018! Mini Digest: Culture Clash, King Charles' Playlist & British New Jack Swing
Links galore!
Well, I obviously fell at the first hurdle (posting this weekly), but failing is chic guys! I was actually out falling over in real life - I went cross-country skiing for the first (and probably last) time. To be honest, though, decking it time and again was still a much-needed antidote to sitting and watching AI slop about Making Gaza Great Again.
Anyway! I’m excited to see Kraftwerk’s live show this week, and I’ll also be DJing in Buffalo for the first time. Time for some recommendations:
Sound
This weekend saw the return of Red Bull Culture Clash in London. Some of you may know that I was deeply involved in the last one, in 2016. I could write a whole post on this latest one, but I’ll leave it at saying that Spice deserved this trophy! A great showing. I was wondering if anyone would mention AI dubs, and they did. Is the format dead? Based on this show, I’d say no.
Last edition I mentioned Jorja Smith on the R&G tip with her AJ Tracey collab. Now there’s another one, with Shygirl and a classic grime sample. #trendwatch
Supreme announced an Aphex Twin collaboration, including the coin/knife combo pictured above, gloves, a skateboard deck and a bunch of clothes. Aphex also put out a special 10-hour playlist of “mostly mellow” music via the Supreme Spotify account.
From one British king to another, King Charles III has…made a playlist for Apple Music. The strategy is straight from the Obama playlist playbook, but it’s even worse because of the overbearing commonwealth vibes. It is funny and somehow seems pretty realistic to think about Charles bopping around the palace doing the Loco-motion.
Ghetto house pioneer DJ Funk passed away last week. Here’s a classic mix to celebrate his life.
New York staple Livwutang made an excellent mix for Resident Advisor.
Some New Jack Swing from London, courtesy of Steven Julien.
Vision
Fashion designer Martine Rose has a book / catalogue of her family collection of 7 inch records.
Tyla released a remix video for “Push 2 Start” with Sean Paul. I feel like it’s pretty rare to see a video for the original and the remix? Respect to them on the budget and having no fear that the two videos will cancel each other out on the algo.
I saw the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which currently cannot find distro (of course, eyeroll). It’s a difficult but brilliant watch.
It’s Nice That on the K-Pop design machine.
Michelle Pfeiffer for Saint Laurent - big suit continues (see last time: Robyn + David Byrne).
Thought
I’ve talked about the lack of UK breakthrough acts here before, and this year we finally have one: Lola Young and her big hit “Messy”. Data platform Chartmetric weighs in on what’s going on in the UK.
A profile of a rural vinyl factory in Kansas, via The New York Times.
Ted Gioia has published his annual state of the culture essay. It’s bleak as per. “Doesn’t all this make you yearn for a rebel? When you watch this happen, don’t you crave a return of indie culture? Don’t you hope for a resistance movement? Don’t you want to see a backlash to uniformity and standardization?” YES Ted! Yes I do.
The New Yorker asks “Can the Human Body Endure a Voyage to Mars?” Related: I watched Mickey 17 (directed by Bong Joon Ho) this weekend, which is worth a watch, even if flawed. Also related: “The New Literalism Plaguing Today’s Biggest Movies”.
Bonus rare work mention: I recently worked on the 10 year anniversary campaign for Popcaan’s debut album Where We Come From. There are new tracks (in spatial audio!), a new video, and this very limited action figure:
Drop the culture clash long read!