Bieber rap on Power106FM

Ok, we’re not the big Bieber fans. LET’s GET THAT STRAIGHT!
But the performance of the kid on this LIVE radio show is ACE. Bieber rap!

Soulwax Vimeo Channel RELEASE + Soulwax ‘machine’ trailer

Radio Soulwax launched their Vimeo channel on Friday 28th October with an exclusive of the brand new hour, Batuta Discos.

It will also feature an eye-popping trailer, titled “Machine” and directed by Saam Farahman who was inspired to create a unique interpretation of the ethos behind the project.  The result is a breathtaking film that perfectly encapsulates the audio visual obsession of Radio Soulwax.

“We are launching our Vimeo channel so we can give the opportunity for everyone to watch all the hours in high definition and on demand.  You will also be able to share all the hours that have been released so far on our app and website.  We will initially have 6 hours for the public to watch as well as the new trailer and then we will subsequently release an hour a week from then on.

“Batuta Discos concept came from our love for Brazil and all its musical forms over various decades here in this mix. It’s a place that has always inspired us musically but also where you can lose yourself record shopping. Which we did, on many different trips, and found the most incredible gems with the help of some of our brazilian friends.  The name, Batuta Discos, is a way of saying “cool records” but it was the way they said it in the 70’s and 80’s, we’re not quite sure of the correct translation but it’s a bit of an in joke with the Brazilians.”

Kurt Augustyns, said “It really feels like a big present Sao Paulo gave us. The city, the kindness of the people… Everything could have gone wrong, but for once, it didn’t. So we consider ourselves very lucky.”

The app has been incredibly successful with 20 million hits and 1.5 million sessions and 200K people have installed the app, 290K upgrades and 488K downloads.

Radio Soulwax is an evolution of music and visuals, created and curated with a desire to bring a new and unique experience to musical explorers everywhere. Radio Soulwax will take you on a journey through sight and sound, guiding you through familiar sights and unchartered territories and spanning a multitude of different genres and styles, all presented as a relentless visual feast and all for free!

http://vimeo.com/channels/radiosoulwax

machine

This trailer directed by Saam Farahmand was inspired to create a unique interpretation of the ethos behind the project. The result is a breathtaking film that perfectly encapsulates the audio visual obsession of Radio Soulwax.

PRODUCER: James Waters

PREVISUALISATION AND VFX : The House of Curves
VFX SUPERVISOR : Andrew Daffy
COMPOSITOR : Mikkel Hansen
3D ARTIST : Dan Prince

LIGHTING CAMERA: Franklin Dow

ART DIRECTOR: Georgia Shelton
MODEL MAKER: Jack Kirby

MODEL: Marilyn Rose
MAKE-UP ARTIST: Dorita Nissen

FOCUS PULLER: Leon Hoser
MOTION CONTROL: Justin Pentecost
RUNNER: Abigail Alvarez

THANKS TO: Shoreditch Studios, Render Nation, Shiny, Richard Payne

GIG REPORT: Lee – the Revival Tour

Wauw. It must be 7 years or so ago since I wrote my last concert review. Back then I was reporting on gigs for Cutting Edge, today one of Belgium’s top culture websites.

Reporting on the not-so-well-known gigs wasn’t always on top of our to-do list back then, but it came up every now and then.

When Lee invited me as a guest to The Revival Tour, I didn’t automatically go into reporter-mode. Instead I went to enjoy: I took it all in and at the end I said to myself „Respect to these guys!“.

So much respect even that I couldn’t resist writing up a personal view on one great entertaining night.

The gig was simply said „awesome“…
Why? Because it was raw music: acoustic guitars, whiskey voices and a lot of good vibes on and off stage.

I had never seen 2 young kids – around 10 years old – crowd surf for minutes after minutes, going around the concert hall in every direction directed by an artist on stage. The sight was so funny of the one boy crowd surfing with his arms stretched out in front of him. Crowd surfing director Dave Hause called it “Superman crowd surfing”.

That’s the kind of good vibe I mean. Artists doing their thing on stage, a crowd that’s having fun and enjoying the tunes, all the elements melting together… The whole concert made me dream of a town’s festivity held on a countryside estate, with a wooden barn and people sitting on the grass around the whole happening, breathing it all in.

Elements that Chuck Ragan probably had in mind when he and his wife Jo started the idea of bringing the Revival Tour to life in 2008.

It’s also very clear to why Lee is supporting the Revival Tour: the whiskey voices, the acoustical guitars, the true-American sounding violin and the Western folk whistle of the harmonica just made that whole gig breath authenticity. And if there’s one thing that Lee stands for undoubtedly, it’s that.

The boys themselves were just all that as well. Hours before the gig started at Trix in Antwerpen, I went down to the Lee flagship store in the Kammenstraat to watch them perform a living room acoustical session for a hundred or so culture vultures.

No crowd surfing 10 year olds here. Only proud ego’s and denim lovers, and 1 really cool looking dog.

Coming back to the coolness and simplicity of how Chuck and his Revival Tour friends are living through this experience. After the closed session, Chuck came up to me while I was taking some polaroid portraits of the band going through the Lee collection in the store. He had spotted me during the living room set and probably wondered what kind of freaky camera I was using, and why the hell I was pulling out these paper sheets from the back of the camera. He was about 2 meters away coming towards me, offering me his handshake and asking the obvious about the camera. I guess he liked the whole polaroid oldskool style when he said with his deep voice „I love this shit!“

Looking back at all these years of working with celebrities and covering gigs front and back stage, Chuck Ragan, Brian Fallon, Dave Hause and Dan Andriano left a mark.

Btw, you don’t need to be afraid of the men wearing the logger’s look well, addressing you with a deep whiskey voice. They are actually pretty cool guys and they don’t bite at all.

Oh… about the music. Well, I loved pretty much everything. The only one who couldn’t persuade me completely was Dan Adriano. He just didn’t make me feel it. But then again, that’s a personal view and slightly some favoritism for the more punk style of Dave Hause and the deep whiskey voice of Chuck Ragan.

Mind you, although we all have favorites, Brian Fallon scored probably with everyone in the hall. His humor, personal touch with the audience and the always there but acceptable „I don’t give a shit of what you think“ attitude was just so entertaining.

In all, everyone played great sets, inviting fellow Revival Tour artists on stage to play together and they  all worked the willing crowd.

Chuck, Brian, Dan, Dave and the rest of the crew, thank you very much for this great experience! Oh, and Lee, thanks for sharing this experience of grass root authenticity.

If you want to find out more on the Revival Tour,  then click-through to http://www.therevivaltour.com or buy the Revival Tour album on iTunes right here.

And a big congrats to Werner R. from Brussels, David D. from Brugge, Robin V. from Boom, Jana K. from Den Haag and Sven V. from Gent. You all will be receiving a Lee goodie bag soon with some Lee Revival Tour gadgets and your new Lee Denim Shirt!

Unknown Singer/Songwriter creates ode for Pukkelpop victims

Belgium has some of the best music festivals in the world. This summer, tragedy struck at the Pukkelpop festival when a storm hit the festival grounds and caused numerous casualties amongst several fatal.

One festival visitor created this moving song. When seeing the images and hearing the words, it brings shivers to your spine.

With respect to all who lost a close friend or relative.

Lyrics:

Sunny Skies, love that flies, into a 120 000 eyes

And it’s a bit too hot, but oh we are not some people who complain a lot

And when the night falls too soon in the late afternoon

Long before, long before We want more, we want more

When the sky is turned in brown, when the leafs are coming down

You can see in those eyes atmosphere’s turning round

Don’t try to explain,? there’s no one to blame

And when you think that you have seen it all, the screaming get’s out of control

And panic takes the lead, over a crowd, over and out

That’s what is going on inside your head. Is it over? Is it over yet?

Destruction and the loss of lives, and when you can’t describe? your pain then…

Don’t try to explain, there’s no one to blame

Vacation incomplete. No control, delete

The trails of many muddy bare and searching feet

And at home you hear the news, Festival Confuse

Trying to connect, With those who you protect

Don’t try to explain, there’s no one to blame 2x

But help is on it’s way, cause your in the right place

Where? people know what they can do

How can I help, can I help you?

RADIO SOULWAX: Why do Things The Easy Way?

RADIO SOULWAX has been over 2 & half years in development and will launch on July 4th 2011 with six separate themed hours of audio & accompanying visual animation. It has evolved and morphed from a simple original idea to a full multi–sensory media experience. Do not be confused or put off by the use of the term ‘Radio’ here as music is but one side to this experience. Together with the projects artistic director Fergus Purcell they have also created a unique accompanying visual channel to boot, which would be just as much Music TV as it is radio – if such a thing still existed in 2011.
The visuals you will see here are crafted, inspired and lovingly animated using the imagery from the sleeves of the very records that shape each and every thematic hour in the 24-hour mix. At times the visuals themselves have even driven, informed and helped re-imagine the audio parts you’ll hear simultaneously. It is an integral part of the unique charm of RADIO SOULWAX and one which is often the hardest to get across – This isn’t just nostalgia for music boffins!  Here, fans of animation, comedy, art or even god forbid, seventies sleeve nudity may well be tickled too. Musical train-spotters will also be in heaven! But here, each and every one of these painstakingly produced hours is fun, different and geared to trigger individual reactions unique to the viewer, listener, consumer etc.

Electronic music pioneers & internationally renowned DJs will unveil ‘RADIO SOULWAX‘ – A pioneering Online & App driven radio Station to launch globally on 4th July 2011 with six initial hours of curated experimentation.

It will continue to provide a total of 24 themed albums, each containing a one hour mix of exclusive and uniquely created audio & visual content. These will be unveiled weekly over 18 weeks finishing on streamed directly into your home or device.

INTROVERSY- RADIO SOULWAX 1 hour Teaser available to view from at www.radiosoulwax.com from 30/6/11. Free online to all, marking a new era in mixtape culture, home music consumption, direct to fan distribution and in the sharing of these experiences via new technology.

As technology has advanced and social networking has continued to take over the planet, Soulwax’s loyal fan base; that go out to see them DJ & perform month after month, year after year have become a closer, tighter, more interactive community. Their message boards bustle with activity, nostalgia, excitement and the exchange of experience and content.

RADIO SOULWAX is fun, chaotic and best of all – it is free. Due to copyright & publishing legalities – the content of the mixes broadcast cannot and will never be sold, which considering the time, money and love spent personally developing this project is utterly unique in itself, especially during this new age of the music industry.

Together they have curated from the depths of their own tastes and imagination, explored sonically and visually to willingly bring an experience to anyone and everyone with an open mind. Not every hour will necessarily be to your tastes but that is also part of its beauty.

In addition to the live online feed – Radio Soulwax will be available to stream and download via a fully interactive iPhone/iPad/Android application. This can be downloaded from the Apple App store for iPad & iPhone & Google App store for Android from Monday onwards and will allow users greater freedom to listen away from the broadcast schedule online.

As a teaser for what is to come, from June 30th onwards you can immerse yourself in ‘INTROVERSY’ a special mix on www.radiosoulwax.com. “This is a mix we did for BBC Radio 1 a while ago, and it is actually quite a good introduction to Radio Soulwax as quite lot of tracks that are featured in the mix will come back in later hours to follow. The animated sleeves give the mix a whole new dimension!”

For lovers of fun, music, art, technology, film, chaos or curiosity…RADIO SOULWAX goes fully online on July 4th at: www.radiosoulwax.com

SCHOOL IS COOL – “IN WANT OF SOMETHING

SCHOOL IS COOL – “IN WANT OF SOMETHING”

School is Cool maakt meeslepende, opwekkende en opruiende indiepop. Het Antwerpse collectief staat voor potige songs in het centrum en een uitzinnige performance daarrond. Je hoort vlagen Pixies, Paul Simon, Kate Bush, Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, The Dodos en misschien een beetje Händel.

School is Cool werkt momenteel hard aan De Debuutplaat met Reinhard Vanbergen (Das Pop) aan de mengtafel, 15 songs in de tracklist en bakken bewijsdrang. Als alles goed gaat, komt die er na de zomer aan, maar ze stellen hun nieuw materiaal al exclusief voor op Pukkelpop.

Dit voorjaar doen ze alvast enkele eigen showcases in het buitenland. 16 mei spelen ze ten dans in Dublin Castle in London en 24 mei in L’international in Parijs. Vorige maand deden ze al Utrecht aan en dit waren alvast enkele veelbelovende reacties:

3voor12 : “de absolute klapper van de avond is het aanstekelijke School is Cool. Eerder werden zij beschreven als een mengeling van Arcade Fire, Beirut en Vampire Weekend. En die beschrijving blijkt aardig te kloppen. Het is jong, fris, nieuw, aanstekelijk en brengt vooral zoveel plezier met zich mee. De enorme chemie tussen de bandleden is vanaf het eerste nummer zichtbaar “

LiveXS: “een ijzersterke liveperformance en een strakke uitvoering van het repertoire, met daarnaast de nodige dosis humor en entertainment. Een terechte headline spot voor deze jonge Belgen, die voor het absolute hoogtepunt van de avond zorgen”

In 2010 kroonde School Is Cool zich reeds tot de trotse winnaars van Humo’s Rock Rally . Kort na de overwinning volgde de eerste single, “New Kids In Town”, dat misschien wel hét nummer van de zomer was. Het stond maar liefst zeven weken autoritair op de eerste plaats van De Afrekening op Studio Brussel. Het leverde hen een drukke zomer en najaar op met passages langs Boomtown, Kneistival, Dranouter, Marktrock, Pukkelpop, Crammerock,…

SCHOOL IS COOL
www.schooliscool.be

Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg – California Gurls HD Official Video

http://vimeo.com/13998775

Kula Shaker… Peter Pan RIP

Audio Bullys ‘Only Man’

Directors: JONAS & FRANCOIS

Mark Ronson ‘Bang Bang Bang’ featuring QTIP and MNDR