Vinyl Mania & Empire Rink Close!

Doily and I just went to Vinyl Mania about two weeks ago after a job interview up at Wave Hill, former home to Mark Twain among others. Vinyl Mania represented the old school disco and loft DJ. Conveniently located around the corner from the Paradise Garage, the place never lost its place in history. I always made a point of going a few blocks out of my way to check what discounted rap vinyl was floating around. Inside, the vibe was always sweet: a cashier DJing some house track, smiling as I came in, some mangy street cat happy to be sitting inside and a ton of vinyl without proper homes. The last visit scored me Young Jeezy's first LP for cheap, but unfortunately it's my last score. Vinyl Mania closed this week, open since 1978. Read an old interview with the owner Charlie Grappone.

Also closed this week is Empire Roller Rink in the heart of Brooklyn. Empire was where roller disco was born and up until the end, the place continued to be busy. Now it will be yet another storage facility stuffed full of evicted tenants' possesions, bootleg purses, drug and weapon caches and tools and supplies for the entrepeneurial developer.

While I'm on the nostalgia tip, I gotta mention how I met Kool Herc last week, even got to buy him a Corona. If I wasn't so starstruck, I would have asked for a picture. He stopped by Jazzy Jam's new weekly at Tonic. It's bumped Pure Fire into hiatus until Subtonic reopens, but I'm happy to have the Zulu Nation peoples at Tonic. Damn, Kool Herc and his girl dancing on an empty dancefloor to Zulu Nation DJs at Tonic... I had to rub my eyes a few times, pinch myself, hope I would wake up to a city that really did believe in preserving its cultural heritage...

Les Trolls Wander East

While we drink beers on the beach, our pals Les Trolls are making a tour of the Middle East, playing parties in Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Check their blog for some great photos and plenty of French words. Can't wait for their upcoming LP! (Have you heard their Broklyn CD?! It's wicked!!!)

Boriken beats

Only months into this blog and I already find myself writing the dreaded vacation entry. Doily convinced me 6 months ago that we needed a break in the sun. In a rush I forgot the laptop's power adapter and was happily computerless for 12 sweet days. I was harbored among beach life, Cormac McCarthy's "Suttree" and family dice games(?!) drinking Medalla lights, full bellies of rice and beans and red snapper.

We were greeted in San Juan on a Friday night by Critical Mass bikers blocking the bridge to old San Juan. Time in San Juan was a macrocosm of our Williamsburg barrio with a lot more tourism. Considering it's 85 degrees everyday, I can see why. My personal aim was to sniff out the reggaeton scene and see how it was poppin'. Judging by rolling systems on the strip in Condado, we were stoked for the nightlife. Condado is like Miami Beach and there's a few dance clubs and casinos which didn't promise much. In Old San Juan we found an old disco, Club Lazer, which had a reggaeton night and The Noise, a converted apartment which, judging by the name, promised more. Trouble was trying to ever find a good party at these places on a Saturday night when tourist dollar is precious (The Noise was $22 that night yet free on Sun.) We opted for Lazer which had a ladies free with metal detector door. We got a few chuckles, but that usually implies there's no other gringos (gallitos) there...

Reggaeton really hit its stride in 2005 and has quickly established a large and limited Latino market. The DJ played a solid thump, dropping a couple interesting new things, but pretty much running through a large majority of the genre's tracks within a couple hours, giving us staples like "Gasolina" and "Contacto." The bar was cheap and strong and the scene was young, guys all Don Omar, Daddy Yankee, white-on-white Yankees caps, sunglasses hanging off chin, doo-rag strings drooping, girls snapping gum drinking Alize specials with requisite nail jobs. The dancefloor in this old Spanish building had an old wooden disco feel to it, but had to compete with 8 TVs above the bar showing both a boxing match and a panned view of a girl in a bikini, occasionally zooming in on body parts...

Stumbling back down the blue-glazed cobblestones, I later found a nice little salsa place called Nuyorican Bar. This is where the hipster gallitos perch! Nonetheless, between the Spanish architecture, the weather and this raw squatter-esque bar, I started to really feel like I was in Barcelona. There was even the trip to the obligatory weekend disco... and it wasn't that bad!

The majority of our trip was chillin' on the beach in Vieques, a smaller island saved from the U.S. Navy's bombing exercises by a fleet of endangered egg-laying sea turtles. Tourism is slowly creeping in (note my white ass burning on the beach!) but the incessant rooster crowing and night-shift sound of the tree frog's "Coqui!" will keep any neurotic light-sleepers from vacationing here.

Back in San Juan for the last couple of days, we took in the old Spanish fort (see photo,) some wicked Puerto Rican food and I finally found a record store. Actually it was a junk store, but after 20 minutes of perusing I realized that the entire back of the store was formally a record store with all records ending at a 2002 date. Somewhere around that time, the music transformed itself from new to junk with carved wooden sailors and antique spoons nudging Silk the Shocker and Biggie to the back room... I also finally found a shop that sold mixtapes. It was a hip hop clothing spot with "50% off all camouflage gear" and a rack of CDs on the counter. I asked the woman if they had any reggaeton mixes and she scoffed no, telling me the artists only make LPs and not mixes. I said this is strange because in New York there's a ton of reggaeton mixtapes. At this point she lost interest, implying that reggaeton wasn't her bag, most likely due to its bawdy club nature. They were playing Mobb Deep at the time and it seemed weird to me to embrace one and not the other, especially considering the wealth of local talent. Maybe the backpackers are just jealous of the youngsters' success, rapping over the same incessant rhythm, pelvises thrusting, accessories drooping...

Goodbye 2006

France's Chica Chic always asks us for our favorite tracks of the year and we usually oblige for the sake of turning others on to these releases. I admit I wish I had perused a more diverse array of sounds this year, but DJing Pure Fire every week of this past year has kept my ears firmly planted in my record bag. Nonetheless, I have heard African rave, more and more gypsy punk, hyphy, Swedish pop (props to The Knife!) and enough international YouTube images to keep me smiling with discovery.

I spent most of my money on dubstep this year: Loefah, Boxcutter, Mala, Appleblim, Shackleton, Skream, Digital Mystiks and Kode 9. Finally music for us heads, something to smoke to... Reminds me of the way I felt after hearing jungle for the first time, all organic bass dread and techy cinematic flourishes, but for a mid-life body ready to dance a little slower. Dubstep also gave us vinyl heads reason to run to the record store - well-cut tracks on thick vinyl with clever concepts and sharp graphics.

It was a great year for hip hop with The Clipse, Ghostface, E-40 and J-Dilla all delivering stellar LPs alongside other great stuff from Lil Wayne, Nas, and a half million Southern acts, as well as outsider acts like CX Kidtronik and grime's JME and Wiley...

We were very focused on our own output this year and didn't hear enough breakcore we loved, but there were definite standout tracks from Filastine, Aaron Spectre, Timeblind, Istari Lasterfahrer, Rotator and Cycheouts-Ghost, among others. Many underground electronic acts tried to branch into group acts as the spectre of the laptop live act floundered amid the ease of Ableton live, Serrato and the like. Here's hoping underground electronic musicians pull some solid LPs out their ass in 2007, because 2006 didn't see enough.

I tried to branch out and listen to more indie rock, but wasn't as excited with it the way I was a year ago with Gang Gang Dance, Animal Collective, Black Dice, etc., who all continued to release dope shit in 2006. Sorry, I'm not feeling The Decemberists, Tapes 'n' Tapes, The Destroyer, Califone, Calexico and dozens of other similar groups floating around Williamsburg iPods. Not that it's bad music or bad songs or badly produced. Most of it is really good music... and that's the problem: conservative expectations for conservative hipsters.

Where are the Broklyn Beats acts, you ask? Well, I have a separate, devoted list of my favorite tracks from our own roster. These will have to wait for our upcoming label sampler on our new sublabel Applecore. Until then, peruse the lists and good luck to all in 2007!!!
Peace,
Criterion, Broklyn Beats Records

Top Ten Favorite LPs of 2006
DMZ imprint - Hard to pick favorites from the litter of 12"s that Mala, Coki and Loefah gave us this year, so let's pretend they're all on one CD which should happen anyway: "Root," "Anti-War Dub", "Left Leg Out" for starters...
Skull Disco imprint - Ditto here... Appleblim and Shackleton's hand-full of singles were full of tribal dread from the echo chamber percussion to the bass experiments to the cover illustrations.
Skream "Skream!" LP - Could do no wrong this year with his clean, bubbling dubstep sound.
The Clipse "Hell Hath No Fury" LP - Actually their "We Got it for Cheap" mixes were the true winners this year, but we'll take this for the inclusion of "Trill" and "Hello New World."
J-Dilla "Donuts" LP (Stone's Throw)
Wasteland - "All vs. All" CD (Transparent) The most overlooked record of the year. Scud and I-Sound hammer out their most industrial release yet, shimmering with unspeakable horrors and beauty, a sound pure and innovative.
Bad Brains "Live at CBGB's 1982" DVD - an undeniably powerful testament to one of the best live acts ever.
Ghostface Killah "Fishscales" CD
CX Kidtronik "Krak Attak" CD - Outsider rap incorporates everyone from downtown electronics to Harlem's Dipset while focusing on CX's wicked raw beats and innovative DJ ear.
E-40 "My Ghetto Report Card" LP - Not enough people making fun music in an ear-candy vein these days.

Top Ten Favorite Singles of 2006
Skream "Lightning"
Parts & Labor "Tiny Lightning"
The Clipse "Hello New World"
Lil Wayne "Fireman"
E-40 "Tell Me When to Go"
Loefah "Root"
Rotator "Distorted Species"
Turbulence "Notorious"
Boxcutter "Brood"
Les Trolls "Ultrasonic Breakfast"

Broklyn Beats - Reflections '06

It's been a funny year to be a record label if funny is indeed the proper word. Our friends at our pressing plant say we've both passed the start-up phase and are deeply entrenched in the "struggling" phase. Given the current state of the music industry I've conceded to being in phase two for awhile. As with most small businesses, money and debt are a constant battle and this has always been the case for us. This has been the year that Broklyn Beats broke, encumbered with said debt, pulled in different musical directions and confused by the formats and markets. Nonetheless, business is a learning experience and creative entreprenuerialism, I believe, affects other creativities. 2007 sees us working on our own music for Broklyn, pulling back from our current release schedule while expanding Applecore, something new... Below, some thoughts on Broklyn Beats 2006 releases. Check tracks from these at our MySpace page.

Parts & Labor "Escapers One" 12" EP - Escaping our own restrictions, as well as the band's, for something a bit different. The covers, vinyl and production all happened in Brooklyn by friends' businesses - a cool fact, but not a cheap one! Releases like this will always be on vinyl and will always sell.
"Sky City Rising" CD EP - Luca (Drop the Lime) has shape-shifted with determined skill from innovative breakcore flourishes to U.K.- minded bass experiments and B'more breaks edits, always maintaining his signature sound and voice. This is his dubstep and it stands up to many of our other favorite U.K. innovators this year. Watch for this man in 2007...
DJ Slip "She's a Time Traveller" CD - What are we doing releasing a techno album?! Fact is, despite all of our whining, we do like techno and sometimes have to follow our impulses. Troy's an ace producer and an old friend who was always a supportive musician. There's a couple tracks here that made the soundtrack to my summer, namely "Utopia Revealed" and "Outsider Sweeet Outlander."
1-Speed Bike "Someone Told Me Life Gets Easier in Your 50's" CD, "Redux" 12"EP - Old punk friends from '90s Minneapolis re-aquaint years later, tour doing weirdo electronic music. One releases the other's music. Fruition can often surprise! Insert fart joke...
Rotator "Redux" 12" EP - The year breakcore didn't break, although we did get a big article in XLR8R. Well, we got pretty tired of most breakcore this year, preferring to shell out more on dubstep. I felt most people in breakcore released good stuff in 2006, but not much different then anything from the previous couple of years. Rotator, however, continued to impress with a distorted, compressed madness delivered at blistering speeds, yet retaining maximum dance-worthiness. Long live breakcore!!!
Les Trolls "Culture de l'Incoherence" CD - We've been fans of these French musicians for awhile and it felt great to introduce their original sound to America. One of the most rewarding parts of doing all of this is getting to meet and work with new people. Documenting all of this is important when the music is this good.

Happy Fucking Holidays!

With nods to Grrt and Aidan, I present my favorite holiday record, a 7"by Paska.
Paska - "White Xmas"
Paska - "Rudolf"

The Tologist Without the Derma

Until I come up with words, here are plenty of em from Mr. Hustler:
Smoothe da Hustler "Broken Language"