WHEN MATES MAKE BOOKS

an irregular series occasioned by the large number of friends who've got books out this year, often their first one



And here's my Berlin buddy Tobias Rapp with his debut Lost and Sound: Berlin, Techno und der Easyjetset for the prestigious Frankfurt publishing house Suhrkamp. Being that it's in German I can't understand a bleedin' word of course, but from what Tobias has told me, it looks to be a fascinating study of the phenomenon of raver tourism in Berlin. Ultra-cheap air fares from Easyjet and Ryan Air et al have created this sort of Euroraver class, who fly into Berlin, don't bother with booking a hotel because they're not planning on doing any sleeping, and instead spend the money they save on partying hard . An entire micro-economy has sprung up to cater to these weekend warriors flying in from every corner of the Continent. Looks like Lost and Sound may get translated into English, in which case I'll alert you.

my new Guardian blogpost, on Island's 50th birthday, and whether any record labels this decade have played the same underground/overground role it did in its heyday

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an interview with me at The Dumbing of America

missus mourns record store(s)

missus meets russell brand

the first in a series of Totally Wired bonus transcripts - this one with Steven Brown of Tuxedomoon

an interview with me by Andrew Gallix for 3: AM magazine

RIP Henri Pousseur

ardchive fever (boy this is too much)

here's where I draw the line -- Ironman's DNB Tape Pack Sickness, a blog dedicated to rave tape packs, not just d&b but H-core and 94-95 jungle

five or six hours worth per upload

from the few i've got (as in actual tape packs--typically, a video case with six low quality cassette tapes crammed inside) the expectation i have would be: inferior copied-at-high-speed sound quality; grim professionalism from the DJs and from an increasingly hoarse MC; DJs playing many of the same tunes as each other.

then again some of those ones from 92, 93?

NO! already.got.too.much.this.kind.of.thing. (and music, generally).

(still: worth a visit just to look at the scans of flyer/tape pack covers)

I was kind of expecting that when we did the Waterstones panel in Manchester last month I'd get pelted with rotten veg for having recently penned this critique of (The) Factory (Box Set). But in the event I just got a polite question about it, which suggests Anthony H. Wilson isn't as uncritically revered in his hometown as you'd imagine. I should say, Tone was one of the most charming and anecdotally endowed interviewees I did for Rip It Up (summer 2002, in a bar over the road from where the Hacienda used to be, and where a block of luxury flats cheekily named the Hacienda was being built). But he has said some silly things over the years. So I felt it was time to take issue with a few of them. Also with his A&R-ing after 1982 or thereabouts...

ardchive fever (US division)

Nineties rave tapes from the American scene, especially West Coast

(big up Man like Matos for this)

(whose SLM is getting some press)

my latest Guardian blog post, wondering whether it's just a coincidence that wonky, the UK's hip new sound, happens to share its name with the street term for ketamine...

fanzines (the eternal return)

the blog for
Kevin Pearce's new e-zine Your Heart Out, which he will send to you in PDF form if you ask nicely and you can print out if you so choose (a crafty fusion of the possibilities of the internet with the tangibility/cherishablity of the old-style fanzine, eh?)

also

a piece by an Australian chap called Andrew Ramadge about legendary/infamous female zine editor Louise Dickinson whose Lemon fanzine of the late 80s and early 90s seems to have been a down under rough equivalent to Forced Exposure or Conflict but with extra bile. Published in Overland journal but also available here with page scans from Lemon.

Two upcoming events for the London massive!



Ghost Box and Trunk Records
present

BELBURY YOUTH CLUB NIGHT

Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 6:00pm to midnight
Location: Shunt Lounge, 20 Stainer St. London
Information: Email: contact@ghostbox.co.uk / www.shunt.co.uk

DJs: Julian House & Jim Jupp (Ghost Box), Woebot, Mark Pilkington (Strange Attractor), and Jonny Trunk.

James Cargill and Trish Keenan of Broadcast provide a live improvised soundtrack to a short film by Julian House.

Throughout the evening we'll be screening a programme of rare, unsettling and forgotten TV drama and public information films.

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Sadly I won't be able to attend :(


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and how about this?



THE HARDCORE CONTINUUM? A DISCUSSION

Presented by the Centre for Cultural Studies Research, University of East London
In association with The Wire
Location: UEL Docklands Campus (Cyprus DLR, Zone 6)
Time/date: April 29th 2009 2:00pm-6:00pm

Simon Reynolds's commentary on the "hardcore continuum" - the mutating sequence of dancefloor music to have emerged from the breakbeat hardcore matrix of the early
1990s has recently generated intense debate in the musical blogosphere.

What is the value of this concept? Does it still usefully describe the context from which dynamic new beat musics emerge? Can the conditions of creativity in the 1990s be replicated in the era of web 2.0? Should we even want them to be?

Speakers: Mark Fisher (K-Punk), Alex Williams (Splintering Bone Ashes), Steve Goodman (Kode 9), Lisa Blanning (The Wire), Dan Hancox (Guardian, New Statesman), Kodwo Eshun (Author of More Brilliant than the Sun), Joe Muggs (Mixmag, The Wire), Jeremy Gilbert (Co-author of Discographies)

Attendance is free but pre-registration is recommended. For info or to register contact J.Gilbert@uel.ac.uk

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Sadly I won't be able to attend :(

(Not that I was invited)

see him move! hear him talk! -- Tim Finney on teevee: Aussie critshow Dancing About Architecture