During the course of writing on this blog, a lot has changed in the world of streaming music. While Wired Magazine characterized the year 2009 as the year in which streaming music really took off, the popular service Spotify today already has about 19M+ users worldwide.
However, as Fuse TV also suggests in the video below, there might be one key demographic that hasn’t jumped on the bandwagon yet. You can call them the late majority, the laggards or, well, your parents! It’s time to get them acquainted with streaming music too!
How to have that awkward, but necessary talk to your parents about Spotify, is presented in this funny video.
It’s time for Modeselektor! This duo had to be featured in the Mixtape Monday series someday. Well, that day is today. With their raw and rhythmic sound, Modeselektor is a bit quirky and extremely energetic. Loved by many (Thom Yorke of Radiohead is mad about them) and booked all over the world, they were recently asked to record a BBC Essential Mix. A mixtape full of energy and weird sounds.
Berlin-based Modeselektor members Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary met in 1992. At that time, they felt there was a lot of anarchy after the Berlin Wall came down. They started creating music together as ‘Fundamental Knowledge’. In 1996, they chose to name themselves Modeselektor. Because they saw their surroundings as a sort of jungle, they matched their sound – no boundaries – to that jungle. The result is a wildly diverse, slightly absurd mix of almost anything. Modeselektor doesn’t care about genre or rules, they just play whatever they feel like.
The name Modeselektor was taken from a function on the classic Roland RE-201 space echo analog delay effects unit. It fits them perfectly. After renaming themselves to Modeselektor, they bonded with others, such as Apparat, Ellen Allien and Radiohead. Today, they have gigs all over the world and are appreciated by many outside of the expected audience.
Although Modeselektor see themselves more as a live act, instead of studio musicians, I beg to differ. They are in fact great producers, listen for example to their latest album ‘Monkeytown’. That album alone proves my point. For now, enjoy the mixtape below that was done for BBC’s legendary Essential Mix!
The editors of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary decided to remove the term “cassette tape” from its pages this summer to help make room for 400 new words including “cyberbullying” and “retweet.” – USA Today
After many future garage and deephouse mixtapes, let’s take a ride to Berlin and feature one of the key artists in its minimal scene: Sammy Dee. With his own productions and with the projects Half Hawaii (with Bruno Pronsato) and Pantytec (with Zip) Sammy Dee has been and still is a key influencer in the city’s electronic music scene. Recently a high quality mixtape emerged from his again which you should definately check out.
Sammy Dee (aka Mario Uwe Radecki) is a true Berlin house veteran that has been active in the scene for almost two decades. He has been releasing high quality music on prestegious labels like Poker Flat, Perlon and Kanzleramt, both under his Sammy Dee moniker and in the duo’s Pantytec and Half Hawaii. Next to this, he has been a resident DJ at renowed clubs like Robert Johnson, Ostgut, and Tresor. With all these activities he’s been a great influencer in Berlin’s electronic music scene.
During the last decade the Berlin minimal scene has constantly been evolving: First it was the new underground sound, then it became THE soundtrack of the noughties, and nowadays minimal is almost a dirty word. The minimal scene saw dozens of labels and artists come and go and the quality of the releases and DJs went up and down. During all these developments there have been a few labels and artists that have been constantly pushing the minimal sound by releasing high quality music and delivering splendid DJ-sets. Sammy Dee is one of those artists.
In the mixtape below, from Phonanza.fm, you can listen to Sammy Dee’s skills in action. Spend your day or night listening to Berlin’s electronic music in its truest sense. Minimal the way it’s meant to be.
You might have got a spare minute today and be in for small game. Maybe you’d also like to test your musical knowledge. Well, if this is the case, look no further than Nihao, a simple and funny game that lets you guess the title from “poorly translated” songs.
Warning: Since all translations are in Dutch, the game’s standard modus might be ‘very very difficult’ for you. I’m sure though if you’ll ask them nicely, Marcel and Michiel will spend a spare hour for you to make the game available in your language!
