Amoeblog

Shing02 + DJ $HIN's New Icon Series Dedicated to the Technics SL-1200 Turntable

Posted by Billyjam, May 21, 2013 08:21am | Post a Comment
"I think it's beautiful that we all contributed to this cultural movement of hip-hop, though some unwillingly, from the engineers to the marketing guys to the DJs, that's how instruments change history when they're taken out of the original context.. Just like how the Hammond organ was designed for church music and Leslie speakers came along to jazz things up, or when distortion was introduced to the electric guitar, and so on. The invention of mixing breaks and scratching transformed the idea of music as we know it, and it owed a great deal to Technics SL-1200s, which was only meant to be a high-end record player for audiophiles." - That's DJ/producer/musician and occasional contributor to the Amoeblog Shing02 talking to me recently on his clearly passionate feelings towards the Technics SL-1200 turntable and its importance to DJ and hip-hop culture. His admiration for the Technics turntable is so great that, along with fellow  SL-1200 fanatic DJ $HIN, Shing02 recently unveiled the webpage Wheels of Steel: Technics SL-1200 series folder icons dedicated exclusively to that  beloved DJ instrument that a few years ago, to the shock of many DJs, ceased being manufactured.

As both a fan and practitioner of hip-hop Shing02 says that he cannot but hold deep respect and love for the Technics SL-1200. It was this feeling of awe for the turntable as to why he and DJ $HIN decided to set up the the icon series dedicated to "one of the most impressive runs in modern design achievements." The icons in the image above were each assembled from dozens of pictures found online, and reflect every model upgrade including function, buttons, lights, and finish. The website also outlines the history of the model which began back in 1970 when Japan's Matsushita Electric (later to become Panasonic Corp.) introduced direct-drive turntables (SP-10), updating and upgrading the model throughout that decade. It was in 1972 when they introduced the SL-1200 MK1. The website notes how the 1210 series was the European counterpart to the 1200s as well as how the company continued to manufacture many direct drive models before the MK2 in 1979 which would go on to become "the de facto industry standard." The following three decades of models resulted in only minor alterations in design. The very last model would be the MK6 Technics SL-1200 model in 2008. Two years later, in October 2010, the company ceased all production of the beloved turntable. Below is my conversation with Shing02 about the turntable and the new icon series whose future updates will include interviews with some retired Technics engineers.

Amoeblog: What made you guys decide to do this icon series dedicated to the 1200's?

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Move Over Cats: It's Time For Mice To Star In Popular Videos

Posted by Billyjam, May 20, 2013 10:52am | Post a Comment

Orchestra Da Camera from Quiet ensemble on Vimeo.

As witnessed by the positive reaction to the YouTube cat videos and the recent Oakland Internet Cat Video Festival clearly felines (as well as canines) have been hogging the popularity polls when it comes to viewer hits of online videos of creatures. But that stronghold by kitties may soon witness some competition if mice videos, like the one above uploaded a couple of months ago by the Rome, Italy based Quiet Ensemble, start to gain in popularity. That video above is the intricate Orchestra Da Camera musical installation that shows the "forty elements of the chamber" - mice running on their wheels with each wheel connected to a carillon.  When the wheel turns (activated by each mouse) it in turn triggers the carillon to begin playing its corresponding musical note. As the Vimeo video description for the video notes, "The great number of carillons and the random actions of the living creatures makes unrecognizable the melodies (lullabies by Brahms, Schubertand Mozart) creating an unexpected musical carpet determined by the mice."

Wheelchairs Sports Camp Take It To The Wheelchair-Accessible Streets Of San Francisco for Last Minute Free Show

Posted by Billyjam, May 19, 2013 02:12pm | Post a Comment

As reported here in the latest weekly Amoeblog Hip-Hop Rap Up Colorado's Wheelchair Sports Camp (WSC), who got added at the last minute to a one-month national tour supporting the Flobots, got booked into the non-wheelchair accessible Cafe Du Nord - something that appears to be an honest oversight by the promoter/booker and or the club, given the last minute nature of WSC been added to the tour. Regardless the oversight caused somewhat of an uproar among the many wheelchair using fans of WSC who cannot make it into the show featuring krip hop star Kalyn Hefferernan along the percussionist she is touring with this time out.  Since earlier in the week Kalyn had been scrambling to try and find an alternate space (I was among those trying to locate somewhere) to do a wheelchair accessible free show in San Francisco this afternoon. But when nothing had materialized by this morning the ever resourceful Hefferenan announced plans to do an impromptu, free pre-show on the sidewalk outside the Market Street, San Francisco club at 4pm this afternoon. See just made flyer left about the last minute show that proudly proclaims "The More Wheelchairs The Better."

A little earlier today I caught up with Kalyn. "I'm usually good at posting whether or not venues are wheelchair accessible but because it was so many shows [on the heavily booked one month tour] and getting ready for the road was so nuts I haven't had the chance to find that out for every venue. I didn't realize the San Francisco show was inaccessible until a few crips hit me up disappointed they couldn't come," she said stressing that, "As a disabled rapper I can't shit on my people! I know what it's like to be excluded from a venue and it blows. I tried to find a way to do a show in a more venue type setting but it was so last minute we figured just take it to the streets!" This is good news to disabled Bay Area fans who, said Kaylyn, were initially "understandably pissed that I'm playing an inaccessible venue in the first place." She added that, "Because my band is support and was added on after all shows were booked I didn't have a say in where we played. And I'm lucky to be small so I can be carried up and down more easily than most. Eventually I hope I have enough leverage to play only accessible shows. This is a great way to start the conversation on how to deal with unaccessible venues."

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Hip-Hop Rap-Up, Week End 05.17.13: Eve, Trek Life, Jarren Benton, Wheelchair Sports Camp, Don't Stop: Borders Everywhere, 45 Sessions

Posted by Billyjam, May 17, 2013 10:15am | Post a Comment
Amoeba Hollywood Hip Hop Top Five Week Ending May 17: 2013


1) Talib Kweli Prisoner Of Conscious (Blacksmith)

2) The Uncluded (Aesop Rock + Kimya Dawson) Hokey Fright (Rhymesayers)

3) Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city (Aftermath)

4) Eve Lip Lock (FTR Music)

5) Macklemore & Ryan Lewis The Heist (Macklemore LLC)

After debuting as new releases on the Amoeba Berkeley Hip-Hop chart last week both the brand new, highly anticipated Talib Kweli album Prisoner Of Conscious on the Brooklyn artist's own Blacksmith label, as well as the new genre bending Aesop Rock and Kimya Dawson collaboration Hokey Fright on Rhymesayers Entertainment - recorded under the project name The Uncluded  - are back for a second week in a row in the numbers one and two chart slots respectively.  Also back on this week's chart - and no surprise to see these two unstoppable albums each released back in 2012- are Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' The Heist. My bet is the ever popular respective major label and indie label releases will both be still charting over the next few months too. But what is surprising (to me at least) and worthy of a double take is the new chart entry from Eve. My first reaction was - huh, Eve the rapper from back in the day, Eve the female member of the Ruff Ryders crew fame?  The answer is yes, that Eve. Eve the female rapper who last released an album eleven long hip-hop years ago - 2002’s Eve-Olution on Interscope.

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Bike To Work Everyday, Not Just "Bike To Work Day"

Posted by Billyjam, May 16, 2013 04:05pm | Post a Comment
As you know May is National Bike Month and this week (May 13th to May 17th) is Bike To Work Week, with tomorrow (Friday May 17th) being Bike To Work Day - the one day out of the year everyone, not just the avid cyclists, are encouraged to abandon their gas guzzlers but instead take out their bikes and cycle to work. I encourage everyone to do this everyday, especially tomorrow - but if you simply cannot bike to work then I suggest after you get home from work you instead bike over to Amoeba and park you bike outside (as in the Amoeba Hollywood bike rack area pictured above) and go crate digging inside for records and CDs with songs about cycling/biking - including Queen's classic  "Bicycle Race" (with the refrain "I Want To Ride My Bicycle, I want to ride my bike"), "My White Bicycle" by Tomorrow, Kraftwerk's "Tour De France," and TV On The Radio's "Bicycles Are Red Hot." Oh and if you missed it when it was published last month here on the Amoeblog check out the excellent, in-depth psychedelic themed bicycle Amoeblog by Eric Brightwell's excellent, in-depth "Shifter and sugercubes -- Happy Bicycle Day" blog

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