama website. The next issue will concern: Polaroids of TV/computer screens, Polaroids of/about film, Polaroid/s and the moving image. The theme is, as ever, open to wide interpretation. That the work should relate and engage with the medium in some way is the important point here.
I love your movies
I love you too
You are the best man that I have ever liked
You are my rich man
You are my big millionaire
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Wheaties, breakfast of champions
Wesley Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Rock over London... Rock on Chicago...
Wesley Willis was a Chicago native who achieved cult status during a short but prolific recording career in the 1990′s. In 1989, Wesley began hearing voices and was diagnosed as schizophrenic. He described his writing, performing and recording as a way to help subdue the voices in his head. His career began on the street, accompanied by a trusty Technics KN 2000 keyboard. He soon began opening slots for various local bands and later recorded songs in tribute to these performances for example, Mustard Plug, Foo Fighters and The New Bomb Turks. Standing 6’5″ tall and weighing 300 pounds, he enjoyed walking the streets of Chicago, riding buses and peddling his detailed ballpoint drawings of the city. It is also said he enjoyed greeting people with a head-butt.
Heartbreaker, nervewrecker, meansucker
Willis claimed to have “schizophrenia demons” in his head that took him away from his “harmony joy rides” and put him on “torture hell rides”. In 1992, he began writing songs and soon after formed the Wesley Willis Fiasco with guitarist Dale Meiners who took Willis to his studio to record. Willis had begun to build a small cult following with his bizarre three-chord rants about trivial everyday items, music and people he knew. In the early part of the 90′s several independently released tapes of his music appeared along with indie recordings of his albums. To date he has more than 1000 songs in circulation and was so prolific at one point recorded 4 albums in 36 days, having recorded more than 50 in total with each completely finished in 5 hours or less.
The excitement and honesty in mundane cultural phenomena from a city bus ride to McDonald’s as well as Wesley’s refreshing wit and sense of humour define his music as truly unique. His body of work is simultaneously disturbing, hilarious, blunt, and intoxicating. He has rubbed shoulders with everyone from Steve Albini to the Beastie Boys. His number one fan Jello Biafra (of the Dead Kennedys) has compiled two volumes of “Greatest Hits” for his Alternative Tentacles label and Willis has released two albums on American Recordings, one of which you can grab here. It’s hard these days to find honesty and lack of commercial or vainglorious motive in art. Willis took that idea and flipped it on its head – stuffing his art – both songs and drawings with so many advertisements and familiar names (of bands and brands) as to take the idea of “commercial” and turn it completely inside out. His songs may appear juvenile and offensive at first, but you can not help but be charmed by the songs he sung about things he loved and his friends.
Wesley said that he fought his demons every day, with names and personalities they would haunt him by mocking and persuading him to break things. He often mentioned that his demons were named “Heartbreaker”, “Nervewrecker”, and “Meansucker”. He called his psychotic episodes “hell rides”, and alternatively, he declared rock and roll to be “the joy ride music”. Wesley found a way to stay one step ahead of his demons by writing and recording thousands of songs and creating countless original drawings. The brutal honesty of his art, his constant drive to create and perform in order to hush those demons should be an inspiration to us all to dig to the deepest places of pure expression and to express oneself with unadulterated honesty.
You are so lovable to me in the long run
Wesley was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) at the end of 2002, and had to undergo emergency surgery on June 2nd to identify the source of, and to suppress internal bleeding. Wesley Willis passed away on, Thursday, August 21st, 2003. He will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most unique songwriters in history. His love of life, courage and unrelenting drive to succeed helped him overcome a horrifically poor background, child abuse, racism and chronic schizophrenia. He loved little things and big things, bus rides, watching trains. He loved writing songs about how much he loved his friends. He loved bands so much he would write songs to tell them so. He loved traveling to new towns to head-butt new friends. He has left a legacy of songs which will undoubtedly bring a smile to your face. For more information on Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, please visit Leukimia-Lymphoma.org.
So go on and download the Feel The Power album, listen good and check out our other outsider music features! Rock over London… Rock on Chicago…
Lord loves a workin' man; don't trust whitey; see a doctor and get rid of it.
Without any significant industry investment in the distinctive, ongoing solo project of Nathan Joseph White, Whitey has broken through to daytime radio, movie, tv and video game soundtracks and fashion runways. Gradually this cult artist from London has gained a home in the shadowy but global ground between high fashion and mainstream entertainment. He maintains a dismissive attitude to the music industry as a whole, performing rarely and interviewing even less often. Clearly relishing and celebrating the outsider ethos of his work, he sings, programs, plays a multitude of instruments but has no formal qualifications and is totally self taught.
His blog over at myspace is a good read if you want to know about the torrid and exploited times of a musician trying to make his way in the “business“. He goes great lengths to explain the symptoms of the patronising stance the corporate music industry has towards the artists they feed off: “The artist is seen as a disposable commodity, easily replaced and transitory – and as such can be used up quickly and casually disposed of like any other cheap replaceable resource.”
It’s good to know that although the music business may be struggling, the human ability to create music is not. By his own admission his albums and singles are now a “flyer” for the live experience, which if accounts are to be believed, can vary from hedonistic affairs in deliberately darkened rooms, with chaotic walls of feedback electronic noise to gentle simple melodies played on tiny bells, acoustic string instruments and toys. He’s played alongside everyone from New Order and Iggy Pop to Soulwax and Peaches, from venues in New York basements to cavernous clubs in Ibiza.
His latest album has been released with no record label support, no press agent, no advertising budget and it has more or less bankrupted him in the process of recording it. So to those who feel inclined (or if you know another music fan who might enjoy The Cramps stalking Gary Numan down a dark alley) don’t hesitate to forward them to his page for details on how to purchase his latest release. You won’t be disappointed, this polished pop warps the light it reflects and leaves quite an impression on the mind. If you have the time, check out his lyrics blog for a fantastic insight into the poetry, emotion and ideology behind Whitey.
The sheer awesomeness of this short film speaks for itself. But incase you need any persuasion to give it a look, it depicts an invasion of New York city by old-school video games. Fittingly, Pac-Man haunts the subway, Frogger plays in traffic and in a post 9/11 gesture, Space Invaders destroy sky-scrapers. Unfortunately this is exactly the kind of thing which will be ripped off by some “inspiring” Sony Brevia commercial. Thankfully, at the moment we can view it simply as a refreshing, 8-bit spin on the old New York apocalypse scenario.
You can find more info about Patrick Jean and his fellow Parisian creatives over at French production house Onemoreproduction.
