Fashion Crisis Ljubljana!

Na kratko bi vam rad predstavil Fashion Crisis, tokijski event, ki bo naslednji teden doživel svojo prvo slovensko izvedbo. Kaj je sploh ta Fashion Crisis in kaj za vraga počne v Ljubljani?

Ko sva se z Zano pred tremi leti prvič selila na Japonsko, je bil to prvi dogodek, na katerem sva se počutila res domače. Prve tri tedne sva preživela v iskanju dobrih koncertov in klubov, kjer bi lahko morda nastopal. Koncertov je bilo seveda na pretek, a so bili vedno v nekih sterilnih okoljih in zaznamovani z resnobnostjo, da o visokih cenah sploh ne govorim, kljub vsemu trudu pa nisem uspel prepričati niti enega organizatorja, da me bukira. Sčasoma sva začela obupavati in počutila sva se povsem izgubljena v velikem mestu. Nek večer sva se iz dolgčasa odpravila na naključni event, ki je bil zastonj in čisto blizu najinega doma v Koenjiju. Znašla sva se v prazni podzemni luknji, ki se ji reče “Koenji One” in bila sva prva gosta. Organizator, prijazni anglež Ian, naju je seveda ogovoril in hitro se je razvila živahna debata, kjer smo ugotovili, da imamo povsem ista zanimanja in tudi podobne poglede na glasbo. Ko so v klub začeli kapljati njegovi prijatelji, smo ugotovili isto, vsi so bili glasbeniki, glasbeni navdušenci, glasbeni novinarji in lokalni posebneži (največkrat kar vse v eni osebi). Ian je medtem vrtel bizarno mešanico najrazličnejše muzike, kjer so se melodije Davida Bowie-ja mirno prelivale v melodije japonskih tehno pop ikon, kot bi ves čas skakal iz preteklosti v prihodnost in nazaj. Nato sta oder zavzela duo “Candles” in naju popolnoma očarala z najbolj očarljivim, sladkobnim tehno pop-om kar sem ga kdaj slišal. Začuden sem bil nad navdušenjem publike, saj nisem še nikoli videl glasbenih geekov iz hardcore in noise bendov tako uživati v popu... Ozračje je bilo res sproščeno, neobremenjeno in predvsem smešno, saj dogajanju na odru in izboru glasbe, ki so jo vrteli didžeji, ni vladala nobena logika. vseskupaj bi lahko opisal kot zabavni kaos. Odšla sva domov popolnoma prevzeta, Ian je od takrat postal najin guide po tokijskemu underground dogajanju, Fashion Crisis pa dogodek, ki ga nikoli več nisva zamudila. 

Skozi čas smo z Ianom in njegovo založbo Call and Response Records postali tesni sodelavci, saj sva z Zano postala redna gosta na Fashion Crisisu, izdal je moj album Ex Shanti/Future Shanti, jaz pa sem sodeloval pri izidu albuma in evropski turneji skupine Praha Depart. Zahvaljujoč se njemu sem spoznal svoje najljubše japonske bende in s številnimi izmed njih tudi nastopal (Hyacca, Uhnellys, Praha Depart, The Mornings, Jebiotto, Zibanchinka, (m)otocompo, Andersens, She Talks Silence...). 

Tako sva se znašla pred dilemo, kaj storiti ob obisku Iana in njegove žene Kaname v Sloveniji? S čim se lahko v Ljubljani kosamo eklektično bizarnemu dogajanju v Koenjiju. Mislim, da imamo na Metelkovi vse pogoje za pravo vzdušje, podobno mislečih ljudi pa tudi ne manjka. Okoli ljubljanskega Fashion Crisis-a se je tako nabrala pestra ekipa didžejev, ki bodo povedali svojo lastno glasbeno zgodbo. Ian nam bo zavrtel najbolj zabavne stvari, ki jih ima ponuditi Japonska, Kaname nam je napovedala “girl’s rock and pop” set, Svemir Mango (aka Kukla in Eva iz skupine Napravi Mi Dete) prvič napadata mešalko s svojim izborom vesoljske ghetto elektronike, ko smo že pri vesoljski elektroniki pa ne pozabimo na eno in edino Saturno, misteriozno starleto, ki jo poznate iz njenih Synth Odyssey dogodkov v Channel 0. Bravo Urška bo verjetno prva v K-pop didžejka v Sloveniji, Zano bo tokrat zamenjala njena Hindu dvojnica Shanti Priya in zavrtela novosti iz Bollywooda, jaz pa bom javnosti prvič predstavil Shampoo Guy-a, novi alter ego, ki se čedalje večkrat prebudi v meni in zahteva vse več pozornosti.

Da pa bo stvar še malo bolj internacionalna, bo Fashion Crisis na isti dan potekal tudi v Tokiu!

In zakaj ime Fashion Crisis? Ian pravi, da je fashion crisis tisti moment, ko bi rad izgledal kul, ampak že ful zamujaš ven in na koncu nepremišljeno oblečeš ravno najbolj neprimerne stvari. Transcendenca dobrega okusa?

I want to say a few things about the Fashion Crisis event, which is debuting in Slovenia next week...what exactly is it about and how did it find it’s way to Ljubljana?

Well, my part of the story starts in Tokyo a few years back, when me and Zana first moved there and were looking for gigs to go to and events I could possibly play. Needless to say there was no shortage of gigs, but we were disappointed at the snobbish atmosphere at many of them (not to mention shocked at the ticket prices). And despite all my best efforts I couldn’t convince a single organizer to book my show. A couple weeks into our stay we were beginning to feel lost and out of place. One day we made a random visit to a venue close to our house in Koenji, just out of sheer boredom and the fact that there was a free event going on that night. We ended up being the first guests in the dimly lit underground hole which is Koenji One, and organizer Ian Martin came to greet us and find out who these new people were... We ended up in a long conversation, finding out that we  share similar views on music and just about everything else as well. When his friends started coming in the conversations continued and we finally found ourselves in the company of like-minded people, musicians, music geeks, music journalists, and freaky people from the neighborhood (often all rolled into one person). Ian was deejaying tracks from every corner of time and space, jumping from past to future and melting David Bowie’s melodies with those of pop icons Perfume. Later on in the night, boy/girl duo “Candles” took the stage and played the most enchantingly sweet, energetic techno pop music I’d ever heard. I was taken aback by how the crowd of music geeks, many of whom play in hardcore or noise bands, enjoyed the bubblegum pop show. The atmosphere was relaxed, unpretentious and above all, fun. There seemed to be no logic behind what the deejays were playing and no need for it either. We left the event completely fulfilled. Since then, Ian became our guide to Tokyo’s underground wonders, and Fashion Crisis the event we never missed again.

In time we cooperated more and more, with me and Zana playing regularly at the Fashion Crisis events, Ian releasing my album Ex Shanti/Future Shanti through his label Call and Response Records, and me helping with the album release and Europe tour of Praha Depart. Thanks to him I met and played with many of my favorite Japanese artists (Hyacca, Uhnellys, Praha Depart, The Mornings, Jebiotto, Zibanchinka, (m)otocompo, Andersens, She Talks Silence...).

So the question arose, how can Ljubljana match up to the eclectic bizarreness of Tokyo’s Fashion Crisis? Personally I feel that Metelkova has a very appropriate atmosphere, and we also don’t lack like-minded music geeks. A team of very left-field deejays was recruited and I think that every one of them has a great musical story to tell. Our guest Ian will play everything fun that Japan has to offer, his wife Kaname has told us to expect a “girl’s rock and pop” set, Svemir Mango (aka Kukla in Eva from the awesome group Napravi Mi Dete) will bring their own blend of spaced out ghetto electronica, and speaking of spaced out, we’re really happy to have the mysterious cosmic presence of Saturna of Synth Odyssey fame on the list. Bravo Urška is possibly the first K-Pop DJ in Slovenia, Zana will be replaced by her Hindu twin sister Shanti Priya, while I myself will morph into my newest alter ego Shampoo Guy, who demands and increasing amount of attention.

Oh, and to make it more international, the event will be held in Tokyo on the same day!

Why call it Fashion Crisis? In Ian’s words, a fashion crisis is what you have when you’re really late heading out, but also want to look cool, resulting in terrible last minute judgements, picking out the most miss- matched combination of clothes possible. A transcendence of good taste?

Event information: https://www.facebook.com/events/166320113488160/

New BeatMyth album coming out this week

I've been going on and on about this BeatMyth release party next week but haven't actually taken the time to explain who and what BeatMyth even is. It's basically the project of two producers, DJ PlankTon and Mike Preeters, which started out as a breakbeat thing but has in my opinion integrated many different musical influences in recent years, from electro-house, dubsteb, techno and hiphop. I've been working with DJ PlankTon for years, he was actually a part time member of Moveknowledgement when we started playing gigs around the year 2000, and we used to do drum n' bass parties together after the gigs. We played quite a lot as a drum n' bass DJ/MC duo in those years and even did some big festivals like Exit in Serbia. After a while we both got tired of the drum n' bass scene and concentrated more on our own music. I went on to do my solo hip hop/experimental stuff and he got into breakbeat, forming BeatMyth with his roommate Mike Preeters. We would get together occasionally in the studio and I recorded some raps for them, which resulted in the album "Your Own Two Heads" (self released a year ago and available for free download here). That was the time when PlankTon decided to start DJing again and we played a live set together for the first time in many years. One thing led to another and together with Zana we started organizing our regular monthly DJ event called Safari with live acts and bands playing every time. 

That's the short history of it all, but the reason I'm writing about all this is that BeatMyth will be releasing their second album "Questionable Image" on Kapa Records next week, and Safari will be the release party! I recorded vocals for several tracks and I think there's some really nice stuff on the record, so please check it out. I'm really looking forward to next Thursday, besides doing our regular DJ sets with special guest Felis Catus from the like minded DJ crew Don't Make New People, me and PlankTon will perform most of the new BeatMyth material live. Hope to see you in Gromka!

Zadnje dni veliko govorim o projektu BeatMyth, ne da bi si vzel čas razložiti za kaj sploh gre. BeatMyth je projekt dveh producentov, Mike Preetersa in DJ PlankTona, v osnovi breakbeatovska muzika pa je skozi leta vase posrkala najrazličnejše vplive, od electrohouse-a do dubstepa, techna in hiphopa. Sam sem s PlankTonom sodeloval že dolgo časa, saj je bil na začetku celo občasni član Moveknowledgementov in po koncertih sva delala drum n' bass partije, ter veliko nastopala kot DJ/Mc duo (imela sva celo nekaj večjih festivalskih nastopov kot recimo na srbskem Exitu). Čez nekaj časa sva se oba naveličala drum n' bass scene ter se posvetila vsak svojim projektom, jaz sem snemal solo albume, on pa je s takratnim cimrom Mike Preetersom začel BeatMyth. Kljub prenehanju nastopanja pa smo še vedno sodelovali in občasno smo se dobivali v studiu, kjer sem posnel nekaj vokalov na njune inštrumentale. Tako je nastal album "Your Own Two Heads" (ta je izšel lani v samozaložbi in je na voljo brezplačno tukaj), s PlankTonom pa sva se po dolgem času spet odločila skupaj nastopiti in predstaviti naše pesmi. Čez nekaj časa smo skupaj z Zano začeli sanjariti o našem lastnem mesečnem dj eventu z live acti in tako je nastal Safari. 

To je kratka zgodovina tega, kako je prišlo do tega sodelovanja, novica pa je ta, da naslednji četrtek pri Kapa Records izide novi album BeatMythov z naslovom "Questionable Image".  Tudi na tem albumu sem gostoval na številnih komadih in vesel sem, da bodo končno ugledali luč sveta. Četrtkov Safari bomo ob tej priložnosti spremenili v release party, s PlankTonom bova v živo predstavila nov material, kot dj pa se nam bo pridružil Felis Catus iz odlične ekipe Don't Make New People. Upam, da se vidimo v Gromki!

Heres the first single off the new record, and you can download it for free until Thursday:

SAFARI VOL.6
LiVe:
BeatMyth (http://beatmyth.blogspot.com/)
DjS:
Felis Catus (Don't make new people) (www.mixcloud.com/FelisCatus)
PlankTon (www.facebook.com/DjPlankTon)
N'toko (www.soundcloud.com/ntoko)
Zana (www.soundcloud.com/zanacaroline)

VisualS:
Koala™(Trajna) (www.eurocrem.co.cc)

Gromka. 22.3.2012. ob 22:30
Vstopnina: 3evre

N'toko ne obstaja

This isn't news anymore because I've fallen behind on my writing again, but I certainly need to say a few words on my new music video which came out last week. I met Tomaž Šantl about a year ago after my album Parada Ljubezni came out and he told me his ideas about shooting a video. He gathered a crew of really cool people and went to work, I actually just came by the studio to shoot one short scene and that was it, so I had no idea what was happening with the video. A few months later he surprised me in the middle of the European tour with a link to the finished thing. I watched it like 10 times and didn't know quite what to make of it...it was beyond liking or hating it, I kind of had to create a new category in my head, because I'd never seen anything like it before. The images got stuck in my brain and continued into my sleep in the form of dreams. The next morning I woke up completely aware that this is exactly the video I wanted, but couldn't quite imagine before actually seeing it. It'S the anti-video! I really need to say thanks to Tomaž and everybody involved again. We also decided to make the song "N'toko ne obstaja" my new single, which resulted in it becoming song of the week on national radio, so it feels great that the record is still getting attention so long after its initial release. But I'm also becoming more and more aware of the fact that it's been a while and I need to get some new music out into the world soon. I'm working on all kinds of different projects at the moment, so please be patient with me!

Tole sicer ne spada več v kategorijo "novice", saj sem spet zapadel v zaostanek s pisanjem, ampak vseeno je vredno reči besedo ali dve o novem videospotu za pesem "N'toko ne obstaja". Lani sem kmalu po izidu albuma "Parada Ljubezni" spoznal režiserja Tomaža Šantla, ki mi je predlagal nekaj idej za video. Kmalu je nabral pestro ekipo ljudi in se lotil dela, jaz pa sem vmes odpotoval na Japonsko in po vrnitvi posnel le en kratek kader (ki ga vidite na začetku spota).  Ko je minilo še nekaj časa in sem na stvar že popolnoma pozabil me je sredi evropske turneje presenetil mail z linkom na dokončani izdelek. Ogledal sem si ga 10-krat zapored in še vedno nisem vedel, kaj naj si mislim, saj Tomažev video ni bil niti približno podoben nobenemu glasbenemu spotu, ki bi ga videl doslej. V glavi sem si moral ustvariti novo kategorijo zanj. Podobe iz spota so me spremljale še ves dan, ponoči pa v obliki sanj. Zjutraj sem se zbudil z jasnim zavedanjem, da je to točno tak spot, kot bi si ga želel, če bi si ga znal zamisliti. Anti-video! Še enkrat se moram zahvaliti Tomažu in celotni ekipi za to, kar so ustvarili. Odločili smo se tudi, da lansiramo "N'toko ne obstaja" kot singel, ta pa je že postal popevka tedna na Valu202. Lepo je videti, da toliko časa po izidu albuma "Parada Ljubezni" še vedno obstaja zanimanje zanj, hkrati pa se zavedam, da bo res že skrajni čas, da spravim kako novo muziko v svet. Trenutno se ukvarjam s kar nekaj projekti, ampak sem pri delu vse počasnejši in vse bolj perfekcionističen....please be patient with me!