Here’s something nice for any of you who share my nostalgic fascination for the various characters who’ve shaped the last 25 years of electronic music.
Gerald’s been an innovator from the start. Setting a solid course in the late eighties with Pacific as part of 808 State and Voodoo Ray on his own, he went on to play a large part in the transition from Hardcore to Jungle. Of the many names that surface during discussions of early UK breakbeat culture, Gerald often seems to get brushed aside in favour of people like Goldie and Bukem. I have enormous respect for all of them but I think most of the original Drum & Bass guys would struggle to argue that they’re weren’t influenced by Gerald’s constant forward thinking approach during that early period.
Enough of my thoughts and opinions. I’m writing this because I stumbled across his site a couple of weeks back and the info section is great. The highlight is a short video made up of parts from a couple of old documentaries; Granada TV’s Madchester from 1990 and Channel 4’s Pioneers docu from 2000. There’s also a great page on Acid House which makes an ideal intro to anyone less familiar with his work or the period in general.
There’s a great interview with Theo Parrish over at Resident Advisor. The guy’s very opinionated but makes some interesting and solid points. I suggest checking out the links in the first paragraph before you get stuck in, especially the BBC interview.
In an effort to maintain regular updates, I’m inviting a few friends to come up with guest posts. This one comes courtesy of Natural Self, thank you mate…
“This is a song and video that a friend of mine recently brought to my attention. The singer is Brazilian but now resides in London. The song is a cover of a piece by Tom Waits. This is an unusual kind of love song, written as it is, from the point of view of the lover who has already passed away to the lover who remains alive. The video by Gustavo Guimaraes and Adams Carvahlo is perfectly pitched to carry its sombre and gentle beauty.”
I took the afternoon off today for some much required down time, work being pretty hectic as usual. The weather’s surprisingly nice and I couldn’t have asked for a better sofa soundtrack than this as the sun poured in.
Le Sac De Sonido (or ‘The Bag Of Sound’) is the work of Desmond Hollins, you can download the entire release for free at Portuguese net-label Test Tube. This is finding it’s place in my mind somewhere between titles like Gramm’s Personal Rock and Dan Abrams various releases as Shuttle358. If you’re looking to power down for a while and do a little mental housekeeping, this may well sort you out.
Hollins continues to impress. With his three S&S collections of hip hop makeovers (as Katrah Quey) alongside a handful of other releases including the Ceptual project debuted by Miasmah in 2006, this guy is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Appreciation goes out to Orville for passing me the link, thank you sir.
On first inspection, the work of Joe Nishizawa looks a lot like a combination of computer graphics and Hollywood scale set design. Instead, every image is an entirely untreated photograph of a real location he has visited and captured as he found it, often without the use of even a flashlight.
His work centers around some of Japans most impressive industrial design, much of which is found hidden deep underground in various facilities that seldom grant any kind of public access. Taking pride in documenting just how technologically advanced a nation Japan has become, he’s created a collection of books that consistently render sublime imagery from objects and environments created primarily for function rather than any aethetic value.
If recent rumors about a live action Akira are true, I hope that whoever’s heading up the production design dept. has some of Joe’s books on their shelf.
