Roberdo Raval – Hedonistic Freelancer

One of the probably best places for stylish hang-outs and romantic dinners: If you are visiting Zanzibar, check out the seafood at The Rock Restaurant. Photos via Ultrafeel / The Rock.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the promotion campaign for the new Beetle, Volkswagen goes Augmented Reality.

Some four-to-the-floor stuff for the weekend: Alic did a very nice mix this month, deep, psychedelic and woozy, with kind of minimalistic character.

The masterminds of O.Z.O.R.A. festival declared to leave the organization team. In other words, O.Z.O.R.A festival as it grew more and more popular over the years, comes to an end. I don’t want to deal with the reasons for this decision, because I don’t want to join the way too worn-out commerce & sell out debate.

Stopping at the climax, at the very best moment, and in this way avoiding the inevitable decline, which is a basic principle of life that can be seen in the movement of waves or the cycle of the seasons, is a very high art. Few, if any festival promoters managed to exit at this point.

Just like the change of increase and decrease is a basic principle of nature, conservatism is a basic principle of the human nature. We make an amazing experience – and we want to make it again and again and again. Up to some point, this chase is a very fruitful and exciting, and it will create a series of amazing experiences: The increase. But then, at some point, this process takes a different direction. Evolution stops and basically the whole thing is only build on memories and the desperate attempt to bring back those: The decrease.

Of course this provokes a difficult philosophic question: How do I know that I reached the climax? Indeed there barley is a definite answer for this questions. Anyway, it is a matter of fact that O.Z.O.R.A. Festival 2011 was absolutely amazing and a multiple climax for thousands. Quite an excellent point for an exit.

Lets not forget that ending one thing is the premise for starting another thing. In this respect, I hope that the O.Z.O.R.A. team with its great experience starts a new chase for a new dream to come true.

This great documentary is about the ideas and the philosophy of the amazing Boom festival in Portugal and how they developed over the years.

Mary Iverson “climbed up the leg of a crane to research her paintings’ subjects, the perspective lines drawn with a sharp blade. A true explorer, she sets up camp in the northwestern wilderness, searching for the perfect landscape to destroy in the nearly non-fictional, post-apocalyptic story she’s telling.”

Kristin Farr, Juxtapoz Magazine, August 2011
 
All pictures © Mary Iverson

 
  Read the rest of this entry »

Guts, French grandmaster of dope beats, just released his third album! I listened to Paradise For All twice today, undoubtedly another amazing work. Somehow this dude manages to constantly re-invent his sound while still keeping an unmistakable character. There is Funk, there is Reggae, there is World Music, there are heaps of funny samples, and of course there is a lot of Hip Hop. Everything is connected in that humorous manner that is so typical for Guts. Greatest music for an extra easy mindset, this sound makes my day again and again!
 
It must have been quite an unpleasant decision for the notorious analogue freak to present this work exclusively online via Bandcamp. Still, for digital nomads like me this is a blessing. I strongly recommend spending the price of 10 Euro because listening to this album will still make you feel good in 5 years.

Stuff White People Like deals with the status symbols and strict social codes of a supposedly alternative lifestyle. In altogether 150 very short, put-in-a-nutshell chapters, Christian Lander explains the meaning of Apple Products, Organic Food, Knowing Best What’s Good For Poor People, Natural Medicine, Hating Corporations and much more. He does so in a hilarious way, perfectly caricaturing the double standard that characterizes the lifestyle of so many white people. More than once I had to laugh out loud, even when I found myself in the one or the other chapter. Which again was no surprise, see 103: Self-deprecating humor.
 
 
The book has many parallels to Ich werde ein Berliner – How to be a really hip German by Wash Echte, but then again it’s very different. First of all, it explicitly aims the US American society, some items like e.g. Wrigley Field or Noam Chomsky are obviously not quite usual for Europeans. However, most subjects are international. Second, the chapters are really short, actually they are points only. A great feature because you can read just 1 or 2 items in a few minutes or 30 in a row. Last but not least the English language comes with another wit, another groove, another logic than German which is very refreshing. Big ups for Stuff White People Like, I recommend this book! By the way, another parallel to the mysterious Wash Echte: Also Christian Lander runs a blog, definitely worth a peek!

A preview of the coming Captain Hook album has just gone online. It does increase my suspicion that this one could become the most outstanding album in the field of Progressive Trance this year.

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”

Hunter S. Thompson