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)

Frozen Grand Central from ImprovEverywhere on Vimeo.

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 audio file (stylewalkers_berlin2nycmix.mp3)

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!

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]

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 audio file (illJazz_Podcast_6.mp3)

Download

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.

So I missed out the spaced-out and easy Barcelonian approach or the snotty “whatever”-style of Berlin. NYC is less a city to be than to work. Probably, people who live in New York, who study, do internships, make money, do something for their career, curriculum, prospects, have a total different image of the city that I got. Because, for that, New York is number one in the world: Number one for billionaries, venture capital, stock exchange, careers and productivity.
You have to want that. Like that, live that. I did not. I missed that part out and thus felt a deep gap between me and the millions of people that rush through the city every day.

People are tired. They sleep in the morning on their way to work and in the evening when they come back or go to their next job. They are busy, want to achieve something. They stay for a certain time and want to make the best out of it.

People are segregated. A line in front of a hiphop club: Only black people. Brighton beach: Speak Russian! China town, Little Italy.. The US call themselves the ‘melting pot’ (Canda e.g. refers to itself more like ‘a mosaic’), still the cultures preserve themselves, maybe people tend to do that automatically and that is what culture is about: preservation. Another observation: Did I see any obviously Arab people? No. Do they not exist? Do they hide?

People do not have time. There is the psychological experiment with students of theology: It does not matter so much if they entered the career for their need to help people or if they had just read the story of the Samaritan - what determines if they stop to help a person in need depends much more on if they are in a hurry. The most helpful people would not stop if they had to rush to the seminar to give the presentation as proved in the experiment. (I read this in a brilliant book: “The tipping point” which I like to talk about later). New York sets this situation, this atmosphere of rush that few people will stop to help.

This is the last story, I encountered just before we left: We were on our way to the airport and in the metro exit, between the turnstiles and the vending machines, we passed by a woman, screaming: “Help! Somebody bring me to the shelter, please!!”, desperately. I can blame myself: We were in a rush, we did not stop to help. And neither did any of the almost hundreds of people that passed by. It left me with a bitter impression.

So, New York. I am sorry to talk so negatively about the city that used to be a big dream and projection for me. Maybe that’s why I was dissapointed. But to round it up, I have to say: What I liked most about New York was the hospitality of my Russian hosts. The little house in Brooklyn I am going to miss. And the metro that passes by 5 metres from the window every 20 minutes. Thank you Dimitri!

Maybe it has to do with 9/11 that apparently first turned all Nuyoricans in brothers and after that short phase into suspicious enemies and potential terrorists. You will find “If you see something - say something!” signs everywhere which intend to turn citizens into militia. While this seems logical for a nation that feels to be at war with a great part of the world, it is not really beneficial for a civil cooperation.

We wanted to end our stay in NYC in a nice restaurant and went to SoHo to a place called Barmarche, on 14 Spring St. Obviously, only the prices had french inspiration. First, they sat us right beside the window where the temperature was approx five degrees warmer than outside (-5). Then the dinner did not at all meet the expectations.

The starter (mushrooms with pecorino on pita bread) was nothing sensational but good, still: you CAN toast the bread, so not everything is softish and pillowy like the mushrooms. Which, by the way, were ordinary field ones anyway.

The main dish, salmon with artichoke, spinach and tomato sauce was a big disappointment. You know, there ARE other ingredients but pepper. And not to have the slightest lemon dash with artichokes and no sweet hint (like honey e.g.) with the tomatoes is a crime. While the salmon was salty but okay, I wondered how long you have to cook spinach until it loses all its taste.

And if people do not have the dignitity to invite us to tea while we were sitting in the cold, with OUR JACKETS ON, but charge 7$ for it, you should not be surprised about a tiny tip.

So, Barmarche in Spring Street, don’t go there.

The L-train runs from Union Square to Williamsburg and we took off on Bedford. A cool little street with shops and cafés, relaxed, not at all that hectic like Manhattan. And one of the spots to recommend is the “The fix“, on 110 Bedford Avenue: Half record store (specialized in Funk, Soul, Reggae but also a good part of Indie music), half coffee shop. Free Wifi, sofas, different teas, turntables and interesting, arty people. Yes, I’d say, Williamsburg reminded me a lot of Prenzlauer Berg.

I was most fascinated by their current exhibition Onsite: Architecture in Spain and the biggest irony was: For seeing the most beautiful part of Barcelona’s new Mercado Santa Catarina, it´s multicolored roof, I had to go to New York! The market is not even 5 minutes from my flat and I pass by it almost every day. Without seeing the roof.
The rest of Moma was nice but actually not too exciting. Still, a visit is highly recommended, if not for the art, at least for the architecture and the atmosphere.

In the part of Manhattan called Soho (”South of Houston”) you will find a lot of galleries and fashion stores. It is a beautiful neighbourhood but very commercialized and adapted. Nice art, really, but nothing revolutionary that could knock you off your feet.

Not even the wanna-be provocativeness of Ben Stupak at Deitch gallery in 76 Grand Street and his “Radical Earth Magic Flower” which was basically a remake of Jack Smith’s movie “Flaming creatures” from the sixties. Banned by NYC court and provocative then. Not any more.

Much better is the Lower East side. Not only did we ran into the opening of an tattoo and graffiti exposition by Troy Denning (He had free malaysian beer. Very good. Always bribe the journalist.) at Invisible NYC at 148 orchard street but also we encountered the fourth Red Shift Film Festival (click for a great trailer!) titled “Nomads, Travellers and Migrants” in Anthology Film Archives, 32 2nd Avenue.

While the first part was all about how NOT to make a movie, packed with aesthetical crimes that were supposed to be either “arty” or “culturally interesting” but were basically nothing but “my first experiences with a video camera”, the second part had some breath taking animations. Unfortunately, I only found one online: Ministry Messiah by Gint Apsis from Riga, Latvia. In the first row, in front of the big screen with a fat subbass sound I sat there with my mouth open. These are the moments I am looking for. And I am glad that they still occure once in a while.

Find more Chinatown-picture on Stylewalker@Flickr