On a springtime night out in Milan...

Hi from the gang!

That's it for this year!

I hope you'll enjoy the virtual visit which starts underneath this post, that's all for now folks, hope to see even more of it, and of you, next year!
Many thanx and congrats to everyone who worked hard as hell to bring those events and parties or were simply there to make it so pleasant once again this year. So special bigups to Antoine, Sara, Luca, Manfredi@Daze, Claudio, Claudia, Brice, Elena, Laura and everyone@DimensionN, Magamadda, Gianlu, Stefano, Fabio, Martino, Rufus, everybody@Balestra Berlin, Micaela and her english designers friends, Luca, Pilooski, Chiara and Alexis @Uovo, etc...best things to you all, catch you later!













picture by Magamadda

SATURDAY 19th APRIL

We dedicated Saturday to first picking up a bike for my french host, then to visiting the VIA exhibition at the Triennale Museum with Antoine, who has already been invited in the last 2 previous years by this french institution, born to help young designers get in touch with the industry needs and thus providing new ideas on a quite experimental ground. Then saw some Karim Rashid's graphic designs, half way between new rave and psychedelic extravaganza, before aiming to the bar outside the museum to sit underneath the huge floral reproductions of some of Stark's main pieces designed for Kartel.
Then Saturday night, we all gathered at the Elita Festival Headquarter in via Montenero, where Pilooski from the DIRTY SoundSystem delighted an enchanted crowd with a killer funky mix after a mediocre warm up by your host.
It all ended up in Montegani 6, and i'll use the opportunity to greet our night guests, they know who they are!

FRIDAY 18th APRIL

Then began the visit of the FuoriSalone, in the Zona Tortona area.
I'll restrain my comments to some pictures, since it looked somehow obvious that there was no real innovations this year. Only the main brands like Tom Dixon, Marcel Wanders , Mooi etc were present inside the Superstudio warehouses, and we all felt like it was definitely lacking of some fresh ideas by smaller brands and studios.
Was it the increasing of the costs of the spaces rental that limited the presence of the usual creativity we were used to seeing, or is it the global oil crisis that weighted on this year's fair, this I can't tell, not being part of the business, but it seems one again that cyclic renewal in design trends only happens every two/three years.
Later on that friday, rain started pourring over the city, and thus partying came as a secondary priority, while drying our clothes and selves became a primary one!

THURSDAY 17th APRIL

After visiting my friend Sara and her temporary photo shooting studio at the Nike Posteria, i went next door to visit the Curiosity-WOW-Tonerico exhibition , which was the best things of these few days under the D sign! This was definitely a drag, pure poetry. Here are two little video excepts of the Curiosity installation:

WEDNESDAY 16th APRIL

THE PARTY of this year's Design Fair: Kubik club @Palazzo del Ghiaccio. After its creation in Berlin and trips around Europe in the past few years, Kubik Club stopped in Milan for one night of pure emotional grooves.
Sincere compliments to my mates Claudio, Manfredi, Brice, Elena, Laura, and obviously to the Balestra team for the amazing work done in such a record time.
Music by Mass_prod, Stefano Fontana and Alex Gopher.


Photo by Magamadda

Salone del mobile 2008

Hi there!!
My intention during this year's furniture fair is to provide you with some daily report.
I said it's my intention, and i hope i'll be able, at least, to make a point as often as possible, if not daily.
I'll start today with a slight report on some musical guests who will be playing during the parties planned and set by my housemates and some friends.
Yesterday evening , MSTRKRFT has arrived in town. You may have heard of Death from Above 1979, well, they're the same guys, MSTRKRFT ( pronounce Masterkraft) being their electro side project. Their style is quite close to the Justice's sound or some equivalent stuff influenced and released since the explosion of the french duo. One could say that MSTRKRFT would have deserved way more attention a couple of years ago, when they started to release their first tracks and remixes. The EdBanger's marketing and connections may have somehow erase the originality of the canadians heavy beats and angry guitars riffs, and i felt like they deserved to be advised on this blog, for I really appreciate their stuff, on the heavy metal side as well as the electro one.

They will be playing on Tuesday night for the Nike Art of Football party at the Magazzini Generali, together with Sebastien Tellier, from France, who didn't show up at the Flow Festival in Helsinki last summer, but released his Sexuality lp in february which definitely is one of the best albums of the year, and Juan McLean, from New York, whose latest ep on DFA is called Happy House and that I highly recommand to all you (vintage) house music lovers.
Needless to say that such a lineup is grandly awaited by a crowd of many.

Don't let their masks fright you, these guys are pretty cool!

MSTRKRFT














Sebastien Tellier















Juan McLean















More to come soon...Take care...and...ride a bike!

Look Ma, no brakes!

How to better start the summer, or how more pointedly, to better pretend summer's at the door, than by riding a proud and funky bike?
I've been feeling itchy for a while, browsing tons of internet pages about the fixed gear and single speed bikes phenomenon and obviously the sharp designs linked to it.

So here it is, thanks to Tiziano and Salvatore at Areabici in Milan, my first "wireless bike" which is not a fixed gear, since it has a coaster brake(you need to pedal backwards to stop the posterior wheel). It is single speed, and the nice cruise feeling comes from its huge 700c clinchers race tyres, and from its vintage handlebar...

I do hope this is the first one of a in a long serie, since once you start combining parts, you could (at least you wish you would) never stop! And since most of the components are recycled from older bikes, a bit of adjustment is always welcome! So here's a few pictures taken by a friend this week-end right after having picked it up at the shop. (Thanx Alison for the cool pix!)

I let you judge now, not before giving you a link to a new service which i recon is pretty cool and most of all quite efficient: as my friend Niko says, it's nice to see websites that do one single thing in a nice and effective way, so here's another newborn platform dedicated to the ever growing music sharing community: Muxtape. And in order to celebrate my new "ride", you can find there an easy thematic mp3 selection.
Hope you'll enjoy it.

http://kramerdeluks.muxtape.com/

























Take care, hope to get back to you pretty soon for some more street report.
Ciao.

2K8 Baby!!

Hello,
and a happy new year to you all!
Here's a symbolic upgrade to start 2008.
Last year i posted here the cover of an italian song, originally by Lucio Battisti, called the Veliero (the Sailboat) which was shorty after sampled by Lindstrøm for his Contemporary fix track. This song has encountered very incouraging feedbacks and some of you keep on, one year after, telling me about this re-discovery and different ways to enjoy it, going from endless car drives to tokyo subway's rides.


So here's another song by the acclaimed genius of the italian 70s variety, and this time again, it's a sailing topic that leads Lucio to deal with another kinda "boat"...I leave you now with Windsurf windsurf, an hymn to the pleasures of "la planche a voile" on the lombardian lakes...Listening to this track on a sunny winter's day like today would almost make you feel like springtime is at the door!

Lucio Battisti_Windsurf, windsurf

SOFT'nSLOW

After travelling from mailbox to mailbox and encountering an international success, the Soft'nSlow selection, a Mixtape by Deluks, is now available from the worldwide famous D-I-R-T-Y Sound System's blog.

So follow an unhealthy Arnie, or just click here to get it in case you still wouldn't have downloaded it yet.
Many thanx to the Dirty crew for the support!
Take care, ciaooo...

HERE WE COME!

Small is back and Small will definitely be big...
Start Thursday the 20th of September 2007, at Plastic, in Milan.

My milanese fellows, get ready for a dose of furious electro-tech beats
thanx to the french touch of Sebastian, and signed on the Parisian label EdBanger (oh what a coincideeeeeeence!!!...), while Bruno Bolla and the Gommage Dj Team, to which your devoted host proudly but still humily participates, will provide more chilled but still hot funky beats and electronic grooves, with an accuracy that made Bolla famous worldwide in a long career as an eclectic DJ, that started in mid 80's, and an obsessive eagerness for rare sounds and killer dancefloors hits that made the Gommage collective a thrill and an icon for "good parties" in last season's milanese nights.
Was that convincing enough?
Hope to see you numerous there.
Ciaoooo!