Hasta La Ideas

Sure, you can analyze a Peter Saville-designed album cover for days and doodle treble clefs with the best of them, but explaining music is something else entirely (reader, if you asked us to write an album review, we would end up sobbing into a pile of unsuitable adjectives). Not to fear! David Byrne is on the case. The design-minded, art-loving, bike-riding, musical genius, who earlier this week shared with the world his recipe for shrimp tacos, has spent the last few years writing How Music Works, out next month from McSweeney’s.

“It examines how music is affected by a multitude of contexts—financial, technical, social, and architectural,” wrote Byrne in an e-mail he sent this morning to friends and fans. “There are personal anecdotes and pictures and some pie charts, as well.” The book will be available as a physical book, an eBook, an enhanced eBook (embedded with audio snippets), and an audio book. Each format caters to different senses, according to Byrne, who seems partial to the print volume. “The physical book is truly a lovely object—the McSweeney’s folks are known for this—so if you like to touch things, this is your best option,” he said. “It’s large and slightly squishy. I gave my mom my advance author’s copy for her birthday.”

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London’s secret music venue and their livestream act

With an invite-only door policy and super secret location, Boiler Room is London’s most exclusive music venue. But elitism isn’t the premise for its clandestine nature—in fact, anyone with an Internet connection can easily join in the fun. Using a simple webcam, the crew behind Boiler Room livestreams each set for the world to see free of charge, and each month more than a million viewers tune in to see performances by artists like James Blake, The xx, Roots Manuva, Neon Indian, Juan Maclean and more.

We recently chilled out to the smooth sounds of Brooklyn’s How To Dress Well before rocking out to revered musician Matthew Dear, who brought down the house with an intense 40-minute DJ set. Keep an eye out for our interview with Dear, but for now you can get a little more insight into the underground music scene’s most talked about livestream show by checking out our interview with assistant musical programmer and Boiler Room host Nic Tasker.

How important is it for Boiler Room to remain secret, at least in its location?

That is quite an important aspect of it, purely because it means when you do shows you don’t get a lot of groupies, pretty much everyone in the room is either a friend of ours or one of the artist’s. It helps to create a more relaxed atmosphere for the artist and I think they feel less pressure. They’re also just able to chill out and be themselves more rather than having people in their face with iPhones. It’s about artists performing in a different environment to that of a commercial gig or anywhere else. If the artists are relaxed usually you get the best music.

It seems like there is more interaction among the crowd than at a typical venue, is that intentional?

It’s definitely a social place. All the people that come down, most of them we know and they’re all our friends. So they come down, hang, have a drink and just chill out, basically. From our very set-up, we do it with a webcam, we’re not a high production filming operation but I think that’s kind of the charm of it. The main thing is people come down with the right attitude.

How much of the show is prescribed?

I guess that depends on the artist. We never say anything. Literally, whatever they want to do—we’re kind of the platform for them to do whatever they want, so if Matthew Dear wants to come and play an hour of noise with no beats, he can do that. That’s fine with us, and I think that’s why artists like coming to play for us. We’re not like a club where you have to make people dance, we don’t give a shit if people dance. It’s nice if they do and it makes it more fun, but some nights you just get people appreciating the music, which is equally fun.

Is there a particular kind of artist you guys look for and ask to come perform?

No, not particularly, it’s just whatever we’re feeling. Thristian [Boiler Room’s music director] has the main say on musical direction, but it’s a massive team effort. In London there’s six of us, New York there’s two, LA there’s one and Berlin there’s two.

Tonight you had different set-ups for each artist, do you tailor their positioning in the room to their style?

It definitely depends on the act and what kind of music they do. With live bands we found what works nicely is having them opposite each other because it’s like they’re in rehearsal, like they’re just jamming. Which is again trying to give them that chilled out feel that they’re just at home jamming and there happens to be a camera there. For some of our shows we’ve had over 100,000 viewers. When you think of those numbers it’s quite scary, but when you’re in the room and it’s all friends it creates that vibe that people don’t mind. You can imagine if you had all those people in front of you it would be a very different situation.

Have you ever thought of Boiler Room as an East London version of Soul Train?

It’s never crossed my mind like that, but I can see why you think that. I like to think of us as the new music broadcaster, kind of the new MTV, but obviously we operate in the underground scene mainly. But I like to think that what we do is as revolutionary as what they were doing. We’re always growing into something new.

What’s up next for Boiler Room?

We’re looking forward to doing more with the visuals and we’re starting to do breakfast shows with some high profile DJs, we’re going to be doing that regularly. Each will have an individual format. The next step is progressing the US shows, we’re alternating weekly between New York and LA, so the next step is to take Boiler Room to America.

Photos by BHP

L’artiste Peter Crawley a eu l’idée de représenter visuellement des morceaux de musiques connus en utilisant les fréquences. Chaque ligne cousue avec un fil blanc de ces posters représente une minute de chanson. Un rendu minimaliste qui rend hommage à des classiques comme A day in the life ou Whole Lotta Love.

A day in the life

Blowin’ in the wind

Good vibrations

If 6 was 9

Whole lotta love

L’artiste Starcadian a décidé de faire confiance à Rob O’Neill avec lequel il a réalisé ce clip pour le morceau He^rt. Avec un ton résolument rétro-futuriste, entre vaisseau spatiale et effets visuels faisant volontairement référence aux années 80, le morceau trouve une fraîcheur et une nostalgie collant avec le morceau.

The owner of a nouveau salon shares her top spots to visit

A combination art gallery and hair salon, L’atelier Friseur is the brainchild of French hairstylist Julie Monin, who moved to Berlin five years ago from London. Three years ago, noticing a lack of distinct stylists in Berlin, Monin chose to open up a salon of her own in Kreuzberg, a neighborhood formerly overrun by cheap chop shops but she describes now as “really special.” “People here may not have a lot of money, but they come here because they feel free,” she adds.

Every three months Monin invites an artist to take over the salon’s interior walls and paint or decorate it however they want, which is marked by a party with performances by some of Berlin’s best electronic artists. As an international stylist fully immersed in the local arts scene, we had to ask Monin for her top city picks. Next time you’re in Berlin, here’s what she says not to miss.

Buscaglione

Nea and Steffen run this coffee shop and café in Mitte. Try the great sandwiches made by Steffen, who takes care of all the food and always uses top notch ingredients. Nea, who’s Brazilian, gives off a contagious energy and good mood that’s just what you need in the morning to get your day started.

OlioBiscotti

You’d never find this little bakery unless you were looking for it. Owners Claudio and Cora brew some of the best coffee in Kreuzberg. Have lunch or an early dinner and try their excellent paninis and italian charcuteries, pasta, salsa and wine. They can also do kitchen courses for groups.

Motto Berlin

I get all the books for the salon from Alexis, a French guy who owns this well curated arts book and magazine store just across the street from L’atelier Friseur.

Archive Kabinett

A strange and lovely artsy bookstore that hosts events and exhibitions and gives a student discount. They are both a book seller and publisher of artists’ books, monographs and three magazines, Archive Journal, The Exhibitionist, and No Order, Art in a Post-Fordist Society.

HBC

Stephan, who also runs the Weltempfänger Café, is the owner of this all-in-one Alexanderplatz destination. When I don’t know what to do or where to go, I go to HBC because I’m sure to find friends, good food, interesting, crazy music or exhibitions. There’s always something happening for all tastes.

Vai Mo

Run by a small Italian family, this is Italian food like your grandmother makes it—if you have an Italian grandmother, that is. If you don’t, come to Vai Mo for la cucina della mama, an authentic meal like you don’t see in many other restaurants.

Saveur Champagne

Saveur Champagne is my absolute favorite! The owner not only offers a great selection of wines, but he sells cheese and charcuterie, too. Come on Saturday or Sunday for the shops’ weekend food market where you can pick up a wider selection of delicacies to snack on while you sip your wine.

A Loja

A fun concept shop in the heart of Kreuzberg, A Loja fuses fashion, art and design. This is a great place to pick up something unique from a young new designer your friends back home will have never heard of.

Galleries

When you go gallery hopping be sure to check out Appel Design, the best design gallery in the city. Then head to L’atelier Kunst Spiel Raum for conceptual art and work in progress. Galerie Thomas Fischer is a small, smart gallery with great shows and an ideal location.