As he did for the NAMM 2010 & NAMM 2011 conventions in SoCal, once again my man Shing02 has filed a report on the this year's annual NAMM 2012 convention exclusively for the Amoeblog.  The renowned Japanese producer/emcee/multi-instrumentalist/all round hella great guy headed to the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA music gear/tech convention a couple of weekends ago (January 19th - 22nd, 2012) to file this report (video above, text & photos below) with help from host Yamato Kaneko in which they visit DJ TechTools, STOKYO, Teenage Engineering, Vestax, AKAI, Tiptop Audio, McDSP, KORG, KDJ-One, RANE, Emulator, SlipmatsOnline.com, Vintage Vibe, NORD, Slaperoo and some other booths too. Thanks Shing02!


The annual NAMM convention in Anaheim showcases a convention center full of eye-candy for the gear geeks, and 2012 proved no different. Although the music and recording industry seem to be stuck in an age of meticulously fine-tuning software with no big leaps in ideas and technology, some brands still managed to stand out. My personal favorite was the OP-1 synthesizer by Teenage Engineering from Sweden, which was introduced last year at NAMM, but came back stronger with upgrades. In essence, OP-1 is a synth / drum machine that feels more like an old-school game than a modern machine, which creates a fun learning curve to create unique grooves. (It actually has a game-mode built into it!)

          


1) Gangrene Vodka and Ayahuasca (Decon)

2) Drake Take Care (Cash Money/Universal)

3) Moka Only & Chief Crickets (Feelin Music)

4) The Roots Undun (MCA)

5) Lazerbeak Lava Bangers (Doomtree)


Thanks again to diehard hip-hop music fanatic E-Lit at the Berkeley Amoeba store for this week's top five chart plus overview of some of the new releases for this exciting new year in hip-hop including the brand new 20 track Lazerbeak album Lava Bangers from the gifted member of the midwest hip-hop collective Doomtree who coincidentally will be doing a special Amoeba Music Berkeley in-store on Monday, Jan 30th 2012 in advance of their Slims San Francisco show the following night, Jan 31st. They will also be playing Santa Cruz the following night (Feb 1st) at the Catalyst (show info here) and Hollywood's Troubadour on Thursday Feb 2nd on a recommended bill with 2Mex. If you are in the East Bay on Monday (Jan 30th) do yourself a favor and stop into Amoeba Berkeley for the Doomtree family in-store since, as E Lit points out in the above video, it will be a great opportunity to meet and chat with such collective talents as Dessa, P.O.S., Sims, and Lazerbeak. More Doomtree Amoeba in-store info here

As evident from the video excerpts above & below from their 2008 Amoeba Berkeley instore concert, Dengue Fever are always a really great band to catch playing live. But their two just announced April Bay Area and LA shows promise to be even more exciting since, as on the LA based psychedelic rock meets Cambodian pop sextet's forthcoming album, Cannibal Courtship, they will officially be introducing the band's very own musical instrument invention, the Mastadong. Shown on the anticipated new album's cover art, alongside lead singer Chhom Nimol, the unique Mastadong is one half Fender Jazzmaster guitar and one half Cambodian Chapei Dong Veng (traditional Cambodian two-stringed guitar). Created exclusively for Dengue Fever guitarist Zac Holtzman, the Mastadong was first unveiled last month at the NAMM 2011 Show in the Anaheim Convention Center.

Ever popular with Amoeba customers & staffers, Dengue Fever, who played the Hollywood Amoeba six years ago, was formed ten years ago by brothers Zac and Ethan Holtzman after Ethan was inspired by the music he witnessed firsthand on a trip to Cambodia. Soon after, they discovered their phenomenal lead singer, recent immigrant Chhom Nimol, who sings in Khmer, in a nightclub in the Little Phnom Penh area of Long Beach. Dengue Fever have released six albums over the years including their eponymous 2003 debut and their last album, 2009's Sleepwalking Through The Mekong (M80) but the eleven track Cannibal Courtship will be their debut for Fantasy Records/Concord Music Group and it looks likely to be the group's most well and widely received work to date. As well as the band's trademark psych meets Cambodian hybrid they also nicely meld in various other sounds such as Afrobeat and a heavy dose of fuzz guitar.

The winter NAMM is an international music products event held annually at the Anaheim Convention Center. The event showcases thousands of exhibitors featuring new instruments and gadgets. Although it is not open to the general public without invitation, tens of thousands gather from all over the world every January to check out the latest trends. Basically, the four-day experience is Guitar Center on 'roids, or, to be more appropriate, a Disneyland for music geeks (coincidentally, the real Disneyland is right across the street from the convention center).

I've been coming to the NAMM show for over ten years, both as an exhibitor (for Vestax) and as an attendee. Surely the main attractions are the new products by your favorite brands. You can forecast trends before they happen, as most exhibitors debut product lines at the show, and engineers on-site are eager to hear critical feedback from musicians. It's quite impressive when you observe the long process of how products are conceived, designed, and manufactured from innovative ideas. Equally motivational as far as getting people to show up at the trade show is the camaraderie factor. In this open and crazy atmosphere, you bump into many DJs and producers, so you can chop it up with them and trade contacts. Sometimes mega-stars (Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Bootsy Collins, Snoop Dogg, to name a few) come around and show face as well.