VKMP3

Almost everyone in the world knows someone who has flown to the German capital in recent years and proudly returned with bizarre stories of previously unimagined highs at endless techno parties at Berghain, Watergate or Tresor. All these stories contain a grain of truth. But many questions remain unanswered: why is it that thousands of clubbing tourists land at Berlin Schönefeld airport every weekend? Why have clubs like Berghain become the stuff of legend the world over? Why have some of the best-known producers and techno djs moved with their labels to this city? These are the kind of questions explored in lost and sound by Tobias Rapp, a German music journalist who has been living, working and partying in Berlin since the beginning of the nineties. He has spoken with djs, clubbers, label bosses, hostel managers and urban planners; he has looked and listened carefully; and most important of all, he has been part of the dance floor himself. Read more

With the near-complete erosion of support for vinyl playback at the retail level, audiophiles devoted to the analog disc have little recourse but to become adept at the finer points of cartridge setup. And while correctly setting up these delicate devices does require relatively vast amounts of both time and patience, the steps involved are well within the scope of the audio enthusiast with a steady hand and the right tools at his disposal.

The goal of vinyl playback is to extract, as faithfully as possible, the tiny signal carved into the surface of the record by the record cutting lathe. If the stylus replicates exactly (in three dimensions) the cutter’s path through the record groove, then the signal extracted should be an exact replica of the one deposited in the groove by the cutter. Of course there are many reasons why correct stylus geometry with respect to the groove is insufficient to guarantee perfect analog signal extraction, the electromagnetic properties of the cartridge’s internal wiring and magnet structure, and the shape of the stylus itself being but two. Even exercising the utmost care and patience during setup, the best we can hope for is a good approximation of the original signal, which, in practice, turns out to be more than sufficient for superb musical results.

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As half of Basic Channel, Rhythm & Sound and Maurizio, Mark Ernestus is the genetic engineer behind the Techno sound that has become the European hertbeat. But his tweaking of electronic dance’s DNA began earlier, when he opened Berlin’s landmark vinyl store Hard Wax in the year the Wall fell. Read more

Last night the kick-off for Club Transmediale in Berlin was celebrated and the next week will see again lots of concerts, panels, exhibitions and club nights connected to Transmediale and Club Transmediale, the huge festival for contemporary art and digital culture, which presents advanced artistic positions reflecting on the socio-cultural impact of new technologies. Read more

French graphic designer and illustrator Cuypi, who is responsible for the design of one of our nice VKMP3-Shirts, will have his first solo exhibition opening tomorrow, Wednesday December 16th, at West Berlin Gallery. Read more

Basic.ch now has a website specially designed for the Iphone and released an app as well. Read more

And Lee Perry once again… Read more

In ‘More Brilliant than the Sun’ Kodwo Eshun calls Dub the ‘MythScience of the Mixing Desk’ and recalls Perry describing the Black Ark Studio as a space craft: ‘The drum controls the heartbeat and the bass holds the space. I dub from inner to outer space. The sound that I get out of the Black Ark Studio, I don’t really get it out of no other studio. It was like a space craft. You could hear space in the tracks.’ Read more

Berghain Berlin is recently the highest rated club around the world, and Moritz von Oswald is widely considered as one of the most innovative and creative producers of electronic music. Sounds like a good combination? Indeed!! Read more

Deep House label Underground Quality will celebrate it’s labelnight at Tape Club Berlin this Friday, September 18th. Read more