Rotaug Blog

As we already know - from various parties and a limited vinylpostcard edition - the Viennese Institution for Electronic Game Culture "Subotron" is celebrating its 5th birhtday. And we also know: the basis for all digital games are? Yeah, right! pixels!

So now here it comes: "Around" the celebrations Senior BUSK - shooting star of several of my films :) - created the Font "CMOD Subotron". It inlcudes west-european letters aswell as east-european, turkish, welsh and maltese + a wide range of bonus material in form of symbols rooted in gaming culture and intergalactic wars.

CMOD Subotron Fontlevel and Bonuslevel are released under a creative common licence, compatible for Mac and PC as OpenType and free for download. For more information on that one hit this Subotron button. don't miss this! "tick-tack ... sounds the clock!"


Huizi Puizi finally did it!! His first 300m jump in this year's DSJ3 season! Hopefully the record won't be broken for at least 1 week!

Good luck anyway!!!

Mediamond - DSJ3 Downloads

As some of you might have already noticed, I am currently residing in London and working on my diploma project for the MA Sound Arts course at LCC / University of the Arts London.

Aside from that, I am fortunate enough to have met a lot of influential people in the last months here, that's why I am actually writing this post. One of these persons and also a current colleague of mine is Karl Gibson a.k.a. DJ Fingers and he is one of europe's true originators in my opinion. That's why I'm sharing these videos: Just see for yourself and you'll know what I mean... (btw the footage is from 1987!) This one belongs, by all means, in the Respect section.

But that's not the whole story. Karl is, like me, working on his masters, which in his case is a book that's due to be released soon called The Misappropriation of Hip-Hop. It's basically about how the original spirituality of Hip-Hop has been replaced over the last two decades by a negative, media-supported stereotype image and about the multiple influences that caused this change. Having been confronted with some excerpts, this text has opened my eyes to some extent, made me think about hip-hop in a way I haven't before, and taught me some aspects about the movement I didn't know yet. I'm not trying to judge in any way here, it's just my personal view, but if you're interested, make up your own mind: Here's a promo video with a few passages read.

For more information and a very in-depth and precise explanation of his work and thought, I strongly advise you to visit DJ Finger's MySpace page.

Peace.

the 5 years subotron fm4 soundpark remix contest is history and the three winners have been declared from 46 tracks and 13 favourited after the first round. and the winners are:

1st place: skizzo franick - der humpel schorschi (.mp3)
2nd place: sub consciousness - 8 8 bit bitches dancing (.mp3)
3rd place: simon/off - subotrons trix n tronix (.mp3)
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the rotaug contribution: dj kompact - subtrack (.mp3)

with the kind permission of the artists you are FREE TO DOWNLOAD and spinn those tracks. also don't miss the numbered limited edition vinyl postcard with the winner's track "humpel schorschi" on (100 pieces made). but that's not all: don't miss the 5 years!! subotron parties on fri. november 6th at fluc wanne and sat. novermber 7th at schikaneder. for more information on the parties, line-up and vinyls check the subotron website. find all 46 contributions on the fm4 soundpark website. enjoy!

Today @ 12:25h viennas academy of fine arts was occupied by by students and lecturers. The strike will last until thursday oct. 21st.

The reason for the protest is the adaptation of the us bachelor / master degree system(see the bologna process), In the opinion of many students and lecturers, this system encourages equation in the sense of standardization which leeds to unnecessary competition among educational institutions on a global scale.

Further the so called "automation" of the education system demands an adaptation of neo-liberal economic ideas and profit oriented thinking which often conflicts with the logic and philosophy of artistis. Many Academies and Universities are concerned about the new degree system, because they see their established and legitimate democratic rights replaced with a top-down-hierachy.(roughly translated and shortened from the german press-text)

more info (german only)
petition

Last week i stumbled over a very nice photographic book at Vienna's number one art bookstore Lia Wolf.

"The last days of Shishmaref" by Dana Lixenberg published by Episode Publishers and Paradox in 2008. The work tells the story of a village on a small island off the coast of Alaska, that is getting swallowed by the sea. Due to climate changes the permafrost layer is melting, leaving the sea little restraint from reclaiming what is left. The book portraits the people aswell as their surroundings and for example also examines the dangers involved with relocating the inhabitants (animal hunters since generations) in the next bigger city of Kotzebue 100 miles away with it's liquor stores and gambling halls (in textform). A complex portrait of a community balancing between a past rooted in tradition and an uncertain future. The design of the book by Mevis & Van Deursen from Amsterdam is very beautifully succeeded. Very nice 4x5 inch photography (portrait aswell as village tableaux and landscapes), altering groupings of photos and text with different choices of paper grades and colors make it a very well done and (concerning presentation of photographic works in books) inspiring package. Me personally: i would go with the paper grades but leave the colors. Still: I love it!

Plus! The topic of "disappearing" is one of my favourites too as you can see in my last big and still ongoing work "La disparition - le mur d'Atlantique autour de Cap Ferret". This might be one reason why i like this book so much. Props over here!

I can't f'in' believe this! Well, it honestly caught me by surprise now: With their last album, FUN DMC, being one of my personal favorites from '08, People Under The Stairs, after their short stopover at Tres Records and GoldDust, are back at OM records (that's where it all started back in '98) with their 7th album called Carried Away due to be released on October 13th already! The speed at which the two have been consistently putting out quality releases over the last few years is just unbelievable and I don't even have to prelisten to this one to know it will rock hard. It might just be a good idea to be prepared for some new styles. The official press release states that the album will be a mix of "1 part(y) Beastie Boys / 1 part Public Enemy and 1 part Radiohead", Thes One himself just says: "... some people who have heard it are saying candidate for one of the best puts albums... or so i hear." I just say: Anticipation!

Still supporting the vinyl lovers out there, this album comes as a special double LP pressing with a pimped up die-cut (the holes you can see in the pic are cut out, much like Hocus Pocus' Place 54 vinyl release...) laminate gatefold cover, a poster and boardgame and two full length bonus tracks. If you preorder via HHV.de you even get a T-shirt to go with it.

Plus: Watch out for another World Tour coming your way, dates will follow...

Thank you Thes One and Double K for making my day... again!

last week i somehow stumbled over Real J Wallace's profile on myspace and downloaded his free "A New Day EP". A piece of concious Hip Hip in which he's sharing his thoughts about relationship, breaking up and things like that.

He's part of a crew called "The Mighty Few" and comes from San Diego - California. Nice vibe, nice tunes, nice lyrics. Me personally - I prefer the tracks "away from you", "the break up song", "be free" and "a bit better feat. Bam of the Mighty Few". a dope soulful banger a là ...!

free "A New Day EP" download:
mediafire
zshare