How Panasonic turned its back on DJs with the reissued Technics SL-1200. Laurent Garnier awarded French Legion of Honour. Space Ibiza to keep its name.
Relive New York’s disco days. Bill Bernstein’s exuberant black-and-white photographs feature scenes from the city’s best clubs of the late 70s. The photos are currently on display at the Museum of Sex, Manhattan, in an exhibition entitled Night Fever: New York Disco 1977-1979. You can see a taster of what to expect here.
A turntable reborn. The New York Times investigates the return of the Technics SL-1200, examining how Technics has turned its back on the hip-hop and dance music communities that helped make the turntable such a success. Despite being a staple of the DJ community, Panasonic have decided to focus their marketing on a new audience. With many past and present users feeling undervalued by the company, the Times discusses how Panasonic arrived at this point. You can read the full article here.
Laurent Garnier awarded prestigious French honour. The Legion of Honour is the highest award given by the French government. In a Facebook post, Garner paid tribute to the “collective history” of the dance music scene, which “underwent so many prejudices and caused so much incomprehension”. Read his post (in French) here.
KLF set to return in 2017? After a break of 23 years, the KLF have announced that they are currently at work in their light industrial unit. Their new work will not be made public until August 23rd, 2017. The subversive dance music pioneers made the announcement via a poster on the Hackney Road, London. You can see the poster above and read the full story here.
Ibiza club Space to keep its name in 2017. Ushuaïa owner Abel Matutes Juan has confirmed that the name of the celebrated Ibiza club will stay the same. “It will certainly open as Space this year,” he told Ibiza TV channel TEFTV. Read the full story here.
XILS-lab announce PolyKB III. The third software reincarnation of the ultra-rare RSF Polykobol II is modelled on a classic French analogue synth. It’s available to purchase for an introductory promotional price of €119.00 EUR until January 21, 2017. Visit the XILS-lab web store here for a full feature and spec list.