I did a little interview with the RokRiot blog about the design of my new album.
I saw this in the window of a shop in Glasgow back in 2007.
This one veers heavily into hip hop territory at the beginning but then into more rock and, inevitably, techno areas. I was using voice synthesizers to generate ‘lyrics’ over some tracks and it contains one of my favourite mixes: two versions of ‘Autobahn’ running concurrently in the left and right speakers.
Gorefest and The Balanescu Quartet had both done versions that I noticed were very similar in arrangement and tempo and, being that the track is so long, rather than play them separately I panned each one left and right and played them together, I like the fact that they’re just so opposite in terms of style. This one originally debuted on Solid Steel on 04/08/06
(and no, you didn’t miss pts. 2 & 3 yet, I’m just not putting them up in logical order)
I’ve posted this video before but I never tire of it.
Also on the subject of ‘Ralf & Florian’, the UK pressing on Vertigo had a different sleeve to the regular release (see below), much the same as ‘Autobahn’. Both are believed to be the work of designer Barney Bubbles, although this has never been confirmed.
Emil Schult designed a sticker for the German issue of ‘Autobahn’ (right) that used the blue and white road sign and this was adapted and added to for the UK sleeve. Hardformat ran a great piece on it, arguing for Bubbles as the layout designer and there is a discussion on the subject here but the jury is still out. Also, the ‘Ralf & Florian’ UK cover below had embossing around the title and circuit pattern as well as florescent inks on the back cover.
‘Taschenrechner’ (Pocket Calculator) (live) – I love Florian’s aside to camera near the end. One of the instruments they were playing was a Bee Gees Rhythm Machine painted black, another was a Stylophone and they sent a musical calculator out as a promo for the single.
Here’s the first images of the forthcoming Amon Tobin box set, both open and closed, designed by Oscar & Ewan, and based on a flower press. Released on 21st May, it contains 6 x 10″ vinyl, 7 x CD, 2 x DVD and several posters – you can pre-order it here at an early bird price.
El Lissitzky – ‘And on the black was established Red Clearly’
(above) UK promo triple gatefold 7″ cover for ‘The Robots / Spacelab’,
(below) 7″ front cover from Belgium and back covers from France and Italy for the same.
‘Highrail’ LP front and back cover, German compilation on Fontana from 1979.
Buy the CD and book at TheThe.com, maybe even treat yourself to the Cineola podcast with my interview and exclusive ‘Deep Space’ version of ‘GIANT’, unavailable elsewhere.
I’ve decided to make March ‘Kraftwerk month’ on the site, which means I’ll be posting something Kraftwerk-related every day at least. This had been bought on by the recent news of the 8 night residency at MOMA in New York and the subsequent fact that no one I know has managed to get a ticket.
Volume 7 of my on-going Kraftwerk Kover Kollection mix series is way overdue so I plan to have that done by the time the group play their back catalogue (I should attempt vol.8 as well but back in the real world…). Volumes 5 and 6 are already on the web but, due to my old host site BosBos.net no longer being active, I thought I’d put the first four up here as well, one a week, starting with volume …1.
The one that kicked it all off in April 2004, some quite obvious choices here when you start to think of cover versions, don’t worry, they get more obscure as the mixes progress. I’m always on the look out for new versions so please send suggestions but don’t be offended if I don’t include them in future mixes as for every one that makes it, four or five won’t as I’m looking for the odd and left of center rather than the multitude of straight electro / techno covers that are also out there. Also included here is the original artwork I did for the mix: front/back and CD on-body.
Sad news about Davy Jones today, time for a few Monkees-related posts from the past:
http://www.djfood.org/heads-up
(fictional ‘Head’ comic cover)
http://www.djfood.org/head-shots
(ultra nerdy dissection of a trailer for ‘Head’)
http://www.djfood.org/discography/mixes/head-dj-food-re-score
(something I did around a decade ago)
image adapted from the Big Glee website – Jack Davis draws Davy Jones for a book of fan letters written to the Monkees. He also posted a great Japanese tour brochure from 1968 only yesterday – spooky timing!
[youtube width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2BxH-xwc9M[/youtube]
Here’s the cover to the new release by The The aka Matt Johnson who I collaborated with on my new album, covering one of his old songs in the process. This release – the soundtrack to the Nicola Bruce film ‘Moonbug’ – is all new music, although the keen-eared will have heard snatches of it via the monthly Cinéola podcasts in 2010.
The 17 tracks accompany the journey of photographer Steve Pyke, whose mission was to photograph every man who ever walked on the moon. I saw the film back in the Autumn of 2011 and it’s a fascinating documentary and Steve’s stunning photos capture the different men’s ageing faces and bring to mind the surface of the moon on occasion. These are included in the booklet that comes bound into the hardback CD book of the soundtrack along with an interview, conducted by Matt, about the journey.
The CD is available from the freshly revamped TheThe.com website from March 1st as an exclusive for 3 months before regular retail shops get it. It’s no.2 in an ongoing series of book-bound CDs covering soundtracks, archive material, cover versions and more to come, at least one of which will feature my ‘Deep Space’ mix of ‘GIANT’.
Courtesy of Henry Flint, a 4-page ad for a certain forthcoming comic, from the pages of Buster back in 1977.
Out now on Trunk, Radiophonic Workshop music with poetry for schools.