dutch dolls dig it

Parade alternatives

2011-06-23T10:36:00.011+02:00

Rotterdam boasts itself as a city of festivals. And rightfully so. There are so many it's impossible to go to them all. But which ones to skip??
Next weekend do go to Metropolis - a FREE music festival where you can catch the likes of Les Savy Fav and The Vaccines, as well as tons of other bands that you never heard of but who will (possibly) be famous next year.
This weekend, June 24-26, travel South to the Wolphaertstraat to visit Bazar Bizar. Over 60 (!!) artists will sell their prints, drawings, jewelery, clothing, zines, toys and what not. Plus there will be good food and music (including from our own Geeske).
And/or you could go up North to the bustling neighborhood of  Het Oude Noorden for Route du Nord. This route will take you along all the galleries, shops, cafes, restaurants and temporary art spaces that are tucked away in the narrow streets of "The Old North".
A festival you certainly should not miss (unlike me..) is the Open Dans festival. Jan Misker and our friend Janne Eraker hand picked the best, fresh and exciting dance acts that are out there in Rotterdam today. The program is just as divers as the city itself: there will be everything from modern to urban, from tap to tango, there will be video-installations and turntables, there will be more established dance makers as well as young and upcoming ones, plus workshops, live music and parties! And all this for just € 25 (3-day passepartout - separate tickets available too). Skip De Parade, I'd say!

Yellowman: Alive and Kicking

2011-05-25T12:47:00.009+02:00

Yellowman at The Globe, Cardiff, photo by Paul Seligman.

Last Thursday I went to see Yellowman. King Yellowman that is. Dancehall legend. His appearance is what you could call remarkable: he's tall, skinny, athletic and albino. In 1986 he was diagnosed with cancer of the jaw and was told he had only 3 weeks to 6 months to live. Thanks to surgery he is still among us, but it left his face disfigured. Being raised by nuns at the Alpha Boys School orphanage in Kingston, Jamaica (it fostered many famous musicians, like Desmond Dekker and four members of the Skatalites), you could say his life hasn't been all beer and skittles, cakes and ale or a bed of roses.

But all these misfortunes didn't stop Yellowman. On the contrary! He rose to fame after winning a toasting competition and had some big hits in the 80s. He became one of Jamaica's biggest stars and was the first dancehall artist to be signed to an American major label.

So you can understand I was very excited that this living legend was coming to my humble town. As with all artists whose heydays were decades ago the show could either be a hit or miss. Well it was no miss. Yellowman is 54 years old, but he is very much alive and kicking, literally! And no DAT or backing track, no he had a full live band, his Sagittarius Band. There was a nice mixed crowd of old balding, slightly overweight men, who obviously have adored Yellowman since 1982 (they went nuts), and younger folks, notably from Cardiff's hip hop scene. Yellowman has been a great influence on American hip hop artists from the 80s (and later), as prove these tracks that sample two of Yellowman's greatest hits: Zungguzungguguzungguzeng and Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt:

Masters of Ceremony - Keep On Moving. Get it here (YSI).

Eazy-E (of N.W.A. fame) feat MC Ren - Nobody Move. Get it here (YSI).

BlackStar (Mos Def and Talib Kweli) - Definition. Get it here (YSI).

I'll let you go with the wise words Yellowman sent us home with and which have been my motto ever since:

"Be nice. And if you can't be nice be good. And if you can't be good be careful. And if you can't be careful.. you're on your own."

A Blessed Mixtape

2011-04-30T02:04:00.001+02:00

Unless you've been lying under a rock for the last few months you will know today is D-day here in the UK. And even though I have very little with royalty or the institution of marriage, I couldn't resist the whole royal wedding fever while making a new Spotify mixtape for TwentyTrackTape...

BY ROYAL (DIS)APPOINTMENT contains 20 songs that cover all aspects of marriage: courtship, persuasion, parents' disapproval, objection, going to the chapel, the punch up at the wedding, solidarity, regrets and divorce.

Of course The Dixie Cups are on it with their Chapel Of Love, as well is Morrissey's Will Never Marry. There's Hot Chip's ode to monogamy and some good advice on marriage from Jimmy Soul and Smokey Robinson's mother. As I'm not the romantic type there a quite a few songs about divorce on it, including a song by Marvin Gaye, who recorded an entire album about his split from Anna Gordy (as part of their divorce settlement Marvin had to pay an extensive percentages of royalties of his next album to his ex. Consequently he made Here, My Dear, 14 songs about the deterioration of their marriage).

Especially for those of you who don't have Spotify, I'm treating you to a couple of the 'high lights' of my mix:

The Shangri-La's - Give Us Your Blessing. Get it here (YSI).
The Shangri-La's are one of my favorite girl groups. The girls sing like their chatting to each other, and lots of their songs are a bit sinister with sound effects dramatizing the mood. Wedding bells, a thunder storm and car crash can be heard on this song about two teenagers who run away because their parents don't approve of them tying the knot and crash themselves to death.

The Five Du-Tones - Divorce Court. Get it here (YSI).
A hilarious song that reenacts a court session. Especially one of The Five Du-Tones singing the wife's lines in a high pitched voice, and the husband breaking out in tears at the end!

Barrington Levy - Quick Divorce. Get it here (YSI).
Another song set inside the court. The reggae singer begs and pleas the judge to dissolve his marriage as fast as he can.

The hardest part of making this compilation was to limit it to 20 songs. I would have loved to included a Latin version of Frank Sinatra's Love And Marriage as sung by Peggy Lee, or I Cried All The Way To The Alter by country singer Patsy Cline or any song by The Wedding Present. But alas for them! Also my beloved Mirah didn't make the cut with Til Death Do Us Part, but I will share it with you here.

Mirah and Golden Bears - Til Death Do Us Part. Get it here (YSI).

And if this song was on Spotify it would have definitely made the list. More sound effects!

Roy C - Shotgun Wedding. Get it here (YSI).

Listen to the whole BY ROYAL (DIS)APPOINTMENT playlist on Spotify by clicking HERE. Chick here to visit my Spotify profile.

Dissidents & Dancers

2011-04-13T22:22:00.005+02:00

One of my favorite bands from Cardiff is The Method: a five piece that sound like a Mariachi band playing Northern soul infused psychedelic garage rock. Really! Even though I think their music is best consumed live, I am very happy they've immortalized their songs in the form of a record. If you're in the Diff come down to The Globe this Saturday April 16 to celebrate the launch of their debut album Dissidents & Dancers. Tickets are £7 including the cd (£4 without). Support comes from the ever smartly dressed youngsters Houdini Dax. You will dance, you'll feel like a dissident if you don't!!

Here's a track from the forthcoming album that is up for grabs from the Miniature Music Press website. Buy the cd directly from their label See Monkey Do Monkey!

The Method - Fool. Get it here (YSI).

Off-white

2011-04-07T18:41:00.004+02:00

I've been sitting in the sun all day so now I'm finally off-white and IT MAKES ME WANNA DOUGIE!

Cali Swag District - Teach Me How To Dougie. Get it here (YSI).

Cali Swag District - Teach Me How To Dougie (Urban Mix feat. JD, B.o.B., Bow Wow & Red Cafe - Radio Edit). Get it here (YSI).

For Gore Lovers: vintage x 3

2011-03-26T11:04:00.007+01:00

So I've been watching scary movies again and there's some great badness that I'd like to share with you!

I: Summer Of Fear (1978)
This one stars good kid gone posessed; Linda Blair. She lives a carefree life with her parents, brothers and horse untill all is disturbed by a new house guest; niece Julia. At first she is very happy with her brand new ‘sister’, until strange things start happening around the house. Soon she discovers that there’s something very scary and disturbing about Julia and that she’s not who she says she is....

Apart from the huge perms, and the scary high-wasted pants there’s nothing really frightning about this film. The make up was quite bad and the plot was not that surprising. But I really enjoyed watching it anyway. Was it the cozy family that gets torn apart but eventually makes it because they stick together? Or was it that yellow seventies sauce? Or the tiny role of Fran Fine? I don't know, it’s just my favorite era for films and Wes Craven is still a hero. If you’re into vintage horror and don't have the need for that sadistic new skool gore.. definately one to watch!

II Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
The film starts as a bad mix of Prom Night, Halloween and Teen Wolf with girls in a shower, picking on the new girl who turns out to be pretty cool after all. So she gets invited to a Slumber Party at the popular girl’s house, which off course turns out to be a bad idea. In the mean time, we see a dude with a van that has some suspicious things going on. When the night falls all elements come together and the killing begins. Leaving very little to the imagination (meaning: wearing no mask or whatever), the ‘driller killer’ comes to business drilling holes in all the girls and the walls and also some furniture. A shame to see 100 hours of aerobics go to waste? Neeh, very entertaining!

III: Slumber Party Massacre II (1987)
Terrible but crazy cool, they had me within the first 5 minutes. It’s about 4 girls that are in a band together (a cheezy version of The Runaways). The girl that plays lead guitar is a survivor of the first massacre and we can tell she’s still slightly confused. As they get together in an empty house to practise for the next show, the trouble begins. Lead guitar girl starts having horrible nightmares starring a killer that sings, dances and carries a bad ass guitar with a screw drill on the neck while he chops of hands and drills holes in everyone. Leaving the spectator with questions: is the director pulling a freddy Krueger?? Why does this guy look like John Travolta? Are these people really dead?? Why do I even like this?

Apparently there is a sixpack of Massacre films, that show us 2 films in 3 different subgroups: Slumber Parties, Sorority Row and Cheerleaders. All of them packed with a typical B-movie visual spectacle and crazy plot twists. The interesting thing about the 1982 Slumber Party Massacre part I is that it was written by feminist activist Rita Mae Brown. Who obviously got so wrapped up in the story of a dude sticking his screw drill in all these innocent half naked teenage girls, that she forgot all about her beliefs.

About Bart Constant

2011-03-23T10:42:00.010+01:00

Finally the wait is over. It's been a good few years, but the artist formerly known as About is back!

After working and touring extensively with Dutch band Voicst and doing production work for loads of other artists, Berlin-based Rutger Hoedemaekers has reincarnated in the persona of Bart Constant. To give us a taste of the new album he has just released a video for one of his songs: Do Better. And it's absolutely AMAZING!!!! The song, which features Dustin O'Halloran on piano is so beautiful, and the video (well video, it's more of a mini movie) is stunning. The song and the vid just work so well together. It was directed by Mirka Duijn and produced by Nina Spiering, who collaborate under the name of Kimmo Films.

Somehow releasing an album never comes easy for Rutger. Just before his first album was supposed to come out he suffered from a collapsed lung, three (!) times. Just before he was about to master this latest record his mixer failed and he missed his flight to London and thus his appointment at Abbey Roads Studios. And then his purple Polo broke down while he was on his way from Berlin to the shoot in Rotterdam, the car he needed to sell in order to finance the video... Insane or what?! But even though he couldn't make an appearance in the video, it's here and it's great. The album has been mastered and we are now anxiously waiting its release. Until then marvel at this:

Night at the Museum

2011-03-04T16:25:00.006+01:00

Even more thrilling than Ben Stiller's Night at the Museum (I fell asleep while watching..) is the annual Rotterdam Museum Night. Tomorrow no less than 46 museums and galleries in Rotterdam are open till the wee hours (2.00) as they put up special installations, events, live bands en parties. A great chance to check out the Custom and Tax Museum, the Museum of Chess Pieces (huh?) or the Feyenoord Museum (located in stadium De Kuip), just to name a few.

But why not seize the opportunity to visit kids museum Villa Zebra with no kids there?! Besides their excellent current exhibition they've got workshops and performances by actors from theater company Jeugdtheater Hofplein. The festival and Villa Zebra are both celebrating their 10th birthday, so all the reasons to party twice as hard. That's why yours truly will play the best songs of the last decade. Hop on the special Museum Night bus or boat and come to Rotterdam's most fun museum! It's going to be a looooooong night!

*FREEBIE ALERT*
We've got special (digital) vouchers to give away for those of you who would like to visit Villa Zebra tomorrow. With this voucher you'll get FREE entrance!! Interested? Email us at info [@] dutchdolls [.]nl. Please note, this is for Villa Zebra only, you'll need a passe-partout to visit the other participating museums. These will be for sale at Villa Zebra (€17,50) (buy tickets in advance for €13,50 here).

Yeah yeah I'm a fan pt II

2011-03-03T13:49:00.008+01:00

As I was searching the web the other day for an image of a jumping spider (which must be the cutest insect on the planet) I stumbled upon the spider below and couldn't believe my eyes. As I dug deeper into the person behind this incredible piece of art I found out it was done by a girl, by the name of Aurel Schmidt.

She was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada but moved to New York 6 years ago. To seek some thrills as she says, because it is hard to draw rotting corpses when your life is 'peachy'. And I am thankful she chose to live out of a suitcase because this decay is the most wonderful thing I have seen in ages. One more horrific than the other, but all wonderfully complex and soft. These days, she's also known as a New York socialite, a photographer and my new hero.

want to know more? Read an (quite old, yet cool) interview here.

New Relics

2011-03-02T11:32:00.002+01:00

This weekend Rotterdam is all about art; museumnight is an annual event that turns the whole town upside down. Performances, live music and lots of artsy stuff all over the place!

All the established and not so established galleries, ateliers and museums make sure they have something special planned for this night. And so does Gallery Blaak 10 with their exhibition New Relics that opens this thursday at 19.00h.

This group show is all about new works of none other than Silas (Antistrot, Machinegewehr, Viper Cobra), Eelco van den Berg and newcomers Sober Industries. This will be the perfect pre-party for museumnight with music, beers, art and good company!

Check flyer for info.

Fear and Loving

2011-03-01T17:24:00.004+01:00

Because I've mostly seen acts that were all heavy basses and synths over the past few weeks (Magnetic Man, James Blake, Nero, Chrystal Castles), the time was right to rock out again! Time to rock out properly: Les Savy Fav was in town!! A band that puts on one of the best live shows on planet earth if you ask me.

I love Les Savy Fav. They've got catchy songs, great guitar hooks and damn I wish my bum was as tight as their rhythm section. But their real trump card (joker?) is their singer Tim Harrington:

He is fat, bald and has a very large beard. He spends more time off the stage than on doing all sorts of crazy stuff (and so he is always very sweaty). I fear him! That's why my favorite place to see them was in the late Waterfront in Rotterdam. This venue had several large pillars, so I could easily hide from him (mind you, this was back in 2001 and there were maybe 20 other people there so the chances he would come up to you and yell in your face were considerable!).

Alas, the only pillars at The Globe in Cardiff are at the back near the bar, but you wouldn't want to be watching the show from way back there. Anyway, the show was sold out so there were plenty of other possible 'victims'. A good thing because once again my fears proofed to be grounded: Tim came on stage dressed up like Gaddafi, he went through several sets of garments that all got torn to pieces, he shouted in some woman's face (she got really pissed off - she even slapped him in the face - which of course made him prolong his harassment haha), he ate some guy's hair and licked the nipples of another. He even went crowd surfing, at which point I heard somebody yell in agony: "GRAB HIM BY THE ARSE, HE'S REALLY HEAVY!!!!". My 5th Les Savy Fav concert was again a memorable one.

Les Savy Fav - Patty Lee. Get it here (YSI).

Les Savy Fav - Tragic Monsters. Get it here (YSI).

p.s. Did you know that... Tim and his wife design patterns under the name of Deadly Squire (he went to Rhode Island School of Design after all)? This one is based on his doodles of flowers:

Makes him a lot less fearsome, doesn't it?

How (not) to clean your vinyl

2011-02-17T10:27:00.014+01:00

Last week a friend of mine rescued a big bag of 45s from the skip at the charity shop where she volunteers. Knowing how much I love my vinyl she invited me over to do some cherry picking over a lovely pint of Cornish ale. She would give the rest of the records to a friend, who makes bowls out of them. To be honest I thought it was going to be 99% rubbish, but I was amazed of what came out of that bag! These were all singles from the sixties, I think from a jukebox (as they had no sleeves). There were The Beatles and The Stones, there were some crooners (Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Tom Jones), some rock 'n roll (Elvis Presley, Chubby Checker, Brenda Lee) and some Motown and soul (Al Green, Sam Cooke, Ike and Tina, The Supremes, The Four Tops). I also took a few with intriguing titles, like The Human Jungle/Onward, Christian Spacemen by The John Barry Seven. Lucky me!!

Now I didn't expect these records to be in mint condition (they came in a plastic carrier bag - without sleeves...). But the biggest problem was that they were disgustingly dirty! So I went on the internet and Googled for cleaning advice for vinyl. Enter Nerdworld. I found all sorts home made recipes for cleaning fluid, using various amounts of distilled water, washing up liquid, isopropyl alcohol, acetone, Triton X-100, and/or tile cleaner. There was one guy who swore by using a diaper (a cotton one that is). Big no no's are using ordinary tap water and playing your records wet. A good way of drying them is putting them on a drill and then spinning them at the highest speed! Though this might be a myth.

They probably need a good clean in one of those machines, which "will apply the record cleaning solution, properly scrub the record and finally vacuum the dirt and liquid off leaving you with a dry and pristine vinyl record". But with these records 'a blind horse couldn't do any damage' (as we say in Holland), so I thought I'd just give it a go with some water with a few drops of washing up liquid and some cotton pads. I probably broke all the golden rules of record cleaning, but it helped. Somewhat. Just look at the dirt that came off!

Ieeew!! It took me an entire evening to brush and wipe them all off, but here they are now, nicely stacked in crisp white sleeves that I ordered on eBay.

Listen to a few of the treasures I received. Luckily for you guys I don't have one of those USB record players, so these MP3s are with out the crackles, scratches and dust :-)

I am extremely happy that Fingertips I and II by Little Stevie Wonder (aged 12 at the time!) was saved from the bin. It's a live take cut in two, so the jam just continues on the B-side. "Stomp your feet, jump up and down and do anything that you wanna do!"

Little Stevie Wonder - Fingertips I & II. Get it here (YSI).

Nice bluesy swing/big band tune, until 'Raelette' Margie Hendrix rips it up after a minute and a half. Holy shit.

Ray Charles - You Are My Sunshine. Get it here (YSI).

Another gem is Al Green's beautiful Tired Of Being Alone. But the B-side Right Now, Right Now is also a great track. Very funky, very Papa-Was-A-Rolling-Stone-esk.

Al Green - Right No, Right Now. Get it here (YSI).

Worth a clean right?!

Euphoric Loops

2011-02-10T15:01:00.004+01:00

Recently I discovered that I'm a sucker for pitched-up friendly loops of guitar, piano and violin. This revelation happened after I heard the Fuck the Money song of B.o.B. that I posted below. Of course I was sceptic at first due to that horrible song with the Paramore girl. But perhaps Kanye West's magic wand did the trick? Anyway, it made me think of some other songs that I love that have the same high-pitch loop in combination with the smooth rhymes of a male rapper... Love love love these tracks by Subtitle (currently on tour in Europe, check his myspace for dates), Lil B, B.o.B. and Taz-Man!

Subtitle - Pub Chick (txt msg follow-up). get it here (YSI)

Lil B - Real Life (Eras rmx). get it here (YSI)

B.o.B (feat. Asher Roth) - Fuck The Money. get it here (YSI)

Taz-Man - Know Dis. get it here (YSI)

Cool. And not just by association.

2011-02-02T23:44:00.003+01:00

DELS or Kieren Dickins as his folks named him, is really starting to make some waves here in the UK. And I must say, I love what I've heard from him so far. I guess you'd file his music under hip hop, but then outside the box of hip hop. If that makes any sense..

He has been working with some interesting people, like Micachu and Joe Goddard from Hot Chip. The latter produced his current single Trumpalump and also made a remix of it, on which another great UK rapper named Ghostpoet joins in. Who happened to appear together with DELS before on a mixtape that Michacu made with Kwes back in 2009. You can still get this Kwesacu mixtape here! ANYWAYS (sorry about all the namedropping) his debut album, set to be released in April, surely is going to be cooler than cool. And not just by association.

DELS - Shapeshift. Get it here (YSI).

DELS - Trumpalump (Joe Goddard Quiet Remix feat. Ghostpoet). Get it here (YSI).

p.s. Did you know he is not only a very gifted musician, but also a talented designer? He went to art school, he can draw (he made some pretty cute drawings for his first 7") and even knows how to use a sewing machine (proof here). His background as a graphic designer might explain the awesomeness of his video's. Like the one for Trumpalump. Watch closely, the 'color adjustments' weren't done in Aftereffects or whatever, but with paint!

Very welcome

2011-01-28T19:00:00.005+01:00

Imagine getting your masters degree in Economics AND in Statistics. What are you going to do next? Get your PhD? Go corporate? Or go to Africa and start a record label? Well that's exactly what Benjamin Lebrave did. His label Akwaaba Music (Akwaaba means 'welcome' in the Ashanti language from Ghana) has been on my radar for some time now (I blogged about their Angolan kuduro compilation in 2009). Always on the look out for the best contemporary African music, they digitally release more trado stuff as well as the latest hard core dance music from countries like Ghana, Angola, Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo. Let's listen to the good man himself telling more about his label:

Global Bass : interview with Benjamin Lebrave/Akwaaba music from Videomit on Vimeo.

This January Akwaaba Music is celebrating its 2nd birthday! And therefor they're treating us to a special compilation of 50 songs they've released so far: Chop Our Music. You can buy it for just $10 (that's just €7.35 or £6.30) over at Bandcamp! And this is one of my favorite tracks on it:

DJ Djeff - Elegom Bounsa feat. Maskarado (Main Mix). Get it here (YSI). But I really urge you to buy it as 50% of the proceeds goes directly to the artist! Yes yes, Akwaaba Music is a 'fair trade' label :-)

The cherry on top of their birthday cake is a FREE hour long supermix by DJ Zhao (download it by clicking on the arrow on the right). It gives you a good taste of the music that's being released by Akwaaba. I personally really enjoy the latter part where the tempo goes up hehe.

Djzhao - ChopChop Akwaaba Supermix by Akwaaba Music

Fabulous Faces

2011-01-19T16:21:00.008+01:00

Puberty. It seems so long ago for me, luckily I get to be in touch with that old feeling on a regular base.

These past two months I got in touch by developing and teaching a nine week 'artshot' at Zadkine, a vocational school in Rotterdam. Which basically meant that I had to create portraits with a group of twenty reluctant teens and young adults that really don't want to be there. But they have to be, or they will not get their much needed certificate and points. Keep in mind that none of them take (or have ever taken) artclasses, and hardly anyone had ever been to a museum!!

In reality we had a really good time. We played our favorite tunes every time we got together, and they got to bring their own Ipods and Iphones and they made some really great stuff while we listened to some raggaeton, Drake, kuduro and more reggaeton. Today was the day of the presentation and up to just now I hadn't seen their final projects. But I'm kinda proud.

I want to share with you some of the highlights, take a look!!

New Orleans Doll

2011-01-18T20:54:00.021+01:00

You know how you start out surfing the web with a particular goal and with in no time you're totally sidetracked and end up god knows where. This is exactly what happened to me last night. I was looking for a large but still handsome and stylish rucksack (quite a quest I can tell you) when I found some very strange and somewhat disturbing pictures on some sort of 'life style' blog...

The pictures were of New Orleans singer Ernie K-Doe. Now Ernie made some great tunes in the early '60s, with and without the legendary artist/producer/songwriter Allen Toussaint. His biggest hit was Mother In Law. Probably lots of people could relate to the lyrics "The worst person I know / Mother-in law, mother-in law... Satan should be her name / Mother-in law, mother-in law...". Other songs, like Here Come The Girls and Certain Girl are absolute stompers! I never knew much about Ernie besides the fact that he was a great singer and I absolutely loved these songs. But after seeing these pictures I became curious. Turns out this guy was quite a character!

☝ Ernie at the beginning of his career (please note this is not one of THE pictures I was talking about).

After his success in the '60s and some flops in the early '70s Ernie developed an alcohol problem. But he managed to turn his life around in the '80s when he got a radio show. It was pretty popular, thanks to his "explosively energetic announcements and frequent self promotion", calling himself "Emperor of The World" and “the Greatest Boy-Child ever conceived at Charity Hospital in New Orleans”.

In the '90s he and his wife opened up a bar in New Orleans and called it the Mother In Law Lounge. Ernie sang his greatest hits on Mondays and his wife Antoinette would serve soul food. Sadly Ernie died in 2001 of liver and kidney failure. Antoinette continued running the Lounge and she turned it into a shrine for her late husband. She even had a MANNEQUIN of Ernie made! It would sit in the bar somewhere and it would regularly change outfits. So here come the slightly weird pictures I was referring to:

☝ Ernie the doll. On the last two picture with his wife.. euh widow Antoinette. And Usher.

The doll even ran for mayor of New Orleans in 2006!

During Mardi Gras 2009 Antoinette passed away. Their daughter kept the bar going for some time, but she closed it in June last year after a car drove in and crashed the place.. What a pity!! From what I read it must have been a great place! She sold a lot of the paraphernalia and fixtures of the bar at a garage sale. I sure hope she kept the mannequin!

"The Emperor is dead. Long live the Emperor!"

Ernie K-Doe - Here Come The Girls. Get it here (YSI).

Ernie K-Doe - Certain Girl. Get it here (YSI).

I'm at Winterwolven B*tch!

2011-01-15T17:47:00.011+01:00

Last Saturday was the first edition of Winterwolven Performance Party in Rotterdam, an event organised by Rotterdams finest: Maatschappij voor Volksgeluk, Bond voor Wilde Dansers and last but not least: We own Rotterdam.

The whole idea was to put together a night with music and performance art that was supposed to be inspirational but most of all... FUN. And fun it was!!

We were expected at the venue (Roodkapje/Rot(t)terdam/Beatburger)at 20.00 to set everything up, have some food and get dressed. This seemed a bit early (the party started at 23.30), but this point in time miraculously happened to coincide with the first dry moment of the day. So we quickly wheeled Blanche over so she and our hairdo's would not be harmed by the rain. When we got there the place was already looking rather amazing with big inflatable objects hanging from the ceiling, projections everywhere and a lot of people carrying crazy costumes. When we finally put all the cables where they should be (this can take forever because something always seems to malfunction) we decided to take our nerves downstairs, into the dressing room. The things we saw while we were there will remain a secret....

When it was finally time to start playing it seemed like people came falling from the sky or something. All of a sudden the place was packed and outside was a line of people, HUGE! As we were not able to win this war of bass that was going on inside, we decided to take Blanche outside... to party with the queue! People had to wait for 45 minutes to get in, so our tunes were much appreciated. Pretty soon all the costumed people came outside with their megaphones and started grinding in the street, and even passer-by's (?) stopped and partied with us! Now there was a party inside as well as outside and we just kept going and dancing... till the cops came. At two o'clock. Being quite hostile and all, you know how cops get.. not recognizing the coolness of a soundsystem on a rollator. Do they ever have fun? After that we just partied some more without Blanche!

Take a look at these awesome pictures taken by Boudewijn Bollmann who documented all the fun inside.

We played everything that night; from Sidney Samson to Ms. Dynamite to Mr. Vegas. But this is the top 3 tracks that (we all love hits) made EVERYBODY dance!

3: Rihanna feat. Jeezy - Hard (Jody Den Broeder radio edit).

Get it here (YSI).

2: Das Racist - Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell (Wallpaper RMX).

Get it here (YSI).

1: LMFAO feat. Pitbull - I'm in Miami Bitch.

Get it here (YSI).

The Old North

2011-01-07T23:01:00.026+01:00

As you may know I travel quite a bit between Cardiff and Rotterdam. Roughly once a month I fly over to the Lowlands to work together with my Dutch Dolls-colleague. I usually crash at her place, or I catsit for a friend who goes on holiday a lot. They both happen to live in what is rapidly becoming the funkiest area of Rotterdam: "Het Oude Noorden" ("The Old North").

Now I used to be a Westside girl (for years I lived in notorious Spangen) and swore West was the best. I never liked "The Old North" very much, with its dark narrow streets and boarded up houses. But the dark days are over. Every time I take tram number 4 or 8 from Central Station towards my temporary home I notice new eateries, new shops and new artist studios. Here are just a few of the gems that spawned here recently.

☝ Mother and daughter run Lof der Zoetheid, a shop and cafe located at Noordplein 1. They serve breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea, and they do catering as well. You can buy beautiful 'afternoon tea boxes', filled with yummie stuff and a special afternoon tea, for you to take home (or you can make yourself immortal by giving this to someone else).

Westerkaatje. This traiteur is an institute in Rotterdam, and in October they opened up a new restaurant at Benthuizerstraat 60-D. A first sign of gentrification??

☝ Cafe De Bel, Gerard Scholtenstraat 61b, is a dive that looks like its been there for ever, but only recently it became VERY fashionable to go here. It's even been dubbed "De Rotown van Noord". It is rumored that with every wodka you order you get a free bag of crisps! Every time I arrive in Rotterdam the first thing I shout is "I want to go to De Bel!", but for some reason it never happens. But this week I want to go to De Bel FOR REAL!!!

☝ For 60s lamps and furniture, 70s ceramics, weird 80s objects and art go to Spam (Zwaanshals 243a). There are also plenty of second hand (book)/antique shops in the area, and today I even spotted a charity shop on the Zaagmolenstraat!

☝ More and more empty stores are turned into studio spaces by artist, designers and party organizers, who double their work space as a shop. Take Maatschappij Voor Volksgeluk on the Benthuizerstraat for example. 19 artists are united in a former fire station "Center of applied arts" Rotabs at Zaagmolenkade 46. They also host events and there's a shop.

Nice opportunities to explore the area are festivals like the Swan Market and Route du Nord. Swan Market saw its first edition last month, and another one is scheduled for March 6! At this 'lifestyle market' designers sell their products in empty shops in the 'Zwaanshalsgebied'. Route du Nord takes place in June I believe. Artists open up their studios and all sorts of happenings, readings and shows take place.

☝ On my last ride on tram 4 I noticed the prison complex on the Noordsingel (pictured above) has closed and is now FOR SALE. Very curious to see what will happen to this HUGE complex. Think of the opportunities! A couple of years ago two friends of mine paid homage to this prison with this ukelele version - in Dutch - of Folsom Prison Blues. I think it's utterly brilliant!

De Wisselende Contacten - Noordsingel Blues. Get it here (YSI).

Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues. Get it here (YSI).

Oh and I probably missed loads of places, so please leave comments and suggestions on The Old North!

For Gore Lovers

2010-12-27T18:23:00.014+01:00

It's the happiest time of the year, and I'm watching horrormovies as if my life were depending on it. For fellow genre-lovers; here are some of the highlights of this month. For people that are not into guts, weirdo's, unneccesary nudity and wild chases with or without chainsaws; scroll baby scroll.... all the way down!

I: Haute Tension (2003)
A french horrormovie by Alexandre Aja. This one had it all; gay love, a guy that looks like a ranger, but does nasty things with chopped off heads... lots of suspence, great acting and an unexpected brilliant twist in the plot. A definite keeper, and it ended up in the top 25 scariest movies of all time!

II: Body Bags (1993)
Nice 'vintage' horror triptych of genius John Carpenter (Halloween, The Fog, The Thing) and Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist). This one came to me in a package with a note enclosed: "this is the movie we talked about last week, hope you enjoy it". That was the nicest thing ever, especially because I really enjoyed it. These three short films (The Gass Station, Hair, Eye) were all very different, one was really funny and another gave me sweaty palms, but I saw things in all three of them that I saw in movies that are much younger than these. Really worthwhile if you like orang-y blood.

III: Devil (2010)
I was told that this one was superscary and I must say that the concept seemed kind of appealing to me. A bunch of people getting stuck in an elevator is nasty to begin with (I know this from personal experience) but when people start dying every time the light turns off (electricity malfunction?) it gets even nastier. I thought of Cube immediately and hoped for a nice psychological game with some nice gore added to it. Nevertheless, I should have remembered that it was directed by M. Night Shyamalan. He likes religion and stories that are full circle. I'm not into that, it's not what I look for in a horrormovie. I like bad endings and even more.. the unexpected. Not a keeper, but at least there was no Haley Joel Osment to overact this movie to death.

IV: The Human Centipede (2010)
Last but REALLY NOT least: a dutch horrormovie that kept me nauseous for quite some time. Director Tom Six and his wife apparently wrote the movie and also came up with the rather sick idea of having a MAD german doctor (Dieter Laser, awesome name huh) sew together three people and give them only one digestive system. After some experiments on dogs, he does it for real. Just try to picture what this human centipede looks like and one can only imagine what happens with the second and the last person, when the first one eats. Not for weak stomachs, but really original and well made. And oooh, the mad doctor... love his looks!

Here's some of the sound that goes with all that terror:

Goblin - Sleepwalking get it here (YSI)

Goblin - Suspiria get it here (YSI)

Puha Party

2010-12-16T23:33:00.005+01:00

Join us tomorrow December 17th for some rollatordisco at PUHA's Greedy X-mas party in Utrecht! Puha is a funky little shop in the Hardebollenstraat, that sells great stuff by young independent designers (they've got the very last pairs of our Hand in Glove mittens for example). So get your pressies while drinking and dancing; Christmas shopping doesn't get any better than this!!

Now let's hope and pray we survive this trip with Blanche through the snow and icy streets (definitely not the right weather conditions for a soundsystem!)...

Quick fix

2010-12-14T18:59:00.012+01:00

Sorry guys, I'm a bit pressed for time at the moment. I just handed in an illustration and now I've got to pack my stuff and go to Rotterdam to pick up the other Dutch Doll and Blanche, and take the train to Utrecht to play at a party tonight. So no personal disclosures, no background info and no uploads this time. Luckily embedding a video is done in a flash and I've been dying to blog about these two anyway!

Some my favorite female UK MCs (Envy, Mz Bratt, BabyBlue, Ruff Diamondz) are doing it for themselves on this remix of Tinchy Stryders' Game Over. For a while I was afraid grime was sliding down a steep slick slippery slope, but this track gives me hope.

While I was slaving over this impossible deadline, with the rain (and later snow - lots of it!) gushing down outside, all I had to do is look at this video and everything was alright again. A grinding cookie monster, what more do you want?!?

Kinda newsworthy

2010-12-04T15:11:00.017+01:00

For some reason I lately enjoy listening to the Dutch radio's news channel while working. I think it's the voices of the people chattering away that make me feel like I have company (uhm this sounds pretty pathetic..). They play only one song per hour or so, and usually it's pretty middle of the road. With a startle I realized that now that I'm completely up to date with what's going on in the real world, I might be losing touch with what's happening in the world of music! So I hurried myself online and put up a search for new musical input. I hereby present you some of my findings. Not all tunes are "fresh from the press", but in my opinion they're still newsworthy.

Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar (Ft. Wu-Tang Clan)(Chrome Remix) . Get it here (YSI).
Love love love this song and love it even more now.

Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx - NY is Killing Me. Get it here (YSI).
An album is on its way!

Bon Iver and St. Vincent - Roslyn. Get it here (YSI).
Definitely not a current affair (2009), but what the heck, this song is beautiful.

Textile in the Mix

2010-12-03T12:54:00.005+01:00

Wearing two pairs of socks, jeans, a singlet, a t-shirt, a blouse and the most hideous (and huge) wollen cardigan you've ever seen, the summer seems so far away now. But it was the summer when we started this project... and this december we will reveal it, at CBK Rotterdam!
Haadjar Fris, an artist/teacher from Rotterdam asked six (fairly) young designers from Rotterdam to collaborate with six women that weren't born in Holland, but who are experts at a 'forgotten' technique such as knitting, crocheting or embroidery. We were supposed to give this somewhat oldfashioned craft a fresh look by mixing it with modern techniques, views or material.

I remember thinking: 'oh, this can be fun but I hate crochet so I really hope she's not going to match me with a crochet-person'. What did I get? I know, I jinxed it. As it turns out, I hate it so much that I almost gave up on the project, because I just don't have the patience or the love for it.

In the end, I decided to just ignore the wool and the needle and turn the whole thing around and now the exhibition will finally happen. On saturday december 18th from 14.30h - 16.30. Expect original (affordable) pieces by Kwannie Tang, Yvonne Gaemers, Daisy Kroon, Zelda Beauchampet, Diana van Golden and yours truly.

Join us for a drink and a happy dance!

Saturday december 18th, Nieuwe Binnenweg 75, Rotterdam

Yeahyeah, I'm a fan.

2010-11-27T15:13:00.006+01:00

Okay, it's been all over the blogs... but it's just so great, I can't stop talking about it: Warpaint has a new album called The Fool and it covers my musical needs.

This psychedelic rock quartet from Los Angeles have been together since 2004 (as a trio at first), and have only released two records till this day. The first one was called Exquisite Corpse and was also really great and gloomy and awesome. The song Krimson from that one has been stuck on repeat. This new album is equally special, if not more. It is a nice ride from 'uptempo' grungy songs to intimate ballads and it never loses the raw, dark, yet really feminine sound.

Yeahyeah, I'm a fan.

And because good things need to be shared, I give you the most wonderful song on the record that was made downloadable by Rough Trade as a bonus with the vinyl. Baby, soon you will be humming it everywhere you go..

Warpaint - Baby get it here (YSI)

Variété De Luxe #3

2010-11-24T11:36:00.005+01:00

This Friday our friend Peter 'Teps' de Koning is hosting a third edition of Variété De Luxe: a highly entertaining evening filled with music, poetry, comedy, ukuleles and Blanche's "rollator disco"! Entrance is €0, which includes a glass of bubbles!!

Friday November 26, 19.30. 1st floor of the Public Library Rotterdam, Hoogstraat 110.

Heaven is a place in Wales

2010-11-23T14:23:00.025+01:00

As it happens I live near one of the best places on the planet. It’s called Hay-on-Wye and it’s a beautiful little town on the border of Wales and England (population: 1469). It surrounded by glorious hills and it has 30 (!) secondhand bookshops.

So when we had friends visiting last week we took them to this quaint village. Unlike my Canadian friends I didn’t have to worry about excess baggage, so I came back home carrying kilo's of books (and extra body fat - a full English breakfast at the B&B and a delicious meal at the Old Black Lion were to thank). These are a couple of the books I got...

From the Honesty Bookshop (unattended outdoor bookcases, you just put the money in a box) I picked up some great cheap old books with lots of pictures of flowers and (extinct) animals for making collages.

I got a book by pop culture whiz Chuck Klosterman Killing Yourself to Live. I thoroughly enjoyed his other books, and so far I’m really enjoying the tales of his road trip visiting places where rock stars died. Though it’s not so much about the dead artists or their deaths; Chuck gets easily sidetracked by memories of his childhood, of songs, scenes from movies, ex-girlfriends and drugs. Chuck is funny.

As some of you will know I got more and more obsessed with patterns since I moved to this country, an obsession which has been particularly fueled by carpets in pubs and other unlikely places. So I bought myself English Printed Textiles 1720-1836, published by one of my favorite museums in the world: the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. It contains some great patterns with birds!

My biggest gem must be The Royal Family Pop-Up Book, published in 1984. Oh it’s so great, the royal family portrayed as cardboard puppets! I wanted to make a video while flipping through the book, but when I googled the book I found out some Chinese person already did that. With dramatic orchestral music!

And for a tenner I picked up a dented (hence the price) copy of Dancehall – The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture by Beth Lesser. I already own the 2 cd-box set that goes with it, so I was overjoyed to find this beautiful book. The book focuses on Jamaican music in the 1980s, the "golden age of dancehall". It has loads of pictures and interviews and stories about the biggest artists, producers and sound systems of that decade. And Lesser provides us with some historical context. I’m always quite fascinated to read about how the political, economical and geographical situation of a certain place influences its music. For example one of the reasons that there is so much emphasis on the bass in Jamaican music can be traced back to the fact that Jamaica was a poor country and not a lot of people could afford a record player or a radio, or go out in clubs. So they would gather outside (as it's always good weather in the Caribbean) where some people had set up a turntable and a speaker. These soundsystem parties were extremely popular, sometimes thousands of people would turn up. So the music had to be really loud, and had to have a lots of bass! And then Dub was, as King Tubby stated, his attempt to recreate the natural effect of the delay you would be experiencing when you're in a large open space surrounded by multiple speakers.

There’s also a section about what was hot and what was not, fashion-wise. Well the clothes that were hot were literally hot. Apparently preppy clothes from the UK were all the rage. Pretty bizarre to see all those men in woolen sweaters and hats in what must have been a blazing heat!

Well, I leave you with two of tracks from this excellent Soul Jazz Records compilation...

Tenor Saw - Pumpkin Belly. Get it here (YSI).

Barrington Levy - Here I come. Get it here (YSI).

So I made drawings for VICE...

2010-11-16T18:01:00.006+01:00

Vice mag asked me to make five portraits of dutch comedians for an article about what made 3 women of 3 different generations laugh. To learn more about this, the writer of the piece asked her grandma, her mom and herself about funny people and looked at what was different and what was similar.

I picked out some favorite ones and drew them. Check the whole interview out on viceland, and look at some highlights below.

Still under the covers

2010-11-10T22:39:00.015+01:00

The heating is blazing, the warm water bottle is in daily use and "I am sitting in front of my computer with a blanket like an old person" as well: it got chilly here in Wales! And wet and grey and windy. But these covers are keeping me warm these days...

Erma Franklin - Hold On I'm Comin' (Sam and Dave cover). Get it here (YSI).

Frente - Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order cover). Get it here (YSI).

Body Language - Sandwiches (Alaska In Winter Remix) (Detroit Grand Pubahs cover). Get it here (YSI).

F.A.R.T. in the bathroom!

2010-10-29T13:27:00.027+02:00

This must be one of the weirdest places we’re ever going to DJ (though our party in the elevator, that got stuck by us jumping, is one for the books too)… Tomorrow we’re going to play in the bathroom of a hotel room. Somewhere between the bathtub, the sink and the toilet Dutch Dolls are going to whoop it up! How appropriate for a festival called F.A.R.T.. All kinds of artists have been asked to fill the rooms of the hotel and hostel with installations, mini-exhibitions and performances. At 23.00 the warehouses open up for DJs and live performances.

So on invitation of Johan Kleinjan we’re playing at his SUPERRRMINIFEEST in Room 31 of Boutique Hotel Quartier du Port from 20.00 till +/- 22.30. We already got some great suggestions what to play, from Piss Up A Rope and Don’t Shit Where You Eat by Ween, Ring Of Fire, Drop It Like It’s Hot, Push It, Earth Wind and Fire and Golden Brown by the Strangles, to anything by George Michael. Alas, since it’s vinyl only this rather limits our selection of bathroom-themed songs. But don’t worry we’ll be bringing some other great stuff to make sure it gets hot and steamy in there! Better leave your kids at home...

At 22.30 we’re crossing the street to the Westelijk Handelsterrein where we’ll play a set over a proper PA in warehouse no.15. Come and shake your booty between 23.00 and 24.00, and stick around for more great performances by the likes of zZz, Doktor Schnitt, J.C. Thomaz & The Missing Slippers, DJ Shitmeister T!!

Three cheers for midweek drinking

2010-10-26T23:07:00.023+02:00

Can I hear three cheers for midweek drinking?! One of the few good things about being self-employed is that I can go out on school nights (when I plan it properly of course..). And the most exciting artists always happen to been in town during the week, probably to cater for the enormous student population here in Cardiff. So in order to see some of my favorite bands and DJs in the flesh I have to endure hours of feeling old! It almost puts me off going, but I really want to go see the following men, who are in my opinion some of the more innovating men in the genre of subtle electronic music today...

Tomorrow (that's a Wednesday) i'm going to see a duo called Mount Kimbie at the Cardiff Arts Institute. Luckily my friend was wise enough to buy us tickets, because it sold out pretty quickly. I really like their hypnotic, organic sound and I'm curious how things will come across live. Hopefully the beanbags are still around at CAI..

Mount Kimbie - Tunnelvision. Get it here (YSI).

I'm happy to see a fellow Dutchie coming to Cardiff this Thursday when Marty n plays Buffalo Bar. He's a genre bending composer and producer, and he has done remixes for some big names on the scene. He describes his music as "music for a warm but rainy day", which is a perfect description. Apparently he used to live very close to me in Rotterdam, as he named his label after the zip code: 3024. And apparently he's buddies with my former art teacher Erosie, who designed the cover for his album.

Kode 9 - You Don't Wash (Martyn's Scrub Vocal). Get it here (YSI).

Third cheer is for James Blake who will grace us Cardiffians with his presence on Thursday November 25th. I'm severly addicted to his track CMYK but his latest single Limit To Your Love (a Feist cover) is 'not bad' either. As is the video.

Get Under The Covers!

2010-10-19T21:15:00.003+02:00

Today was the first day I actually turned on the heat in my house. My toes were a whitish pink and I sat in front of my computer with a blanket like an old person. Rotterdam was even more grey than it usually is, and also more wet. Yes, fall is definately here. And to adjust properly to the upcoming moodswings: some beautiful noisy tearjerkers with a shoegaze flavor for you, because the summer has really left us. Booehooooe!

Grizzly Bear - He Hit Me (Crystals Cover) get it here (YSI)

Ted Leo - With Every Heartbeat (Robyn Cover) get it here (YSI)

Little Girls - 10 Mile Stereo (Beach House Cover) get it here (YSI)

Tot zines!

2010-10-19T19:31:00.016+02:00

I must admit it felt a bit strange to be walking around in leopard print at at car tuning convention one day and to be standing in front of a group of art school students the next. Welcome to the world of Dutch Dolls...

After a very enjoyable 'project week' about zines at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam in April we had the opportunity of doing it all again last week (read the blog post about the first one here). In small groups, or individually, 25 students from various departments worked on little booklets WITHOUT TOUCHING A COMPUTER. They were free in their choice of subject matter, because that's what zines are all about: a medium to express yourself, your opinions, your obsessions, your artwork, your comics, your poetry and whatnot.

So we ended up with a wide variety of zines: about superstitions, everyday annoyances, skateboarding and zine-making itself, the differences between the left and right side of brain and traditional German hunting imagery and terms, just to name a few. We were delighted that in times like these there was at least one zine that was political and critical. It was called "Wilder dan ooit" ("Wilder than ever") and it included fragments of an inspiring speech by Johan Fretz on the planned cuts in the government's arts budget, plus a plan how to fortify the art school should things get really bad and of course lots of very wild appropriated images of Geert Wilders.

There was a zine "Meisjes poepen niet" ("Girls Don't Poo"), filled with cut out images from glossy magazines of women in difficult poses. Just by combining them in a certain way, or altering them with little scribbles these perfect women, who supposedly are unable to poo or fart or to have hairy armpits, were put into perspective. Neat detail was the silkscreened poo-colored cover with a toilet paper banderole:

We were happy to see the return of the guys who made "A Sick Zine" during our workshop in April. They had continued working together since on an animal-themed second edition and decided to finish it the during our class (very clever). The lovely lads even included an 'ode' to Dutch Dolls, of which you can see a blow up in the upper right corner of the picture above. We are still debating who is who.. Meanwhile here's a selection of their original collages:

They made so many pages the zine turned out too thick to staple, so they had to glue it...

... 55 times...

More pictures of the making of A Sick Zine #2 can be seen on their Facebook page (yes they have a FB page, and a website, and they're on Twitter!). It was sold out in no time, so we suggest you become a fan or start following them to make sure you don't miss out on issue #3!

More 'filth' was produced by an exchange student from Switserland, Luca. Be honest, when someone tells you he "wants to do something with porn and vegetables and machines" you don't expect him to come up with something as tasteful as this:

He used a duplicator or ditto machine so he could print two colors in separate layers. We must say, big up for Wilco at the graphic studio at the Willem de Kooning Academy! Silk screen printing, letter press, typewriters, folding machines.. it's all there for the students to use.

Part of the assignment was to organize a 'zine jam' on Friday afternoon to sell and swap their zines. They failed miserably on this part of the assignment, but we'll forgive them because they worked so hard to have their zines ready on time. They camped out in the foyer of the school, we wheeled in Blanche for some background music and we had a ball anyway.

Still it's a shame they didn't promote this little event, because I know you, dear reader, would have loved to come and I know you wouldn't have left empty handed!!

70% awesome, 30% weird

2010-10-13T17:05:00.008+02:00

Last Sunday was another one for the 'plain weird' tag.

Photo by www.mathildekarrer.com.

Slightly hungover, our alarm started ringing at 09.00h... We dressed up with lots of fake fur, leopard print, gold chains, pearls and more things that are cute, but wrong. We put Blanche together and wheeled her over to AHOY, Rotterdam to deejay at the 100% tuning event. Which was as cool as we hoped it would be. Actually, it was cooler. Words do not describe what the event was like, but once we hooked up the battery, and DJ Assault was blasting through the speakers.. jaws dropped. Ooow, how awesome it felt to walk through all the extreme cars, with smoke effects, major sound systems, video screens, pearl paint jobs, airbrush, Svarovsky, rims from outer space... and lots of girls in skimpy outfits lying on top of them and twirling around them. The rollator fit right in. As did we... ahum.

After playing every nasty tune that we had, we went home. We took the subway and the elevator. We decided to party a little in the elevator and cranked up the volume as we went up. Eh... as we should have went up. The elevator broke down and we were stuck!! Even the guy of the helpdesk that answered our distress call thought it was funny. Two policemen and a mechanic had to come to set us free. What a Sunday..... really weird, but a 100% awesome!

Bless Mixtapes

2010-10-01T15:28:00.004+02:00

The mixtape, need I say more.. We've been giving and recieving them for years. And we need them. Alot.

When I meet a person who I suspect has the potential of putting together a brilliant mixtape, there will be no hesitation. I'll just make one myself and wait for the other person return the favor. So I recieved an awesome one this week, that has been stuck on repeat. The theme was dirty powersound and I hope mine was as good, but you be the judge of that. Here's a small selection (personal highlights) of the one I got and the one that was given.

From the one I got

Crookers - Tee-Pee theme feat. Drop The Lime get it here (YSI)

Flinke Namen - Hak Um (Partysquad rmx) get it here (YSI)

Siriusmo - Die Rockwurst get it here (YSI)

Ratatat - Beans (freestyle) get it here (YSI)

From the one I gave

Skream vs Elephant Man - Wobble That War (Elected mashup) get it here (YSI)

Radiohead vs Ghostface Killah - Daytona 500 (Panza Zandahz My Iron Lung Remix)get it here (YSI)

KraK Attack - Big Girl Skinny Girl get it here (YSI)

Larry Tee - Licky feat. Princess Superstar (Herve Goes Low Remix)get it here (YSI)

Wie schön das ist

2010-09-27T19:35:00.028+02:00

It's 19.00 and I'm ready for bed. My eyes are droopy and the skin below them is a dark shade of purplish blue... I am recovering from a fantastic weekend. Friends of mine got married on Saturday, but the celebrations lasted the whole weekend! It was a special day for a number of reasons. Of course it was special to see my friends getting married, but there were a lot of details that made this wedding an extraordinary one: the fantastic setting of Cardiff Castle, the cake and the stunning wedding dress (both made by the bride herself!), the Dusty Springfieldesque hairdo’s of the bridesmaids, the beer (smuggled across the German border by two of their friends) and last but not least the ORIGAMI FLOWER ARRANGMENTS (also made by the bride herself!!).

For the party they’d booked the EXCELLENT Klezmer Kollective, an 8-piece outfit from Cardiff. Their music led to wild and ecstatic dancing by all guests (as you can vaguely see on the picture above)! As there weren’t any DJ-facilities the couple had asked me to put together some compilation cd’s for the evening and night. Because the now-husband is German and the now-wife is Welsh I dug up songs by German and Welsh artists and some odd covers in either German or Welsh, some of which I’ll share with you here. I especially love Motown ‘auf Deutsch’, they sing with the cutest accent. Sehr süß!

Marvin Gaye - Wie Schön Das Ist. Get it here (YSI).

The Beatles – Sie Liebt Dich. Get it here (YSI).

Marty Roos - Blauer Montag. Get it here (YSI.

Tom Jones – Ring Of Fire. Get it here (YSI).

Alex Warren and Terema Wainwright - Newport Ymerodraeth State Of Mind. Get it here (YSI).

Throw that Curve Ball in my direction!

2010-09-21T18:33:00.010+02:00

December last year, I got a phone call of a certain drummer of a certain band. I had no clue who they were, but I thought the bandname was pretty cool. Which is like meeting someone with nice shoes.. a good first impression. And so I agreed to meet with them to talk about art for an album cover. A few Mb (make that Gb) later here it is: The cover for Baby, It's A face by Bombay Show Pig. All shiny and nicely printed by the polish people. Oh how good it feels to hold this in my hands!
I'm not going to post a song from the EP on here, but I will give you this one: a club-worthy remix with a funky wobble. Done by FretHinge who obviously, know how to party. More distortion!

Bombay Show Pig - Curve Ball (FretHinge rmx) get it here (YSI)

Hear the sub go boom

2010-09-21T15:44:00.014+02:00

I must confess I wasn't too impressed with Katy B when I saw her singing along with DJ Zinc, last year at the Warehouse Project in Manchester. Maybe it was too R&B, too garage-y (?) for my taste. But her debut solo single, produced by Lord of Dubstep Benga... Oof, what a banger. And what a thrill it was to play this track and hear the sub at Rotown go BOOM last Friday!

Katy B - Katy on a Mission. Get it here (YSI).

Blanche is on a roll!

2010-09-14T14:04:00.010+02:00

So after a successful test ride through the parks and streets of Berlin we found out that Blanche’s tweeters were a little antique... 1991 wasn’t a good year for speakers and therefor we blew ‘em up! But revamped with two Excalibur cone speakers with a maximum power capability of 540 watt she's now ready to roll down the streets of Rotterdam!

This Friday, September 17th, you can find us with Blanche at Rotown, Rotterdam. We will be warming up for the band Bombay Show Pig and we will even be joining them during their performance. JAIKS!! Entrance is free!

The next day, September 18th, we will be DJ'ing with Blanche during the opening of minishop Bazar Bizar at de Meent, Rotterdam. The party won’t be so very mini, because we’re also celebrating the fact that Bazar Bizar won the Gouden Grasspriet award!

There is also a rumour going around that on October 9th and 10th Dutch Dolls are wheeling Blanche over to AHOY, Rotterdam to play some bassful tracks at the 100% Tuning fair while taking in a lovely blend of hairgel, Hugo Boss and exhaustion fumes. And we’ll be doing some promo for our main dude Remco and his Shop 4 Cars. This rumour is yet to be confirmed so keep checking back here for the latest news!

Yaam man!

2010-08-27T20:24:00.005+02:00

Things started out great for Blanche, but unfortunately for the last few days it has been pouring here in Berlin. And with the rain our plans for doing all these guerrilla DJ gigs were flushed away.. So we decided to try our luck with some clubs and bars (read: places with roofs). And at Yaam we got lucky! They loved the look of Blanche as well as our Coconut Mix, so they asked us to roll by on Saturday afternoon. We're so thrilled; the place looks like a beach, they've got great cocktails and jerk chicken. So Berliners, drop by from +/- 17.00 till 19.00 at Stralauer Platz 35!!!

You're too Görli Görli

2010-08-24T21:34:00.008+02:00

Yesterday was a very special day. Because, despite of our first Becks-and-Hefeweizen-hangover, we decided to get up 'early' and take our lovely lady Blanche for a short stroll through Görlitzer Park in Berlin. Just to see how loud she can get. We were so hung over that we forgot half the equipment (we even forgot the music!). We went back twice and we still didn't have everything... But nevertheless Blanche's first walk in the park was a delight. We made one enemy but lots of friends. The local drug dealers were a fan. They want to book us at their next "party"!

We also met a musician called Wynton Kelly Stevenson. It turns out he has a very original way of playing the harmonica. Check it out on his MySpace!! It's a nice blend of dub, blues and hip hop. "That's the shit right there!", to speak in the man's own words.

Sometimes Blanche gets stuck in the cobbled stones. As we were jerking her we ran into another awesome musician. Yarah Bravo is MC/singer/beat maker and apparently she has a weak spot for sound systems. Her voice reminds us a bit of Lisa „Left Eye“ Lopes, and she's opening up for Freeway tomorrow. Who is very scary looking, like a black version of Matisyahu, but with less hair on top. So we might go and check her out live! You can watch her in this video...

Here's our ode to yesterday. A song we didn't play because we forgot to bring it.

Sophia George - Girlie Girlie. Get it here (YSI).

Reggae for Reggaehaters

2010-08-19T13:10:00.010+02:00

Once upon a time I was a one, a Reggaehater. Until I went on holiday to Jamaica. To keep me occupied while lying on those white beaches sipping fruit shakes I bought the book Bass Culture - When Reggae Was King by Lloyd Bradley. This fist thick book tells the story of reggae in the context of the island's sociological and political history, which is a turbulent one. I bought a Studio One box set and started listening to all the old stuff. And after seeing the dancehall queens on telly in our hotel room I was SOLD. I was no longer a Reggaehater.

So when a friend of mine declared she hated reggae with a passion I strongly felt the urge to try to convert her. Sadly she's returning to her heimat today, so as a goodbye present I made her a compilation of my favorite reggae tunes. I guess technically speaking it's not all pure reggae, there's some ska and early dancehall in there as well, but pff.. Bob Marley is not on there, but his son Damien is, along with a.o. Dawn Penn, Horace Andy, Toots & The Maytals, Yellowman, Chacka Demus & Pliers, Mr. Vegas and Tanya Stephens. These names don't ring a bell? Download the zip file and give 'm a listen. Maybe you'll see the light as well? And if you're already a Reggaelover I'm sure you will enjoy this string of hits.

~~Get it here (128 kb MP3s + tracklisting)(YSI).~~

Dedication to the max

2010-08-18T18:43:00.015+02:00

Love love loved that tacky record cover my Dollegue put up here a couple of days ago! Well last week I found quite a unique sleeve myself while I was charity shopping in London (in a completely different genre though):Being a big Morrissey and The Smiths fan myself, my heart started to melt when I spotted this embodiment of pure Mozzer dedication. This fan just couldn't stand having this great single sitting in a dull, plain white sleeve! I love the back cover even more. The His Masters Voice dog is there (twice), plus production and photo credits ("Smash Hits" - haha). Too bad there are no credits for the artwork!

I already own a copy of the 7", but I was happy to pay 50p for this amazing piece of teenage cut-and-past-work. Plus it is a truly great single. Suedehead is nothing short of brilliant, but I Know Very Well How I Got My Name on the flip side is so beautiful it makes me cry.

A. Morrissey - Suedehead. Get it here (YSI).

B. Morrissey - I Know Very Well How I Got My Name.
Get it here (YSI).

Tacky to the max

2010-08-16T11:26:00.007+02:00

It has been yeeaars since I've been to a festival. But last weekend was my first in about six years: Reggae Geel in Belgium.

White folks with dreads, hippies, stoners, red-yellow-black and green, it was all there. Including my heroes Busy Signal and Mavado, the ones who were supposed to rock my world. Apart from the backspins that drove me absolutely BONKERS, they really did rock my world.

But crazy enough, something else rocked my world even more. For a musicfanatic, finding a rare record might have the same effect as going to a concert. And it was just sitting there, in a box, waiting to be found: Dancehall Daughters, a compilation of female dancehall from the eighties. The best thing about this record is the cover, obviously. Which must be the tackiest thing I ever saw. Take a look at it above (and please click to enlarge). I have tried to find this record on discogs, and I have tried to find mp3's from the artists that are on it. But no such luck (I don't know if it's that rare, or that bad), so for now you'll have to settle for a similar sound by Yami Bolo. Who isn't a daughter, but sure sounds like one!

Yami Bolo - When a man's in love -get it here(ysi)

When it's raining cats and dogs listen to Best Coast

2010-08-13T22:02:00.008+02:00

In my January post about The Drums I wondered if their shoegazy surfpop would turn out to be the sound of 2010. I can now say YES. Just listen to Best Coast. Their single Boyfriend has been stuck on repeat here and is rapidly becoming the soundtrack to my summer. Or at least what's left of it...

Best Coast - Boyfriend.
Get it, and a couple of other songs, here at RCRD LBL.

An ear for an ear

2010-08-06T16:00:00.029+02:00

My apologies dear readers for being off the radar for so long. Holiday in France, working on our rollator-soundsystem Blanche, tight deadlines, a course at Central Saint Martins in London and friends visiting were to blame. But now I’m catsitting in London for a week so for once I’ve got loads of interesting stuff to blog about!

In between work I’m planning to go to lots of museums and exhibitions, a musical, the Hackney carnival, do shopping (of course), go to Brighton and see lots of live music. I’m not doing too bad on the latter with Field Day festival, Jens Lekman, the Blow and the Evan Parker Trio already under my belt.

Funnily enough balding men were the stars at Field Day. Caribou was great live, playing songs of his EXCELLENT album Swim. Max Tundra could play schlagers for all I care ‘cause his dance moves are the best and make his sets always enjoyable. I was pleasantly surprised by a very techno-oriented set by experimentalist Matthew Herbert, partly created from the top of a ladder and in a little dome tent on stage.

Then on Tuesday we went to see Jens Lekman and The Blow in the beautiful Union Chapel in London’s East End. My friend Kate was spot on when she described The Blow as “the female Max Tundra”; her dancing was a bit like a spastic tapdance. Very nice, just like the songs (with lots of finger snapping and hand clapping sound effects). It was a bit of a pitty her lyrics were inaudible due to the enormous natural reverb of the church. Then again, it's a real church with pews and a pulpit and candles, so what are you gonna do. Jens Lekman's performance was a joy, as always. I never listen to his albums (his “tram number seven to heaven, did you eat your banana from Seven Eleven”- lyrics tend to get on my nerves), but when he’s in the neighborhood I can’t resist seeing him. He's just too charming! And from the balcony where I was sitting I noticed Jens is balding…

Last night my beau tried to push my musical boundaries by taking me to The Vortex Jazz Club to see Evan Parker, an apparently very famous free jazz improvising saxophone player. This music needs trained ears to be fully appreciated, I think. So I just took a pen and doodled away on the reservation card that was lying on the table. In return for enduring this my boy promised me to join me to ANY show of my choice. So tonight I’m dragging him along to a African house club night at Notting Hill Arts Club. Ngagna, sweet revenge.

Caribou - Sun. Get it here (YSI).

Max Tundra - What Time is Love (KLF cover). Get it here (YSI).

The Blow - Hey Boy. Get it here (YSI).

Jens Lekman - A Postcard to Nina. Get it here (YSI).

Evan Parker - Dark Interior (extract - just to give you an idea...)

the foxy golden girl

2010-07-28T22:09:00.006+02:00

Blanche, she's here!! Not shaped like an old lady, but like a mobile soundsystem.

We took a very boring grey walker, spray-painted it pink and kitted it out with alot of gear and now we can make alot of noise, everywhere! We stroll behind the walker in style while playing a happy mix of boogaloo, reggae, soul, dancehall, dub and all the other things that make you feel sooo good!!

It's all in our coconutsmix. Have a listen here.

To celebrate the birth of Blanche we will be going for a loong walk in Berlin this summer. We will hit every spot we can and keep you posted on everything that is going on. So if you're in Berlin this summer.. Come boogie with us!

No Italo Tourist

2010-07-05T09:44:00.007+02:00

Yes, the day has finally come: the holiday to be specific...

When our german friends (who are actually dutch) decided to get married in france, we were told they wanted to fly us in to DJ at their wedding. Of course we really had to think about that... NOT! But before we bring the happy tunes and party with the newlyweds, we will set up camp and try to ride some waves in a different part of france; Ile d'Oleron. Even though I can't surf, I love hanging out in the water and I just like to pose for pictures holding a board.

We leave you with an awesome feelgood song by Amari. Enjoy your long hot nights.... I know we will!

Amari - Italo Tourist (Get it here)

We've got a winner!

2010-06-14T17:21:00.006+02:00

Martijn van Santen, who used to be in our class at the Willem de Kooning Academy, has won the VPRO debut prize 2010 for his comic book Werk in uitvoering (Work in Progress)! He received his award, a shitload of money, last week at the Haarlemse Stripdagen. The book was indeed a work in progress for a long time, he has been working on it for years, so it's great to see his hard labour being rewarded. The drawings are fantastic (Martijn is really a proper comic artist) and the jury was raving about the intelligent yet funny story. Buy the book at one of the Selexyz book shops or visit Martijn's website to order directly from the artist himself.

Soul, Steel and Show

2010-06-10T23:13:00.013+02:00

I was just surfing a bit, checking out some music blogs when I suddenly stumbled on this post about The Dutch Rhythm Steel & Show Band at the Funk my Soul blog. Having a soft spot for the steel drum I immediately downloaded the MP3s this kind blogger had ripped off the LP Soul, Steel and Show. It was - I kid you not - the best thing I heard in a long time! This album is such a gem (and priced accordingly.. it is very sought after), I just have to share it with you.

The Dutch Rhythm Steel & Show Band consists of musicians originally from Suriname and Trinidad and apparently they had several hits in the Netherlands and Germany in the seventies. I learned a few other interesting facts about the formation on the extensive Zaanse Pophistorie website. Like that they were founded by Adolf J. Tevreden, that their manager was Joop Koekkoek (which I found funny because that's my dad's name), that they were sampled by DJ Shadow and that they're still together. So I'm wondering: when's their next show??

Dutch Rhythm Steel & Show Band - Theme From Shaft. Get it here (YSI).

Dutch Rhythm Steel & Show Band - Feelin' Allright. Get it here (YSI).

Where there's a Street With No Name

2010-06-09T21:12:00.027+02:00

It’s not always easy for the Dolls to be living in different countries. We miss each other a lot. During the day I miss not working together (thank god for Skype), at night I miss not partying together and I miss the other Doll dearly at certain other occasions, like heart breaks and birthdays for example…

We hadn’t seen each other since March so we had all the more reason to meet up for my birthday and celebrate! We chose to meet sort of half way in Ghent, Belgium. We’d never been there before but we heard lots of good things about it. And rightfully so! We had a great time. We went on a boat tour through all the pretty canals and we ate proper fries with delicious Belgian mayonnaise (slightly more sour than Dutch mayo). We went to the excellent museum for contemporary art S.M.A.K. and to a crafty market (so nice to be on the other side of the stall for once!). We enjoyed Belgium beer in the sun and went clubbing till the wee hours. And of course we went for some (secondhand) shopping. Geeske extended her collection of weird objects with eyes and iffy 80s pop singles, while I bought some kitchenalia to add to my collection of food shaped objects (my latest obsession - also added to my collection that weekend: a hamburger phone, a birthday gift from my dear friends).

But what I loved most about Ghent were the street names. Like…

Little Shaking Fish Steet

 
 
Smut Street or Sludge Street.
And what about...
Zonder-Naamstraat - Street With No Name
Pensmarkt - Paunch or Gut Market
Kluizenaarstraat - Hermit Street
Pekelharing - Pickeled Herring
Heilige-Geeststraat - Holy Spirit Street
Gelukstraat - Lucky Street
Kapucijnenham - Capuchinham
Zwartezustersstraat - Black Sisters Street
 
But my absolute favourite was… 
Little Street With No End
Which was of course a dead end street. Aah, gotta love the Belgians!

Illustratie Biennale!

2010-06-02T21:15:00.004+02:00

This saturday will be the first edition of an event called Illustratie Biennale. Which is (as you might think) all about dutch illustration and design! Some of my personal heroes will be there, so exciting..

The event will be held in Haarlem and was initiative of the famous Piet Zwart Institute, a centre for postgraduate studies connected to the Willem de Kooning Academy and responsible for some great names in design-land. The place will be divided in several different areas with exhibitions, a shop and a digital presentation with over a hundred designers! I will be involved in the shop part where I will be selling some Dutch Dolls stuff and some zines called zo ordinair (so tacky) with solo-art (see the picture above!). I am also part of the digital exhibition with some drawings... and will be playing some tunes during the day.

The biennale will be opened at 11.30u by Joost Zwart and will be finished at 18.00u. Take a look at the website for more info!

Ladies First!

2010-05-26T10:32:00.005+02:00

This friday the 27th will be the opening of the groupshow Ladies First at Lev Kaupas, Amsterdam. It will be no surprise that all participants will be female even though their is work surprisingly un-female! Expect drawings, screenprints, performances, food-art, 3d objects and more... I have made a couple of new drawings with an odd theme and a really tiny pen. The work will be on exhibition for a month, but the opening will be extra special. You will be entertained by all female DJ's and dancers, but men are more than welcome ;-) It'll be a night to remember!

Oh, and if you want to come: send an email to the adres at the bottom of the flyer, the opening will be on invite only!

De Kooning Te Rijk!

2010-05-15T22:48:00.003+02:00

For the past couple of months, I have had the privilege of being a subsitute teacher at Rotterdam Art Academy. For about eleven mondays in a row I got to hang out with an awesome group of second year illustration students. Which was of course, very cool!

My last assignment was a rather difficult one. Because the students had to take the assignment of another course which was pretty vague, abstract and not very visual and turn it into a sellable product. This caused sweat, pain and yes... I even saw some tears. But even though I have to be patient for a little while longer, I believe the endresult will be stunning.

The students' work will be on exhibition (and for sale!) this friday at Gallery Blaak 10, Rotterdam.

Time: 17.30 - 21.00u, Place: Witte de Withstraat 7a

"What kind of beer do you like?" "Heineken." "HEINEKEN?! FUCK THAT SHIT, PABST BLUE RIBBON!

2010-05-13T00:51:00.011+02:00

Ah, it arrived just in time: The Hipster Handbook by Robert Lanham. Because this weekend I’m going to this All Tomorrow’s Parties festival, which is like a Mecca for Hipsters. I’ve been twice before and every time I felt hopelessly normal. Aaaah, what to wear, which beer to order, which bands to see?!?

I don’t think I ever heard the term Hipster before I spent a semester at an art school in Boston in 2003. But I sure got to know it there; plenty of Hipsters were attending the Art Institute of Boston and loads of them would gather at night in a nearby dive called the The Model to drink PBR’s. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what made these people stand out, until one day I found The Hipster Handbook in a bookstore. It had nice illustrations by Bret Nicely of all the hipster looks, their hairdo’s and their accessories (ranging from cigarette and beer brands to tattoos). It has a glossary of the Hipster slang (which I suspect is a little outdated now – are deck and fin still ‘key words’ for Hipsters?) and lists of their favorite music, movie stars and books. And at the end of the book there’s a quiz that helps you determine whether you’re a Hipster or not through questions like how you would name your new male French bulldog, how you prefer your armpits to smell, which font you would chose for your business card and whether you have margarine in your fridge (Hipster answers would be Kit or Jimmy; naturally musky or unscented; you have no business card; false). I must say it proved to be bizarrely accurate and it has been very insightful, ever since I’ve been able to spot a hipster from miles away.

Just before I left Boston I bought the book for a friend of mine and I have always regretted not getting a copy myself. The ATP festival triggered my memory of the book (and with it the fond memories of my time in Boston), so I ordered it online for just £0.67 (!). Of course I would never use it as a source book on what to wear and what beer to order. Although I do check most of the boxes on the Hipster music list (Pavement, Yo La Tengo, Stereolab, Public Enemy, Stan Getz, The Kinks and so on),  I now check quite a lot of boxes on the Symptoms Of Hipster Depreciation list. And "as a Hipster ideally possesses no more than 2% body fat", I am simply "too fat to be a Hipster". 

the value of repetition

2010-05-07T22:10:00.039+02:00

The pattern we designed for our lavender sachets Monsters in your Closet (with loads of moths on it) is now featured on REPEAT-X REPEAT-Y, an online collection of 'fresh' patterns. Go take a look, there's some pretty cool stuff on there!

Talking about the value of repetition.. we would like to remind you our wonderful smelling lavender sachets are available from our webshop :-)

let's get physical.. critical...

2010-05-04T23:26:00.019+02:00

I've been ranting about cycling in the UK before on this blog, and today I'm going to do it again. I'm afraid I became a bit of a bike fanatic since I moved here. A classic case of 'you don't know what you've got until it's gone', I guess... Cycling is so good, in so many ways and I can't stand it that I get ridiculed for riding my bike!

So last weekend the time had come to put words into action: I joined the Critical Mass bike ride here in Cardiff. Now I might need to explain the phenomenon of the Critical Mass to our Dutch readers here, since in Holland there is no such thing.

The first Critical Mass ride took place in San Francisco in 1992 with the idea of drawing attention to how unfriendly the city was to cyclists. Cyclists will be wearing signs and banners and make lots of noise by ringing their bells. The rides can take on truly massive proportions, with thousands of people taking part in the London and New York rides for example. Unfortunately things can get aggressive. Car drivers get impatient. As it's important that the group stays together roads might get blocked off and traffic lights ignored. (But I always found it's fascinating what happens once people step into their motorized cookie jar on wheels. They suddenly think they're invincible (and invisible - ever noticed how many people are picking their nose while waiting for a traffic light?!).

But in Cardiff things weren't that extreme. I thought it was good fun. It was so nice to be riding together. I felt even more like being in that Smiths video! So I gathered some more music videos featuring people cycling in herds (them being decent songs was another criterion). Enjoy the ride hehe..

The Cardiff Critical Mass takes place every first Saturday of the month. They meet at 11.00 in front of the museum on Park Place. Join their Facebook group!

In The Flesh

2010-04-22T20:53:00.005+02:00

When I was asked to put a groupshow together at projectspace Dek 22 I thought: 'ow jeez, WHEN am I going to do this?'. Then I thought: 'kinda cool'. One hour later all the participants were chosen, called and confirmed... 'WOW'.

The exhibitants are Marie Civikov, Wietse Eeken and Niek Westendorp and all three are very gifted and very cool. Marie makes huge paintings with bright colors and shocking images. She's got a very original and personal style of painting that I really like. Wietse makes big objects out of stone that are very raw and very in your face. They are so big and heavy that he needs a big truck with a lift to get his stuff from one place to another. Niek is an incredible painter that makes collage-style work. He paints layer on top of layer creating very intriguing sometimes scary images.

To make the flesh move, there will be music by me and the wonderful DJ Miss Delicious followed by a live show of J.C. Thomas & The Missing Slippers. Hope to see you there!

Thursday april 29th, 18.00-22.00u, Willem Buytewechstraat 22, Rotterdam

One week later, during the In The Flesh exhibit, the very talented fashion designer Daisy Kroon will open the fashion exhibition Skin, Skinner, Skinniest.

This will be a one night event with chocolate sneakers, skin-toned dresses, a pop-up closet and more. Sounds cool? Make sure you visit Dek 22 on friday may 7th at 19.30.

a sheer genius

2010-04-20T18:40:00.017+02:00

This design for a piece of embroidery by 14-year old Mary Tyrrell, made in 1717, sent me into a drawing frenzy this week. I found it in the book Embroidered with White - The 18th century fashion for Dresden lace and other whiteworked accessories (which I picked up in a charity shop - of course). I think the girl was a sheer genius, just look at those exotic birds!

MC Laren

2010-04-11T19:48:00.077+02:00

My trip to London last week was kind of a last minute decision. And as you need to book your train tickets three months in advance in this country to get an affordable fare, I was forced to take the bus.. Which sucks because by train London is just 2 hours away, by bus it takes over 3 hours. But then again I kept £45 in my pocket (which I could spend in London on 2nd hand records, books (bought at a gem of a bookstore, Bookmongers in Brixton), the most delicious sourdough pizza at Franco Manca, several pints of ale, and on seeing Mats Gustafsson. Plus I was able to put a good dent in the 600-page book I'm currently reading: Last Night a DJ Saved My Life - The History of the Disc Jockey. It's very entertaining, very informative and I can highly recommend the book to anyone who is interested in dance music, whether it's soul, disco, hip hop or techno.

I'm half way through the book and so, as the bus made its way onto the M4 on Thursday morning, I continued reading the chapter Hip Hop Roots. I read about the pioneering work of DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa in the Bronx in the '70s. I read about the relationship between disco and hip hop and the links between punk and hip hop, in which Malcolm McLaren played a big role. I chuckled over this part where McLaren goes to some block party in the South Bronx in the early days of hip hop:

"In August 1981 McLaren had been introduced to Afrika Bambaataa by Michael Holman, a black video artist who had taken him up to the Bronx to witness this amazing new music scene. The Sex Pistol's ex-manager was then steering the fortunes of pop band Bow Wow Wow, and formulating an ambitious album project based on smelting together the world's folk-dance music (this would become this Duck Rock LP). Despite a harrowing night during which he was, by most accounts, completely petrified, McLaren was mesmerised. 'It was like Heart of Darkness,' laughs Holman. 'I go to the hotel and I'm about to take them up to the Bronx on a summer evening - McLaren and Rory Johnston from RCA - and they're dressed like fucking pirates, in all that Vivienne Westwood gear. I thought we were gonna get stuck up or shot at any second. We finally get there and we go from a place that's completely deserted to masses and masses of kids, nothing but teenagers running from one corner to another, watching fights break out in the crowd. It's insane. Bottles flying everywhere. Malcom's dressed like a pirate - and nobody noticed us.'"

Watch and listen to McLaren's own account of this event in the 1984 BBC documentary Beat This! A Hip Hop History. Hehe I love it...

Back at my hotel I learned Malcom McLaren had died that morning.

He might have been a bit of a tosser, but credit where credit's due, his influence on pop culture is undeniable. So here's some ancient hip hop for you, including McLaren's go at rapping (from 1983) and Afrika Bambaataa biggest hit Planet Rock (from 1982). I'm also putting up Takin’ All that Jazz by Stetsasonic from 1988 because it nicely reflects on the state of hip hop at the time and the criticism it received (that it wasn’t creative because of the sampling and that it was a fad(!)). And look where we are today. In part thanks to that fucking pirate.

       
Malcom McLaren - Buffalo Gals. Get it here (YSI).

Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock. Get it here (YSI).

Stetsasonic - Talkin' All That Jazz. Get it here (YSI).

100

2010-04-07T16:12:00.011+02:00

Clap your hands everybody, because this is our our 100th blog post!! And funnily enough this 100th post is about a project I took part in recently, called Jazz Cakes 100!

100 t-shirts were handed out to 100 artists from various disciplines by Jazz Cakes, an artist collective based here in Cardiff. Each artist had to work with a designated number to create a piece from the starting point of this plain t-shirt. I got number 77..

Of course the first thing that came to my mind was BINGO. Pretty obvious, but as I moved to the UK I noticed that bingo is taken much more seriously over here. Much more. I pass a bingo hall every day on my way into town and I’ve become intrigued by the whole ‘bingo culture’. I started fantasizing what goes on in behind those doors. The anticipation, the suspense, the defeats and the victories…

Instead of making a print or cutting the shirt up, I decided to keep it close to its subject by making brooches, an accessory usually associated with old ladies (just like Bingo is).

I drew lots of elderly ladies and taxi's (to my annoyance there's always a huge line of cabs parked on the cycle lane in front of the bingo hall) and I learned a lot about bingo lingo!

It took a while for the Jazz Cakes to retrieve all 100 shirts, but the countdown has begun: the exhibition opens this Saturday April 10 at gallery Studio B, 24 Tudor Lane (Riverside) in Cardiff. Drop by anytime from 18.00 till 23.00!

The Fine Lines I need

2010-03-31T09:52:00.004+02:00

Some fine lines are a slap in the face, but others are a real treat. All the good ones will be on exhibition this friday at projectspace DEK22 in Rotterdam.

No illustrator, photoshop or other ways to enhance an image were used in the selected work. So you can have a look at the original artwork done with pen, ink or pencil. Participants are: Roos mascini, Nelleke Transister, Natasa Heydra, Kalam Man, Peter van Genderen, Evalien Lang, Nanna Koekoek and myself.

Come check it out, and enjoy my cosiest tunes and Augusta Wind's food! Time: 16.00u - 20.00u. Place: Willem Buytewechstraat 22, Rotterdam.

easy jet set

2010-03-24T18:30:00.008+01:00

Tomorrow, right after our students presented us their zines, we graded them and gulped down a drink at the closing reception, we need to hurry ourselves to Schiphol Airport to fly across the Channel. We'll be heading straight to the club to DJ at the Word Virus Essay's EP release party in Cardiff!! We're feeling very rock 'n roll..

After playing together for little over a year it's now time for this triphop-drum-'n-bass-four-piece to release its first mini album Fields Apart. It's going to be such an amazing night at the always bumping 'n grinding Toucan club, with support of one of Cardiff's finest MCs Skunkadelic and us playing till the wee hours.

Have a listen to the teaser on their MySpace (and while you're there check out the artwork :-)! For all of you who won't be able to pick up the physical thing, the tracks will be available through iTunes, Amazon and Nokia as well.

Toucan, Womanby Street Cardiff. Doors 9pm. Free before 11pm, £3 after.

zinesters for a week

2010-03-23T21:29:00.014+01:00

Oow we wish we could be students in our own workshop at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam this week. The workshop is all about ZINES: self published, DIY, low budget little magazines ('invented' in the 70s by the punks, popular with the riot grrls in the 90s and still amazingly alive and kicking today). We decided to do this the oldskool way, so no computers!! The subject is so much fun and inspiring, and the students' enthusiasm and diligence is so contagious, our hands are itching to make a zine ourselves!

After our briefing yesterday it was time today for the students to get out their scissors, knives, markers, tape, glue and old magazines and get in line for the photocopy machine...

1+1=3+1=?

2010-03-12T20:20:00.007+01:00

The XX's remix of Florence and the Machine's cover of The Source and Candi Staton's You've Got The Love gets remixed by The Very Best... Christ! But I dig it.

~~Florence and the Machine - You've Got The Love (The Very Best Remix). Get it here (YSI).~~

3月6日（土）から静岡にてエキシビションスタート!!!

2010-03-03T12:26:00.005+01:00

It's a dream come true: my work is going to JAPAN!! (I would love to go with it, but alas...) It is part of the exhibition Grow Ups, which opens this Saturday, March 6 in the Center for Creative Communications in Shizuoka.

The exhibition is curated by Renée Reijnders, who initially put the show together for the gallery Corrosia!, Almere in 2008. On invitation of CCC the exhibition is now traveling to Japan.

As title Grow Ups suggests the works maneuver between mature art and childlike fantasy. The other participating artists are IRIS, Merijn Hos, Lennard Schuurmans, Pepijn van den Nieuwendijk, Ingrid de Lugt, Wayne Horse, Mark Verhaagen, Leendert Masselink, Bjorn Eulink and Manumanu. Since you're probably unable to attend the exhibition in Japan, I suggest you take a look at the websites of the participating artists to get an impression of what a great show this is going to be!