US news

Richie Hawtin Plots CNTRL College Campus Tour in April

Darren Ressler Leave a Comment

CNTRL Richie_Hawtin

After taking a breather and lying low after he hit a female fan with a speaker at Time Warp NYC at the end of 2014 (an apology was quickly issued), globetrotting techno don Richie Hawtin is stepping out with an interesting tour. Instead of hitting big clubs and festivals, he’s setting his sights on college campuses across America with the intent of educating students about music technology.

Taking a cue from the mixture of daytime lectures on music, technology and performances he conducted with CNTRL in 2012, CNTRL: Individuality & Creativity In Technology-Based Music, running April 15-25, 2015, will descend upon eight colleges and clubs with a more fleshed out program. Ean Golden of DJ TechTools will serve as seminar moderator, and Guitar Center in the U.S. and Moog Audio in Canada will run a five-hour technology marketplace and product demonstrations. Guest speakers include a variety of top-notch artists including Matthew Dear, François Kevorkian, Dantiez Saunderson, Marc Houle and Grimes.

Check the full schedule below. Continue Reading →

Jeff Mills’ ‘Man From Tomorrow’ Set For DVD Release

Big Shot Magazine Leave a Comment
jeff mills man from tomorrow still

jeff mills man from tomorrow still

Detroit techno legend Jeff Mills’ recent future-gazing film Man From Tomorrow will be seeing a DVD release this month. Directed by Jacqueline Caux, the film features extraordinary visuals set to thought-provoking extracts from conversations between Mills and Caux. Caux has previously directed other experimental films such as T­he Prism of Colour, Mechanics of Time, which explores the evolution of music from ‘60s avant-garde to modern techno.

“We wanted to make a film that would have a certain aesthetic quality,” says Caux. “Consequently, I wanted to be able to imagine images that would be inspired as much by his words as his music.”

The soundtrack, which features all original music by Mills, will be included on CD for the home release.

“Understanding what Man From Tomorrow could possibly mean and say to others,” says Mills, “We greatly discussed the ways of how we could go about materializing this in a manner that detaches the subject away from normality…what deep thoughts, dream escapes and unconventional expressions of our future could look, sound and feel like through ever-expanding and dimensional lens of techno.”

Mills has been a busy man this year – in addition to his frequent tour dates and creating a new instrument based on a UFO sighting — he is also readying a new album (Emerging Crystal Universe is set for release later this fall) and a new film, Life to Death and Back, which he wrote, directed and scored.

Man From Tomorrow will be available on DVD/CD on November 24 on Axis. Watch the trailer for the film below.

[vimeo 86218993 w=500 h=375]

Man From Tomorrow Trailer from AxisRecords on Vimeo.

Report: DJ Rashad Died of Accidental Drug Overdose

Darren Ressler Leave a Comment

DJ-Rashad

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office has ruled DJ Rashad’s death in April 2014 an accident.

Toxicological tests found that Rashad died of heroin, cocaine and alprazolam intoxication. The famed and highly prolific Chicago footwork/juke DJ/producer born Rashad Harden, 35, was found unresponsive by a friend about 1:30 p.m. on April 26 in an apartment in the 2100 block of West 21st Street, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at the scene, at 1:50 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

Rashad’s death sparked an outpouring of love on social media from music fans and peers from around the world.

In an exclusive interview with Big Shot, DJ Godfather, who had released a great deal of Rashad’s work before he aligned with Hyperdub and was supposed to DJ with him on the night of his death, praised Rashad’s artistry. “He was definitely a monster who could crank out a lot of shit.”

Tablelist Nightclub Booking App Raises $1.5 Million

Yehouda Silverman Leave a Comment

Tablelist app

While readers of Big Shot probably aren’t ones to book tables at nightclubs, lots of people do. So it’s no surprise that Boston-based Tabelist app — a startup that believes booking tables shouldn’t be something left for the rich — has announced that it has raised $1.5 million. Founded by Julian Jung with Twitter executive Wayne Chang in tow, the iOS and Android app also allows friends to split the bill with friends and pre-select liquor and champagne brands for bottle service.

Obligatory press release gush from Jung: “Tablelist opens up the bottle service market, connecting users directly with tables and providing details about minimum tabs and availability as far out as a week and as last-minute as the night of.”

Currently available in Boston, Las Vegas, New York City, and the Hamptons, the cash will allow for the company to expand into Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC and Miami within six months.

If all goes well in America, could club capitals like Ibiza, London and Berlin be next on the horizon for Tabelist? You can bet on it.