25th September 2010

The Star of Bethnal Green
359 Bethnal Green Road,
London E2 6LG

“Launching on a journey through time and space, Daniele baldeli & severino will take you to a new dimension where cosmic sounds from the finest DJs of the Italo disco scene will float from your ears to your feet and through to the dancefloor. ”

Daniele Baldelli is regarded as one of the first notable Italian DJs as well as a true pioneer and legend of the disco scene. He has earned himself a place in history for his distinguished ‘cosmic disco’ style, a sound drawn from a diverse range of musical genres, such as electro and funk to jazz fusion and Brazilian. In 1979, Baldelli became a resident for the legendary ‘COSMIC’ club in Lazise on Lake Garda where he cultivated his rather special and revered disco sound, sculpting it into what has been described as a combination of spaced-out rock and tribal percussion. Without a doubt Daniele Baldelli was the precursor, to what is referred to today, as the dee-jay, being experimental enough to mix…

Baldelli honed & developed his style through mixing the likes of T-Connection with Moebious and Rodelius, unearthing the only hypnotic-tribal track by Cat Stevens; Izitso, extracting Africa from Depeche Mode by playing them at 33 rpm or vice-versa by creating music using a Reggae voice played at 45 rpm. By mixing 20 or so African tracks on the same electronic drum pattern or by playing them together in Batucada with Kraftwerk. By using the same electronic effects of a synthesiser to overlap pieces by Miram Makeba, Jorge Ben or Fela Kuti and also by uniting the Indian melodies of Hofra Haza or Sheila Chandra with the German electronic sounds of Sky Record. Phew!

Founder and resident of London’s disco mafia ‘Horse Meat Disco’, Severino, has been responsible for helping to kick start the disco revival that’s gripped London over the last few years. Beginning his DJ career in Mantova, Northern Italy, Severino moved to London at the age of 26 where he joined forces with friends Rob Wood (of the unforgettable Jockey Slut) and Michael Morley (Zomba Records and Lucky Numbers) to host a string of successful parties throughout the city such as Happy Families,….After meeting Jim Stanton, the pair decided to start Horse Meat Disco. Bored of the electroclash scene at the time, their aim was to achieve a more fun sound and environment that was welcome in gay ‘circuit’ clubs. Today, Severino is making his music heard in some of Vauxhall’s finest gay establishments like Crash, AM and particularly at the legendary Sunday Horse Meat Disco parties. He regularly plays at 333 Saturdays and is also runs and DJs at, with long-term friend Nico De Ceglia’s well-established CODEX parties alongside their other partner Julius.

Expect anything and quite possibly everything to happen on the night from disco, house, electro and soulful vocal music. Come feast your ears on what they both have to offer.

Check the the recent interview with Baldelli from FACT magazine:

daniele baldelli myspace
www.danielebaldelli.com
severino myspace

• www.starofbethnalgreen.com

This week’s i loves free stuff me, I do yknow… gives you two chances for some fun this weekend.

1. Is the chance to get yourself down to a full 8 hours with the amazing Anja Schneider @ A Night With… on Saturday.

Drop comps@theransomnote.co.uk a line with the subject title “I love mobilee and love Anja too…please give me the tickets” to be in with a chance.

The winner will be notified by Friday afternoon. Advance tickets are still available from Resident Advisor
2. Is the chance for a  pair of tickets for fabric Saturday this weekend (4th Sept) with the excellent Dopplereffekt LIVE, Martinez & Craig Richards amongst others.

Drop comps@theransomnote.co.uk a line with the subject title “I’d love to see Dopplereffekt live this weekend” to be in with a chance.

The winners will be notified by Friday afternoon. Advance tickets are still available from fabriclondon.com

That is all.

Wx

WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN
FREE STUFF FREE STUFF FREE STUFF FREE STUFF FREE
WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN

For a while now, Minotaur Shock has been making music under the name Principal Participant. Minotaur Shock is his regular outlet for musical dalliances, but occasionally he dons his cape and lets rip with a 4/4, aiming tunes at an imaginary dancefloor.

Anything he creates that doesn’t quite fit the arbitrary criteria that he’s set for a MS tune (eg regular smears of live instrumentation, a little dab of lofty pretension etc) gets shelved until I break out the Principal Participant cape. This allows me to loop things a little longer than I normally would, maintain a steady 4/4 kick and make nods to electronic music that Minotaur Shock would think was too crass.

Mr Minotaur Shock himself has collected some of the Principal Participant tunes together (including the Principles and Wonderful 12” mixes – both free downloads), and turned them into a 9-track, 50-minute album.

Although its a bit of a departure, there is probably enough MS business in there for you to enjoy, should you happen to like MS and are waiting for some new music.

Anyhow, rather than go through the rigmarole of a proper release (involving other people), he thought it would be interesting to stick it on Bandcamp and charge a fiver. That way, you know that most of the money goes directly to him, which is nice. For me. Using maths, he’s deduced that if he sells 10 copies it’ll will make £50 and can buy a Monotron. Reason enough, I think you’ll agree.

Anyhow, please take a look, have a listen, grab the free tracks, and if the mood takes you, buy the album. Or not.

Album here on Bandcamp

PP website

Mypsazz

ADAM BEYER comes to London for the first time in over a year to showcase his critically acclaimed DRUMCODE label in London’s most exciting underground warehouse space. Following the success of Drumcode events around the world Adam now brings this winning formula to the UK delivering one of the biggest line ups of the year, featuring a host of Drumcode talent as well as extra special guest – CHRIS LIEBING.

Tickets available via www.residentadvisor.net
£10 – sold out / £15 Very Limited / £20

Flicking easily from the heavy, sheets of sound produced by his old school contemporaries, Surgeon fuses the old with the new on fabric 53, creating connections between the oppressing and the minimal that have never been as simply decoded. Honing in on the idea that a lot of ‘modern’ bass music harks back to rave and constantly re-feeds on its memory for inspiration, (“just this idea of the breakbeat, the broken beat; it’s got some echoes of rave, there are some elements of that somewhere in it”), he includes music from a veritable liege of young producers. Instra:mental’s rolling ‘Forbidden’ is used early on and adds the kind of quickened bass texture that has been carefully incubated over their workings as they slow down from 175bpm drum & bass and Starkey’s ‘Spacecraft’ is used brilliantly to juxtapose the rolling pressure of what comes before it, eliminating the 4×4 pulse and adding thicker, more leading bass tones.

“It really is a current snapshot, it’s changed even now. When I did the mix, I opened my current set and deleted a few things and this is what I was left with. This is the music that I am enjoying and I feel it represents me; and on the other side, there were some newer or lesser known artists that I really wanted to represent.  It’s about making people aware of different genres, to show the likeness. It’s taking T-Polar, Subeena, Ital Tek, Ancient Methods – and putting that next to Orphx, DJ Overdose and Russ Gabriel, and mixing them all up together. It’s kind of strange looking at the tracklist, but for me it’s very natural the way these things fit together. And really, to me, this is all techno. That’s the way I think of it; I don’t subdivide genres, the beats are just slightly different places in the bar. They all have different feels and textures, but I don’t differentiate, I just like all this music so I want to mix it together.

It’s another example of what I was saying about being caught up in the detail, and detail is important, of course, but you’ve got to be able to shift from this bigger picture down to detail and back up again and not just be caught up on one level of it. – Surgeon

Get the excellent album at hmv.com

Luckily for you, Hollywood does not deal exclusively in good looking actors. If you’re funny (which you are, sometimes), then having an everyday face is an advantage.

It’s easy enough to remember when the film world first became aware of you. It was in 2003, when you appeared as the uptight newreader alongside Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty. Your piece de resistance was when Carrey – with God-like powers – forced you to speak gibberish while you were trying to read the news. At the time, it seemed as if he was the funny one; but it was you who made us laugh.

The flip side of that particular costarring role is that you were unwise enough to sign up for a semi-sequel 4 years later – Evan Almighty (Jim Carrey had moved on, so you became the star). Big mistake. The film was a lukewarm semi-Christian embarassment that flopped at the box office and did nothing for your career. You’re better off as a slightly dweeby guy who is neither cool nor handsome, but all the more appealing since most of us aren’t handsome or cool either. Which is why The Forty Year Old Virgin was so popular. All men have that inner doubt about their ability to attract and retain the affection of a woman. In Anchorman, you played a similar role, a guy pretending to be tough and macho while having no idea what he’s doing. It’s funny and endearing.

So then they put you in a big dumb summer comedy like Get Smart (based on some TV series from prehistoric times), but without a funny character or any good lines, just a Clouseau-like ability to make a mess out of everything, and we all know how unfunny Clouseau is. You were better off in Little Miss Sunshine as the depressed gay uncle who’s a Proust scholar; this was more of a stretch and you were part of a strong ensemble cast with a film that actually had a heartbeat.

Which cannot be said of Date Night, another formulaic comedy only made bearable by the combination of you and Tina Fey, both of whom should have known better. I won’t comment on The Office, because it’s TV and I haven’t watched it anyway, but it’s obviously made you a big star in the US – if that is a good thing. Your most recent film, Dinner With Schmucks is a remake of a French film, and – apparently – only funny because of you.

I think you need to be more selective. You’re better off in films which a) have a decent script and b) do not leave you isolated in front of the camera carrying the whole suitcase. I’m fascinated by the idea of you in a film about Brigadier Gerard, the French anti-hero created by Conan Doyle over 100 years ago. I don’t know who came up with the idea of making that film, but it’s either an inspirational stroke of genius or the most idiotic idea since Battlefield Earth. In nay case, I suspect you’re set for a long career; comedians have a longer sell by date than studmuffins – and you are certainly not one of them.

Phil Raby

Front Row Films

•    Content supplied by the excellent Front Row Films website – check the site and join up for many more reviews and general all-round film goodness.
•    To stay ahead of the game, subscribe to The Ransom Note – here

The bad news is that this isn’t up to the standard of the first film. The good news is that it’s still very watchable.

It’s tricky adapting a best selling novel (or series of) for the cinema. Stick closely to the original, and you run the risk of making the imaginary too literal; vary from the book and you’re accused of vandalism. Like the first film, this one adheres velcro-likes to Stieg Larsson’s story, and as a result, there is perhaps too much exposition and narrative, as well as characters who seem less credible on screen than they do on the page – especially the tall blond bad guy who feels no pain.

stiefHowever, we do still have Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander, the one woman revenge machine who has new reasons to be pissed off with men. Her guardian who she thought she had under control is getting ideas of independence, while someone called Zala is out to get her. Meanwhile, our other hero, Mikael Blomqvist is about to publish a story of sex trade trafficking that will implicate important people. Murders are committed, someone is framed, and the two of them (apart for most of the film) have to fight for their survival.

The film’s shortcomings are that it is not as skilfully directed as the first. There are too many close ups and occasionally the pace drops unnecessarily. But the political edge to the drama and the leading characters make it far superior to your average American thriller. And in due course, we will get the chance to see what David Fincher will do with the books, when the US version is made. In the meanwhile, Part 3 (the final chapter) will be shown before Christmas. Anyone of the millions of people who have read the books will want to see this. The rest of you may not get what all the fuss is about.

6/10

Phil Raby

Front Row Films

•    Content supplied by the excellent Front Row Films website – check the site and join up for many more reviews and general all-round film goodness.
•    To stay ahead of the game, subscribe to The Ransom Note – here

Watching this appalling film, I couldn’t help wondering how so many actors can consciously make fools of themselves without experiencing a deep sense of shame and depression. It completes a trilogy of truly dire films that I have seen in the last fortnight.

Five men who were at high school together in a winning basketball team as 12 year olds, decide to have a weekend together with their families. That’s it, that’s the plot. The rest of the film is an excuse for sentimentality, pratfalls, jokes about bodily functions, sexism, and all the stupidity you could ever ask for – and more. Of course it was a hit in America, the land of the brainless, but please please please don’t go and see it.

Adam Sandler is the genius behind the film, casting himself as a super rich Hollywood agent with a hot wife (Salma Hayek) and three kids. As his four friends he chose the four most annoying actors in Hollywood – Kevin James (the fat one), Chris Rock (token black one), David Spade (the infantile one), and Rob Schneider (the idiot). James has a wife who breastfeeds her 4 year old, Schneider has married a woman who looks like his mother (cue old person jokes), Rock has a nagging pregnant wife and a fat black mamma who farts, and Spade hits on teenagers.

The film consists of one clunking set piece after another, all dedicated to stupidity on the part of one or more of these people. They play arrow roulette, in which an arrow is fired into the air (and of course it lands in someone’s foot). Someone swings on a rope over the lake, doesn’t let go and crashes into a tree. When Schneider’s hot teenage daughters turn up, the four other men sit in a line on chairs ogling one of them as she bends over the engine in tight short shorts. It really is that crude, making your average Carry On movie look like something Oscar Wilde knocked up when he was on form. There’s an obligatory basketball rematch at the end, in which Sandler not only displays uncanny Obama-like basketball skills, but also gets to be noble. Has the guy no shame?

The actors who should be feeling depressed and ashamed are not the men – they’ve been doing this sort of thing their whole lives. But Hayek, Maria Bello and Maya Rudolph have made interesting films, and to allow themselves to be the object of male lust/derision/contempt is something they really should have avoided – just as you should avoid this film. At all costs.

2/10

Phil Raby

Front Row Films

•    Content supplied by the excellent Front Row Films website – check the site and join up for many more reviews and general all-round film goodness.
•    To stay ahead of the game, subscribe to The Ransom Note – here

Joy Orbison on Sunday at Eastern Electrics has to be one of the best sets I’ve heard in ages. Proper forward thinking music… proved to me anyway that he’s not just emperor’s new clothes. There’s a mix from last year by Mr Orbison on mixcloud but still sounds so fresh.

Nasty & I are doing a little piece on Bristol at the moment so naturally we revisited Maxinquaye. Jesus, it still sounds good. How good is Hell is Round the Corner

Renegade Soundwave’s Thunder II still sounds super-fresh after all this time. Ta for that Michelle.

Principal Participant album is super-fly. Check it elsewhere on R$N. 2 free tracks and the whole album for only a fiver… can’t say mad-decent fairer than that!

Wx

If you’re interested in getting involved with us, be it writing, stupidness or you simply have something you want to impart to the rest of the world, please get in touch with me here wil

Freedom is, apparently, the latest of the Great American Novels (GAN), which Jodi Picoult (best-selling chick-lit author) heavily disapproves of, saying on twitter, ‘Would love to see the NYT [New York Times] rave about authors who aren’t white male literary darlings.’ The wheel has been set in motion, though. Franzen is god and the literary world is clinging to him like a newborn baby. Obsessed with small, Midwestern American families, struggling through difficult times in difficult times, one would imagine that Freedom is even longer than the 700 odd pages of The Corrections. After all, there is all sort of decade-defining, life-changing and general social criticism to write about since his last book was published 9 years ago.

I propose granting Franzen some sort of autonomous right to world control. Franz: a European country renowned for existentialism, wine and baguette. The Tour de Franz: a crazy cycling race that surely only drugged up people could even contemplate of undertaking, never mind finishing. Tour de franz: an expression meaning exceptional creative achievement. Wouldn’t that be Frantastic? Or how about a social networking site called Franzbook? Rewriting a bestseller as Alice in Franzenland? No wonder Kafka was such a great writer with a name like that.

Freedom will undoubtedly be high up the bestsellers list. Franzen manages that rare feat of being both critically and commercially successful, The Corrections having shifted a good three million copies worldwide. Everyone will read him and most people won’t understand him. He will probably be described as ‘depressing’, ‘sad’ and ‘pessimistic’. Yet everyone will be franzically try to get a hold of his book. There will probably even be a franzternity for high-brow, überintelligent bookworms.

Seeing as he always writes about families perhaps we could refer to them as franzilies from now on? He has been said to explore the dynamics of American culture through the depiction of an everyday family – I think it would only be fair. Or how about the afranzmentioned book of his, The Corrections, which I am now reading because all the hype is just getting too much for me. I believe there is a way for Franzen to mean everything (and hence, nothing). One word and one name for everything. Jonathan Franzen.

Joking aside. What must really drive people mad is the fact that his books – as far as I can tell – really are fantastic, that there is no other way to describe them other than to say tour de force blah blah. That franzenfrenzy and franzenfury are more than justified tributes. That if you are a female author and want to be referred to as a literally darling then stop writing two meaningless books a year and try writing one meaningful book every nine years (Picoult, not ALL female writers). That’s how long it might take to think, observe, analyse and write it down. That in order to be someone unique you have to write something unique. That in order to be respected you have to do something respectable.

In The Corrections Franzen writes about being a prisoner of contemporary culture; a culture devoid of meaning and values, and he does so with aplomb and style. Near the end of the first chapter there is a sentence that spans two pages and 35 lines but it reads majestically: it flows as naturally as anything I have ever read. I believe the hype and I can’t wait for Franzdom (aka Freedom).

MM

Check out Matthias Mueller’s excellent Cultural Constellations blog

More to come.

Greg Heffley is starting middle school, and despite the worst predictions of his obnoxious older brother, he is convinced that he will become the popular kid in the school. But life can be full of surprises.

A.though Greg himself is not a geek, his best friend Rowley Jefferson is a porky kid who behaves in a totally uncool way despite Greg’s best efforts to educate him in how to dress, talk and act. And yet it is Rowley who becomes the popular kid, while Greg inexplicably fails to make any social progress whatsoever.

There are shades of Adrian Mole here, though Greg is younger and less self conscious. His problem is over confidence and an unrealistically high opinion of his own abilities. The film’s lesson (we have to be given life lessons, after all) is that friendship is more important than popularity, which Greg takes a very long time to learn, despite frequent opportunities.

There are a huge number of films about kids at school, and this slots in at about 100 (in the film, popularity is scored on a scale from 1 to 200). The characters aren’t entirely cliched but nor are they excitingly original; the situations in which Greg and Rowley find themselves are mildly amusing rather than dazzling, and I found the film tolerable without being too excited about it. It’s a bit late for a summer holiday movie, and a bit too American for a UK audience, but you could do worse if you have a couple of kids with spare time on their hands.

5/10

Phil Raby

Front Row Films

•    Content supplied by the excellent Front Row Films website – check the site and join up for many more reviews and general all-round film goodness.
•    To stay ahead of the game, subscribe to The Ransom Note – here

moggieboy

• Content kindly supplied from the brilliant Ripped In Glasgow blog. Check the blog for much more of the same and a lot of different good stuff.
  
• Not on the list yet? To stay ahead of the game, subscribe to The Ransom Note – here

Re-posted and kindly supplied from Aki’s fantastical, strange and wonderful Calm Clam Club blog

There’s also the matter of Mr Ray Mang at Basement Boogaloo this Saturday. With a discography covering such esteemed labels as 20/20 Vision, DFA and Eskimo, what Mr Mang doesn’t know about disco isn’t
worth knowing. He’ll be joined by residents Ed Cotton and Nick Shaw

Basement Boogaloo’s summer mix is available here. It promises to get you in the mood.

Football at The Star: The new season is here. We’ve sold our respective first borns and we’ve got S** Sports in the pub. That means a lot of Premiership, Champions League, FA Cup, La Liga, Serie A, Championship, Tiddlywinks etc etc all in the comfort of our upstairs bar. Come on down or even reserve a table for the big match
Please email info@starofbethnalgreen.com and we’ll make it happen.

£5 lunches! Monday to Friday 12pm – 3pm we’ve got selected main meals and pizzas available for the miserly sum of just a fiver. What more can we say!

THIS WEEK

Thursday:
Pub Disko
In association with Four Roses bourbon, join the dots between the week and the weekend with a healthy dose of disco, deep house and balearic with special guests Cut and Shut Disco.
Cheap Four Roses cocktails on offer too!
Free Entry.
11:30am – 12am

Friday:
Set It off
Disorda & DJ LoK will be supply a mixture of Soul, Funk, Disco, Hip Hop, Reggae, Party Classics and everything inbetween.
England v Bulgaria at 8pm.
11:30am -2am.
Free Entry

Saturday
Basement Boogaloo
House and disco with Ray Mang (DFA), Nick Shaw and Ed Cotton.
12pm – 2am
£5 after 10pm.

Sunday
Super Sunday Roasts
Sunday roasts until late.
Free Entry
12pm – 12am

We are open all day, everyday serving food from 11.30am. We have a constantly evolving menu with daily specials, lunch deals and fantastic coffee. Pop by! x

The Star of Bethnal Green
359 Bethnal Green Road
London E2 6LG
0207 729 0167

Follow us on:

• For group bookings mail: info@thestarofbethnalgreen.com
• Join our facebook group here
• www.starofbethnalgreen.com

A googol is the large number 10100,  that is,  the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeros:, 10, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000″”

So now you know… or maybe you already did… I didn’t anyway.

And now for a summary of the news.

My, my there’s a sense of (albeit possibly autumnal) optimism in the air these past couple of days again…  after the misery of the past few weeks of weather it looks like it might cheer up for the foreseeable start of september.

So, the last few mornings have mostly revolved around queuing at the post office from half 8 in the morning with a load of abusive white ace drinkers waiting to get the last of their dollar out trying to me bloody passport application in the post… it’s been emotional y’know. One of em even gave me advice on how to eek out my last tea-bags. I tell you, the fun never stops round here. Oh, I just searched for tea bags and it threw up Barry’s Tea. Wanna get mes some of that.

“I knew blair would be a disaster” So Blair and Brown didn’t get on? Really… proper revealing stuff there. He has 3 years to publish this book and goes and does it on the day ballots go out for the leadership… am I being massively derisory here or does that wreak of tony trying to endorse d band mr milli (or anagram thereof)?!

Obama steps up to become the next in a long line of presidents of the you s a to try and fail to bring about any sort of resolution to the middle east…let’s see eh.

Jesus… last night i turned on the tv to ultimate big brother?! ffffffffffffffkkkkkk offfffffffffff! please, please stop flogging the fkking thing to death… tonight there’s celebrity big brother winners come dine with me special…christ, where’s that oncoming train. I’m not linking to anything here… it’s doesn’t even deserve a cursory put down link!

Let’s get back on track – there was a really interesting article from the legend that is Jon Savage last week on how the internet is altering your mind and the way we communicate.

Immortalise yourself in vinyl! “live on from beyond the groove” ace! This is how I’d like to be buried man… someone lend me a couple of grand… oh and another 3 1/2 grand for James Hague to paint my portrait. Check the raveyard!

Roberto Carlos’ goal was no fluke! Physicists have explained one of football’s most spectacular goals.

Old star wallows in steam bath… bbc site has come up with some bangers this week! Oh my god, but how big is space?? argh…ta a.

Maru cat slow-mo jump box… possible one of the best things I’ve ever seen… well it’s very good anyway. I think I’m going to practice doing this with Mr Solomon. He just gave me a funny ole look as I typed that… he’s like, yeah just you wait, I’ll show Maru! Rabbit jumping championships – super great. Both courtesy of yooo ka

If aphex twin did suits. Chinese lingerie firm exploits Princess Diana’s image on anniversary of her death. Ta liv…

No Nasty on the reviews front this week I’m afraid as he’s had to do his first few days of real work in his life…hopefully normal service will resume next week if he’s recovered from lifting stuff and joining the real life! Hope that fingers ok. Anyway, apologies for that.

Have you checked out sleeveface.com pretty mad decent. Lorra lorra – completely un-topical and irrelevant… but super funny all the same!  Kobayashi eating contest – pretty sure there’s some sort of animal cruelty involved here, not least for the ridiculous amount of hot dogs consumed by the bear… but anyway.George Washington song… quite funny it is too.

Possibly one of the best looking films of all time: House, or Hausu as it’s referred to. Nasty downloaded the film the other day…surely the whole film can’t be as good as this?!

Not that i’d ever want to endorse a car but i didn’t realise the ‘fixie’ had reached australia yet mate… they all look like london-field-ites in this honda commerical

Unbelievable really… well not really judging by where it’s from check: war on islam

Right, off to read my Economist and try and become clever…

Hope the sun shines on your good self this weekend. Check our competition page for the ability to enter A Night With… Anja Schneider and fabric for nowt on Saturday.

Oooh, ta raaa…

Wx

If you’re interested in getting involved with us, be it writing, stupidness or you simply have something you want to impart to the rest of the world, please get in touch with me here wil

A NIGHT WITH… ANJA SCHNEIDER

Saturday 4^th September 2010

**The Red Gallery
1-3 Rivington St,
London EC2A 3JL**

10pm – 6am

Advance Tickets  Only Available from Resident Advisor

A NIGHT WITH… INTERVIEWS ANJA SCHNEIDER

Berlin Techno Producer and Mobilee boss Anja Schneider hosts the next instalment of the intimate ‘A Night With…’ series this Saturday. Earlier this year Schneider played at mulletover celebrating 5 years of Mobilee Records and shared the evening with label mates Sebo K and Rodriguez Jr. On the 4th she gets to spend 8 hours alone behind the decks weaving and mixing her driving, minimal yet at the same time lush Techno sound. Ahead of Saturday’s marathon we caught up with Anja to talk all things mobilee and night long sets.

As a touring DJ you have shared the line up with other highly respected DJ’s throughout the course of the night; how does your approach change when you have the creative freedom to play at an event where only you and your amazing talent is exhibited over 8 hours?

I‘m preparing my music now and it‘s great to have the freedom to play whatever I want. It‘s also a little bit of a challenge as I don‘t normally play that long!

You’ve had residencies at Weekend and Watergate, and played at a host of other internationally renowned clubs, including London’s own Fabric which draw musically educated crowds; how do you continue to remain fresh and push the boundaries?

I‘m always on the look out for fresh new music and talents. Actually when we started the label we always wanted to work with artists that we thought would develop really well. I have my eye on some new people that I‘m meeting with so watch out!

With musical access via the internet continuing to get stronger and stronger via platforms such as spotify and soundcloud; how do you feel about this access as both a label head and producer particularly with albums being accessible on spotify and also as a DJ where people get to experience your sets after the events you have played at in their own homes?

The only way to feel about really it is to go with the flow. Everything is different now and it’s impossible to fight it. In many ways these developments are a very positive thing – lots of great music can be promoted internationally and at a lower cost. The only thing that is sad of course is illegal downloading, when producers aren‘t given anything back for the hard work that they do, but in terms of distribution it’s much easier to reach lots of people all over the world very quickly.

Read the interview in full by Katie Gibbons on the latest newsletter here

www.myspace.com/anjaschneider |  www.mobilee-records.de

Facebook/A Night With…

Re-posted and kindly supplied from Aki’s fantastical, strange and wonderful Calm Clam Club blog

Replay 12 Hour Carnival Party
Saturday 28th August
The Den, 18 West Central Street, London, W1
10pm – 10am

Event link

Secret Berlin guest, Sebastian Voigt (Lo*kee), CSWS w/ Maximus, Radford, DJ B3, + Live Performers, Replay w/ Anto & Steve Nocerino, D-Late family w/ Shaun Soomro (Lick My Deck), Pablo Tarno (Mean), Onirik (Essential Reload), Massimo Licari (Aperitivo) & more…

Thanks to everyone who came along to our last Saturday night adventure. We return this August Bank Holiday with another 12 hour party for a Carnival special on Saturday 28th August…

The Replay party is the capitals Tuesday evening playground for both industry shakers and school night ravers who like to get down to a quality electronic sound track.

Once a month the party heads out on a Saturday night adventure and for August’s party we host a special carnival carry on going right the way through until 10am. Its also the SW4 weekender so when the daytime dancing comes to an end, we head to central London to carry things on until Sunday morning.

Several surprise guests will be in the house alongside the replay residents and our East London friends from the CSWS and D-Late collectives. Plus we have several parties joining us for the morning session along with a few surprise guests to boot.

For guest list requests and further info, please contact guestlist@wild-music.com

Ian Mcquaid

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Ian Mcquaid

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Man and Machines Myspace

Ian Mcquaid

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When Tom Cruise decided not to appear in this film, so as to make Knight And Day, Angelina Jolie stepped in to the vacant position. She got the better end of that particular deal.

Whereas K & D is an annoyingly smug and shallow comedy/thriller (without laughs or thrills), Salt is like a female version of The Fugitive, with Evelyn Salt (Jolie) on the run from her own people (she works for the CIA), after being accused of being a double agent by a Russian defector. The plot doesn’t bear very close scrutiny, being frankly absurd, but the only purpose of the plot in a  film like this is to sweep you along in a frenzy of momentum and excitement, so that you don’t have time to think coherently.

The great advantage of having a woman in the leading role of a thriller like this, lies in the fact that her vulnerability makes her a more appealing protagonist. Rather than having to endure the Cruise smirk, we can (almost) believe in a character who feels unjustly accused, but is resourceful enough to deal with it singlehanded. Jolie is not your typical action actress. She is certainly beautiful in a manner which is something more than human, but she also has a mobile and expressive face once you stop looking at the lips, and can just about make you believe that she can leap onto the top of speeding lorries (and then off again onto another truck).

The film also benefits from the supporting cast of Liev Schreiber as her boss/buddy and Chiwetel Ejiofor as the Tommy Lee Jones-like pursuer, determined to get his woman, and uninterested in her innocence or otherwise. The film was directed by Phillip Noyce, a veteran of films like Clear and Present Danger and Patriot Games, as well as the more thoughtful Rabbit-Proof Fence, and he manages to steer us through the narrative nonsense of assassinations, double crosses and breathless chases across the city, just about maintaining our credibility, at least for the running time of the film. It’s not as good as The Fugitive, but it’s still a lot better than much of what else is around.

6/10

Phil Raby

Front Row Films

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