Real Scenes: Bristol

The eyes of the world have turned to the UK in recent years and have found some of the most exciting, genre-defying young artists to emerge from electronic music. But while London’s scene can be fractious and hard to pin down, there seems to be something in the air in Bristol that unites its participants. Whether they’re creating dubstep, house, techno or something else entirely, the cross-pollination in Bristol is unique. In RA’s first official entry into video, we journey to Bristol to explore how the city has flourished in recent years, discovering why this small metropolis is one of the most influential electronic music outposts in the world today.

Real Scenes: Detroit

You can’t talk about electronic music without mentioning Detroit. That’s why in the second edition of Real Scenes, RA and Bench went to the city which birthed the genre we now call techno.

Detroit has always had a creative streak, due in large part to the boom and subsequent bust of the auto industry. Quite simply, Detroit is a city of extremes, and its music reflects that. These days, Detroit’s importance in the global electronic music scene is often referred to in the past tense. When we visited the city, though, we found a number of artists with their eyes (and ears) firmly set towards the future. After our time in the Motor City, it’s clear to us that Detroit will endure and innovate for years to come.

Real Scenes: Berlin

For the third edition of Real Scenes, RA and Bench go to one of the most special places for electronic music in the world: Berlin. When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, techno became the underground soundtrack to the reunion between East and West. In recent years, it’s become an international destination for ravers—a cheap place to party with clubs that are renowned throughout the world.

Techno has become a business in the meantime. Yet Berlin still maintains a credibility that other cities lack. To understand why, RA and Bench went to the German capital eager to find out about its unique history and the reasons behind its continued relevance.

Bboy Morris

With his breathtaking and inimitable style, Bboy Morris (USA) gained honours for the second time as World Solo Bboy at the recent Championships in Brixton. Not to be out done, Bboy Keyz headed up the winning crew, Vagabonds (France) with an awe inspiring performance also making them second time winners – Clearly having impressed the judges with his energy passion and commitment, Keyz was also named World Crew Champion.

If you wanna see great dancers and hear great hip hop there’s no other place to be.

Words and Images: Paul Vickery

Micro_MUTEK.ES 2011 from Mutek Spain on Vimeo.

Just on time when fashion week is yesterdays snow and the end of Transmediale fully exposes us to warmish rain there is a new data in the schedule, which saves us from suffering grey boredom. MICRO_MUTEK.ES
Purling elocution? YES. Ignorance of sunny Berlinale? YES. Yet another festival in Barcelona? NO!

Mutek is a non-profit organization “dedicated to the dissemination and development of digital creativity in sound, music, and audio-visual art.” The yearly mother festival was born in 2000 its base is Montreal. Applying the fact and need of constant MUtation overall makes the organizations nature particularly interesting and its dynamic unique: record label Musique Risquee, show cases, tours and, actual subject, (one of) the international editions of the festival, being Spain the youngest sister.
2010s, rather small, first edition and several Soirées throughout the past year featuring artist of the grade of Dave Aju, Akufen and Nicholas Jaar called the interest to this year’s venue from February 9th-11th.
Loyal to its philosophy the festivals program shows the right balance between cutting edge artists that already reached international reputation and local talents, last point being uncommon, especially in Barcelona therewith smart and strongly expected by the audience.
The festival has three sections: Q&A is a series of afternoon presentations and interviews, admission is free. A/Visions spotlights audiovisual performance and for the night Soirée Mutek brings outrageous artists including Frivolous, Ikonika, Isolée, Actress, Dixon and more to Moog and Nitsa Club.
Check the complete program.

Beside looking forward to presence the upcoming days and the festivals evolution I am hoping for one of those small style trends that use to come up and die with the duration of a festival. Just remind the I-wear-my-woollen-beanie-as-a-jelly-bag-cap-with-geometrical-forms movement of last years Transmediale, hilarious.
Stay tuned.

Multi-talent Sick Girls Jay-Ho and Alex are taking over the world!

Or almost: journalists, festival organizers and curators, DJs, producers, bookers, from China to Europe and the USA; name it, they’ve done it and have been there. These two Berlin clubs’ heroines started DJing together at the iconic Tresor club in 2004 more for fun than anything else, but their groundbreaking style got more and more adepts until the DJ team could no longer deny they had become a core member of the new German club music scene.
Today, after the success encountered in festivals and on dance-floors, the Sick Girls have decided to release what they call a music collage: a mix of tracks they love and their own tracks too, and a tribute to the Beatles’ Revolution 9 illustrating their own view of modern music History and the fifth revolution coming in after the four previous revolutions of Disco, Hip-Hop, Techno and D’n’B. Personally I call it the perfect soundtrack to a hot bass party whether you’re into techno, D’n’B or Hip-Hop.
As for future projects, look out for their second mix CD to be released on the prestigious BBE Records label and their special stage at the Splash! Festival… and the god of music knows what else.

Available now: Revolution N°5 Sick Tricks and Urban Bass

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Text: Nadia Sayegh

Remember when I first told you about Gazelle? If not read here.
Looks like I m not alone with my opinion about music, styling & show skills of this extraordinary artist.
He was selected by the SMIRNOFF® online community to be part of the SMIRNOFF® NIGHTLIFE EXCHANGE PROJECT. 14 countries participate in this project, exchanging in pairs the best of their nightlife culture. Germanys partner is South Africa – yeah!

Beside Gazelle there will be producer & Dj Spoek Mathambo, a Baai (the traditional BBQ), Boys Noize as local support and a special guest in the house @ Münze Berlin on November 27th.

The event is by invitation only. FSM sorts 3×2 tickets among YOU:
Tell us in the comments the reason that makes you the perfect guest for the nightlife exchange.

Participants must be 18 years or older.
Your answer must be submitted until Wednesday, 24^th, 11am, with your complete name and a correct email address.

You can pre-order A1 (20” x 30”) posters at http://editsbyedit.co.uk/

Black Eyewear is a retro collection of sunglasses and glasses inspired by 1940s, 50s and 60s African and American jazz. The names of the glasses recall the idols of jazz music such as John Coltrane, Benny Goodman and Theolonius Monk. Perfect round circles or butterfly shapes, classic black and fancy colors or animal prints: the variety of frames available is huge and great.

The collection is designed by Robert Roope, an old school optician with a passion for jazz music and eyewear design. At 14 years of age he was following the be-bop scene of 50‘s London, going to clubs like the legendary Soho’s Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club. In the 60’s he worked as an assistant optician, where he experienced the evolution of eyewear, thanks to the influence of celebrities like John Lennon and Ozzy Osbourne, from badge of disability to fashion accessory.

After many years of traveling around the world, he estabilished his own studio in 1979 in City of St. Albans, near London. The optical laboratory is a small family business, where in the 90‘s he created his own eyewear line that he sold via  internet.

Daft Punk’s latest offering, or should we say update, from the new Tron movie.
As well as composing the score, they’ve even managed to get themselves a guest appearance in the film – what could be more fitting for the duo who, after a freak accident with a volatile 909 drum machine, woke up to find themselves miraculously integrated into their studio equipment.