MusicTech Rewinder - Issue #62

Happy Friday,

a bit of a personal note at the beginning of this week's Music Tech Rewinder.

There are a couple of musical scenes that played a crucial role in my life so far.

My first musical socialization started with Hip Hop in the early 90s. I fell in love with the music and the vibe at Hip Hop jams all over Germany. A culture I could identify with like with no other.

After dipping into the skate-punk world for a while, I dug deep into the jungle and drum and bass scene in the late nineties and went to hundreds of raves with my crew before I started heavily listening to dancehall and reggae at the beginning of the 2000s, going to dances all over the world. I eventually ended up visiting Jamaica for two months to soak in the original culture where this music had its roots and learned a lot from originators due to the lucky circumstances that I stayed at a guesthouse which was owned by the president of the Jamaican Music Association. :)

I later created a big passion for soul and funk (I regret until today that I was too late to buy tickets for a James Brown concert and ended up listening to it from the outside of a small tent in which he played for approx. 500 people) and I started collecting vinyls which I still play regularly(before the pandemic) here in Berlin at a beach bar once a month during summer.

Here are a few articles that I came across this week which made me reminiscent of those early days of my musical journey in life.

A great effort by historians that aim to document small labels, record shops, pirate radio stations, female pioneers of the scene, and clubs that made the culture thrive. One of the little good things on Facebook are groups like this. A place in the digital world where junglists(legends and newbies) from all over the world keep the scene alive.

Everyone who was part of the Hip Hop culture in the 90s knows Martha Cooper, the legendary graffiti photographer. Not so well known but not less important is Joe Conzo, Jr., who as a teenager took intimate pictures of the Bronx music scene, documenting the birth of Hip Hop in pictures. I can also highly recommend watching the Netflix documentary about photographer Estevan Oriol and artist Mister Cartoon who turned their Chicano roots into gritty art, impacting street culture, hip hop, and beyond. Almost every tattoed Hip Hop artist on this planet is proudly wearing a tattoo by Mister Cartoon.

And because, as I mentioned earlier, I had a time in my life in which I listened to punk music, here is a great article that explains how and why subcultures like punk and rap crossed paths in ’70s NYC.

So. And now onto the latest music technology news of this week.

Enjoy reading and have a fantastic weekend.

Cheers,

Matt

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