Just touched down from a great trip through Europe. It was a fun time with my man Has exploring new cities and hooking up with old friends. I'm usually not cut out for these extended journeys, but thanks to all of our gracious hosts (and also to Samsonite on the new rolling luggage piece), we felt right at home.
Here are a few outtakes.
Amsterdam/
Amsterdam can be a bit blurry sometimes.
Big up to Nirit and Dave for taking care of us. They are working on an amazing documentary about women in hip-hop called Say My Name. They always seem to be travelling around the world shooting short films and commercial work for people like Wieden and Kennedy.
KC the Funkaholic is one of the best dj's and knowledgeable music people I know. But it seems like he's always to busy running Kindred Spirits and working at Paradiso to actually play music! He is also rumoured to have coined the genre name 'Gabber' back in the day. Thanks for the great Brazilian record.
Good music, as always.
It was a nice suprise to bump in Knox Robinson over there. He is managing the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, who are on tour with Mos Def and making some big noise. He's also got a cool project he's developing out of South Africa called Blk Jks. Check it out.
I was really sad to miss two studio visits this time around. Delta, one of the originals...
and the boys at Machine, always turning out funky typographic work.
Next time!
Rotterdam/
This was about as much of Rotterdam as we got to see unfortunately.
Big thanks to Guido who hooked up the gig...
and Lucky Dubz, a dope illustrator and DJ. You guys have a cool crew, I hope to come back for a proper visit soon.
Vienna/
Claus is the main man in Vienna. He is helping to run the Sunshine Records label, and organizing great events with his Loud Minority Crew. They are in love with quality hip-hop, especially the Detroit stuff.
The party was in a really cool old basement that looked out to the underground subway. We took it until well after 6am.
The Loud Minority girls-- Myriam, Doris and Ella...
Shout out to my fellow giant Fabian. He is making some good music with his twin brother as Circus and Twin Towaz.
Berlin/
The view of the TV Tower from our friend Atilano's place. Atilano is involved with some very cool projects like last year's Loud Graphix event with Nike and releasing music like the new project from Erlend Oye, The Whitest Boy Alive.
Spent a lot of quality time with my friend Mode 2, who recently moved to Berlin from Paris...
Mode is making moves as always, and recently has done some cool projects with Lee Jeans, which is really being resurrected in Europe.
I have been in touch with Dirk Rumpff for years, so it was great to finally make it to Berlin. In addition to be a full time doctor, Dirk has been running the Offtrack Radio program for several years. He always puts down a quality selection of new music. He's also working on some tracks with Jazzanova's Roscoe that are sounding BIG.
I did a little guest spot and short chat on his radio show, you can download it here.
One of the coolest spots in Berlin is The Firmament, run by Joerg Haas of BeingHunted fame. They carry a lot of the top Japanese brands like Visvim, Original Fake and Head Porter Plus. I also got to meet Errolson who designs the Acronym clothing line.
Honeyee Mag in print.
Only in Berlin can you utilize an empty space for merely aesthetic sake. This really nice boutique APARTMENT in the MItte lures you in with a vacant ground level, only to descend down the spiral staircase in to a world of labels like Bernard Wilhelm, Undercover and Common Projects.
Respect to Simon, running NORT Berlin. And generally just running things. Thanks for showing us around!
Paris/
Cafe de Flore has the best onion soup.
Shout to Hamed, a great photographer, filmmaker, and tour guide.
And the girls-- Stephanie, Isabelle and Rita.
And especially Has for making it a great trip! Credit him with most of the these photos.
