Sound & Vision

Sound & Vision Magazine, May 2012

Art by: Blitz Studio

Stereo Vinyl Cruiser

Stereo’s Vinyl Series Cruisers were inspired by three things: music, skateboarding and fun.


Stereo’s creative roots trace back one of its original inspirations: American Jazz & Blues music and the rich style, design and culture that went with it.
Stereo owners Jason Lee and Chris Pastras started out riding what are affectionately called “Banana Boards” as early as 1979 and now, after professional skateboarding careers spanning two decades, they still enjoy riding their collectible versions, which inspired the “Vinyl Series” boards today.

Whether its cruising to a skate spot, bombing a hill, getting around town, skating to a bar or riding your way around campus in-between classes, Stereo’s Vinyl Series Skateboard come complete and ready to roll. Stash it in your backpack, trunk or locker when you’re not skating it.



Stereo was founded in 1992 when long term friends Jason Lee and Chris Pastras decided the skateboarding world lacked what creatively drove them. The brand turned the skate world on its ears with timeless, classic, and totally original inspirations.

Together, Jason and Chris released two skateboard films: A Visual Sound (’94) and Tincan Folklore (’96). Going against the grain with the use of 8mm film, black and white still photography and avant-garde music, the two films are now revered as classics within the skateboard community. Similarly, the "retro-modern" design aesthetic Stereo brought to skate graphics in '92, was worlds away from the cartoony, blood and guts filled design skateboarding was accustomed too. 

Now with nearly 2 decades of heritage, Stereo continues to be an influential skateboard brand. To this day, each and every project and product produced by Stereo remains... Timeless, Classic and Original.

Insider Tips for This Weekend's Behemoth Bushwick Open Studios

Arts in Bushwick, the volunteer-fueled creative entity behind a number of yearly Bushwick-wide events, is gearing up for its biggest iteration yet of its biggest annual event, Bushwick Open Studios.

To help you sift through the well over 500 listings this year, and to introduce you to some of the festival's special features in 2012, I asked one of the volunteer coordinators, Holly Shen Chaves, a few questions about what's new, what's neat, what she's particularly into.

10 Things We Learned From John Peel's Online Record Collection

Today is the day that the English Arts Council's The Space website began putting the historically epic record collection of late BBC DJ John Peel online for everyone to peruse. Slowly doled out from now until October, they will be putting up the first 100 records he'd filed under each letter of his alphabetical collection, with scanned album artwork, Peel's personal file cards, and links to streaming music where available. Given that the entire collection includes over 25,000 vinyl LPs, 40,000 singles, and thousands of (presumably cracked-to-shit) CD jewel cases, this truncated taste is understandable. But even with only "A" available, and lots of supplementary goodies already embedded, we have already killed a frightening amount of time on it this morning and afternoon. Some initial impressions...
- This project is being carried out with the utmost integrity and respect.

From the heartfelt video intro by Peel's widow Shelia Ravencroft to the web design emulating the shelf-browsing experience of every socially awkward record nerd at every party ever to the clickable front and back cover materials for each featured entry, every detail of this archiving is really top notch.

- The scope of this collection is pretty mind-boggling. (No doi.)

100 records into the "A" section only gets us to Adam Ant!

- The first 100 records of each letter limit is going to be kind of a bummer throughout the length of this project.

100 records into "A," and seriously, we're only at Adam Ant. How will I ever find out which Monochrome Set records he had???? While we understand and appreciate the time and care taken in digitizing just a fraction of these materials, we are human, and we can't help hungering for more. Maybe just in text form?

- He was way more meticulously organized than you are.

iTunes does the majority of work alphabetizing and cross-referencing for most of you, but even those with vinyl collections outstripping the space available for them in a New York City apartment (you reach this limit within your first six months of record collecting, give or take) are probably not going to the trouble of hand-typing individual note cards to create a Dewey decimal for your discs, like Peel did. Alphabetical, sure. Cross referenced with a distinct catalog number? Bullshit. Prove it.

- An obsessive record collector's work is never done.

Abyssinians - Arise is misfiled after Acceleradeck - Narcotic Beats. This is maybe the thing nagging him most in the afterlife?

- He actually wasn't as much of a completist as you might have expected.

The only ABBA record he owned was Voulez-Vous? He didn't make it to The Visitors, probably the weirdest, most Jon Peel-appropriate record they ever made??? Huh.

- Eclecticism in taste is not a post-Internet phenomenon.

From straight-up, three-chord punk to disco to blues to world music to Middle Eastern-inspired acid folk, Peel's tastes were admirably varied in a time that was much more codified, much more Us. v. them. This will only become more apparent as more of the collection hits the web. (Grimes did not invent liking "everything.")

- The well-organized links to the Peel Sessions recordings available on Spotify might be the site's most valuable resource at this point.

All this spine browsing is fun, yeah, but Peel's finest legacy is still probably the radio sessions he produced for decades' worth of the best pop musicians in history. A lot of these have been released commercially (which is why they can be linked to streaming on Spotify), but a lot haven't. There are blogs out there perpetually trying to get a handle on this stuff (here's one), but nothing has come close to a categorical archive. The Space site doesn't provide one yet either, but their limited attempt is lot easier to navigate and investigate as it's set up than whatever a clumsy Spotify search for "Peel Sessions" will bring you. Which brings us to the next point...

- Spotify's got a long way to go.

An informal tally finds 44 of these first 100 records with available links to streaming sites (mainly Spotify). Given the obscurity of much of this stuff, it's fairly impressive, I guess. But it's also a handy reminder of how far the service has to go before it'll really be the one-stop repository for pop music that it's already starting to have the reputation as.

It also highlights what a flawed vessel for discovery Spotify itself can be. It's now only as good as the curiosity of its listener, or as good as another person's recommendation to them. There aren't enough, or sophisticated enough, means within the site itself at this point to truly guide listeners towards things they wouldn't know to search out. The authority given to a forgotten band by their place among Peel's record sleeves will probably spur more shot-in-the-dark listens than even a playlist sent by a close pal? (Taking matters into their own hands, the Peel Archive uploaded Mike Absalom's bizarre 1969 folk album Save the Last Gherkin for Me! to SoundCloud themselves, and will hopefully be doing more of this going forward.)

(Also, and this is something that a premium account would alleviate, I know, but my morning listen to the 2002 Peel Session by glitchy-yet-organic Icelandic electronic band Múm was interrupted with an insanely annoying ad for Jason Mraz. So, their algorithm could be better targeted, to say the least.)

- Looking through a curated physical collection, even as a digital representation, is more fun and rewarding than scrolling down a list of digital files.

For now, and maybe forever.

RIP Adam

What'cha listening to today?

Rest in Peace, Adam Yauch, or as he was introduced to us back in the day, MCA. Beastie Boys far transcended what anyone ever thought three 'brats' from Brooklyn would do. Checking out this clip from when they started out (sassing Joan Rivers), and thinking about Mike D and Ad-Rock and everyone in the Beastie world.

Doc Watson

He's not a household name in all parts of the country, but trust us when we say that Doc Watson was a national treasure. He died today, and we are sad, but honored that the limited edition Vanguard reissue of his classic album Doc Watson was part of Record Store Day 2010, which means we got to play a tiny little part in the legacy of an amazing man.

Google Win!

23/05/2012

Church of Noise

Song of the day is "Church of Noise (Acustic Version)"


IT'S OLD!
Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo!
The man with the mask that comes from Bassano

Today I'll tell you about a great personality from Bassano del Grappa.
A small town becomes the Rifo Bob has always been very active in the field of art, went close soon.
Ever since 2007, has been releasing music under the name "Bloody Beetroots", quickly becoming - through word of mouth spontaneous international network of blogs - one of the most popular producers of electro-punk-dance scene.
His strength, in addition to the firepower of music, is the conceptual approach and rigorous Rifo has the "make" art. From the choice of going out in public only ever masked (in the early DJ sets with his partner Tommy Tea defilatosi then).
The smoothie danzabilità and noise has rapidly come the sounds of Bob the ears of the likes of Steve Aoki (which has been put under contract to his label Dim Mak) and Tommy Lee of Motley Crue matterista former, which has often accompanied live.
Both are among the first followers of the "Church of Noise" philosophical movement founded by Rifo diffonre for the crossover between the arts, first of all his favorite (after music): photography.
Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo decided to delight us with an alternative in acoustic version of that bomb in Church of Noise. Given the generally very similar, I asked about the DJ and producer Barbar! and today gives us the opportunity to benefit from it all.

http://soundcloud.com/thebloodybeetroots/the

Performed by Dennis Lyxzén, Maria Magdalena, Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo e Thomas Roussel.

Robin Gibb is dead

Robin Gibb, one of the founding members of the Bee Gees, passed away today at the age of 62 after a long battle with cancer.
Family spokesman Doug Wright said in a statement:


“The family of Robin Gibb, of the Bee Gees, announce with great sadness that Robin passed away today following his long battle with cancer and intestinal surgery. The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this very difficult time.”


Rolling Stone reports that Gibb had surgery in 2010 to fix a twisted bowel, the same condition that killed his twin brother Maurice. Gibb recovered from the surgery but doctor’s later found a growth in his colon. Gibb started treatment and seemed to be doing well, but earlier this year he slipped into a coma where he contracted pneumonia.


His family, wife Dwina, daughter Melissa, sons Spencer and Robin-John, and his brother Barry, the last surviving member of iconic disco group, held a bedside vigil while he was at the hospital in London and eventually Gibb woke from his coma, supposedly from the sound of his own music. 


Unfortunately, Gibb never fully recovered from his brush with death.


ABC reports that Gibb and the Bee Gees sold more than 200 million albums. The 1979 soundtrack to “Saturday Night Fever” won the band a Grammy, and for a year, it was the top selling album in history. (It was unseated in 1980 by Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.)

Goodbye!

That premier disco queen and conduit for decades of dance-music advancement Donna Summer at age 63. She had cancer.
Summer's career flourished in the late '70s and early '80s when she helped define the very concept of dance diva. "MacArthur Park," "Hot Stuff," "Bad Girls" and her duet with Barbra Streisand, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" all went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, but other singles of hers gained reputations that couldn't be measured by chart performance. Her breakthrough, 1975's "Love to Love You Baby," was 17 minutes of midtempo disco euphoria over which Summer purred and repeatedly climaxed (Time magazine counted 22 orgasms).

"I Feel Love," the first major hit to sport an entirely synthesized backing track, simply revolutionized music. Electronic disco followed then house then techno, all in major debt of Summer's collaboration with Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. You can still hear its influence in the arpeggiated strains of the pop trance that's all over radio today. Though Summer didn't get a production credit on "I Feel Love," she took a risk on a wild idea and changed music history, much like Aaliyah, years later, would do when she was among the earliest to give a go at Timbaland's game-changing, skittering take on R&B. Sometimes being a trailblazer comes down to picking the best vehicle.

Summer's career faded soon after disco did in the mainstream, though she had a few hits sprinkled throughout the '80s, chiefly "She Works Hard for the Money" and her collaboration with British dance factory foremen Stock Aitken Waterman, "This Time I Know It's for Real." Released in 1989, that would be the last time she appeared in the U.S. pop Top 10.

Her career was overshadowed by alleged anti-gay remarks that she'd go on to deny having made (she reportedly settled out of court with New York magazine after suing them for printing the rumor). It did a little to alienate her fanbase, but not enough to revoke her crown as the queen of disco divas. Similarly, her music often overshadowed her powerhouse voice, the picture of clarity, control and force. As a listener, to isolate her vocals in the context of her music can be startling — they sound like an explosion set off by an effortless pull of a trigger.

Regarding her gift, Summer recalled, "One day I was at church and I was singing, and I had been practicing, Mahalia Jackson was my idol. I stood up to sing and all of a sudden, this voice came out that I didn't know. It just came out of me." And now, just like that, it's gone.

Summer and her producer Giorgio Moroder defined the dance music era of the '70s and influenced acts like Duran Duran and David Bowie to enter the genre.
She continued her dominance in the '80s with "She Works Hard for the Money" and "This Time I Know It's for Real."

We had the pleasure of shooting Donna back in 2009 on her way out of Mr Chow ... and she couldn't have been nicer.

Summer married Brooklyn Dreams singer Bruce Sudano back in 1980. They had two daughters together. 

Smiling, waving and signing for fans as me...

Goodbye!

Did you know that?

Crazy!

LP of the day is "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley.


Gnarls Barkley is an American soul music duo composed of the artists Brian Joseph Burton (known professionally as Danger Mouse) and Cee Lo Green. Their first studio album St. Elsewhere was released in 2006, along With its first single "Crazy". Both singles and albums Were a major commercial success and sono stati Noted for Their large sales by download. The duo released Their second album The Odd Couple in March 2008.
"Crazy" is the debut single from Gnarls Barkley, a musical collaboration Between Danger Mouse and Cee Lo Green, and is taken from Their 2006 debut album St. Elsewhere.
The song was picked up by Downtown Records.
It Became a top ten hit throughout Europe, North America and Australia, in the first half of 2006, reaching number one of the singles charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Canada, New Zealand and other countries.

The song was leaked in late 2005, months before ITS regular release, and consequently Received massive airplay on BBC Radio 1 in the United Kingdom, most Notably by radio DJ Zane Lowe, who used the song Also in TV Ads for His show. When it was finally released in March 2006, it Became the first single to top the British charts on download sales alone. The song remained at number one in the United Kingdom for nine weeks (Which no other song HAD Achieved in over ten years, and was only Surpassed by Rihanna's "Umbrella" in July 2007) before the band and Their record company Decided to remove the single from British stores so people would "remember the song fondly and not get sick of it." 

Alternative Cover

In Spite of this deletion, the song Became the UK's best selling single of 2006. Due to continued download sales, it Reached a million sales in January 2011.
The song won a Grammy Award for Best Urban / Alternative Performance in 2007, and was Also nominated for The Record of the Year in the United Kingdom, 'which it lost to "Patience" by Take That. It was further Top Also nominated and won a 2006 MTV Europe Music Award for Best Song. Also the song was named the best song of 2006 by Rolling Stone and by the Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. The song was listed at # 11 on Pitchfork Media's top 500 songs of the 2000s. The song is also in. the # 45 place in the list of the best songs ever of Acclaimed Music. In 2010, it was Placed at # 100 in the "updated" version of Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and ranked at the top position of Rolling Stone's top 100 songs of the decade (2000-2009).

Vinile Closing Season

LAST date, Vinyl closing season!

WOMEN'S TRIBUTE - 7 € MAN before 23:30

Guests from Nano rec

Spiller, Scuola Furano and DJ Color

DO NOT MISS IT!
dress code - shorts & flip flops
''The track will be your beach''


3488181494 | info@slumb.it

VINILE Festival

From vinyl records of 70 'to the futuristic trends of tattoo artists. The rock changes, it evolves over the years and the Citadel, in Padua, for two days of hosting the best live rock music and lifestyle, but also of new musical influences. An idea was born to celebrate the closing of the thirty-seventh season of "Vinyl Club", a local historian Rosa, in Vicenza, has always been a point of reference for the underground Venetian. Special guests The Black Lips (USA).
The style is not just rock decibels. That is in the superb setting of the sports hall will be made for a historic exhibition spaces of vinyl from the Fifties to today, with dozens of exhibitors from all over Italy, but also from Germany. An opportunity for hobbyists and enthusiasts to buy and trade their music in the first exhibition of vinyl to be held in the Citadel. Next, will be celebrated the first tattoo convention in Veneto, with a selection of the best tattoo artists. Each will have a space where to show their creations. But the real news will be the sun, where whoever wants to can get tattooed during the festival or just watch.

The lineup of the festival is still being defined, what's new hours are expected. But the certainty is that the Black Lips, a historic band from Atlanta, Georgia, known for their vintage garage punk they like to call "flower punk." Famous for their live performances to the limit (between 2006 and 2007 Black Lips ended up in the pages of Rolling Stone and The New York Times with fireworks, nudity, vomiting and chickens on stage). In 2007, their first live album titled "Los del mundo nuevo valientes", recorded in a strip joint in Tijuana, Mexico, led them to worldwide fame, even if the tour to India (2009) are nearly arrested on charges of homosexuality because of a kiss (alcohol) that are traded on the stage. Following the album "200 Million Thousand" by 122 dates between Europe and the United States. From here three years must pass before seeing the Black Lips in the studio. This time, however, to accompany the four, there is producer Mark Ronson (producer of Christina Aguilera, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Robbie Williams and Justin Timberlake), called to give shape to the new job. Arabia Mountain in June 2011 and marks out a small place in the discography of the band: less punk and more pop sounds for more cared for and cleaned. Exclusively for North Italy, we will listen to the Citadel.


The event will be held in case of rain, the main stage is in fact completely covered. Admission is free Saturday, May 26 from 15 to 18. Those who join during this time is entitled to remain free to watch the main concert, starting at 21:00. After 18:00, the ticket costs 15 euros (which adds the right to advance). For pre-sales ticket office is on the circuit and the usual points of sale. Sunday, May 27th admission is free all day, gates open at 15. Points of administration provided food and drinks. A smoking area and outdoor green space for families.


More info: 
3471601429 
www.vinilefestival.it  
info@vinilefestival.it

See you there!

Ups and Downs

Obey The Brave release their debut EP "Ups and Downs" on May 22nd!
Preorder your LP or Boundle (7 Inch & T-Shirt) on Good Fight Entertainment

AirVinyl

AirVinyl From Within was created Air Studios, London's finest recording studio complex to

recreate the ambience, warmth and experience of vinyl recordings, and transforming your MP3

digital music collection into your record collection, Bringing back to the warmth of analogue harmonics.

Choose your records from any of the crate where your collection is kept and play single tracks or albums on the authentic teak and brushed steel AirVinyl record deck. If you want to compile your favorite songs together into one playlist, you can create a mixtape and play it in the Air cassette deck.

Any playlists you have stored on the iPad will be accessible as Mixtapes too.

The audio output from AirVinyl has-been enhanced by the award winning audio engineers at Air Studios to recreate the ambience sound originally Intended by the artist. Use AirPlay to wirelessly connect to your hifi or entertainment center and your iPad Becomes a component audio quality.

Use the free AirStreem Mac app to stream your Entire iTunes Music Library from your Mac to your iPhone.

FEATURES

Enhanced, studio engineered audio output

Vinyl Record Player

Cassette Deck with Mixtapes

AirPlay compatibility

Stylish Retro Interface

Alternative skins (coming soon)

AirStreem - look for it in the Mac App Store

More info: www.airvinyl.com

What's New in Version 1.5

- AirStreem is now available!

- minor bug fixes

Perfect Day

Lp of the day is Perfect Day, by Lou Reed.

"Perfect Day" is a song written by Lou Reed in 1972, originally featured on Transformer, Reed's second post-Velvet Underground solo album. Its fame was given a boost in the 1990s when it was featured in the 1996 film Trainspotting, and after its release as a star-studded BBC charity single in 1997, which became the UK's number one single for three weeks. Reed re-recorded the song for his 2003 album The Raven.
A cover recorded by Duran Duran reached #28 on the UK Singles Chart in 1995.
The original recording, like the rest of the Transformer album, was produced by David Bowie, with guitarist Mick Ronson providing the arrangement.
The song has a sombre vocal delivery and slow, piano-based instrumental backing balancing tones of sweet nostalgia ("it's such a perfect day, I'm glad I spent it with you") with an undercurrent of menace ("you're gonna reap just what you sow").The  line alludes to Galatians 6:7: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

From a music theory point of view, the song is complex. Where the chorus is in a straight forward major key, the verse cannot be captured in a single key. It starts with the tonic chord of the parallel minor to the chorus key - deceivingly hinting that it is written in that key - but then continues with a number of descending fifths progressions. It eventually ends in the dominant chord of the chorus key, making the song explode into the chorus.
The song's lyrics are often considered to suggest simple, conventional romantic devotion, possibly alluding to Reed's relationship with Bettye Kronstadt (soon to become his first wife) and Reed’s own conflicts with his sexuality, drug use, and ego.
Some commentators have further seen the lyrical subtext as displaying Reed's romanticized attitude towards a period of his own addiction to heroin; this popular understanding of the song as an ode to addiction led to its inclusion in the soundtrack for Trainspotting, a film about the lives of heroin users.
Reed's original recording was featured on an AT&T commercial featuring snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler that ran during the 2010 Olympics.

This is a Perfect Day!