Actually this might be a little easier to use

I think this is more to my liking ... I just want a huge touchscreen like that in my room

actually this might be a little easier to use

I might even be able to DJ with this thing

Multi Touch Light Table: GERGWERK from GERG WERK on Vimeo.

Music distribution these days is awesome

I am a huge fan of soundcloud. But what I find really interesting is how companies are starting to use it to get their name out there. This is a brilliant one from my hometown in Australia called Future Classic... which is a publisher, label and other services. But just the number of awesome tracks they have has made me look into them even further and are now on my radar.
Latest tracks by future classic

But its also cool to see some old faithful brands using the service as well. A great lineup of tracks and mixes from timeoutnewyork

Latest tracks by TimeOutNewYork

enjoy my people... enjoy

Why go through all the pain ??

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Many a friend has asked me why I go through all the pain to live in London. Its very hard to explain but when a good friend's birthday came up who also enjoys the spoils of this great city. I thought I would curate a little day across the capital highlighting why we love it as we do all on the fantastic transport of our bikes.
In the lead up I tempted him for a week or so with images, quotes and statements about a question that would be the concept of the day... but he didnt know what it was.... . "why do you love London ?"

I took him to a number of places that personified areas of the capital I love.

Great coffee in a great cafe.....
I took him to one of my favourite cafes in the capital, Lantana. Which is unfortunately an Australian style cafe. But the fact that you can go to an Australian, Portuguese, African or anything else you want in this city continues to blow me away. Any type of food or experience you want from around the world you can probably find it somewhere. Some great photos are above.



Lomography Store... inspire your creative side
One of the great things I find about London is that it inspires your creative side. Just because creativity and creative things are so accessible. Everybody has one. Some people just try and pretend they dont. This city has pushed me into photography including in case you havent noticed the world of analogue. Which I love for its messiness and not quite right colour saturation. I love a more mixed up world.... than perfection. My friend also recently started spending way too much money on it all. So we went there and I bought him some film to use for the day which we later realised was completely the wrong film for our cameras.. idiots. Lucky we brought our own, as well as cameras of the digital kind.


Bike rides throughout the city for some interesting shots along the way

Design Museum ..... Creativity
One of the things I found when I first moved here was the easy access for museums and galleries. I was never interested in them before. But I love walking around in east london and an artist is having a few drinks out the front of his/her studio/home and says want to come in and have a look. But also the interesting exhibitions that are free at a number of the big galleries. London has brought me a fascination with design. So I took him to the Designs of the year exhibition which has some awesome examples. Including a great exhibition on photographs of all the major cities in Africa. Which was a perfect coincidence as my friend is originally from South Africa. It really gave me a much broader perspective of Africa in general.


Borough Market... Food
Its expected I know. But as a friend at my work once said 'Borough markets mike, your spiritual homeland'. Everytime I go there I find something new. Combined foodies together we covered a bit. Some posh bangers and probably the best oysters I have had in Europe.
Vinopolis Wine Wharf ..... wine
My friend is a huge wine buff so much so that I thought this could go either way as he wouldnt think it was good enough. But the wine list was big enough to take us for a couple of great glasses of riesling and an Alsace style that has become a bit of a favourite. I am going to have to get the names to include here.

After a little bit more walking around Borough... unfortunately we were both too tied to make it up to Camden to Proud Galleries to see a photography exhibition of images from different rock gods. This was supposed to address free and just the cool venues available like Proud. The final was supposed to be sitting up on Hampstead Heath for the great spaces that are available in London. But I did take him to one final place for the day part...

Wenlock Arms .... for a good English ale.
Along with his fedish for wine... he also loves a good English ale and has opened my eyes to the lovely brew as well. This place is not very far from my house but no one knows about. As soon as you walk in you have a mix of locals and people who are there for a proper beer. It was a proper English boozer so a great way to finish the day. We even saw some tourists in there with 'Beer Traveller's Guide' books so sells its credentials well.

A great day you would think. But it didnt end there. There is definitely something great about London that I have missed......

Notting Hill Arts Club ..... live music and music venues
Ive always wanted to go to this venue and they just happened to have Hackney Globe Trotter playing which was perfect. My friend and I both like different styles of music and he addressed a number of them. A mix of African, electro, hip hop the lot. Some friends came along as well which gave a bit of energy to us two very exhausted people. Then as a close to the night. Went to Indo in Whitechapel as a great little bar to finish the night off with some great Eastern European friends and great conversation. Another great thing about London... meeting people from different backgrounds that give you a completely different perspective ... and lead you onto funny places at funny hours.

All in all an awesome day. I hope to make a book of all of both of our photos which I will post soon.

I have no talent but plenty of others do

I have always believed that if you have no talent. Then it is always easier to surround yourself with talented individuals who have a passion for something. That way you dont feel so bad about it as you can hide behind all the other people's magnificence. Try it ... its fun and you get lots out of it.

One example of a very talented person is Michelle Owen (DJ Luna) who has done an awesome mix for the summer.

"Summer Dream" DJ Mix (By Michelle Owen) by Michelle Owen

Track list

1. Gorge - Mooi – 8Bit
2. Leif – Priority Feat. Donna Lea – Fear Of Flying
3. Chez Damier – Soul Minimal – Mojuba
4. Moodymanc – Bitz – Kolour Recordings Digital
5. Andre Crom, Martin Dawson – Gonna Be Alright – Off
6. Chez Damier – Teach Me, Keep Me – Mojuba
7. Delano Smith – A Message For The Dj Feat. Diamondancer (Jimpster’s Red Light Mix)
8. The Mountain People – Mountain 010.3 – Mountain People
9. Wbeeza – He So Crazy – Third Ear Recordings
10. Mark Seven – Swept Away – Endless Flight
11. Michelle Owen – Perchance To Dream
12. Steffi – Kill Me (Instrumental Dub) – Ostgut Ton
13. KZA – Routine – Endless Flight
14. James Yorkston – Woozy With Cider (John Hopkins Remix) – Domino

Enjoy...

I have no idea but I want some....

I found this awesome music video competition on obviously the french site of dailymotion. But what a line up of tracks. Heres a few cherries for ya


Lenny Kravitz (Justice Remix) - Let Love Rule
Uploaded by elnino. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.


Breakbot - Baby I'm Yours (feat. Irfane)
Uploaded by edbangerrecords. - Explore more music videos.

These guys I missed in Calvi and I will never stop hitting myself for it


JAMAICA - I Think I Like U2
Uploaded by Cooperative-Music. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

Some more love for you all..... FREE ALBUM

Well we have started off well here. I have already started sending you to the free tracks for some great aussie talent. But to be honest you had probably already heard of Cut Copy. So now its time for some music you may not have heard of.... but its still all free baby.

Fear of Tigers.... first of all awesome name. Secondly album is a blend of beauty throwing in synth, disco and a good old vocal or two to keep you guessing.

Im a huge fan of the first track 'I can make the pain disappear'... yes you can. Its one of the only tracks that restricts mefrom taking a gun to a crowded office... but more on that later.

Play whole album here
Cossus Snufsigalonica by Solar - Fear of Tigers

Head to their facebook to get the download

They are also lining up a huge amount of great remixes for

The Valerie Crew

Kylie
All The Lovers (Fear Of Tigers Remix) by cobraestilo5

New swedish pop star Rosanna
Rosanna - Waterfall (Fear Of Tigers Remix) by DISCODUST


and one for the ladies. Ben used to be a Dolphin Trainer....aaaaahhhhhh

ENJOY

Cut Copy's new track free to download

I was lucky about 6 or so years ago when a mate decided to go on a CD shopping spree like he always did. (I know only 6 years ago CDs were still bought). Half the time he would only buy albums for quite ridiculous reasons. He was a designer and bought Cut Copy's first album 'Bright Like Neon Love' in 2004 purely because he thought that the album cover was cool.

Truth is he didnt like it much and I saw it on his desk at work and asked to have a listen. I loved it straight away and it wasnt long before it got around all our friends (like a month... I know a month to share a track. vs seconds ).

I went to quite a big event at Sydney's Luna Park... where they were playing where 80% of quite a big room walked out as they walked in to play. I loved seeing them live for the first time. It seems only about 30 others also did. But it didnt take time for them to catapult themselves into the mainstream.

Their follow up album In Ghost Colours was also fantastic. It was a bit more of a mature sound which I really liked as unfortunately I was also getting older as well. Living in London now its always great to go out and see them play live when they are in town. They played at the awesome London venue Koko a few years back and it was an awesome night.


So I m super excited to hear what the next one is going to be like.

Enjoy the free track

Eclectic Method building their own Legacy with TRON

Eclectic Method - Daft Tron from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.

I have always been a huge fan Ive eclectic method. For a number of reasons including their views on cultureclash and also just their wicked mix up of videos / images / music. They have outdone themselves here with a brilliant mix up of the old video and images of the original TRON. The current movie trailer and some TRON inspired video / image and music from the Daft Punk boys. I only wish it was longer......

Which child do you love the most ?

I found this little pole on the blog of a club I went to in Paris once called Showcase which is a bit of a mecca for some great French acts. Its also just a cool and pretty relaxed club in a great spot under a bridge on the Seine.

But they have asked an interesting question... who is better

Chromeo : Candian electro funk duo
or Breakbot French DJ / Producer

Breakbot - Baby I'm Yours (feat. Irfane)
Uploaded by edbangerrecords. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

As you can see from the link from a 'French' website Breakbot leads the way. But its not very objective is it... everyone will always look after their own.

In my eyes its like asking which child you love the most. Each one brings a little miracle to your life from a slightly different angle. The quiet shyness of Breakbot vs the outlandish quite comical Chromeo. A mix of DJ/Producer or DJ/Producer/Live act. Surely you shouldnt force us to pick one.
But it seems you will. So like every parent Im going to do what is the easiest. Love the oldest one. I have been listening to and seeing Chromeo live for a lot longer. I originally saw them live on 2006 at a small venue in London called the Bush that was lucky to have 80 people there. Then a year later I turned up to a very packed Scala in London which took hundreds. SEE bad video below.






Here is a photo of him we took near one of the beach stages as he made a break for it at one of the Calvi Beaches.
So now I feel bad about picking my favourite child. I feel the need to make it up to the younger more shy one by booking a trip to France to see him live and apologise by dancing like nobody is watching. Like I did when I saw him play at Calvi on the Rocks which was one of the best moments of the event. (about 12 hours after the photo above was taken)

please do the same

Im so hip its wrong

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I spent an entire day in East London being so HIP it almost made me spew. I went off to my favourite cafe Counter Cafe down in Hackney Wick to have brunch with some lovely friends before we would then go onto Field Day. But then we ran into the heart of the Hackney Wicked creative festival which was on in the area. Which is where they open up all the galleries and also people's studios for everyone to come in and have a look.
I loved it. It was interesting seeing how many of these buildings are full of great artists. We also went in and checked out H Forman and Sons which is a salmon smoking company that was moved out of the London Olympic site and has built a new building in Hackney Wick. They have built a great new building with a cool terrace overlooking the canal and the Olympic site. They had an interesting little gallery in there that had an awesome piece by Greta Alfaro entitled Vultures. Watch it here. We got to see it on a big screen but it is captivating to watch and hear.

Then it was onto Field Day. Which after waiting for an hour even to get through on the guestlist it was onto the VIP to get some cocktails into us and warm up. There was only a couple of acts I wanted to see. So I was pretty relaxed about getting around. I saw Carte Blanche but after a recent trip to France.... the track choice seemed a bit old and I was hoping to hear from different stuff. My expectations were a little higher than they delivered for I think.
Fakeblood was on next. I think he is a better producer than DJ. He played all the right tracks but didnt really build the crowd up and take them on a bit of a ride.
One that truly stood out for the day for me was Pantha Du Prince which a mate made me go and see in one of the smaller tents. Brilliant music producer, but also knew how to work the crowd and somewhat his time slot.
Phoenix topped the day off well with the last slot on the main stage. I love Phoenix but I dont know if the main stage as the last act of the night. I was warmed up and I wanted to keep going




Then it was onto a house party up in Dalston where I got to see this guy perform. He was awesome he pretty much recorded his own voice in a bunch of different ways and then played them back on loop while he sang over the top. It was unbelievable... I even had front row seats.

So all in all a very fun and interesting day.. only bad point was that I lost my sunglasses... somewhere between the festival and the kebab shop.

and we all know ... Im very far from ever being hip.....

Same Same but different...

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I recently had a weekend trip to the lovely Lisbon where I stayed in a friend's, girlfriends old house who is Portugese. She had a lovely old property with a number of houses on it where a number of her family lived. The land had been in the family since the 19th century and the land / houses were all still owned by the family. Even though over the years the area had been over developed with apartments and even Benifca's football stadium.

What I found really interesting was the open door policey of the household. We sat there and a family were staying from Azores where the family is originally from. People would continually walk in go for a swim in the pool or stop for lunch which was made by Franklin who has been in the house for 50 years making dinner and controlling the whole household. This cousin, that cousin, this uncle, that auntie.

I'd love to have a big house in a beautiful city like that where people just pop in whenever. It also makes you feel like you always have a home. Which being a bit of a nomad probably wouldnt hurt me to lay my roots somewhere... eventually.

Wonder if Branson is up for selling Necker Island... cause I hear he does the same there

The amusing story I was first told was when y friend came to lunch for the first time and said he was a vegetarian. She was not impressed