We're heading out of town this weekend to meet the macaques, but if you are sticking around, it would probably be worth trying to build a visit to Cargo into your Saturday night festivities. Entry to the Eat Your Own Ears promoted event on the 20th is free before 11, and onstage at 9pm will be the debut live appearance from Walls, the new collaboration between our mate Sam from Allez-Allez and his mate Alessio from Banjo or Freakout. The industrious duo will be releasing an album on Kompakt later this year, and from what we have heard so far it should be a goody, so I'd fix that live show into your agenda even if you do have to rush off elsewhere later on...
But if you can handle a whole night in Cargo, later in the evening the Pantha du Prince album promotion train will be pulling into its London stop off. New album Black Noise sees the Prince's prestigious new home Rough Trade dabbling in the electronic arts with some Dial-esque chuggy twinkles and a much-hyped Panda Bear guest appearance. I think it comes across a bit like a less warm and snuggly version of our own old romantic Fairmont, whereas Rough Trade had this to say about it:
"On his new album, Pantha du Prince claims: music slumbers in all matter; any sound, even silence, is already music. The mission, then, must be to render audible what is unheard and unheard of: 'Black Noise', a frequency that is inaudible to man. 'Black noise' often presages natural disasters, earthquakes or floods; only some animals perceive this calm before the storm. 'black noise' is something archaic and earthy. His music balances precariously on the slippery threshold between art and nature, between techno and folklore, which lends it a certain spectral and intangible aspect."
This is something I have been meaning to do for a while: a list of some of our favourite podcasts to fill a rainy day downloading, as I do my bit to spread the word by way of thanks for all the fantastic music they have deposited on our server. I just hope your bandwidth can take it!
Marvin Suicide Marvin Suicide's half hour weekly show for London's wonderful Resonance FM is also available as a collectible take-home podcast; but what is most amazing about each top-notch tune-packed dispatch is that all of the music featured has been found for free and legal download on the internet (from netlabels and the like), without ever having to compromise on quality. Marvin has a funny farmer-voice too, although I suspect that he might be putting that on for the radio...
One of my favorites is Tycho's http://blog.iso50.com/ Not so much a pod casting blog but the Scott & crew posts some really great music along with its daily design posts.
Mr Cooper's Emo stylings are a case in point, and those familiar with Max's output will hopefully understand why we might take particular issue with the claim:
"It's hard to say where ideas come from but I would say it’s all about bringing together influences and experiences which are individual to you, in order to generate output original to you."
But if you are not sure what I am on about, I think this video of the erudite Stewart Lee that the insightful Luke Abbott pulled out of Youtube sums things up pretty perfectly, and definitely better than I have time to right now:
The "you can't own a joke" defence is certainly a close relative of the "all dance music is plagiarism" line that we are repeatedly fed. But what it really comes down to is the question of whether an individual deserves any credit at all for their derivative offerings, never mind the reward of a record deal: perhaps such redundant contributions would be best left languishing on a hard drive, instead of further depleting the worlds resources by pressing yet another unnecessary slice of vinyl? And I certainly wouldn't go giving them money for their labours!
The tide may yet turn against the plagiarisers: Jake "Fairmont" Fairley tells me that he was recently asked to comment by a journalist from Resident Advisor, who are apparently putting together their own take on the topic. And in the meantime, it is clear what James and the rest of the crew (and any other would-be Border Communists) have to do: as we speak, they are shut away in their respective studios, continuing their progress towards that goal of writing their own musical version of the joke that Joe Pasquale can't copy...
Im finding it hard to see why this blog post is so unnecessarily scathing towards max cooper. Having had no acquaintance with his music before reading the article (never even heard of him) i decided to check out some of the attached live set and was surprised to hear some nice little musical moments. After that priming you delivered i was expecting an hour long mix of sky was pink rip-offs. He's got a little bit of an Extrawelt vibe, but no more than 'hollywood' off 'zuckerzeit' sounds like something James could have written or Tobar's 'el sunset' sounds like Nathans chord progressions and synth work, or the pet shop boys influence in 'We will destroy you' or how the much loved Caribou sounds like an up to date 'Can' record. etc etc. Coopers opening track 'The end of reason (ambient rework)' is quite beautiful and original to my ears along with a few other little bits and pieces i heard.
Ironically, I hear a lot of influence in BC's music, both external (shoegaze,kraut,pop,punk,warp,boc,etc) and from within the label (cross polination) so always get a little smile when i see you on your soap boxes on the originality issue. Is it ok to be derivative/influenced as long as the art and ideas come from a scene outside the one you currently perform in? how is it any different?
I am not trying to condone straight up copying and i think conciously trying to imitate is a complete waste of time, but from what i have heard that is not the case here. If there are some more blatent examples that i have not heard then that is another story, but in any case, they don't make up his full body of work.
As annoying as this copying must be when you work so hard to carve out new ideas in an already idea saturated genre do realize that it has probably come about because they were so overcome with love and admiration for the original that it spilt through in to their work. A humbling little bit of good to take with the bad.
Keep making beautiful and unique music and stay passionate about that rather than worrying about what less creative types are concerning themselves with. The pioneers are always the ones who are remembered and used as the basis for comparison whenever a derivitive work is produced.
excited to hear all the bc boys are in their studios :) great news!
let me see if i can manage to respond before my ambien kicks in,
bc was founded on proto shoe gazing warm up sets of the late 90's when no one was listening and james played as we all looked around a semi empty room. no one knowing nothing and kaern bleeding into a first slot that night in amsterdamn at a time when no one listened to the hypovolemic hymns. yet we knew and james new what needed to be purely said with the music. What purely must be shared, and recognizing the purity in others. then, by mistake, anthems heard in those early days would have had a pixie melody to rally around. and the silverplanet crew went unnoticed. days of sheer genius followed the breakaway from silverplanet with a janerio remix made from a hiku and some new effects no one had ever heard before, but which immediately found a way to help sasha. unlike most djs, james doesn't hustle his art into the release stage.
Kind hamster, shall we take a walk into fear and loathing in the city and day dream of what is just about the countryside? this is what makes the music, maneuvering through a sea of endless assholes, but with a group all tuned into what Plato called Truth, Beauty and the Good. That is why the biters can never sound as good. They have not had the anguish. They have never had to turn out the light. What troopers are now confused by the gagglefuck of posers and biters, let them find their bunkers and hq's and remember the day you were a part of a truth, a beauty and a good. Bring forth your arete's from the rooms you lost faith in god from, and let the world hear that we are all losing and the idiots winning.
I don't think my blog is unnecessarily scathing about Max's music - if anything, his posturing was my main target. But I do think that his 'Harmonisch Serie' was a completely unecessary release.
Perhaps I should have been more explicit - I thought most people would already be familiar with his transgressions. Thankfully that seemingly isn't the case.
Fair call on that 'Harmonisch Serie' track, id be pissed too and agree with you on it's pointlessness. Yep, be more explicit next time, there is nothing wrong with pointing out blatant copying.
here is an outhouse ripoff i came across recently http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF0597jWajk
i don't understand how people can live with themselves doing this sort of shit.
my gripe was that i thought you were referring to a vaguely inspired sound rather than a direct copy.
you would have to prove that holden observed 4'33. but you can't. so it's moot. besides, you could view it as a universal gesture towards music that any musician should use to draw attention to the meaning of music as a quality and void filler. what better way to express what we are without and what we've become with music. this reverence is a tool every musician could use in their repertoire, without it being plagiarism, based on the epistemological benefit it would have for the audience. and anyone that knows anything knows that what is good for the greater good ought to be practice by all. it's purely reasonable.
Why should you not be disrespectful Gemma? Do we always have to be ... especially when respect is really not present?
Point well made on the Cooper case I'd say and BC has every right to be upset by producers ripping off the ideas your artist work so hard to forge themselves, putting tears and blood into the creation of new sonic experiences. And then mr Cooper and mr Davis and mr Applescal mr Moonbeam appear on the horizon with their derivative outputs basically making a career on your back reselling your ideas to the audiences you have not only won but actually created from scratch by simply being original.
This whole business reminds me so much of the asian black market industry producing fake nike trainers and rolex watches for the poor. Black market vendors make a profit on the back of a company that spends millions on R&D to create an unique and great product, then goes on to spend even more on advertising it and suddenly mr Chan Weng mocks up what it seems (at least from the outside) an identical version of it putting about million times less effort and money in the process. Its just not fair is it?
However one that truly cares about his watch and trainers would spot the fake attempts right away and never contemplate buying one because essentially they are not identical! I am yet to hear a Holden or Fake wannabe that actually managed to create something greater out of their ideas.
Regardless of the fact how much I love your sound I would never put my money into derivative works just to satisfy my thirst for BC frequencies. It's just like buying that fake pair of nikes that falls apart in 2 weeks of use just in the same way Harmoniche Series falls apart on a first listen. Why bother wasting time with the copy? I'd rather go hear the original as long as I have it anyway.
And while we are on the topic of originality may I take the opportunity to upset BC by asking: What the heck is that new MFA single? Jesus christ! Please stay true to your values and reconsider your plunge into synth pop especially when the attempt is so mediocre. I fucking hate it. Not even remotely excited about it. This of course is only my opinion but I feel you might appreciate how your core audience receives your latest offering. We are a community after all right so I feel is necessary to say that.
I guess everyone has their line that they draw between being 'inspired by' and plagiarizing.
Just as an additional thought, I think a piece of music can still be beautiful/soulful/worthy despite having borrowed superficial stylistic elements from another artist. For example, Wesley Matsell's wonderful 'Diffusion27' is no less beautiful (and it is really beautiful) for having borrowed from Phillip Glass's compositional style, which can be recognized clear as a bell (i wasn't at all surprised to later read Glass was an influence of his). Does that make him a cheap pair of Phillip Glass nikes? I don't think so at all. I can resonate with the emotion and work put in to the piece, enjoying the 'story' of it and move past the fact there are many stylistic similarities.
The same goes with these 'knock off' artists you mentioned above. If there is depth to the particular piece and it is original (no stolen melodies, chord progressions, basslines etc) then i have no problem if i can hear some of their influences as long as it's not too overt. imo none of these artists really sound like any of the border community artists.
If we recoiled in horror every time we heard stylistic similarities in music we would never listen to anything. If we threw our hands up in the air and said "OMG that ricardo tobar track sounds like MBV or M83 with a beat", "that holden track reminds me of something from a 70's kraut band", im not going to listen to it!, then we miss the whole point of the substance of the music within.
You can be innovative working within the constraints of a style or you can be one of those rare individuals to start a new style, but originality/novelty in itself is not enough to make a beautiful or worthy work.
For the record i believe James is one of those rare individuals and am really excited to see what he pulls out next. If only everyone could be so creatively gifted.
Jason, i don't want to prove anything, and i never want to say that James is a plagiarist. I just mentioned, that the idea of track was already created by another person before him. And this is a fact. What would you say if someone creates "new" Malevich's "Black Square"?
And i want to say that BC - is my favourite label, and i admire music, that BC crew makes, even my mom likes james's tracks... but, i don't like fanaticism, and if someone made a "mistake", i dont see a reason to find any explanations of it.
Sorry, if i couldn't explain what i mean more clearly - english isn't my native language, so i risk to be misunderstood. Anyway, BC is great, and i want to thank James&co for making Music.
the line that is drawn is logical axiom because you can't compare inspiration or influence to absurd biting of styles. there is an obvious difference that needs no further description. if you are hearing influence, then there are no ethics to worry about, but if you are hearing a bunch of biters at work, then biting is the focus.
"is'nt james's "intentionally left blank" a copy of John Cage's "4'33"?"
in the english or american language that is a claim with a question mark at the end of it. the syntax is different, but if you ask me, the semantics are the same.
if you ask me there is a mutinous subtext going on here for the purpose of appearing in control of certain 'however' assertions. the argument was max cooper is biting toy ass bitch. and trying to compare inspiration to biting, and sadly thus inadvertently doing a little sub textual smearing of bc work just to appear in control of one's assertions, is unfortunately visible here.
cross pollination is common and when the knife listen's to phil collins 'in the air tonight' and bases their entire sound on that shit, it's influence. all common shit.
the point is, if you don't apply an absolutist stance to biting, then that shit will fuck everything up. the argument is not that what constitutes biting and what constitutes influence. the argument is biting, when detected by trained ears, needs to get stamped out.
there are motherfuckers that have come up to james and said that his stuff was the hardest for them to emulate. who the fuck spends their skills on trying to crack other people's codes? could you imagine some one coming up to you and saying "most dance music has been easy for me to find out how it was done, but your stuff is always the hardest for me to figure out".
everyone that reads james' blogs or sees his interviews know where his influences come from. same with the rest of the bc. no one is recoiling from knowing about a kraut rock influence here, james' influences are old news. and when they were news, it was highly original. i didn't even know what the fuck krautrock was until james started talking about it. but i do know when i heard 'mainline' for the first time, it didn't sound like anything out there. did the safari remix sound like anything you've heard before? i think people are underestimating how the hamster listen's to shit. its krautrock today but something entirety different tomorrow. the Madonna remix doesn't sound like anything. Scape one, the list goes on and on. James just does shit differently every time. Other artists are blessed to be an influence on such a genius.
Jason, I actually find myself agreeing with much of what you wrote, though there is definitely no smearing intended. I fail to see how pointing out influences equates to denigrating the work, especially considering neither of us consider being influenced a bad thing.
"the point is, if you don't apply an absolutist stance to biting, then that shit will fuck everything up. the argument is not that what constitutes biting and what constitutes influence. the argument is biting, when detected by trained ears, needs to get stamped out."
Fair enough, i can agree with that. But i would like to know more about these trained ears and how one distinguishes biting from influence because the dividing line isn't so obvious to me. When we are dealing with something other than a direct plagiarism of a specific piece (ie, that harmonich series track) and are more in the realms of vague semblance's and feelings it gets more difficult to justify your absolutist stance.
For example, this Matthys chap holden recommended recently on his blog has some great BC style tracks for sale on his bandcamp. eg.
Biting or influence? how do you decide? I could just as easily imagine him putting up a post complaining about him. I would hate for such lovely techno to be 'stamped out' (not that i think that would actually be possible) by someone who felt some elements were a little too close to home.
the trained ears are gemma. i guess you would have to know her to know how she would listen to something. i can contest to having almost fell into this trap, the trap of biting vs influence with this track called 'papillon'. i forget the name of the artist. at the time i was all about hearing the bc sound accidentally turning up in other tracks, but it was no accident. also, this is because i like big gun anthem tracks, but then it started to get away from me. i was making excuses for these german producers who were becoming so heavily influenced by james' sound that it turned into biting. thats all they were doing after a while. and thats when it became something deliberate. if anything, there is a fine line between influence and biting. the funny thing is, james doesn't listen to that which is in the club to get his influences, so why in the fuck should people be listening to that which james fashions for the club? that doesn't do the dance floor any good. you are not challenging anything that way. i swear if you dropped this one track by Spoon called The Ghost of You Lingers it would destroy the crowd, and its by some band from Texas. That's about as removed from the European dance floor as possible, and that is, if you place close attention, the plot twists that the bc really promotes. Gemma probably has the best ear and taste of anyone at the bc, I know this, and thus I can feel confident in her judgment of aesthetics. She is after all the editor of the monobrow. We are talking about years and years of high level experience in listening to really good music. This is by far not a personal thing, but an argument made simply by a well trained ear.
I was enjoying the discussion though, different opinions != argument. Jason, thanks for clarifying your point, don't agree with it totally but i see where you are coming from. ps. papion was a bodzin track, and i still think of it as one of his few good ones.
have a nice day and keep making lovely tunes.
ps. the word verification for this post was 'queerbo' which is a bit of a coincidence dont you think? o_O
yeah thanks for reminding me about bodzin. yes this was the trap i fell into. gemma however knows a thing or two about producers and if they are what you would call session artists or just plain badass individuals like aphex twin. but again, you would have to have access and know the day job of some of these fucking producers. once you can see the difference of how each different kind of producer fertilizes the scene, or the case of producers who are mainly influenced by other dance tracks, you can then make a clear distinction of where the influences come from, and if the influenced quack more like a biting ass duck. i don't know how to make it clearer than that you have a bunch of producers just listening to dance music, and making shit from that, so as to become that. its sounds, but not really music or art anymore. i guarantee you there is not a single artist at the bc that listens to music the way a session artist does. i can't stand local session artist bands btw. i can't stand people who like amy whinehouse and i can't stand scenesters.
"St George’s Day has been ignored in London for far too long, but I’m truly pleased to announce some fantastic events to mark this occasion. We have much to be proud of in this great country, England has given so much to the world, politically, socially and artistically. St George’s Day is a time to celebrate the very best of everything English and the Cross of St George will proudly fly outside City Hall on 23rd April. I look forward to hopping on a Routemaster and visiting Leadenhall Market for traditional English festivities. I encourage everyone to join in the fun and celebrate England’s great Patron Saint."
And to be fair to Boris (however much against the grain that may go), the line-up for Concert on the Square looks better than I had ever expected of him, featuring Mercury Music Prize nominees Eliza Carthy and Seth Lakeman, and embracing a thoroughly modern definition of English folk music where the diverse multi-cultural influences of Bishi (born to Bengali parents) and Netsayi (whose parents stem from Zimbabwe) are right at home. Worth popping by should you find yourself wandering round central London this Saturday...
This new-found "occasion" of St George's Day also provides the perfect excuse to post this much-loved cameraphone snap, taken in Knightsbridge on last year's St George's Day non-Bank Holiday when we were driving across London with Jake "Fairmont" Fairley. This enthusiastic amateur's dedicated reinterpretation of the St George and The Dragon legend to incorporate a dragon motorbike upon which George himself rides did his level best to convince our Canadian cousin that the Great British Eccentric is still very much alive and kicking on this funny little island of ours - which is probably something worth celebrating in itself, St George's Day or not:
This comment has nothing to do with the post (sorry gem), but I have to post it somewhere.
I was watching an episode of CSI:Miami on TV tonight and while they were doing some policey magic with fumes and a dead body, they played good ole' Nathan Fake - 'You Are Here' over the whole scene. I could not believe my ears!!(In a great way that is). It was really nice to hear it. We'll teach them yanks to appreciate good music yet :D
Right, back to eagerly awaiting Hard Islands I suppose..
Yes, that is correct - I knew it was happening but had no idea which episode or when it would be broadcast. So thanks for the info - we must look out for that one!
A couple of weeks ago we packed new recruit Wesley Matsell off to Holland in the company of old hand Nathan Fake, to play together for our dedicated supporters Full Spectrum in Utrecht. And aside from an unfortunate flight-missing incident, things seemed to go pretty well: the new tour buddies got on altogether famously, and Nathan was so impressed with Wesley's gradual DJ progression from experimental noise terror to old school acid house that we have already secured Wes to kick off proceedings at the London launch party for Nathan's new 'Hard Islands' album in May.
As a taster of what you may have missed in Holland, but probably want to make sure you catch in London in May, Full Spectrum have recently added streams of both Nathan and Wesley's sets to the downloads section of their website for your listening pleasure. A veritable mix and live set goldmine dating back to 2004, alongside Wesley and Nathan's offerings you'll also find nostalgic goodness from Border Comrades Holden, Fairmont and Lazy Fat People, as well as plenty of other recordings worthy of the BC seal of approval from the likes of Superpitcher, Dominik Eulberg, Ozgur Can, Michael Mayer, Legowelt, Tomas Andersson, Josh Wink and Sandrien.
The next big Full Spectrum and Border Community outing meanwhile is scheduled for Saturday March 28th, this time at Nijmegen's Doornroosje where we'll be wheeling out the big gun tagteam of James Holden and Nathan Fake to bring all the latest music from the hard island...
Begone Dull Care is a kind of early forerunner to both the modern music video and the club VJ alike, created way back in 1949 by painting directly onto film to accompany the jazz sounds of the Oscar Peterson Trio. Scratchy abstract lines and flashes of pulsing colour skip about in time and give visual form to the young Peterson's music in a wonderfully warm and organic analogue fashion: a timeless reminder of just how effective the combination of music and visuals can (and should) be.
And if I may say so, the scratchy detail and gentle bleed of the glowing luminescent colours visible in the still above does look strangely familiar, and ever-so-slightly BC-esque - the cover for our Swedish meatball Petter's Some Polyphony (as created in sugar paper by Colouring Competition winner Jonathan David) might initially spring to mind. But interestingly it is actually the artist behind the cover of Petter's Six Songs EP - Dutch visualist Judocus - who employs this same sort of painting and scratching on film technique in his work, giving his finished piece for Petter's Border Community debut a similar hyper-real glow to the McLaren-Lambart film:
('Begone Dull Care' music-provider Oscar Peterson meanwhile is a particular favourite of our own Luke Abbott - we recently picked up his Night Train album on Luke's recommendation after he bigged it up over on his blog).
The National Film Board of Canada's Online Screening Room has plenty more fast-loading animation, documentaries and other visual goodies in their extensive archive for you to browse - and all for free! The playlist introduction to the work of NFB trailblazer Norman McLaren (compiled by old friend and collaborator Donald McWilliams) is well worth your attention: as well as developing experimental animation techniques working directly onto the film, as McWilliams explains, McLaren was also an early electronic music pioneer, using his patented scratching technique to create a new instrument from the optical soundtrack area of a piece of film.
Speaking of Canada, in one final tenuous link before I sign off, it just so happens that our own James Holden set off for Canada this very morning, boxfresh new DMs in tow in preparation for the sub-zero temparatures. Dagobert in Quebec City gets their Holden debut this evening, before he heads back to Montreal for the decidedly chilly sounding Igloofest and after party tomorrow night. Igloofest is every bit as crazy as it sounds: an outdoor festival in the dead of the Canadian winter - and trust me, Canadian winters are cold, as the video from last week's Modeselektor appearance will testify (just watch all the steam rising!).
Still, I suppose all that dancing should keep the crowd warm, and they can always warm up again at the indoor after party. Apparently DJs are provided with a polar-grade jacket - which is lucky as I doubt that James' trusty West German issue army coat could cut it in those temparatures - but as the flyer so humourously suggests, I don't think it is possible to DJ in mittens:
Then finally on Saturday it is time for James to head over to Toronto, hometown of Fairmont man Jake Fairley, for a show at Footwork. Jake has also promised to source some calorific poutine (made with vegetarian gravy, of course) for Sunday lunch to replace any lost fat reserves, just in case James doesn't get a chance to grab his beloved cheese curd delicacy on his dash through the dish's Quebec homeland.
Coincidentally, I just read on the Domino site that the Junior Boys' new album is also called "Begone Dull Care": http://www.dominorecordco.com/uk/news/30-01-09/
I've been much too busy trying to get back into the swing of things after the festive break to provide a full post-party analysis of our New Years Eve Amsterdam extravaganza before now, and indeed it does seem a little redundant after our party-partner Luke Abbott got in there as soon as he got home on January 2nd with a photo blog entitled Oh no, I've spilt champagne on my nighty, complete with the obligatory oily ball shots. I'll leave you to ponder that image, as well as the question of just whose nighty Luke might be referring to...
And instead I will focus on our slightly overdue thanks list: thanks to everyone from Melkweg and Mojo for their ever professional party planning. Thanks to everyone who played on the night: Luke, Avus, Fairmont and Nuno dos Santos in our room, and the army of Dutch stalwarts who ensured that the other three rooms were equally jumping all night. Thanks and full marks to VJ Rick Robin for fusing our penchant for clouds and psychedelic liquid wheel lighting into a rather pleasing reality. And last but of course not least, thanks to all of the Netherlands-based faithful who made good on their resolution to do their best to avoid the scourge of terrible music during 2009 by turning out to see in the New Year with us in a suitably optimistic melodic style.
And now, as we enter a post Christmas wasteland that is depressingly overcast with bankruptcies and job losses, I am working hard for you to find those glimmers of hope - those breaks in the clouds - to try to sustain that optimism well into the New Year. Thankfully we only have to wait until next Monday (12th) for our first reason to be cheerful, when the mighty Animal Collective's much-hyped new album Merriweather Post Pavillion is scheduled to appear in whatever record shops still remain (buy British and pre-order direct from Domino now and they'll throw in that entrancing cover art in poster form for good measure). Included on this album is 'My Girls', which our musical bum chum Sam from Allez-Allez singled out as a special favourite from the last round of Animal Collective gigs, and has been championing ever since.
To celebrate this joyous occasion, the Collective have a gig on the same day at Camden's Koko, which less joyously seems to be pretty much sold out - so if you do already have a ticket then that is a reason to be very cheerful indeed. But if you don't, then their recently announced appearance up the road amongst the faded glamour of The Forum on March 24th - which is still very much not sold out - ought to pick you back up again: just make sure you don't miss out this time by securing your tickets from Seetickets today.
It was a wonderful evening Gemma! I love James his dedication and of course the dedication of the rest of the BC crew. A BC-night doesn't simply mean outstanding, surprisingly new tunes and musical highlights. It's kinda like the whole crowd is formed into one big family! Heavenly! ;)
PS: Will BC release the sets played that night? I know 3voor12.nl put them 90% of the time online, but we've seen nothing yet! It creates flashbacks to the 31st ;)
PS 2: New Animal Collective album available for a total (p)review at: http://3voor12.vpro.nl/luisterpaal/#
I totally agree with above. I also like the way how the Border Community makes it it's own party, instead of making a party for the crowd (entertainment, blehh...)! Just what Mark says, there is so much connection between everybody. On Border Community nights and especially with James Holden everyone is so in to the music (most of the time I hate party-people...) Aaah I can't fully make myself clear in English... Never mind! It was a great high quality new years eve party!! PS. Where can I buy the ticked for next year??????! ;)
The famous colouring competition we launched a few years ago proved to be massively popular: entries continue to trickle in to this day, although lately we haven't been able to find a good excuse to use any of them so I suspect it may finally have run its course. So I have good reason to believe that there are plenty of colouring competition fans round here; Google Analytics also leads me to believe that there are a decent number of Norris Cole-esque colouring competition fans out there in the wider world web too, who occasionally happen upon this site whilst trawling the internet looking for new colouring competitions to enter.
Whichever particular category you fall into, our favourite papercutter Pinky (who you may remember provided the rainbow bright artwork for Fairmont's Coloured In Memory album) has just the thing for you: the Colour Me Bad! activity kit, containing a giant A1 size poster to colour in (thereby entering Pinky's own take on the colouring competition) and a bonus selection of ever-popular badges and stickers, all for just £15 (£20 including special delivery in time for Christmas).
I am sorely tempted: the poster design is in a similar vein to Pinky's new line in watercolours that were recently unveiled at his afore-mentioned current show at Cup in Manchester, which I have been eyeing up covetously for our hallway ever since. Some custom-colouring to match our decor could be the way forward:
And if the colouring-in kit doesn't solve some of your Christmas present dilemmas, then maybe Pinky's latest hand-painted psychedelic owl soft sculptures will do the trick instead? Right up Mr Luke Abbott's street, I would have thought. Although since I know he is such a dedicated reader of this blog, that would have rather given the game away if Santa was actually planning to bring him one this Christmas. James has a theory that a swift blow to the head can ensure the temporary memory loss necessary to cancel out any surprise-spoiling premature Christmas present sightings - but I wouldn't try that one at home, kids!
Finally, the truly dedicated colourer will also want to pick up one of our painting-by-numbers t-shirts or bags from our online store to complete the set, which await your own unique colourful twist using fabric, paints or whatever else your imagination dictates. One day I might even finally get round to adding some handy customisation kits to the shop, which I have been dutifully assembling like a sewing squirrel hoarding vintage fabrics and accessories to tide me through the winter. But if you have already managed to give your t-shirt or bag the personal hand-crafted touch without my help, we would dearly love to see a photo of the results!
There was one destination on Fairmont's tour itinerary this month that particularly caught my eye: the BrainTicket night at Caleido Club in Bologna, Italy, this Saturday 13th December - mainly because BrainTicket seems like a rather excellent name for a club night to me:
The psytastic artwork, slap bass and posh-bird-on-acid vocals on the eponymous 'Brainticket' trilogy made the album an instant (but possibly dangerous) in-car hit for us, and the reasons why you ought to also add it to your collection are perhaps best illustrated through the instructions contained in the liner notes:
"Listen to the first recording of this LSD / Hashish / Fixy / Jointy Sound. Take a trip into your inner light. See the hallucinations of reality rise out of the groove. You've got your Brainticket now! Hallelujah.
Advice: After listening to this record, your friends won't know you anymore.
Warning: Only listen once a day to this record. Your brain may be destroyed. Hallelujah records takes no responsibility."
But after some further digging (well, I asked the promoters!) it turns out that the clubnight's name was actually a loan from an early nineties techno track from Germany by Ramin, which in a twinkly melodic sense (if not in tempo) does perhaps strangely also have a touch of the Fairmont about it (listen for yourself on Last.fm).
So I do hope that Jake has a better time in Italy next weekend than James did this weekend just gone by, namely in Bari, where he ended up accidentally eating a mouthful of ham after the promoter told him a dish he had just tried was vegetarian (when it blatantly wasn't!), and then nearly missed the flight on the way home after the driver turned up too late. James' last visit to Bari (along with Nathan) also resulted in a missed flight thanks to a driver no-show following a highly-inappropriate club booking, so I don't think he will be in any rush to head back there ever again! But if the BrainTicket website's handy hints on enjoying the party (which to me sound more Japanese in spirit than Italian!) are anything to go by, then the Bologna-based BrainTicket crew appear to be a conscientious set of promoters very concerned with ensuring a good time for all, as the following excerpt would suggest:
"Thank you for... Not Driving No Matter What!
Ok, not a single teetotal friend of yours, and you digged hard into that rhumy things. Take a taxi, or wait for the bus!
I was tripping on someone's blog radio playlist and heard the following tune:
'Junior Senior - Headphone song'.
Not an all together mind blowing song to hear when you are sober, but after taking some bud to the head and listening to this fucker for the first time on some bose headphones, you will momentarily do the fucking hoky poky in a parallel universe.
I guess there is a story to the song too, something about escaping in music or some shit.
Many thanks to everyone who came down to our Concrete & Glass festival showcase at Plastic People last weekend, and simultaneous apologies to anyone who couldn't get into the full-to-capacity venue (though thankfully that wasn't quite as many people as were left standing outside the relocated-to-Cargo-at-the-last-minute TV On The Radio gig). There are plenty of advantages to doing an event in a venue as cosy and intimate as Plastic People, but the one big disadvantage is the fact that inevitably not everyone who wants to will be able to get in. Not wishing to rub anyone's nose in it, but at least a good time was had by everyone who did make it in, which I suppose is the most important thing...
For us, it is always a recipe for a good night when we can get the whole crew out to play: I don't think we have ever managed to bring so many Border comrades together in one place before, with Avus and Nathan Fake popping along for the fun of it just to hear billed-boys James Holden, Fairmont, Luke Abbott and Wesley Matsell play. All too predictably, I didn't get any photos of the evening - I am just hoping that someone else did?
The whole East London vibe seemed to go down rather well with Jake (Fairmont) and his Canadian companion James on this visit, which makes a refreshing change from the usual visitor complaints about pollution, expense, size, noise, traffic, black snot and so on... So it is a real shame that some light-fingered lout had to go and snaffle Jake's Kaoss Pad from the DJ booth after he had finished playing (at least it was not before or during, I suppose...), an occurrence which rather took the shine off the evening. What with clothing theft in Newcastle, and equipment theft in London, the criminal community of the UK seem to be conspiring to give our Canadian cousin Jake a less than positive impression of our little island. If anyone does know what happened to the Kaoss Pad and can return it to us, perhaps there is still time to undo some of Britain's negative karma regarding the treatment of our Commonwealth guests...
Last Friday was a particularly big night for visiting Welshman Mr Wesley Matsell, for not only was it his Border Community event debut, it was also the first time he had ever met us, our negotiations regarding the release of the mighty Bernwerk (buy the mp3s now from our online store) being previously limited to a rather protracted email exchange. So even after we had picked him up from the location of our group Vietnamese feast, we still had as little idea as anyone what he would play during his warm-up, having been forewarned of his predilection for "ridiculously eclectic" DJ sets when compiling his biography earlier in the year. Not that an open-minded soul like me was particularly worried you understand, but when the time came, we were pleasantly surprised at just how techy and dancefloor-friendly his hour-long intro turned out to be: we really could see the beginnings of a fairly distinctive sound emerging that ought to hold up jolly well when rolled out onto the world's dancefloors, should the opportunity arise. Completing the trio, Friday was also the first time that Wesley had ever heard his Bernwerk-baby played out on a club system (once by himself, and once by James), and it is always a special moment for an artist to witness that kind of spontaneous crowd reaction to their music first hand.
Wesley's eclectic tendencies coupled with the snippets of noise terror hosted on his Myspace did initially set some alarm bells ringing in our friend Sam's head when I first put Wesley forward as a potential guest mixer on Sam's wonderful Allez-Allez podcast series, but Friday's set certainly allayed his fears of inflicting an out-of-character extreme noise onslaught on the faithful Allez-Allez subscribers. And in an outburst of perfect timing, the Wesley Matsell guest mix is ready and waiting for download from Allez-Allez today, offering everyone a taster of what our latest new recruit is all about, whether you made it into Plastic People last Friday or not. Tasteful tech is on the menu once again, and we trust you won't be disappointed by the selection of quality produce on offer chez Wes:
Wesley Matsell Allez-Allez Mix 1) Hecker - Bsf°tyk 5 2) Gyorgi Ligeti - Lux Aeterna 3) Kim Cascone - Null Drift 4) 2 Dollar Egg - Untitled 5) Maetrik - Kamtron 6) Misc. - Double Tongue 7) We Are Records - Unknown 8) Hugg & Pepp - Krook 9) D.I.M. - Frogger 10) Elektrochemie - Mucky Star 11) Wesley Matsell - Bernwerk 12) Hugg & Pepp - Morfar 13) Pauline Oliveros - Lear 14) Para One - Bike
We really can't get enough of Brighton-based bright spark Pinky's visual brand of modern psychedelia, a fact which has just earned him yet another plug on our blog. The-artist-responsible-for-the-Fairmont-album-artwork has a new show opening later this month in Manchester, at Mr Scruff's Cup cafe (53-55 Thomas Street, in that there Northern Quarter). Any lurking Mancs reading this really ought to consider popping along to the opening on Thursday 23rd October (7-9pm), or failing that I am sure you can squeeze in some sort of tea-based rendezvous there before the end of the year:
Pinky's online shop doesn't seem to have much left for sale, so heading along to a show in person is probably the only way to add to your Pinky collection for the timebeing: but as the "art for everyone" tag might suggest, his goodies are genuinely affordable, and would, dare I say it, make excellent Christmas presents. For a quick pan around the sort of desirables you can expect, and a glimpse of the man himself's impressive big fuzzy hair, take a peek at this video from his recent Love Is The Drug solo show in Brighton.
And far be it for me to suggest that it might be time to replace Wesley Matsell's own desktop-based psychedelia, but I do believe that Pinky's Yes Sun downloadable wallpaper may well have the environmental high ground: monitors apparently require less energy to display dark screens, so his choice of a black background casts Pinky as a veritable eco-angel next to our diabolic Welsh experimentalist Wesley. But bright colours are so pretty!
Edit: Sorry to be the nerd police but - Pinky's misleading us a little here - it's only old-fashioned CRT monitors that use more power for bright colours. LCD screens are lit from behind on full brightness the whole time, and the pixels just block light to display colours other than white. So you can keep your Wesley-wallpaper and not feel bad to the polar bears. James.
fucking blog wars. i cant believe someone got through the trons clearance levels to transmit a message with the truth about LCD witchcraftery in it. i am behind on today's afternoon dose of buspirone and all these security breaches aren't making things better.
If you are dedicated enough to subscribe to the RSS feeds from our news page and this blog, then chances are you are already well up to speed on this Thursday and Friday's Concrete & Glass festival happening in East London. And you probably aren't going to spot my sneaky news page edit of a few minutes ago, offering two pairs of Concrete & Glass passes for both days of the festival to two lucky competition winners. So in the name of fairness, I am sure you won't mind me repeating myself here...
We have two pairs of passes to give away to two lucky Border Community fanatics, providing entry to both days of the Concrete & Glass festival (including of course our showcase at Plastic People featuring James Holden, Fairmont, Luke Abbott and Wesley Matsell). Simply mail your answer to the following question to competitions@bordercommunity.com by 5pm tomorrow (October 1st) to be in with a chance of winning:
Which of the Border Community Concrete & Glass showcase artists has a track called 'We Are Made Of Glass'?
But if you have already secured your Concrete & Glass tickets, then fear not, as there is something in this post for you too. You may be interested in availing yourself of the rather nifty interactive schedule function just added to the Concrete & Glass website, where all the events are listed in chronological order, with neat little boxes to tick to create your own schedule and synchronise your movements with your friends. All festivals ought to have this kind of thing!
There is quite literally a lot to take in at the upcoming Concrete & Glass festival in Shoreditch, where the dream team of James Holden, Fairmont, Luke Abbott and Wesley Matsell will be hosting our Border Community showcase at dream venue Plastic People on Friday October 3rd. Tickets for our event only are available for £10 from Ticketweb or Seetickets, but just in case you are considering going for the full multiple venue access two day pass, I thought I would provide a little insight into what else is worth catching at next weeks music and contemporary art East London extravaganza...
All systems are go from 7pm on Thursday 2nd October, when radio DJ tastemakers Steve Lamacq, Huw Stephens and John Kennedy go head to head with their respective showcases at 93 Feet East, The Macbeth and The Old Blue Last: Steve has Goodbooks, Ox Eagle Lion Man and The Oscillation, Huw has Flash Guns, The Big Pink, Wave Machines and Cats In Paris, but XFM jock John Kennedy probably wins this battle of the DJs for me, having secured Errors to play alongside Barringtone and Twisted Wheel at The Old Blue Last.
On a different tack altogether, you could try the Greco-Roman showcase at Favela Chic, where Skream will be turning in a special disco set to accompany Grosvenor, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Younghearts; or perhaps join Bloggers Delight, who will be warming up Plastic People for us with the D*I*R*T*Y Soundsystem, Pilooski and Casper C.
You have no doubt already allocated the time from 10pm onwards on Friday to us, but before that you may just about have time to catch the delightful One Little Plane at the Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen. And I don't really want to big up the competition too much, but I must admit that once our showcase has got going the likes of Euros Childs, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Lykke Li, Vladislav Delay, Redshape, Micachu, Fujiya and Miyagi, TV on the Radio and Kid Harpoon do provide considerable temptation to nip back out again to catch a set or two...
Though The Concrete & Glass site still says the Border Community night is Thursday 2nd October rather than Friday. Is there anything BC happening Thursday or is this a mistake?
Hi Mark - our night is definitely Friday 3rd - I couldn't actually find any reference to BC on Thursday on their website either, so not too sure where the confusion is coming from.
They have just put up a rather nifty new schedule planner up on the website, if you want to check anything - although it does appear that there have already been some changes from what I wrote above! http://cg08.sched.org/
Pan/Tone (of Fairmont remix fame) is lined up to play at Fabric this Saturday, coinciding with the release of his new 'Skip The Foreplay' album which I wrote about here recently, and quite against my better judgement, we are seriously considering breaking our Fabric embargo and heading along. The rest of the line-up doesn't look half bad either: noisy bastards Misc join in with the Sender Records showcase in room two, Ame is bringing along Dixon to launch his new Fabric CD in room one, whilst old faithfuls Terry Francis and Craig Richards provide ever-sturdy support.
The problem is, as James has just reminded me, that however alluring and credible the line-ups may appear, once you are actually ushered into the building you can't help feeling that this is what it must be like being a cow in an abattoir. Which is odd, since that is kind of what the club used to be before the snazzy renovation: a cold meat storage facility, to be more precise. Which also seems rather apt, given the meathead tendencies of some of the clientele.
Randy Europeans aside, we would love to see Pan/Tone nonetheless, particularly since we haven't had a chance to welcome him at our own night at The End yet (even though he has been on our hitlist since day one). So it looks like we may just have to gird our loins, grin, and bear it...
Once we had picked out Fairmont's I Need Medicine to serve as the final single release from the Coloured In Memory album, we finally had the perfect excuse to call in a remix from Pan/Tone, the Kraut-tinged Canadian techno-rocker who has made many an appearance in Mr James Holden's CD wallet under his assorted Pan/Tone, Sid Le Rock and Gringo Grinder guises. Only it now turns out to have been a rather timely decision on our part, since September 12th will see the release of new pretty rainbow-coloured Pan/Tone album 'Skip The Foreplay' on his own Cereal Killers label:
Pan/Tone mainman Sheldon is an old friend of Fairmont mainman Jake from back in Toronto, and both moved to Germany in search of techno sanctuary at around the same time. At first Sheldon resisted the obvious lure of Berlin, trying on Cologne and Hamburg for size first, before finally settling in the German capital just when Jake had made up his mind to quit the city and return to the Canadian motherland. But whilst they may be destined to only be the long-distance penpal type of friend for the moment, one thing they do still share is a flair for writing the type of melodic analogue-machine-funk techno that always manages to feel more rough, alive and full of personality than its humble mechanical origins might imply. "Never do what the others are doing" is Sheldon's stated motto in the album press guff, which as you might expect is a sentiment that we, like Jake, wholeheartedly endorse.
'Skip The Foreplay' will therefore be an essential addition to the Fairley-flavoured section of your record collection come September 12th, but until then you will have to content yourself by downloading the slap-bass new wave groove of the Pan/Tone remix of 'I Need Medicine' from our mp3 store today. And for a peek at things to come, head over to the Fairtilizer site now: there, amongst the four streaming Pan/Tone album tracks, you will find the delicately beautiful Holden-approved Broken English, which has already found its way into the proverbial CD wallet alongside the rest of the album's krauty-techno-tools of the type that James so loves.
And while you are listening, why not set the recently added Fairtilizer guest mixes from Dirty Soundsystem and Ellen Allien to download for some tasty take-home podcast action?
I just secured our tickets for this years re-run of ATP's highly entertaining Release The Bats Halloween concept party at The Forum, which this year features Lightning Bolt, Shellac, Les Savy Fav, OM, Wooden Ships, Pissed Jeans and some DJ called "Andy Weatherall" and just so happens to fall bang on Friday 31st October:
I ended up going to last year's event right at the last minute, so I have to confess that I didn't really embrace the fancy dresscode as I perhaps ought to have done (as these enterprising characters here did). But I am under strict instructions from one of our party that dressing up is compulsory for us this year - and at least there is still plenty of time to prepare my band-themed or just-plain-spooky costume. (Perhaps I should ask our Canadian cousin Fairmont for some advice - they take this Halloween dressing-up thing seriously over in North America, and as I discovered last year when he showed us the early draft of his mansize kebab suit, it turns out that Jake is a bit of a closet fancy-dresser...). Pissed Jeans is of course the most obvious band name to translate into outfit form, but I do hope that there aren't too many people who have the dedication to actually piss themselves for the sake of a Halloween costume, or the entire Forum is going to smell like the boys toilets do.
Lightning Bolt will be making their first UK appearance in a good while at the event: "Yyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssss" was the response of a certain Nathan Fake when I told him the news (he may well have also pissed his jeans - again - but I couldn't see to verify that as we were talking via the magical means of that there internet). Due to their long-standing predilection for playing on the floor amongst the crowd rather than up on the stage, only the first 500 people to be let in will be able to watch Lightning Bolt from the downstairs level, with latecomers banished to the Forum's balcony until they finish, so it is definitely worth trying to get down to the venue in time for the prompt 6.30pm start.
Mr Weatherall meanwhile recently compiled a new DJ mix for the Watch The Ride series, where he tastefully dropped in the afore-mentioned Fairmont's 'Fade And Saturate' (taken from his Coloured In Memory album) alongside tracks, mixes and Weatherall-re-edits from The Black Lips, Cosmo Vitelli, Mock & Toof, Padded Cell, Love Is All, Siouxsie, Simian Mobile Disco, Chicken Lips, Danton Eeprom, Alloy Mental and Silver Apples. You will be wanting to buy your own copy here, then: one of the Amazon reviews even compares it to Mr Holden's At The Controls, which ought to seal the deal...
The problem about having to plan your DJ-life months in advance is that at the point you have confirm your own dates, any forthcoming events of interest in your hometown have normally not yet been announced. And so it went with the upcoming Silver Apples gig scheduled by the Kosmische DJs at London's Corsica Studios on September 5th: WeGotTickets kindly alerted me to this happening via an email last Friday, but our poor James Holden had long since allocated his time to playing at Habit up in Newcastle. No offence to the Habit boys, but we're gutted we won't get to see Silver Apples this time.
For the last Silver Apples London show (also at Corsica Studios) back in March was a most agreeable affair: sole remaining member Simeon Coxe in his green polo neck and his homemade pet synth The Simeon make a very sweet pair. While many revival attempts by legends from the past can be somewhat disappointing, the intimate vocal-analogue-electronic show was the performance of a man still one hundred percent into it, which I do believe managed to conjure up something of that intangible genuine Silver Apples spirit of yore. In fact, it rather put us in mind of our own Fairmont and his Coloured In Memory album and current live show, and we did so wish that Jake could have been at the show with us.
So we might not be able to go this time, but you simply must. At the last gig there were apparently around 150 people left outside who couldn't get in, so to make sure you do, you will most definitely need to get your tickets from WeGotTickets toot sweet. You won't be disappointed.
*Probably not a title that makes much sense to you, but I used it in the hope that our unfortunately-named long lost friend Simeon might Google himself one day and then get in touch via the contact form. We miss you Simeon!
i think its guiness in a bottle to leave multiple google hits like that for someone to find. surely the taste of poop will bring back said friend. who the fuck else reads this shit, am i like the only idiot arsed to post here?
No, I read all of Gemmas blogs all the time. I just don't post! I dont want to desecrate this holy site (geddit?) with my nonsensical Irish ramblings :D
But while I'm here, Thanks Gemma for looking after us and keeping us up to date on all things BC. It's really appreciated. I'm really looking forward to James and Ricardo Tobarlobos' gig in The End next month. Little road trip down from festival choked Edinburgh is well in order! :D
lurkers come out. the BC was built on nonsensicality. that and joyfull fluffy bunny rabbit thoughts. whats an irishman doing in scotland anyways. telling every one about YOUR island?
very good. all this talk of ireland makes me want to go to da giants causway and get the little legless dude in the cart something shiney like in hellboy the golden army (guillermo del toro remix).
You may have spotted the lush remix from one hitherto unheard of Reef Carribean on last year's wonderfully wonky Flight Of The Albatross single from Fairmont, where faint echoes of Underworld shimmered through an intensely melodic and ever-so-slightly-housey rework. Well there is plenty more music where that came from, which is currently waiting in the wings at BCHQ, ready to be unleashed on the world just as soon as the elusive Mr Carribean gets his live act together.
But when that miraculous event might come to pass is anyone's guess, judging by the current rate of progress of Reef's band practices with his new partner-in-crime Ed. "Part of Reef practice involves drinking so I normally stay over," he wrote to James earlier today. "We've only had two practies, but Ed has already passed out on the bathroom floor and I've thrown up. I think it's going well."
So did you miss us? My good intentions to blog from the bus to the Taico Club festival by jacking some wireless quickly evaporated as the Tokyo traffic jam suddenly dispersed, so I'm catching up with you from the airport lounge as we sip Bloody Marys made by James and wait for our plane home.
A couple of near-fish experiences and some constipation problems (and occasionally quite the opposite - thank goodness for the Washlet!) has left us feeling a little fished-off with Japanese food, as we sit here dreaming about a cheese feast on our return.
For Japanese cheese is a strange beast indeed: James' staple diet is something of an exotic delicacy here, where cheese consumption is around 2 kg per person per year (compared to France's 25.4 kg - although granted that may not quite be a fair comparison!). Most cheese we have seen so far has been of the tasteless processed variety, although here in the lounge I did spot something rather brie-like - served up with fish, naturally. A highlight of the week for me was the look on James' face when his attempt to dab the grease from his pizza with a napkin (as instructed by Fairmont) lifted pretty much all of the not-quite-the-real-thing mozarella clean off. Bless.
But on the plus side, cutting down on the cheese for a week does mean that James' belly has taken on slightly less Sven-like proportions. And for balance, it seems that Americans don't have much idea what to do with cheese either, if this blog post on Cheese Rules sent to me by Rhys-MFA is to be believed.
Anyway, we might have to go and board soon, but I am sure there will be more on the rest of the trip later in the week once our bowel movements have returned to normal. Thanks to everyone who looked after us so well throughout our trip: it has been real.
Although not instantly obvious from the printed paper finished product, the psychedelic-explosion-in-purple-and-orange that forms the cover to Fairmont's homely Coloured in Memory album originally started life as a wonderful two-layer papercut handcrafted by Brighton-based arty type Pinky (the original of which is currently brightening up James' studio).
These sort of brightly coloured card cutouts are a bit of a speciality for British artist Pinky, and we are also big fans of their tactile, hand-made nature: as well as the Flight of the Albatross single sleeve we recently commissioned another Pinky-papercut for the cover of Fairmont's 'I Need Medicine' remix 12" due out in July. "I really love this, even if I do say so myself!" says the man himself on his website:
The current incarnation of the Pinky website is a comprehensive affair with plenty of news and pictures of what he is currently up to, but it wasn't always that way: back when we first decided to approach him about the Fairmont artwork I was sucked into a lengthy Google trail which eventually lead me to his Flickr online photo gallery. Nowadays connecting with the elusive Pinky and even getting a piece of the papercut action for your own collection is a much more straightforward affair, with a website shop and his shop on the craft nirvana Etsy offering an assortment of Pinky originals at very reasonable prices.
Websites are of course all well and good, but to view the Pinky repertoire in the flesh then you really ought to head along to his new show The Crunch at The Old Shoreditch Station, which opens this Thursday 29th May and runs right through to July 13th, and promises "new paintings, paper cuts and big paintings on the walls!!!".
On another note: back in the days of his inadequate web presence, we first stumbled upon Pinky's work in the Ante skate shop in Leeds' Corn Exchange, where James and I spent a pleasant afternoon and a pile of money before an evening gig in Leeds a couple of years ago. But according to this Guardian article, the conveniently compact independent shopping mecca that was Leeds' Corn Exchange is now no more, after traders were asked to vacate their premises back in January to make way for leaseholder Zurich Assurance's planned "international food emporium". The Guardian article (as well as this blog) fears that the Corn Exchange closure forms part of a sustained attack on alternative culture which is currently being waged in city centres across the country, and sadly I think they might well be right. One big disappointment on James' recent return to Oxford's recently rebranded Zodiac for the Slide night (aside from Hussein's legendary kebab van having shut up shop by the time we made it back to the town centre!) was the proliferation of 'upmarket' chain stores and 'premium' restaurant outlets which now dominates the whole city: even the scraggy Cowley Road has now come down with a nasty case of Costa-itis. If this is progress, I don't like it...
i think pinky should make his designs, or a line of stuff, made out of gummi bear candy and passed out to all the gurners old school style like the way a wandering cigarette waitress used to sell cigarettes at dance halls.
When an artist has made the effort to travel out of their way to perform somewhere, and the people attending the club have paid good money to get in to see their idol, you might not expect that the artist could then fall prey to (sometimes not so) petty crime at the hands of someone in the crowd. Baggage handlers you probably expect to swipe the odd faceless record case passing through, but fans stealing from the artist they have just shelled out a bucketload to see? What bad manners that would be!
But clubs are different to your usual gig-type venue: often the DJ booth is right in the thick of it, and thieving scum are seemingly everywhere, even in the happy-clappy good-times everyone-is-your-best-friend world of dance music. Possessions seem to go walkabout almost as a matter of course for your average international touring DJ: this week's unfortunate victim is Magda, whose laptop bag was stolen from the DJ booth of the club in Erfurt (Germany) where she was playing.
"On Saturday night, my laptop bag was stolen from Centrum Club in Erfurt. We as djs and artists dedicate our entire energy and spirit to what we do. We work very hard to present music in our own special way. There is no better feeling than knowing that you and the people on the dancefloor are completely connected and knowing that we can share that feeling of excitement from hearing a new special track. In the end, we are not there to play for ourselves but for the people who support us and our music. I am deeply sad and disappointed to know that something like this could happen, especially in the dj booth, the one place where things should be safe. I feel like I have been stripped of the one thing that is closest to my heart. We are all in this together and we must respect each other, otherwise there is no point.
Magda"
Poor old Matthew Dear meanwhile recently had his hard drive stolen in the middle of a set at a club in Brooklyn! How wrong can you get?! But if anyone who happens to read this does know anything about Magda and Matthew Dear's missing items, I am sure that their DJ agency Clonk would love to hear from you...
Our own cuddly Border Comrades haven't been spared either: a green jumper belonging to James vanished from a club in Ludwigshafen in Germany, whilst a Fairmont and Holden twin-billing in Newcastle (UK) saw some lucky crowd members score multiple CDs from James' own CD wallet as well as Jakes's American Apparel windcheater. Stealing from cuties like James and Jake - how could you? Isn't that a bit like kicking a kitten?
But I am sure that Jake still holds out a vague glimmer of hope that one day he might be reunited with his beloved signature leather jacket which took its leave last year at a club in Berlin. You can buy new American Apparel stuff any day, but that special vintage leather comfort blanket which has moulded to your own shape and even smells of you isn't so easily replaceable. Here is a picture of Jake wearing the precious for posterity - I just hope it doesn't bring back too many sad memories for poor Jake!!
You would have to live under rock not to have noticed our new regular series of nights at The End in London yet. Taking place on a roughly quarterly basis, those nice people from The End are kind enough to let us take over one of our favourite London clubs for the evening, to bring you our own vision of what club music ought to sound like with a line-up composed of our own Border Community allstars and a selection of special guest friends. The atmosphere at each night so far has been a dream, and the delightful blend of shiny happy people that make up our crowd guarantees a good night for all - even those people who thought they didn't like going to clubs...
The End's own website underwent a rather major facelift last year, and has now evolved into a bit of an internet destination in its own right, with features, interviews, blogs, competitions, photos, free downloads, streaming mixes and that all-important element of social networking, as well as the full listings for the club that you might expect.
Their latest brainwave is a brand new monthly free downloadable compilation known as Recommends, which was kicked off predictably last month with Volume 1 featuring tracks from The Black Ghosts, Simian Mobile Disco, new Soma signing Let's Go Outside, Late Of The Pier and Carl Craig. And it is time for Volume 2 already, which just so happens to feature an album track from our very own Fairmont (if you like what you hear please buy his complete 'Coloured In Memory' album here!) alongside offerings from labels like Cocoon, Poker Flat, Rekids, Mobilee and Buzzin' Fly. Full tracklisting as follows:
Recommends Volume 2 1) Mlle Caro and Franck Garcia - Always You (Ben Watt Radio Edit) [Buzzin' Fly] 2) Luke Solomon - People, Places, Thoughts and Faces (Ajello remix) [Rekids] 3) Two Armadillos - Track 5 [Four:Twenty] 4) Sebo K - Far Out [Mobilee] 5) Raudive - Needles (Steve Bug remix) [Poker Flat] 6) Fairmont - Fade and Saturate [Border Community] 7) Dirt Crew - Mindforce [Dirt Crew] 8) Joel Mull - The Walk [Cocoon] 9) The Dose - I Am Your Door [Fumakilla] 10) Layo & Bushwacka! - Things Change (Deep Mix) [Olmeto]
To download this little baby, as well as a fresh selection of tracks every month from hereon in, all that they ask is that you register with The End website, thereby also gaining access to a load more mixes to boot, including sets from Misstress Barbara and lounge-boy Kieran Hebden from past Border Community nights, and an old James Holden mix from his appearance at Circo Loco.
And just in case all this leaves you wondering about the line-up for our next night at The End on Saturday 24th May: in the main room we have a live set from new boy Luke Abbott, old boy James Holden, warm-up boy Avus, and we witness the graduation of Mr Four Tet Kieran Hebden from the lounge to the main room as his wish to rinse it out in a club-style is duly granted. Kieran's swift sidestep of course leaves a huge gaping hole in the lounge, which is amply filled by the dependable Lo Recordings, where the joyous Black Devil Disco Club, steady hand Milky Globe and Lo-thario Vincent Oliver will be your charming hosts for the evening.
*UPDATE* In my haste to get this posted before we left for the progtastic Harmonia gig on Friday night at the Southbank, I forgot to draw your attention to the informative set of sleeve notes which accompanies each Recommends compilation, according to which Fairmont's 'Fade and Saturate' is "an ominously brooding late-night track with vocals almost reminiscent of early Nirvana (no really!)". I can't say I had made that connection before myself, but I do see what they mean!
Fairmont-Jake is heading off to Lebanon for the first time this weekend, where he will be performing at The Basement in Beirut on Saturday for our irrepressible friend Ghayath and his Kaotik System crew. We're all interested in what Jake has to report back, but I have to admit that we are really not at all sure what to make of their flyer for the event, which shows tanks and bombers setting about the pastoral idyll of our Border Community landscape:
On the one hand, there is a slight twinge of sadness to see our little fantasy world destroyed, but that is immediately followed by pangs of guilt as it is put into context by the recollection that the people of Beirut's real life community suffered a series of very real attacks from Israel during 2006. But it does come as something of a surprise to me that people who have lived through such an event would then want to draw on this type of imagery to promote a club night, thereby sending an image of wartorn Lebanon out into the world, once again.
Then again, what do I know, sat in my cosy London flat: it is certainly conceivable that maintaining a sense of humour under times of hardship could well be advantageous. Whilst it would definitely be inappropriate for a sheltered European to seek to market products to the people of Lebanon using this sort of visual language, I would say that if you have lived through it for yourself, it is entirely up to you what you do with any abiding images...
Anyway, I might not quite understand the flyer, but I do hope that Jake and the people of Beirut have fun at Saturday's event. There is a Facebook event listing which you can refer to for more information, although it does seem to have been slightly hijacked by fans of David Guetta, who is playing across town in Beirut on the same night...
I believe such things are about aesthetics rather than ethics. the flyer looks provocative from that point of view, which is great. Besides, apart from the historical meaning, tanks and other military machines are one of the greatest achievements of science and technology. doesn't it correlate with the things border guys are aiming to chieve in art, I mean, produce innovative music of high quality..?
I am not sure you can separate the military from morality, ever. Especially in art: military imagery is used precisely because it does represent something specific - to say that that specific thing is "advances in technology" seems rather tenuous to me...
what i mean is, don't confuse gangster iconography with military iconography. (not that one is more acceptable than the other - but it is clear that we were talking about military iconography here).
so in that respect, to deal with your point, i think "war" films do actually have a moral agenda, often reflecting america's current view of the world...
what gangster iconography represents and how that relates to morality is a whole other discussion, but tanks and bombers are clearly not part of that world...
ok, vous avez raison (pulp fiction's indeed about gangstaz), but what about the flight of the Valkyries in Apocalypse Now? I agree, this episode does have a strong moral meaning, but only because it is that great aesthetically. and the effect it produces is totally 'right' ('war is evil'). why then be afraid that the [aesthetically cool] fairmont flyer will evoke any wrong moral ideas in the audience? the guys who'll go to that club are not kids...
but at no point did i fear that the flier evoked the wrong moral feelings in the audience! please read my original post again, and do not put words into my mouth.
this was only ever about our own reasonable surprise that someone who had lived through the negative effects of warfare would want to draw on that imagery to promote a club, something which sitting in london it is definitely hard to get your head around.
my original post took no moral or judgemental stance on the flyer - it merely sought to bring this curiousity to the world's attention, along with a mixture of thoughts that spring to mind, with the conclusion that it is entirely up to them what they do... the discussion of morality only arose because you tried to suggest that military imagery somehow doesn't imply warfare, which is an obvious fallacy.
since you have now come full circle and argue that military imagery is fine as long as it produces the "right" effect, i am not sure where your argument can possibly be going. I suspect it was never really about what I wrote in my original blogpost in the first place...
Blue sky…green fields…rainbow…windmill… well these are the ingredients of a perfect world… Anyone can draw this while sitting in his/her apartment in some city in a peaceful country! But when you are in a situation or circumstance or country you didn’t choose and the surrounding could be grey… Then never blame if the influence targets persons or their vision or maybe their way of drawing it… While criticizing why the “Border Community” picture got some tanks and bombs & wondering why “the people” THERE are rubbishing the pastoral idyll of BC…. Come on!!!! After all it would be more adequate to criticize the action before heading to the reaction… Sorry for not being so civilized or for being from the 3rd world region which only admits with “war & destruction” culture…. Hell no!!!! We didn’t choose that & surely we are not that eager to translate that into a flyer… I guess the thread title “lost in translation” expresses correctly that the translation of what we wanted to express was misunderstood & mistranslated…. Despite any bombs…despite any attempt to kill hope in life… we are here to state our will to overcome and metamorphose that into something colorful… But colorful can only be an option on a keyboard to draw…. If you were granted to live “colorfully” well others didn’t get this honor…but they are struggling to… Hopefully my reply won’t be “translated” as a frustration thrown towards any peaceful or blissful message was intended to be sent!!!! And by the way we are not promoting here a club or a collective achievement through a gig… Pictures are a living witness to what inner self is trying to attempt… But as it was mentioned “what do I know, sat in my cosy flat in London”…. You are excused for this lost in translation…too much comfort would lead to this… We enjoyed the night with Fairmont, it was a very special occasion to see him performing & interacting with the crowd…. And I don’t know if we should have made the slogan “F*** me, I’m famous” since you mentioned Guetta… We never hide behind lusty flyers to sustain our right to LIVE properly…Planning an event & bringing talents like Fairmont is a way of living as well here whether it’s raining bullets or stars are shining in a clear sky… Excuse any bitterness but it was kind of shocking that the flyer was interpreted that way…
Please read what I actually wrote - my intention was never to "blame" or "criticise", but merely to explain what the flyer seems to represent to us, from our perspective, and admit that I can't possibly understand from your perspective (though I believe I did at least try to do so in my discussion). Surely you can't blame me for that?
It would be highly inappropriate and insensitive for a designer from Europe to create a flyer for an event in Lebanon using such imagery; so of course it is of interest (and to us, certainly surprising) to note that a designer working in Lebanon would purposely seek out this imagery. Drawing attention to this cultural difference of perspective was my sole intention. Is it not interesting to note these differences? Is it not these differences that make the world interesting?
Likewise, your explanation of what the flyer represents to you, or what bringing Jake over meant to you, is also extremely interesting to us; and this was the type of discussion I was hoping to start. So thank you for telling us your opinion - this is what comments sections are for, and this is the only way we will come to understand each other better.
But please ignore any spin which may have been put on my original blog in the comments, as this is more reflective of one commenter's own agenda rather than what I actually wrote. And please re-read my original post carefully, and hopefully you will see that my intention was never to criticise or blame; expressions like "lost in translation" and "what would i know" are there for a reason - rather than unconciously giving me away and giving you ammunition to criticise me, they are part of the thought-making and discussion process, whereby I was trying to deal with various sides of a complex subject, and pre-empt these obvious criticisms. I know I have never lived your life, but likewise you have never lived mine; this was the very point I was trying to make.
The top and bottom of this is, I remarked that this design was surprising to me, but at no point did I say that it should not have been done in this way. I do not believe that observing cultural differences in the sensitive way that I have tried to do it is really so offensive.
No offense at all... That's why I replied just to explain that we definitely crave for any culture meeting point... I work with an association that handle events for Classical music, if you just gaze at the clashes we have upon booking artists, you would collapse from laughing since it's always an argue where each is trying to explain to the other how intentions are pure & how it's all to be made in the name of "Art"... Well yes, our background can structure a picture where puzzles are so mixed...but at the end we always reach the final picture in its appropriate frame... & since it's a Border Community as title..I know that the core is to have borderless communication :) I am re-reading and you know with every given/taken or even shared thought...the perception changes & get a better shape.... Glad for this interaction & we surely hope we have more collaboration with you... It's quality we are targeting and hopefully next flyer will have some brighter images :))
Thanks for understanding and sharing your thoughts!
I was actually not sure whether to write the original post at all, and worded my post really carefully & had someone else check it, as the last thing I wanted to do was cause offense!
ok ok... though I still wonder WHAT 'people of wartorn Lebanon' should send to the world [instead of a picture of tanks etc.]... hopefully, next time they'll just print the party info upon a 'guernica' poster! thnx for being paient answering my idle thoughts..
i think that poor windmill obviously took one for the team. the message in the flyer strikes me visually like that of the movie 'The Pianist' where my boy brody's character is keeping the music alive in a total bombed out warzone. Praise be to Allah and Jake for keeping the music alive.
It was as lovely as ever to catch Fairmont-Jake doing some of that cute dancing of his this weekend at the Dissonant Festival in Antwerp, reunited with tour-mate-for-life James Holden and his slightly-updated CD wallet for a brief flashback to the Coloured In Memory album tour of last year. And we're rather pleased to see the flashback episodes continue into next month, when Jake will be sleeping on our couch for a few nights when he stops by for his next date in London.
You see, those inspired people at Eat Your Own Ears have invited Fairmont and James Holden to play at one of the Eat Your Own Ears Series of parties in the O2's IndigO2 club venue on Thursday 24th April: tickets are on sale now from Ticketmaster, the eflyer is below.
In headline position at the IndigO2 event is Four Tet with a live set in support of his new Ringer EP on Domino, wherein Kieran continues to confound the IDM nerds by furthering his voyage into music-for-dancing-to as witnessed in recent remixes and during his lounge sets at our night at The End. And continuing the Kieran Hebden theme, Boston's Sunburned Hand Of The Man will also be performing, being as Kieran's fair production hand moulded their Fire Escape album of last year for the much-beloved Smalltown Supersound label. Finally, Hyperdub-stepper Kode9 brings up the proverbial rear to round off a seemingly diverse yet strangely compatible line-up.
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