“Ich stehe ja für eine ganz bestimmte Idee: alte, abgehangene Sounds. Deswegen sammle ich alte Schlagzeugsets; wenn sie 30 oder 40 Jahre alt sind, ist es genau richtig. Das ist dann ein klassischer Sound.” So geht Questlove, Drummer und Mastermind der Roots an seine Produktionen heran und so klingt die neue Roots Platte “Rising Down” so klassisch wie neu und poppig zugleich wie man es sich von den Roots nur wünschen kann.

Die Loops rumpeln und funken vor sich hin, Bläsersätze und Synthiesounds rauschen dazwischen, die großartigen Gäste wie Mos Def (toll: gleich auf mehreren Tracks) und Talib Kweli peitschen die Lyrics mit einer wütenden Vehemenz darüber, dass man in der Frühlingssonne aus dem Kopfnicken gar nicht mehr herauskommt. Tracks wie “I will not apologize”, “Singin Man” oder “Criminal” will man mitrappen und mitsingen und alles in allem kann man es nicht erwarten, diese Truppe mal wieder live zu sehen.

Denn darauf kommt es, um zu Questlove zurück zu kehren an: “Ich spiele jede Show so, als ob mein Leben dranhängt - und so ist es tatsächlich.” (Auszüge aus einem sehr schönen Interview mit Questlove bei Intro.de).
Videos sehen, in das Album reinhören und Hintergründe zur Produktion gibt es auf der E-Card zu “Rising Down”. (geschrieben fürs P3000-Blog)

Improvised event flash mob art: Some three hundred people just freeze in NYC’s grand central station and leave all the rest puzzled. Imagine: While you are running to catch the train to your next job, or home, to a meeting, to go shopping, to friends, all stressed out, as usual in New York, and suddenly you are surrounded by people, paralyzed like Lot’s wife looking back on Sodom..

Frozen Grand Central from ImprovEverywhere on Vimeo.

Berlin and New York have a lot of things in common. Maybe Berlin is not as big and rich as NYC but it can be as cruel and cold. And as creative!

Find out about other differences and similarities on this friday at Avastar, Nostitzstr. 12 in Kreuzberg.

There will be the European premiere of two mindblowing documentaries about the hazardous life of bike messengers, “Messenger” by Daniel Lieb and “Pedal” by Peter Sutherland. You can watch the trailers on the Berlin2NYC Myspace-site!

Two photographers will present their work, Therese Laub (Denmark) shows urban scenes from the bicyle’s viewpoint and Slomo is one of the most infamous party photographers I have ever met. Expect some pretty wild scenes from Berlin and NY parties on the wall..

Last but not least, Slomo aka CockoftheRock (what a name, it sure sticks to your head..), the party’s organizer Murongue and me will be spinning some records, trying to musically cross the bridge between Berlin and New York. Here’s a special Berlin2NYC snippet mix I made. Come to the party if you wanna hear some more!

Download Stylewalkers Berlin2NYC mix

Finally, it’s Murongue’s goodbye, he is going to.. guess.. New York! So, let’s give hime all a good shot of energy, he’ll need it over there!

Shake your hips beneath the mirror ball, it’s disco time! A mix full of classics, singalongs and booty shakers. Put yourself into the saturday night fever, flip your fingers and tap your toes: It’s DJ Julian from New York in an überfunky discomix. With some nice changes he keeps the groove and has a good feel for the music.
A classic on Djs Anonymous I found lately.
I know, I should have posted this on Saturday night but I was busy partying.
Funky classics and rare disco edits from DJ Julian of New York City

Download the whole mix including the artwork

I just discovered the New York based team blog Palms Out Sounds. It is packed with lots of downloadable mp3s of underground acts, soon-going-to-be-stars people and overall many, many remixes: Trentemöller, Bonobo, Soulwax, Daft Punk, Mr Oizo, Simian, DJ Krush and many, many more. For me, it’s a must read from now on.

You can watch the complete version of the classic graffiti movie Style wars on Google video!

As drevhud on imdb puts it: “Many in the world of Hip Hop already know this film in and out. For those with only a passing interest in Hip Hop culture and Graffiti, this film is a must. Any lover of great documentary film making would appreciate Style Wars. Any individual who remembers, or wants to see, what New York City was like in the 70’s and 80’s should view this film. There are so many reasons to watch Style Wars”

[via republish]

“llJazz is a monthly mix podcast serving up soulful sounds from the past and present. It’s all about rare grooves, party breaks, selective hip-hop tracks, and vintage electronic cuts.” Illjazz is Andrew from New York djing, he’s a really sociable guy and has a great taste in music. As long as it’s good and funky it’s perfect for him. And for me, too!

I especially enjoyed his sheep meadows mix of soulful house music. The setting is like this: “Each weekend afternoon, hundreds of rollerskaters come down and dance on skates to funk, disco, garage, house, etc. mostly older people who used to party back in the 70s and 80s NYC club scene - Paradise Garage, The Loft, etc. Lot’s of funky ass people!!” Enjoy some original New York house:

Download

It is been a week that I am back in Barcelona, still, I had to share some thoughts about my American experiences. I have talked to many people about the trip to NYC and it has been interesting to discuss the good and the bad sides of this vibrating place. Next saturday I am going to go back to Berlin, with “one crying and one laughing eye” to express it with a German saying. But first, here’s what’s left on my mind about New York.

It was too cold. I am sure to go back to New York some day, but it will definetely be in a less freezing moment. You cannot enjoy the hidden jewels of a city if the snooze drops like ice from your nose. When you, despite a thick woolen cap, cannot feel your ears.
We couldn’t walk around, we always needed a target. So probably we missed out many nice spots. The ones that were shown to me had a nice atmosphere of creativity and ideas, but also always of competition and ambition. Continue >>

New York, they say, is one of the most liberal cities in the United States. Still, a lot of stuff is not allowed, either because the city’s administration introduced laws and reglementation (e.g. no smoking inside public buildings, no dancing without a proper license, etc) or because a lot of places are privately owned and the propietor does not want people to behave inadequately. But while e.g. UK-adminstrations or even those in California always stress the cooperative element in rules and orders (”thank you for your cooperation”) or have at least an educational approach (”we have to do this because of this”), in NYC sometimes all those signs transmitted an unfriendly or even suspicious mood to me.
I have a little collection of “No”-signs here, just to stress my observations. And if you do not agree with that perception of New York City life, feel free to discuss it here. Continue >>

New York has a reputation as one gourmet capital of the world. Which might be true, considering places like Zabars , a delicatessen shop with a cheese selection only topped by Paris. On the other hand you can be terribly deceived.. Continue >>

I was told, Williamsburg is a little like East-Berlin, lots of old, abandoned industrial sites that have been turned into lofts and artists spaces, nice cafés, clubs, cool stores and overall young, artistic and open-minded people. Williamsburg is the part of Brooklyn which is right across the East River from Manhattan, so you are in Midtown with three metro stops and still enjoy the cozyness and slightly lower living costs of Brooklyn. On our way there we already encountered a good piece of subculture and streetstyle: Two guys, one of them not older than 12 years started dancing on the train. Continue >>

Welcome back to the cool sides of Manhattan! Take this literally: It is so cold in New York that long walks and picnics in the sun are an illusion. You want to stay insinde as much as possible. So I did and experienced a lot of culture. Read about MoMa, galleries in SoHo and and a film festival in the Lower East Side and see all the pictures in Stylewalker@Flickr.
Continue >>

One of the greatest places in whole New York to hang out, have tea and enjoy free W-Fi is the Tea Lounge in 837 Union Street in Brooklyn. You enter and feel comfortable immediately. It is generously spacious, has lots of sofas and cushions, hand written menus on chalkboards and many little lamps. People sit and work creatively with their laptops and get to know each other due to the open architecture, and talk life, politics and projects. Continue >>

New York is an expensive city. Really?!
Yesterday I found a great place to eat lunch: Jobee on 3 Howard Street, Chinatown. An all you can eat but not at all shabby buffet for 4$! We enjoyed the good food and the chinese hospitality. A real Stylewalker recommendation! The only I did not like was the sea weed, but that’s ok, I can live without it. We had even free tee on our tables and two big bowls of steaming rice.. Continue >>

I am staying in Brooklyn, of course. You better speak Spanish or Chinese here, otherwise communication is difficult. I like the chinese egg custards and talking Spanish naturally is no problem for me. We have a train running 5m away from our window, running every 30 minutes. The houses are small, cousy. I would live here, would I live in NYC. Continue >>

Tomorrow it is off to the big apple! Half past seven to Lisboa, arrival in New York half past three. Be prepared to enjoy recent impressions from the Village, Nolita, Dumbo, Williamsburg - all the fancy places people keep recommending whenever I tell them I’ll be there for two weeks. They told me even more, but I like to explore myself, strolling around and feel the cities vibe.
(I know, in the picture there are still the twin towers, anyway, I like the foto..)

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