MÄRZMUSIK

WOMEN'S DAY

To celebrate Women's day, I'd recommend watching documentaries on the different stories of two admirable woman: Jyoti Singh and Susan Sontag.

Jyoti was an Indian girl from a poor family determined to become a doctor. She finished medical school in 2012 and went home to visit her parents in Delhi. Her life was crushed when she hopped on a night bus after going to the movies with a friend. Jyoti was brutally raped by six man and died days later. The documentary features interviews with rapist defendants and one of the convicted, who showed no remorse and blamed the woman for not behaving "decently". Controversially, "India's Daughter" has been banned in India, but you can see it here: bit.ly/indiabbcdaughter

I've read "On Photography" and other essays by Susan Sontag while in university, and became an admirer ever since. Susan was an American writer and filmmaker, teacher and political activist, who wrote extensively about photography, culture and media, human rights, feminism and many other topics. The New York Review of Books called her "one of the most influential critics of her generation.^" "Regarding Susan Sontag" is available on HBO GO. bit.ly/leeviasontag

I YAWN, THEREFORE I AM

As I don't have strong beliefs in an afterlife or any deity, I turned into philosophy to find comfort for the grief that posesses me since the recent death of my mother. I confess I haven't found any, but at least learned to formulate my questions better. Curious on the life of the so-called father of modern philosophy, Rene Descartes, I stumbled upon the informative but extremely boring Cartesius, a 1974 TV-film from Roberto Rossellini. Strange enough, in the early 60s Rossellini held a press conference to announce movies were a dead art form. He felt television was the art thing of the future and began to direct dramas based on the lives of historical figures. As Andy Nicastro pointed well on his critic, "Cartesius proves anything it is that an artist can sell out his talent to his own worst pedagogical ambitions just as readily (and ruinously) as he can sell out to political or commercial ones."

LOVE AT FIRST REJECTION

VINYL X DIGITAL DJ RANT? COUNT ME OUT!

genius comment on RA

The other day a DJ friend surprised me with a Facebook post on the beaten vinyl-versus-digital-DJ war. For her, DJs who don't use vinyl are simply not DJs. On the post she determined that even if a DJ doesn't travel with his records, he should have, at home, a minimum amount of 150 vinyls. And she finished the sentence warning that she'd laugh off of all these poor fake-DJs who don't follow that "rule". A few hours later, she erased her post.
I find appalling how people take their time to criticize others without analyzing first themselves. This came from a person that, bit more then a year ago, affirmed to not be sure if she wanted indeed to be a professional DJ, saying she didn't feel inclined to travel so much. She was constantly hanging around in the club she was a resident being extremely self critical about herself and her performances, saying her own mixing was shit while alternating the euphoria and sadness that usually comes with cocaine. She was sweet but insecure, which is normal on this field, especially mixing the drugs in. Now that she feels finally legitimized from having decent gigs around the planet, showing on Facebook how happy she is to be on the road, she feels entitled to determine what it takes to be in the profession she was short ago not sure to be qualified for. Isn't that a bit ironic?

I believe the whole vinyl - cd - digital music discussion is a loss of time. It's like discussing what is better, digital or analog photography. 

 

There are mediums better for different people with different purposes. Sure, I may prefer the physical feeling of wax, and have the impression most DJs who are used to records mix better, but that alone stands for nothing. Sure, I don't usually like to see a computer on the dance floor or an artist staring at the screen instead of partying with the people, but who am I to judge how each person should perform their craft? I know numerous DJs who don't carry their records since years, and even some that never bought much vinyl, and are excellent professionals. Maybe because they spend less time trying to judge who is doing right or wrong and instead focus on making their own performances better, whatever medium they choose.
Take Lee Jones, for example; worldwide respected DJ and producer, resident of Watergate, and one of the coolest and humblest guys around. He usually doesn't take his vinyls when the gig is outside of Germany, as he observed that "in most places the audience doesn't care so much". So he prefers to travel light and have a wider library of music readily available.
That comes into account especially for beginners. For an early career DJ, chances are that the contractor won't be happy on paying 3 extra bags for your records, which you may need on a long tour.
Ritchie Hawtin said back in 2011 that vinyl purists are stuck in the past. Carl Cox has over 15000 records and doesn't take a single one of them out of his house in Australia anymore. Should we say any of them is less of a DJ?

I started off with CDs. Where I lived in Brazil was hard to get decent electronic music records. Plus, they were very expensive. On top of that, most record players in clubs either didn't work or didn't exist, which is still the reality in a lot of clubs there. I would have to spent years dreaming to be a DJ before I could buy enough records to make a decent library.
As I started going every year to Europe in 2008, I started buying records. First just because I loved having a physical object of the music. Second, because of releases that came only in wax. Third, because people told me it was better sound quality (which seems not to be the case); and forth, sadly, because of looks. Because some people legitimize - and hire me - more if I'm playing records. It doesn't matter if the tracks were mastered on a digital way or if the club has a digital amp making the sound of the vinyl similar to a wave file. If I play the same track digital or in vinyl, these people will respect me more - apparently the author of that post will respect me ONLY - if I do the latter. Even if I would mix worse, some people would be friendlier because I'm playing a record.
It's sad that people care so much about appearance pretending at the same time to be so open minded and understanding.
But well, since when was showbiz fair? You don't need to study acting to be an actor, you don't need to study photography to be a photographer, you don't need to study journalism to become a journalist. If you are a DJ with 20 years of experience, it doesn't necessarily bring you better opportunities then a newbie. Showbiz is simply not very "fair", and neither is life.
As Chris Andersen, editor of Wired magazine, alerted us in his book "Free": “as more people create content for nonmonetary reasons, the competition to those doing it for money grows…"
Therefore, hobbyists have more chances to make competition with established professionals. And no matter how nostalgic one feels, there is no turning back on that.

As an excellent article from Meoko concluded last year:
"The bottom line is, each format has its charms, and their overall differences in quality are often overwhelmed by differences in the quality of initial recording equipment, in mastering approaches, and in playback setup. So, buy and listen to what you like, a variety of both is always welcome!"


ps.: I don't want to mention the name of the person who did the Facebook post, as it's not relevant. She is also developing and will learn things in proper pace. I just used the case to illustrate my point.

SUSAN SONTAG UNDERSTANDS ME

“I perceive value, I confer value, I create value, I even create — or guarantee — existence. Hence, my compulsion to make “lists.” The things (Beethoven’s music, movies, business firms) won’t exist unless I signify my interest in them by at least noting down their names.

Nothing exists unless I maintain it (by my interest, or my potential interest). This is an ultimate, mostly subliminal anxiety. Hence, I must remain always, both in principle + actively, interested in everything. Taking all of knowledge as my province.”
― Susan Sontag, As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980

AND I SWEAR THAT I DON'T HAVE A GUN

Nirvana played a huge role in my younsgter years, soothing my family dramas with their mix of rage and sadness. Kurt Cobain was my teenager crush, which I guess was depressing, as he was dead since I was 8. My love for him went as far as spending hours online in prehistoric dial-up 56kbps internet doing my own research wether he indeed killed himself and if I should do it too. He's the reason I started playing guitar.
Teen times.

Leaving the pimple dramas aside, I cannot wait to watch "Montage of Heck", the first fully authorized documentary of Kurt, produced by his daughter, Frances Bean.
The film, which premiered today at Sundance Film Festival,  reportedly "features many never-before-seen home movies and music of Cobain’s, as well as eye-opening interviews with friends and family". According to Rolling Stone, the film doesn't portray Cobain as a spokesman for a generation, but as human being, and a husband, and a father.
Tired of all the deifying reports of Kurt out there, (as it usually happens with dead artists), this is one I really look forward to. 4th of may is the official release.

Read more: http://bit.ly/leeviacobaindocRS

I WISH I COULD EAT YOUR CANCER WHEN YOU TURN BLACK

Mother,
Throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb right back.

SOME MORE "WAR ON DRUGS" NONSENSE

Deaths in England related to "bad batch" MDMA are actually related to PMA.

This substance have responsible for more than 100 deaths in the UK, and now the majority of deaths that the media report as being due to “ecstasy” are, in fact, caused by PMA and PMMA.

Their re-emergence is directly due to the international community’s attempts, via UN conventions, to stop the use of MDMA by prohibiting its production and sale. As the earlier UN drug control conventions were clearly not working, in 1988 a further attempt to limit drug use by impairing production was made by banning a number of precursor chemicals. One of these is safrole, the precursor of MDMA. In 2010 there was a massive seizure of 50 tonnes of safrole in Thailand. This did significantly dent availability for MDMA production, so chemists looked for an alternative source of a suitable precursor. Aniseed oil seemed the ideal alternative, as it is chemically very similar to safrole, so this was used. Unfortunately the product that results from using the MDMA production process with aniseed oil is PMA or PMMA. Hence these substances only exist because of the blockade of MDMA production. That in itself wouldn’t particularly matter if they were not more toxic than MDMA.

Read the full article in The Guardian: 

http://bit.ly/pmaleevia

DEAR MOMMA'S BOY

I was everything, and nothing

You were somebody, something

Please, underestimate me

I recognize your disease

I ingested you, I digested you.

GO TRAVEL WITH UNKNOWN PEOPLE

In the end of December 2013 I was in New York City visiting friends after some days snowboarding in Whistler, Canada. Had no special plans for New Years, except maybe going to Output. I was squatting my friend's Sean tiny-room-with-no-heating in Williamsburg, and completely ignored when he warned me that the North Polar Vortex was about to hit the following day. As I woke up, temperatures had dropped over 10 degrees, hitting -16, the lowest in over 100 years in the Big Apple. I was freezing, even with 3 layers of clothing on. I started thinking it could be a good idea to spend réveillon somewhere else.

Luckily I saw a facebook post from Maneesh Sethi, saying he was going on a 6-people private plane trip for 7 days and there was one spot available. They had no fixed plans, except surely chasing the sun down south. It was cheaper then taking normal planes at this time of the year, plus sounded unusual, so I reserved my spot.

I knew Maneesh very little. We met in a co-working space in Berlin once and then he asked me to film a clandestine party he threw in an abandoned boat in Kreuzberg. That was all. All the other 4 travelers were unknown to me.

Next day I met my NY-sista Cheyenne to borrow me clothes and bags, as I was traveling with nothing. Packed and got ready to meet my fellow travelers the next morning upstate in Farmingdale airport.

Four guys, two girls, everybody from a completely different background: one indian-descendent american fundraising for his fitness start-up, one canadian lawyer/foodie, one american economist, one american airplane company CEO/pilot, one australian vegan TV host, and me, the travel-writer-music-lover south american representative.

This turned out to be one of the coolest short unexpected trips I've ever made. All of us loved music, some played instruments, and were/turned into foodies. We went to Kinston, Charleston, Miami and some other cities. We discussed politics, relationships, work, music and the meaning of life. We experienced zero gravity together and drove a plane for the first time.

We jacuzzied together, flirted each night with a different other, shared food, beds and laughs. We were even able to turn New Years in Miami, a nightmarish idea for me, into loads of fun! Here's some images of our adventures: bit.ly/aircation

This year I was needed to stay close to my relatives in Brazil. But here's a toast to another year full of adventures!

HAPPY 2015 y'all!

WELCOME

it's an honor that
apparently
someone is so interested
in me
enough to read my notes
while I'm away

but hey:
if you read
you'll judge

A HOOK IN THE PLACE OF THY

"I see men come and go
But there'll be one who will collect my soul
And come to me"
(PJ Harvey - Angelene)


[Marion Fayolle illustration]