the Global Fresh Collective (pic ©Jen Maler)

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend Vision, the first meeting of the Global Fresh Collective (GFC), a group of creatives from the realms of music, design, art, and fashion from all over the world (full list below).

Over the course of Friday, June 26th, members of the GFC gathered in the amazing Angel Orensanz Foundation on Manhattan's Lower Eastside to discuss, explore, and debate various issues surrounding the future of creative collaboration and both global and local issues affecting music. The discussion was broken up into multiple sessions each of which addressed a different topic. One session included the GFC members' ideal formulas for successful collaborations, which given the range of the members' areas of expertise, I expected to be the high point of the discussions. While the session did yield the GFC members' preferred elements for the perfect collaboration (which you can see in the video below), it was dwarfed in comparison to the first session of the day, entitled "After the Revolution, is Free the Future?".

Led by Matt Mason (author of bestseller The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture Reinvented Capitalism), the discussion focused on the future of the music industry after piracy and the digital age. After giving a brief explanation and examples of how piracy has manifested itself through finding gaps outside of the market, creating vehicles, and harnessing the power of its audience, Matt explained how piracy could be responded to in ways which could in fact benefit industries and companies initially harmed by these illegal acts. By competing with pirates, rather than fighting them, Matt argued that companies had better chances at survival.

After citing a few examples, the stage was set for discussion of how piracy had affected GFC members and their respective industries. While the GFC was made up of a individuals in different fields, discussion seemed to inevitably center on music. Despite the GFC members' different experiences and responses (which you can get a feel for in the video below), as the discussion went on, the one thing that became increasingly clear was that a change from the traditional business model in place in the music industry is most definitely needed.

At the end of the long day, to me, and I think to many of those involved, GFC Vision overall was a success. It brought together individuals across different industries (whose paths quite possibly would not have crossed otherwise) and prompted them to think about and discuss some crucial issues facing creatives, that will only become more pressing as time goes by.

As piracy is one of these issues, I took the opportunity to talk to GFC curator, Pedro Winter, about how his label, Ed Banger Records, has been affected by it, as well as how he has been responding to changes in the music industry. You can check out the entire interview over at Showtrotta.

Last week was dance-free for me yet again, until Sunday at which point I did my new favorite summer activity of going to Sunday Best followed by Été d'Amour. Both I:Cube and the Plant Music crew were great, but before I get into that let's get into some of this week. It's a bit slow to start, but by the time Saturday rolls around you won't know what dancefloor to hit first. Here's what's going on, starting with Thursday (7/23):

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 1) "

DOWNLOAD: Ewan Pearson - Buzzin' Fly, August 22, 2008 (MP3)

XLR8R Issue 123 - Best of 2008

This past weekend, which I was really looking forward to, wound up being pretty lame dance-wise. Things started off okay at Webster Hall Friday night. D.I.M. began his set with some oldies but goodies from last year: Boys Noize - "Lava Lava", and the Chemical Brothers - "Salmon Dance" (Crookers Wow remix), then immediately launched into a three song burst of new stuff - MGMT - "Kids" (Soulwax remix), Tiga - "Mind Dimension", and Mr. Oizo - "Positif", which was entirely too short-lived as D.I.M.'s set quickly devolved into what could have unfortunately been a playlist titled "Best Electro of '07". Mostly good songs, just a year old. This can be fine, but nothing D.I.M. was doing was really grabbing my attention.

I started hoping Switch's set would blow me away and save the evening. Unfortunately that was not the case. Switch, apparently nowhere to be found, did not go on, and AC Slater who was scheduled to close out the night, filled in his place. At that point I was frustrated, cold (Webster wasn't too full at that point and was drafty), and having my ear talked off by some drunk a-hole about how great Switch was (after I informed him that it was D.I.M., NOT SWITCH), so I left.

Saturday I was so looking forward to seeing Green Velvet at Sullivan Room (after missing him the past 2 times he was here), but I got a cold and decided to stay in. Apparently he had the packed floor moving all night...

video of that and many upcoming events below....

Continue reading "the Thanksgiving week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (Drop The Lime - Best of 2008, Ewan Pearson, FIXED, 19+ @ Studio B)"

Boy 8-Bit @ 88 Palace, November 14, 2008 (The Culture of Me)

Last Saturday despite only considering two options, I had a tough decision to make. I hadn't seen Justin Martin deejay since January, but I had come so close to seeing Boy 8-Bit (without it actually happening) last month that I needed to go to Korrupt 88 Palace (a venue that wasn't very easy to find).

If you haven't been (this was my first time), 88 Palace is a dim sum restaurant on the second floor of a mini-mall that is under the Manhattan Bridge. As you walk in there is police tape up so you are pretty much corralled up the stairs, straight to the restaurant. I was a bit skeptical/curious about how this was going to work as a dance venue...but it worked pretty f-ing well. The place is shaped a bit like a stretched out horseshoe with a bar running down one side, tables scattered everywhere and a dancefloor at the end. I don't remember what time it was (probably sometime between 1 and 2) when we arrived, but the party was already packed and grooving. You could pay for shots that they would pour straight from the bottle into your mouth at the bar, apparently there had been jello shots earlier...I don't think anyone who was drinking was feeling bashful about hitting the floor.

We worked our way up to the floor shortly after we arrived, just as Boy 8-Bit began his set. Much like when I saw him in March, he dropped a more UK-influenced set, (that featured other stuff too)...but was just a pleasant far cry from so much of the French music (old and new) I've been (happily) listening to over the past year. It was one of those sets that was so good I was too busy dancing/had absolutely no desire to attempt a setlist, but a few good tracks I remember are below. I did'nt know lot of the really good stuff Boy 8-Bit played though - perhaps some new music of his?

that setlist and lots of upcoming events, below...

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (Green Velvet, much more) "

DOWNLOAD: Green Velvet - The Stalker (I'm losing My Mind) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Franki Chan Scion Mixtape (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Radioclit BBC Bob Da Bank Unreleased Mixtape (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Marlena Shaw - California Soul (Diplo Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Energies - Born Again Runner (Lifelike remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Energies - Born Again Runner (Fred Falke remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Casxio - Seventeen (Noel Zancanella Remix) (MP3)

Justice DJ set @ Le Royale - April 2008 (Lawrence L)

What did you do last night? Finally we're on to Saturday night (tonight - June 21) which boasts quite a few excellent options.

Continue reading "The Weekend in Dance w/ Showtrotta (Sat, Sun, Tue) "