Dave Clarke returns to ADE. Manchester gets a huge new venue. NASA wants help curating a moonshot playlist. Disco’s darkest days return.
Bleep book. A new book on bleep techno and bass is coming later this year. Written by journalist and author Matt Anniss, and published by new publishing house Velocity Press, Join The Future: Bleep Techno And The Birth of British Bass Music will explore “the origins, development, impact and influence of bleep techno, and the subsequent musical styles it inspired, on UK club culture,” a press release states. The book, out in December, is based on five years of research and hundreds of hours of interviews by Anniss. This is Anniss’ second book, following The Vinyl Owners Manual, which he wrote with Patrick Fuller. If you preorder Join The Future, you’ll receive a signed copy with your name in the credits. Learn more here.
Disco rewind. On Thursday, June 13th, the Chicago White Sox will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the infamous Disco Demolition night, which took place, with a free T-shirt and an appearance from radio DJ Steve Dahl. Dahl orchestrated the night, which took place on July 12th, 1979 and saw some 70,000 fans turn up to Comiskey Park in Chicago to blow up a box of disco records on the field. The stunt devolved into a riot, and was seen as “a chance for a whole lot of people to say they didn’t like the way the world was changing around them, or who they saw as the potential victors in a cultural and demographic war,” NBC Chicago political journalist Mark W. Anderson, who witnessed the event at age 15, wrote. Dahl has long claimed the demolition was done in innocence, “just kids pissing on a musical genre,” he said. Pitchfork posted a statement from the White Sox, while Chicago house magazine 5mag published an op-ed decrying the timing of the event, which is happening in the middle of Pride month.
Attack paid it’s own peculiar homage in 2017 with a t-shirt of our own: Disco Fucks!
Summer is here apparently. This isn’t a joke despite the recent UK weather, but the evergreen and optimistic folk at Sonnox, makers of ‘mindbendingly’ good sounding plugins, are back with their summer sale. This is a great opportunity to get select bundles and individual plugins for 50% off and we recommend giving them a go. Perhaps not in everyone’s arsenal due to the high price, but their sound speaks for itself. We used the Vox Doubler in this synth secrets article to give you some idea and you can check out the sale here.
Dave Clarke at ADE. The Baron of Techno, Dave Clarke, has announced the lineup for his annual event at ADE. Clarke has invited DVS1, Terence Fixmer (playing live), Luke Slater, Paula Temple, Marcel Fengler, Anetha, Black Asteroid, Daniel Miller, Mirella Kroes and Mr. Jones to the 15th edition of his party, which is the longest running techno event at ADE. It goes down Friday, October 18th at Melkweg. Tickets and more info here.
Dope wax. Since launching in 2005, Discogs has sold some extremely expensive records. Now the online marketplace has revealed the 100 most expensive items purchased in the United States. Prices range from $2,247 to $15,000, with records from Led Zeppelin, Nirvana and The Velvet Underground. Topping the list is Prince’s The Black Album, aka The Funk Bible, which sold for $15,000 in 2016. See the full list here.
London wax. A new book takes an inside look at London’s independent record stores. Written by Tom Greig with original photography by Sam Mellish, Vinyl London: A Guide to Independent Record Shops visits 60 places in London to buy records, including shops stalls, fairs and cafes. The likes of Phonica Records, Independent Label Market, Spiritland, Alan’s and Crypt of the Wizard are included and organised by location, with Soho, North, East, South, West and Suburbs serving as sections. Listings contain addresses, maps and opening times, in addition to stock information. Vinyl London will be out this month, and you can order it here.
Depot. The team behind London’s Printworks and Drumshed has announced plans for a 10,000 capacity culture venue at Manchester’s historic Mayfield site. Called Depot, the space will be a collaboration between The Mayfield Partnership (comprising of regeneration specialist U+I, Manchester City Council, Transport for Greater Manchester and LCR) and Broadwick Venues and Vibration Group. The site will also house Archive and Concourse, two smaller venues that will host community events, and feature a performance space as well as a low-cost studio and rehearsal facilities. The whole thing launches this summer with Manchester Pride Live on 24th and 25th August.
Radiohead revenge. A hacker stole Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke’s harddrive containing 18 hours of OK Computer recording sessions. When the hacker demanded ransom, instead of paying, the band released all the material to Bandcamp, charging only £18 for the entire collection, with proceeds going to Extinction Rebellion. The collection will only be available for 18 days, so head here if you’d like to help out.
Piracy? No problem. A study has found that most lawyers agree that certain types of copyright infringement are “acceptable,” despite its unethical nature. The study was conducted by Professor Dariusz Jemielniak of Kozminski University, and 100 Harvard Law students were asked questions regarding their interpretations of piracy scenarios and copyright infringement. The results were published in the Information Society Journal.
NASA’s moon jams. With preparations set for NASA to travel back to the moon by 2024, the agency is asking the public to help them soundtrack their return to the lunar surface. The trip takes about six days, so a whole lot of music will be needed. Anyone can submit suggestions from now until June 28th through this form or by tweeting a song with the #NASAMoonTunes hashtag. Of course, anything explicit won’t be allowed, so keep suggestions clean and maybe on the long end of the spectrum so Jeff Mills, perhaps? Suggestions will be played live on air on July 13 and 14, prior to the Apollo 11 launch anniversary, on NASA’s Third Rock Radio station. Listen here.