Reviews

Music…

Thursday, April 11th, 2013

Let me tell you I am very busy at the moment although I am sometimes not quite sure what I’m doing :)

As always I am trying to make [Diskokugel] happen and I am confident that I will finish it this year. Seriously, I need this off the table. I’ve ordered new [pcbs] (keep you fingers crossed) and am in the process of preparing 200 connector cables to mount the speakers. I am also preparing another [Quäkmonster] workshop, this time at [c-base] on May 11th. 21 aka [picture that sound] will be on display for 96 proposals at the [Marburger Kunstverein] until May 30st. I am also teaming up with two other Felixes to get an electronic prototyping and production business running.

So much for news. While I let you wait for results let me share with you what keeps me entertained. During concentrated work [Solitude] keeps me focused, especially with his ambient dubstep mix vol. 17. Looking for heroes of my past I stumbled over a mix from The Panacea featuring oldschool jungle galore. Also on heavy rotation is [The Nextmens] album “Join the Dots” albeit it is hard to get (only on amazon with their proprietary downloader – WTF?).

 

Music…

Wednesday, July 11th, 2012

Even though this years was by far my best [Fusion Festival] there’s not too much I remember about it musicwise. I’ll leave it up to you to imagine why ;) Anyway, in retrospective, I find two acts worth mentioning, simply because they were exactly as entertaining as I expected them to be:
Be Svendsen had me rocking for two hours straight. He was an heavy rotation already before I got to the festival, but now it’s even worse. My favorite: Black Tower Hotel

Douglas Greed did a beautiful opening of the main stage two o’clock noon on saturday. As mentioned before, I do not favor vocal tracks, but his combo did some serious rocking. Here’s a nice podcast of his I found:

To come down, listen to Nicolas Jaars Essential Mix. I spent two hours watching the summer rain from my window listening to it. The man’s a genius…

Music…

Friday, June 15th, 2012

I do admit I hate vocal house (at least the souly stuff). Douglas Greed really made me laugh with this one:

 

About last night… Chiemsee Reggae Festival

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

I was blessed with free tickets for the Chiemsee Reggae Festival this year. So I took it upon me to actually spend 9 hours on overbooked trains into deepest bavaria (no shit! a few more kilometers further I got a text message saying I left german net coverage).

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend attending CRS as a paying guest if you’re older than 23 and really into reggae. The majority of the people there is as much into dancehall and reggae as it is into techno-acts like Deichkind, last years headliner. The whole event takes place in bavaria and thus the place is filled with undercover cops (on their website CRS prides itself for its good cooperation with the local police) eager to catch you with a joint to add to their career. I’m not much into weed myself but I still find the idea of reggae without smoking rastas estranging. So actually the whole thing reminded me of some kind of 25000-people-highschool-senior-party. Not bad, but much too young for me and not my vibe.

Apart from that I have to aknowledge that the surroundings where just great. The whole Alps scenery and the fresh water of the river running through the festival area are really special. And beer was cheap, too ;-)

Anyway, it’s about the music. So here’s what I saw: Junior Kelly sucked massive. Max Romeo was simply boring. Third World did their thing quite professionally and where good at it. Hans Söllner of course had a home game and Peter Fox did quite a show, despite seeming not quite healthy. But, after all, I am not much into big stages and thus I had most of the fun at the tent.

There I saw Phenomden, a Swiss based reggae singer/mc. He actually sings in his native laguage, which gives his vocals a strange groove and tone I really like. The performance with the Scrucialists was absolutely tight and got me dancing all the way through.

Paprika Korps, a Polish dub band had the misfortune of being one of the first acts to play on sundy. Nontheless they did their best, playing a mixture of laydback dub tunes and really forward electric guitar tunes. I believe they are quite known in Poland and I had heard tracks of them before that didn’t impress me much. But after this concert I’ll have a second look. For sure, I recommend seeing them live!

I had only a short glimpse at Oceana, but was quite imressed with her presence on stage. There was some serious soul funk going on :-)

Black Gold… Ska Train

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

A friend showed me this record and I just had to get it! The Beatmasters released “Hey DJ! (I Can’t Dance To That Music You’re Playin’)”, introducing Betty Boo, in 1989 and landed no.7 on UKs charts. The song sounds to me like some sort of mashup of everything it needed to become hit back then. Some elements sound like something from an EMF song, others are typical RAP and early Technotronic.

But the reason why I am writing this is the b-side. Ska Train is an absolute must for people who like the dancing side of dub! It sounds like the not so old father of Yamaha vs. Eletricos “Phoenix City”. A mixture of house and ska that  should have been on one of those “Serious Dropout” compilations released by DJ Reverend in the mid-nineties. I actually find the combination of these two songs remarkable. It explains where musicians like the Freestylers have their roots, combining electro sounds with reggea and ska elements.

I wish I could have heard this stuff back when it was produced. I was only 12 years old back then, long hairs and listening to heavy metal, but this sure would have inspired me. Anyway, it will enter my set now, 20 years after its first release. Call it sustainable rockwellopement :-)

About Last Night… Jazzanova Label Party

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

Since last fall, the Centraltheater in Leipzig features a series of concert/club events with assorted acts. Last night I went there for the Jazzanova Label Night. Actually I was mainly attracted by the fact that Eva Be was DJing. The rest, the Sonar Kollektiv Orchestra, Clara Hill and Jazzanova DJs, I accepted as a sidekick :-)

It turned out that Eva Be was reduced to play as an opener in the foyer of the theatre and in between acts. What a total waste of fluffy music! A nice mixture of all kinds of styles, some I knew from my own record collection or sets played by DJ Vadim, others completely unknown to me. Hip-Hop, Reggea, Funk, whatever, but all with a certain style that put a smile on my face and had me bobbing up and down constantly. Next time she’s in town I’ll be there!

Clara Hill was first to play. I’ll keep it short: Not my kind of stuff. She shure can sing but I think she is too loud and lacks subtlety. The music didn’t convince me either. Jazz fans might enjoy some twists in harmonies and all that nerdy stuff, but thats not mine.

The Sonar Kollektiv Orchestra was impressive, to say the least. A brass and string section, drums and percussions,  bass, guitar and 3 singers together with Volker Meintz as mastermind performed songs released on the Jazzanova label. Unforgettable their performance of Âme”s “Rej”! Most songs appeared to be older releases, rather souly and acid-jazzy stuff. The sound of the band reminded me of early Pressure Drop. A friend of mine who was with me pointed out that that was mostly due to the combination of bass and trombone, producing a sub-bass that enters stomach and gonards without hesitation :-) I personally would have preferred to hear more live implementations of instrumental tracks like “Rej”. I’m not all that into soul and acid jazz and, most of all, Clara Hill didn’t fit into the arrangement. She’s too much lead singer and didn’t have the sensitivity to be a complementary part of the vocal section. Instead, she took over, which obviously pissed of the other two singer, from whom I would’ve liked to hear more.

Even though the dancefloor behind the stage is a promising party location, the party afterwards didn’t quite rock. Jazzanova DJs couldn’t convince me and I think the location hasn’t established itsself for parties yet.

Vollmond Party Weimar

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

Party at the E-Werk yesterday was mostly chillout. Sunfish is two girls doing spherical live loop effects with voice and a fender rhodes. If I hadn’t been so stressed by the fact that i forgot half my equipment at home I probably could have appreciated them more. Anyway, Who-Be once again did a great job lighting the location. Who-Be also iniciated the Vollmond series. Actually part of the theater in Weimar it hosts all kinds of experimental events. Entry is free, which leads to a very mixed audience from Bauhaus and Franz Liszt students to old unempoyed folks you wouldn’t normally expect there. Sadly enough the theater itsself treats such initiatives rather like a step-child…

After the concert there wasn’t much energy in the room to set up a dancing crowd, but in the end I got the remaining people dancing.

And earned my next date for Walpurgisnacht at the E-Werk which is bound to be a party in the real sense of the word :-)

Dancehall ADD

Sunday, February 8th, 2009

Just returned from a Dancehall party.

I SIMPLY DON’T GET IT!!!!
What the hell is it with these people? Theres two DJs, a sound engineer and one MC. Sounds promising if you ask me. The music they play is mostly nice, actually I’d like to know the names of some tunes I heard tonight. I’ve seen the MC on other occaasions and I know he can sing (and is a nice guy by the way).

!!!BUT!!!

What the fuck? Why the hell can’t I get rid of the feeling that somebody is zapping through channels here? As if they took a dancehall jukebox and gave the remote to some kid with a serious case of attention deficit disorder.
The djs can’t keep a song longer than 45 seconds. That takes us maybe 10 seconds past the intro, which has to be played at least twice (REEWIIIIND!). AT WHAT POINT SHOULD I ACTUALLY START DANCING???
All this accompanied by the continuous comments of the MC, whose eloquence is as limited as the content of his speech. 99% of his statements are requests for boody-shaking or lighter-showing, spoken fast but without rhythm or rhyme. Major turnoff…

Somehow it seems to be about Jamaican tradition, but honestly: I don’t care. I just don’t get what’s so fun about this constantly interrupted medley-playing. Theres no flow in it!
It’s just frustrating, because I like the music, but I can’t dance. I just don’t get it.  Maybe I’m just too old…

Good night.