How fashion appropriates rave culture, big price reductions from Elektron, Defected moves from Ibiza to Croatia, listen back to BBC dance music documentaries, and Life Is A Donut: Dilla In 2016.
An Interview With Aphex Twin Aged 20. Electronic Beats has unearthed a rare early interview with Aphex Twin aged 20, broadcast on a German radio show called ‘Dancehall’ in ’92, when he was just breaking through. Skip to 38:00 in the recording above to listen.
How Big Fashion Appropriates Rave Culture. In honour of this years New York Fashion Week, Thump covers the story of how big fashion is appropriating underground electronic music culture, asking who benefits when rave hits the runway, if big business and counter-culture help each other out, and if this devalues the work of independent musicians. Read that here.
A Faster Record Pressing Method. Canadian company Viryl has designed and developed a new, faster and more efficient method for pressing records, to help pressing plants meet a 25-year high level of demand. Their redesigned vinyl presses will hit factory floors later this year, and will cost around $160,000 each. Find out more here.
Defected’s 2016 Moves From Ibiza to Croatia. Defected Records has announced that it will not be returning to Ibiza in 2016 for a Defected In The House residency, which the UK house brand has run yearly since 2003, focusing instead on a new five-day festival at The Garden Tisno in Croatia instead. The lineup is still TBA. Find out more here.
Life Is A Donut: Dilla In 2016. With J Dilla‘s last instrumental hip-hop album Donuts released ten years ago this week, Red Bull Music Academy‘s piece Life Is A Donut tells Dilla’s story from its beginning, asking who Dilla is as a historic musical figure remembered in 2016, re-examining the continuing influence of his music. Read in full here.
WhoSampled Integrates with Spotify for iPhone App. Music sample sourcing service WhoSampled has announced that a new version of their iPhone app integrates Spotify’s catalogue to allow users to reveal the original tracks behind new songs, as well as modern interpretations of old songs, adding them directly into their Spotify playlists. Find out more here.
Archived BBC Rave and Club Culture Documentaries. BBC Music have brought together a collection of six essential documentaries on electronic music and hip-hop from their archive, covering Spiral Tribe, The Haçienda, Belfast’s vibrant rave scene, the legendary drum and bass label Ram Records, and the Amen break. Find them all available for streaming here.
Bloc Festival To End After 2016. Bloc Festival co-founder Alex Benson has told RA that the 2016 edition of the weekender will be its last, running from March 11-13 at Butlins, and that they’ll be focusing their energy on building a “super club” in east London with surrounding music studios in future. Find out more here, and check out the 2016 lineup here.
Elektron Price Reductions. Swedish music instrument makers Elektron have announced permanent price reductions on their Machinedrum and Monomachine units and that no successors to these machines are planned. The new prices are $999, $599, and $799 for the Machinedrum UW, Machinedrum, and Monomachine respectively.