letters to spock

Dedication II - A short film about Lars Rothenstein

2014-12-18T13:32:00.001+01:00

Watch Jan Stollberg's short film about Lars Rothenstein, the German version of Rodney Mullen. The short film shows Rothenstein's unique approach to skateboarding and tells the viewer about his roots and dedication for skateboarding. It also showcases how Rothenstein only needs one good Flat to pull off one of his crazy freestyle moves that even today are of utmost rarity.

New Album - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead

2014-10-21T10:49:00.001+02:00

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead's new album IX is online and available for listening via 3voor12. Their 2011 album TAO of the Dead blew my mind and still remains in the top ten of albums I like to listen to while driving on the highway. A real "must listen to" if you enjoy proper album experiences. Anyway, check out their new album:

Ed Piskor - Hip Hop Ink

2014-10-01T11:30:00.001+02:00

Pittsburgh magazine followed Ed Piskor - creator of "Hip Hop Family Tree - around for a few weeks and put together a little piece on him and the Hip Hop comic. Hip Hop Family Tree tells the story of Hip Hop music and made him internationally known. An interesting short documentary/feature for those who are interested in both Hip Hop and graphic novels.

"The highlight is going through my decrepit boyhood home for the first time in like 18 years and seeing artwork on the walls that survived."

(via BoingBoing)

DJ Roughmix - Good Music Lasts Forever (Mixtape No. 3)

2014-09-29T13:50:00.001+02:00

The infamous mixtape series "Good Music Lasts Forever" by DJ Roughmix (Augsburg) continues. Nomen est omen. 'Nuff said. Relax your ears and enjoy. Bla Bla.

1. (Intro) Attack Of The Defenders (Cuts by DJ Roughmix) - Figub Brazlevic
2. When You Know It - IAMNOBODI
3. Trillmatic feat. Method Man - A$AP Nast
4. Carry On feat. Joey Bada$$ - Statik Selektah
5. The Buzz feat. Mayer Hawthorne - Med
6. Easy Rider - Action Bronson
7. Sewer Sights - Figub Brazlevic
8. Step Up - Brenk Sinatra
9. Big Dusty - Joey Bada$$
10. Never Disappear - Apollo Brown
11. Live Rugged - The Doppelgangaz
12. Been On - G-Eazy
13. The Meaning Of Love - Chrome Sparks
14. Runnin' (Machinedrum Remix) - Kelis
15. Don't You Love feat. Banks - Lil Silva
16. So Good - Farhot
17. Menthol feat. Jean Deaux - Isaiah Rashad
18. First Mark - Lil Silva
19. Bangclap - Impey
20. Move Slow feat. Kaeyae Alo (GANZ Remix) - Pat Lok
21. Nevermind That feat. Rick Ross - Ab-Soul
22. Studio feat. BJ The Chicago Kid - Schoolboy Q
23. Po Pimp - Do Or Die
24. Get Me Doe (Twinztrack Remix) - 2Chainz
25. Zone Girl - Staycen & Koen

Video: Aem 16 & Apfel - Vitamin (Remix)

2014-09-29T11:48:00.001+02:00

Da braut sich was zusammen. Die Jungs aus der Schaft kommen mit '93', und mit ihnen Aem 16 & Apfel. Wer sie noch nicht kennt sollte bitte sehr unbedingt 16 Äpfel und Erntefunk ganz schnell pumpen.
Nicht nur ein Audiogenuss, sondern auch visuell ein echter Leckerbissen. Enjoy:

Aem 16 an den Raps, Apfel am Beat und umglottis dreht die Scheiben.Props für das Video von allen gehen raus an Sebastian Dìaz de Léon aka Mare chillin in Paris.http://mare91.tumblr.com/

My Rules - Glen E. Friedman Photography

2014-09-18T11:54:00.001+02:00

Run DMC, Jam Master Jay, 1985, Holls Queens, New York. Photo: Glen E. Friedman, from "My Rules

"My Rules" by photographer Glen E. Friedman is released on the 20th anniversary of the original publication of "Fuck You Heroes". It is his first large-format coffeetable book with Rizzoli and features incredible images of many legendary bands, skaters, performers and personalities such as Run DMC, Beastie Boys, Tony Hawk, Bad Brains or L.L. Cool J.

"It's a mother fucking, ass kicking monster," Glen says about the book.

Glen E. Friedman & Ian MacKaye discuss some of the photographs in MY RULES the book (2014) from Burning Flags Press on Vimeo.

The book also features written contributions from Adam Horovitz, Shepard Fairey, Jello Biafra, Tony Alva and others. Here is a peek at some of the awesome photographs from Glen E. Friedman's "My Rules":

Bad Brains, 1982, New York City. Photo: Glen E. Friedman, from "My Rules"

Jay Adams, DogBowl, Santa Monica, 1977. Photo: Glen E. Friedman, from "My Rules"

L.L. Cool J, 1986, UCLA, Los Angeles. Photo: Glen E. Friedman, from "My Rules"

Shaun of the Dead - Limited LP

2014-09-18T11:24:00.000+02:00

On 7 October 2014, Mondo (limited edition screen printed movie posters, vinyl movie soundtracks and more) will release the Original Score to Shaun of the Dead on vinyl. It is the first release of Daniel Mudford and Pete Woodhead's complete score in any format. The limited edition LP comes with a great cover artwork by Jock and can be purchased at MondoCon or online.

While aware that they were working on a comedy, Daniel Mudford & Pete Woodhead had the idea of making a score that was deadly serious and let the comedy do its own thing. "We wanted to play a straight bat, as the English say, and treat the film as though it was a sincere and genuinely terrifying scenario." says Mudford. In doing so, they crafted a score that fits in perfectly alongside the great horror scores that inspired it.

Here's a preview track:

Reign in Blood - Slayer Pizza

2014-09-18T11:09:00.000+02:00

Check out the oh-so-tasty-satanic-looking Slayer Pizza topped with Fra Mani Toscano Salami, Soppressata Salami, Finocchiona-Salami, Lamb Chopper (Cheese), Napoli Tomato Sauce and finished with caramelized Sugar. Served best with Reign in Blood and a digestiv à la Satanist Jesus-Themed Heavy Metal Ghost Burger. YUM!

Ingredients: Chopped Fra Mani toscano, soppressata, finocchiona, Cypress Grove “Lamb Chopper” cheese, house marinara, signature communion wafer crust, and an altar wine gastrique.
Album: Slayer’s Reign in Blood – The classico 1986 thrashterpiece.Tasting notes: Behold, the Slayer pizza. A vast sadistic feast, the only way to eat it is going piece by piece. The flour was stone ground from 350 communion wafers and kneaded together on an altar of sacrifice. It’s baked at a chilly 400 degrees and finished as the communion wafer crust starts to burn. These delicious ingredients were almost all purveyed from California, where it is said that thrash metal has its roots. As the pizza is sliced and “Angel of Death” is unleashed, you will scream along with the first taste. The smooth tang of the sheep’s milk cheese is offset in quintessential madness with the handcrafted salami. Like Jesus on the cross, heavy guitars rip through meat and cheese, exposing the unholy red sauce underneath. With the whirlwind beating of drums and those classic Slayer riffs, the pizza is soaked with a torrential altar wine gastrique. Raining blood from a lacerated pie! It should take just under 30 minutes to finish, and with 6.66 years’ worth of communion bread servings you might want to share it with your friends.

(via Nerdcore)

Tonight on TV - "Kiffer, Dealer, Coffeeshops"

2014-09-17T15:04:00.001+02:00

Tonight there is a documentary movie on TV focusing on the debate about whether or not weed should be sold legally at Görlitzer Park in Kreuzberg (Berlin). The movie "Kiffer, Dealer, Coffeeshops" starts off with how Görlitzer Park and its surrounding area has turned into a (drug) tourist attraction and discusses whether, how and why a Coffeeshop that sells cannabis could be opened at this location.
Teaser text (unfortunately only in German):

Der Görlitzer Park in Kreuzberg ist längst zu einer Touristenattraktion geworden: Hier können Berliner und Besucher Dealer bestaunen und Marihuana shoppen. Doch was für die einen eine Attraktion ist, ist für andere ein Problem. Und so will der Bezirk Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg nun einen neuen Weg einschlagen: Ein Coffeeshop für Kreuzberg soll beantragt werden, um der Dealerei ein Ende zu bereiten. Es könnte schwierig werden das durchzusetzen, denn Cannabis ist illegal - so sehr die Droge auch zum Alltag für viele gehört.

Die Autoren Torsten Mandalka und Julia Camerer fangen im Film diesen Alltag ein und erzählen aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven: Die Freizeitkifferin, die weiß wie viel ihr gut tut, die Abhängige, die sich in Therapie begeben musste, der Growshop-Betreiber, der seine Kunden mit allem Nötigen ausstattet, die Patienten, die Cannabis aus der Apotheke beziehen aber doch daran zugrunde gehen, weil sie ihr Medikament aus eigener Tasche zahlen müssen - und natürlich der stetige und doch aussichtslose Kampf der Polizei gegen den Wildwuchs von Cannabis in Berlin.
Dabei schwingen immer die aktuellen Fragen mit: Was würde ein Coffeeshop bringen? Was halten die Protagonisten von einer Legalisierung, wie sie derzeit in immer mehr Ländern praktiziert wird?
Film von Julia Camerer und Torsten Mandalka

Jungle - Busy Earnin' live @ Jools Holland

2014-09-17T14:25:00.001+02:00

I have been looking forward to Jungle's debut album since July 2013, when I first stumbled upon their (awesome) song "Drops"on 22tracks. It was repeat 1 on first sight. Here is Jungle performing "Busy Earnin' " on Jools Holland:

Waiting in Line - Ein Soundtrack

2014-09-17T14:13:00.002+02:00

(via Nerddrugs)

GueT - Slowmotion Tattoo

2014-05-06T10:26:00.001+02:00

Tattoo Artist GueT at work... in Slowmotion. Some really nice shots of people getting ink'd.

Slowmotion Tattoo from GueT Deep on Vimeo.

Visualized - The Largest Vocabulary in Hip Hop

2014-05-05T12:03:00.003+02:00

(proper resolution and interactive image here)

Matt Daniels (designer, coder and data scientist) analysed the vocabulary of hip hop artists. He used Rap Genius lyrics for data and compared hip hop artists' data points (amount of unique words used) against Shakespeare's and Melville's vocabulary. The result is an interesting visualisation and, moreover, detailed description of how elaborated and multi-facetted hip hop artists' use of words is - Even in comparison to the most legendary literary figures:

Literary elites love to rep Shakespeare's vocabulary: across his entire corpus, he uses 28,829 words, suggesting he knew over 100,000 words and arguably had the largest vocabulary, ever.

I decided to compare this data point against the most famous artists in hip hop. I used each artist's first 35,000 lyrics. That way, prolific artists, such as Jay-Z, could be compared to newer artists, such as Drake.

35,000 words covers 3-5 studio albums and EPs. I included mixtapes if the artist was just short of the 35,000 words. Quite a few rappers don't have enough official material to be included (e.g., Biggie, Kendrick Lamar). As a benchmark, I included data points for Shakespeare and Herman Melville, using the same approach (35,000 words across plays for Shakespeare, first 35,000 of Moby Dick).

I used a research methodology called token analysis to determine each artist’s vocabulary. Each word is counted once, so pimps, pimp, pimping, and pimpinare four unique words. To avoid issues with apostrophes (e.g., pimpin’ vs. pimpin), they’re removed from the dataset. It still isn’t perfect. Hip hop is full of slang that is hard to transcribe (e.g., shorty vs. shawty), compound words (e.g., king shit), featured vocalists, and repetitive choruses.

It is especially interesting how Wu-Tang Clan is #6 not only as a collective but its members equally contribute lyrics as solo artists at the upper end of the scale, too (e.g. Ghostface Killah, Method Man and Raekwon). Daniels hypothesises that the time spent together in the studio might have had an impact as they extensively exposed their vocabulary to one another. DMX and 50 Cent are located at the lower end close to Kanye and Drake. Puff Daddy, Jay-Z (see below for a little memo on this particular case) and the Beastie Boys show an average use of words, while Kool Keith, The Roots and Kool G Rap join Wu-Tang Clan and its members in the premiere league. Aesop Rock is pretty much alone "up there" on #1.

io9 writer Robert Gonzales blew my mind with this point, "On The Black Album track 'Moment of Clarity', Jay-Z contrasts his lyricism with that of Common and Talib Kweli (both of whom "rank" higher than him, when it comes to the diversity of their vocabulary:

I dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars
They criticized me for it, yet they all yell "holla"
If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be
Lyrically Talib Kweli
Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense
But I did 5 mil - I ain't be rhyming like Common since.

Matt Daniels put a lot of effort into interpreting the results of his analysis and gives various explanations for different topics; e.g. such as that if compared per region, the south has the lowest average of unique words, while the east-coast has the highest. In fact, Daniels states, only 4 of the 17 southern-based artists in the dataset are above average (e.g. Outkast). He guesses that this is a result of crunk music's call-and-response style, leading to more repetition of words.

Click here to see the image in high resolution and further information/interpretation of the data once you scroll down. Also check Daniels' previous work Etymology of "Shorty" and Outkast, in graphs and charts.

The Roots - "When the People Cheer" Official Video

2014-05-03T15:49:00.001+02:00

Watch The Roots' official video for their new single "When the People Cheer" from their new album "...and then you shoot your cousin" (available May 19). Joe Baughman animated the video for their album's lyrical centerpiece that applies "bizarre world-logic to the usual rap rules".

Am I a douche bag or just another doo rag/ tryina get ahead on some brand new wave shit ... money is the language/ So every time I speak I'm tryin' to make another payment.

Olivia Locher - "I Fought the Law" (Ridiculous American Laws)

2014-04-29T13:37:00.003+02:00

Olivia Locher visualizes the USA's dumbest weirdest most flabbergasting laws in her art project "I Fought the Law". On the one hand, she shows how ridiculous law can be -- But also will equip you with some fun facts, such as that in Arizona, it is illegal to have more than two dildos in a house, or that in Maine, it is unlawful to tickle a woman under her chin with a feather duster. Here are two examples (check the rest) of how ridiculous law can be:

(via NC)

Berliner Stadtreinigung - Gratis Sperrmüll-Abholung auf der Naziroute

2014-04-25T13:33:00.003+02:00

Morgen werden Nazis durch Kreuzberg und Neukölln ziehen. Und was macht die Berliner Stadtreinigung? Die mischt mit - gegen die Nazis - und wird genau an diesem Tag auf der Route Sperrmüll abholen. Barrikadenmaterial for free! Vonwegen Steine in den Weg legen...Schränke werfen!
Hier die Anlaufpunkte für das Blockieren der Route durch Gegendemonstranten, organisiert durch das Bündnis Berlin Nazifrei.

Forrest Gump by Wes Anderson

2014-04-25T13:27:00.000+02:00

I wanted to know what would the opening credits for the movie Forrest Gump look like if Wes Anderson had directed it.

Here's what I came up with.

(Louis Paquet)

Forrest Gump by Wes Anderson from Louis Paquet on Vimeo.

"Happy" - Tempelhofer Feld Edition

2014-04-19T14:51:00.001+02:00

Auch, wenn das Lied mittlerweile schon fast nervt, aus gegebenem Anlass (z.B.: Erhalt der TF, Wahlen am 25.5., und zuletzt auch wegen des Wetters) die "Happy" Tempelhofer Feld Edition. Aus der Youtube Beschreibung:

Das Tempelhofer Feld in Berlin ist für viele Menschen zu einem Ort der Freiheit, des Feierns und der Kreativität geworden. Was wirklich 'happy' macht, ist hier für viele Berliner und Besucher erfahrbar. Mit den Plänen des Senats wird jeder Drehort, der in diesem Musikvideo zu sehen ist, bebaut werden.

RJD2 - Her Majesty's Socialist Request

2013-09-27T18:41:00.003+02:00

From RJD2's upcoming album. Nuff' said!

Valve's Gabe Newell - "Linux is the future of gaming"

2013-09-17T15:03:00.000+02:00

At LinuxCon 2013 in New Orleans, Gabe Newell (co-founder and managing director of Valve) stated that Linux is the future of gaming ... Wait....What? LINUX?

"It feels a litte bit funny coming here and telling you guys that Linux and open source are the future of gaming. It's sort of like going to Rome and teaching Catholicism to the pope", Newell states.

Most (gaming affine) people probably find his announcement hard to believe and Newell did acknowledge this during his talk at the conference. Linux currently accounts for less than 1% of the gaming market - irrespectively of whether the measure would be players online, player minutes or revenue. Valve wants to change this by extending their distribution platform Steam to hardware that is designed for living rooms.

Steam has been available for Linux since February 2013 and covers 198 games. Also, Valve's managing director previously announced a Linux-based Steam box at the beginning of this year. This console should serve as a competitor against the big players in the league of consoles and offers an alternative for the consumers. However, most of those consumers probably know the complicated relationship between games and Linux. They therefore have reasons for remaining in doubt with regards to a game changer based on this operating system. Valve is, however, putting particular effort into solving the challenge of getting games to work on Linux. An example would be Left 4 Dead 2 which Valve successfully implemented and brought to Linux.

According to Newell, this is a signal for Valve's development partners, emphasizing that the company is actually serious about "this Linux thing we were talking about."

Newell hinted at an announcement next week for more information.

Here is Newell's talk at LinuxCon 2013:

CDC Threat Report - Post Antibiotic Era

2013-09-17T14:30:00.001+02:00

Wired just posted an interesting article about the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) first-of-its-kind assessment of threats related to antibiotic-resitant organisms. 2 million people become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year (in the United States). As a result, at least 23,000 of these people die. CDC therefore ranked the number of illnesses and consequent annual deaths, as well as indicated necessary steps to prevent a post antibiotic era due to resistant bacteria.

From Wired:

The agency’s overall — and, it stressed, conservative — assessment of the problem:

Each year, in the U.S., 2,049,442 illnesses caused by bacteria and fungi that are resistant to at least some classes of antibiotics;

Each year, out of those illnesses, 23,000 deaths;

Because of those illnesses and deaths, $20 billion each year in additional healthcare spending;

And beyond the direct healthcare costs, an additional $35 billion lost to society in foregone productivity.

“If we are not careful, we will soon be in a post-antibiotic era,” Dr. Tom Frieden, the CDC’s director, said in a media briefing. “And for some patients and for some microbes, we are already there.”

The report marks the first time the agency has provided hard numbers for the incidence, deaths and cost of all the major resistant organisms. (It had previously estimated illnesses and deaths from some families of organisms or types of drug resistance, but those numbers were never gathered in one place.) It also represents the first time the CDC has ranked resistant organisms by how much and how imminent a threat they pose, using seven criteria: health impact, economic impact, how common the infection is, how easily it spreads, how much further it might spread in the next 10 years, whether there are antibiotics that still work against it, and whether things other than administering antibiotics can be done to curb its spread.

Out of that matrix, their top three “urgent” threats:

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae or CRE, a set of ICU germs that are resistant to almost all antibiotics: 9,000 infections per year, 600 deaths

Antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea, which currently responds to only one drug: 246,000 infections per year

Clostridium difficile, which is growing in resistance to one class of drugs, but more important, serves as a marker for the use of other antibiotics: 250,000 illnesses, 14,000 deaths.

There are 12 resistant bacteria and fungal infections in a second category, which the agency dubs “serious” (requiring “prompt and sustained action”); they include the hospital infections Acinetobacter,Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and VRE; the foodborne organisms Campylobacter, Salmonella andShigella; MRSA; Candida, a fungal infection; and TB, among others. The last category, “concerning” (requiring “careful monitoring and prevention”) includes rare but potent vancomycin-resistant staph, VRSA, as well as strains of strep resistant to two different categories of drugs.

For each organism, the report explains why it is a public health threat, where the trends are headed, what actions the CDC is taking, and what it is important for health care institutions, patients and their families, and states and local authorities to do to help. It also makes explicit where the trend of increasing and more common resistance is taking the country, outlining the risks to people taking chemotherapy for cancer, undergoing surgery, taking dialysis, receiving transplants, and undergoing treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

(The report also — and this is so important that I’ll take it up in a separate post tomorrow — tackles the issue of how agriculture, as well as healthcare, contributes to the increase in resistant organisms nationwide.)

The report lists some serious concerns the CDC has regarding how well resistance is monitored: in “gaps in knowledge,” it specifically names limited national and international surveillance, as well as the lack of data on agricultural use of antibiotics. And it calls for action in four areas: gathering better data; preventing infections, through vaccination, better protective behavior in hospitals, and better food handling; improving the way in which antibiotics are used, by not using them inappropriately in health care or agriculture; and developing not just new categories of antibiotics but better diagnostic tests so that resistant organisms can be identified and dealt with sooner, before they spread.

In an interview before the report became public, Frieden said that some of these actions are already happening. “My biggest frustration is the pace of change,” he told me. “Hospitals are making progress, but it’s single digits in terms of the number of hospitals that are being very proactive. The challenge is scaling up what we know works, and doing that fast enough so that we can close the door on drug resistance before it’s too late.”

I talked about the report’s calls for action to Dr. Ed Septimus, who is a professor of internal medicine at Texas A&M Health Sciences Center in Houston and a frequent spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the professional group for the physicians who usually treat resistant infections.

“We have gotten some action in Congress,” he said, mentioning the GAIN Act, which passed and offers incentives for drug development, and the STAAR Act, which aimed to improve surveillance and antibiotic conservation, but did not pass. “The FDA is considering regulations that would allow a special designation for drugs for unmet needs, and resistance would qualify; and the NIH has prioritized research on resistance higher than it did 10 years ago. So there is movement — but in terms of funding, it is a slow difficult process.

“Still, there are things we can do without funding,” he said: hospitals could create their own stewardship programs, and could work with nursing homes, whose patients bring some of the most resistant organisms into hospitals but who usually lack the budget for infection prevention.“It’s up to us to make the recommendations in this report happen,” Septimus said. “If we do nothing but say, ‘Here’s the problem,’ then the problem will continue to grow.” (via Wired)

I've been thinking about Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories"

2013-05-23T14:54:00.003+02:00

The teaser for Daft Punk's Get Lucky was the candy their fans needed when they counted the days until the release of Random Access Memories, Daft Punk's latest album. I was very excited for Random Access Memories because it meant the return of an electronic dance music act that really appealed to me ever since the sound of Da Funk entered my ears and brains (Note: I am also one who actually enjoyed the Tron soundtrack, too, but that doesn't count as an album).

The crucial point about the album is that everyone anticipated the return of Daft Punk's dominant EDM - But Random Access Memories isn't EDM in most facets! The first time I listened to their album, I was torn between some severe "Aha!" and "WTF!?" moments. I think the album is in limbo between something like "Air" (with their groovy and loungy style) and act's like Pink Floyd or other 70s disco stars, including Chic (which is not surprising because Chic's guitarist Nile Rogers features a couple of songs) and The Doobie Brothers. Anyone who expected the return of the kings of EDM is probably disappointed or, at least, confused. Random Access Memories is an obvious departure from the duo's original sound. There wouldn't have been much rumor and talk about the album if someone else had produced it. But it's Daft Punk and that's what makes it a challenge, increasing my willingness to listen to it over and over again; although first I had some moments when I really thought "OK, this is simply a bad song!" .

After the 4th or 5th time I listened to the album, I realized it's actually not that different to Daft Punk's other productions: they worked accurately, with an eye for detail and nuance (e.g. Giorgio Moroders ideas about the magic of producing music, inserted as soundclips from an interview). Moreover, listening to Random Access Memories is a classic album experience to be heard as a whole, with a direct introduction, climax, peak and energetic outro ("Contact" - one of the album's most energetic tracks). It's also just as different to present mainstream music as their older albums were back in the days. Nowadays, everyone is used to EDM (a niche that became populair, amongst others, thanks to Daft Punk) and might not realize how much different their sounds were compared to other songs back in 2001 (Discovery).

So basically, what Daft Punk did with "Random Access Memories" is doing what they always did: rebelling against mainstream and instead introducing a new sound (with old elements) when everyone else would have been thrilled to the highest extent, if the duo had just handed them an album with EDM club songs. The latter takes me back to the whole dance aspect. I think the most dancable song (there are others but I think this one is the best) is Get Lucky. That song is a Disco-Anthem, literally; it's a hymn for discotheques and 70s dance music. Not surprisingly, this is also one of the songs featuring Chic's Nile Rogers and his unmistakable guitarsounds - Although I wouldn't really say that he put much effort and creativity into those riffs.

In conclusion, I think Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories" is their reaction against the epidemic electronic dance music that has managed to creep into almost every song produced nowadays. The charts are full of them! Musically, the duo aimed very high (the production costs excess even Kanye and Jay-Z) and produced a new sound with mainly 70s influences and the unmistakable pinch of Daft Punk. Some of the songs are too ambitious but it is a great album overall. In some ways, it did indeed Give life back to music and I wonder if it will influence other artists.
And anyway: they are dressed like robots, so fuck you.

Twitter Music service to be launched this weekend (probably)

2013-04-12T10:53:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, Twitter bought the Australian music service All Things Hunted and according to AllThingsD, Twitter Music is supposed to launch today! Twitter's music app will make suggestions about musicians you follow, offers streams by external partners such as Soundcloud, and it will also provide video clips. CNET moreover stated that one won't even need a Twitter account in order to access their streaming service - Nice move!

The app suggests artists and tracks to users based on a number of personalized signals, including the Twitter accounts a user follows on the microblogging service. Users will be able to listen to clips of music from inside the app, using third-party services like iTunes, Soundcloud; they will also be able to watch music videos provided by Vevo, the music video service owned by Universal Music and Sony.

Earlier today Twitter acknowledged that it had acquired We Are Hunted; last year Twitter bought the music recommendation service and put its staff to work building the new app.
Timing of the launch couldn’t be more appropriate. It’s the weekend that kicks off Coachella, the huge music festival put on in the middle of the California desert every year, attracting some of the music industry’s top talent. (AllThingsD)

(via Nerdcore)

Awesome

2012-11-10T19:01:00.002+01:00

Instagram for Emails - Handiemail

2012-11-06T14:04:00.003+01:00

Handiemail is a service provider that lets you submit emails (newschool), they write it by hand, put it into an envelope and send it to the adress you provided them with (oldschool). Oh and you can do it the other way around, too -> send them your handwritten letter and they'll email it for you.

It's not a bad idea and I bet there will be some people who show interest in this concept - mostly hipsters. Why? Because it fits the overall hipster logic of wearing vintage shoes, vintage glasses, vintage jeans, using vintage analog cameras - while using the latest MacBooks, Iphones, Ipads, Ipods and riding modern single-speeds.

Handiemail is like Instagram for Emails.