avantgarde // journal

St. Crispin's Day Shoe Party

2009-09-12T06:55:06Z

Its time again for St. Crispin's Day. Time to party with our friends and our coolest sexiest pair of shoes. New pictures, stories and participants are on their way so stay tuned. In the meantime, RSVP at Facebook.

Thanks to Orson for hosting the event again this year. www.orsonsf.com

Date:
October 24th, 2008, 8pm

Location:
Orson

Address:
508 4th St.
San Francisco, CA (map)

RSVP to Facebook

What is this all about?

Shoe making has a long history and one that is rich in tradition. Within the trade itself – among shoe and bootmakers – the legends, the traditions, and the history really begin with St. Crispin. St. Crispin is the patron saint of shoemakers. Since medieval times, October 25th has been celebrated as St. Crispin's Day and the Shoemaker's Holiday. In the past, boot and shoemakers traditionally closed their shops on this day, in celebration and commemoration.

Sensoria: Cabaret Voltaire

2009-05-22T06:27:44Z

Though they're one of the most important groups in the history of industrial and electronic music, Cabaret Voltaire are sometimes forgotten in the style's timeline -- perhaps because they continued recording long after other luminaries (Throbbing Gristle, Suicide, Chrome) called it quits. Also related to the fact is that CV rarely stayed in one place for long, instead moving quickly from free-form experimentalism through arty white-boy funk and on to house music in the late '80s and electronica the following decade. The band, formed by guitarist Richard H. Kirk, bassist Stephen Mallinder and tape manipulator Chris Watson, were influenced by the Dadaist movement (whence came their name) and as such, came closer to performance art than music during many of their early performances. After several years of recording with no contract, the group signed to the newly formed Rough Trade label in 1978 and began releasing records that alternated punk-influenced chargers with more experimental pieces incorporating tape loops and sampled effects.

Following Watson's departure, the remaining duo inaugurated a new contract with Some Bizzare/Virgin in 1983 by shifting their sound, away from raging industro-funk and towards a more danceable form. The singles "Sensoria" and "James Brown" hit the indie charts during 1984, and Cabaret Voltaire moved to EMI/Parlophone in 1986 for The Code. Two years later, the band traveled to Chicago to record Groovy, Laidback & Nasty with Marshall Jefferson, one of the mavericks in the new house sound blowing up in the British charts. After another break of several years, the new-electronica label Instinct released a trio of CV LPs during 1993-94, after which the band's future appeared cloudy. Kirk continued his solo career (recording as Electronic Eye, Sandoz and himself) while Mallinder moved to Australia.

— John Bush, allmusic

The Hacker: Clock DVA

2009-05-22T06:26:33Z

A product of the same mid-'70s Sheffield industrial music community which also gave rise to Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA emerged in 1980 from the ashes of area bands including the Studs, Block Opposite, Veer and They Must Be Russians as well as the Future, an early incarnation of the Human League. After a series of shifting lineups, a roster comprised of vocalist Adi Newton, bassist Steven Taylor, guitarist Paul Widger, saxophonist Charlie Collins and drummer Roger Quail recorded Clock DVA's debut White Souls in Black Suits, a cassette-only, improvisational release fusing metallic noise with funk and soul designs which was issued on Throbbing Gristle's Industrial label.

In 1981, the group issued Thirst, which abandoned R&B accoutrements in favor of edgy, abrasive electronic noise. Following its release, all of Clock DVA except Newton defected to form Box; after assembling a new lineup of saxophonist Paul Browse, future Siouxsie and the Banshees guitarist John Carruthers, bassist Dean Dennis and drummer Nick Sanderson, Newton wrangled a major-label deal with Polydor, and Clock DVA soon resurfaced with 1983's Advantage, an intense montage of dance beats, piercing feedback and jarring tape manipulations. However, Carruthers and Sanderson both exited following the LP's release; after a brief attempt to forge on as a trio, Clock DVA disbanded in late 1983.

Newton subsequently turned his focus to the Anti Group, an industrial jazz and visual arts project created in tandem with engineer Robert Baker; after a series of singles, he reformed Clock DVA in 1988 with Browse and Dennis, releasing the sample-fueled 1988 EPs The Hacker and The Act, as well as 1990's full-length Buried Dreams, on the Wax/Trax label. By 1991's Transitional Voices, Newton's Anti Group partner Baker had replaced Browse; Dennis departed soon after, leaving the remaining duo to record a staggeringly prolific amount of material including 1992's Man-Amplified, 1993's Sign, Black Words on White Paper and Virtual Reality Handbook, 1994's 150 Erotic Calibrations and 1995's Anterior.

— Jason Ankeny, allmusic

Shoes: Tiga On Tour

2009-05-22T06:05:57Z

Tiga is on tour with his new album and look what I found, a video for Shoes. Directed by Alex & Liane, the new video for Tiga's "Shoes" is cooler than Obama with frosted tips. "It imagines a horrifying dystopia in which people other than myself are interviewed," says the Man of Music Future, "I had to calm myself down by staring at my MySpace photos for a couple of hours."

He is playing next week in San Francisco at the Independent Thursday, May 28th 10PM.

Based in Montreal, Tiga is a DJ/producer who has effectively worked the underground and the mainstream with his wry brand of campy electro and stark techno. Born in Montreal, Canada, Tiga's first exposure to his future came from touring the Goa area of India with his DJ father throughout the '80s. Following in his father's footsteps, Tiga began spinning in Montreal's cooler clubs in the early '90s, bringing the acid house sound to Canada. Seeing as how there weren't any events like the Goa parties he had attended, the DJ made his own and later was credited with throwing Canada's first proper rave. The events continued as Tiga opened one of the earliest techno-only record stores, DNA, and he also started the Turbo label with fellow DJ Mark Dillon. The DJ was comfortable playing and releasing other people's music and didn't seriously concentrate on creating his own tunes until the 2000s. After spinning Miss Kittin & the Hacker's version of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" at a club, Tiga had the idea to record some kind of cover version with Finnish DJ and friend Jori Hulkkonen. A day in the studio yielded a disappointing version of Prince's "When Doves Cry" and a better version of U2's "New Years Day," but it was their version of fellow Montreal resident Corey Hart's "Sunglasses at Night" that the duo decided to release in 2001 under the name Tiga & Zyntherius. It was a huge hit and Tiga rounded out the year with two successful mix CDs, American Gigolo and Mixed Emotions. Interviews, remixes, and touring kept the DJ busy until he helmed an edition of K7's successful mix CD series DJ Kicks. In the DJ Kicks tradition, he recorded one new track, "Man Hrdina," for the album, which the label released as a single. Most DJs chose the single's B-side, an electro version of Nelly's "Hot in Herre," and both the single and the mix CD were re-released to feature the surprise smash hit.

— David Jeffries, allmusic

SCSI-9: Line of Nine

2009-01-22T18:21:15Z

While we were building Avantgarde // Swayzak Presents Serieculture a couple of years ago, I stumbled upon SCSI-9. Early last year I built a Pandora Radio Station crafted and fine tuned with their music but as much I tried to listen to the other artists on the channel, I couldn't help but want to listen to SCSI-9 all the time. So I purchased Line of Nine. What a great alternate to Swayzak all the time.

Bio

Comprised of Anton Kubikov and Maxim Milyutenko, the Moscow techno duo SCSI-9 made an international impact during its stint with Force Tracks, which began with some 12"s followed by the pair's full-length debut, Digital Russian (2003). Before signing to Force Tracks, SCSI-9 recorded tracks for labels like Trapez, Salo, and Freizeitglauben. Kubikov is the best known of the two because of his popularity as a DJ. SCSI-9 had begun as one of his solo projects but became a joint project in 2001 with the addition of Milyutenko, whom Kubikov had been collaborating with as Hero City Movers, Snowboarder, and Snooker Boy. Of the many projects helmed by the duo, SCSI-9 is by far the most successful. This became all the more apparent once the guys joined the Kompakt label following the collapse of the Force Inc. empire, which had included Force Tracks. Kompakt released a good number of SCSI-9 productions, including the duo's second full-length effort, The Line of Nine (2006).

Avantgarde Absinthe Blanche

2009-01-21T00:07:10Z

To honor the Avantgarde holiday tradition, this year we produced a limited production run of 48 bottles of Absinthe Blanche. This special mix of Chardonnay Brandy infused with Star Anise, Wormwood and Fennel was originally distilled to 65 percent by our friends at St George's Spirits and mixed down to 60 percent in house with a special aqueous extraction of Wormwood.

A note on our special mix...

Unlike Absinthe Verte, Absinthe Blanche (also referred to as la Bleue in Switzerland) is bottled directly following distillation and is unaltered. It is a clear liquid which contains the distilled oils of the herbs used in its production. The name la Bleue was originally a term used for bootleg Swiss absinthe, but has become a popular term for Swiss absinthe in general.

St. Crispin's Day

2008-10-24T18:20:00Z

Shoemaking has a long history and one that is rich in tradition. Within the trade itself--among shoe and bootmakers--the legends, the traditions, and the history really begin with St. Crispin. St. Crispin is the patron saint of shoemakers. Since medieval times, October 25th has been celebrated as St. Crispin's Day and the Shoemaker's Holiday. In the past, boot and shoemakers traditionally closed their shops on this day, in celebration and commemoration.

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Crispin and Crispinian were once the Catholic patron saints of cobblers, tanners, and leather workers. Born to a noble Roman family in the 3rd Century AD, Saints Crispin and Crispinian, twin brothers, fled persecution for their faith, winding up in Soissons, where they preached Christianity to the Gauls and made shoes by night. Their success attracted the ire of Rictus Varus, the governor of Belgic Gaul, who had them tortured and beheaded c. 286. In the 6th Century, a church was built in their honor at Soissons.

The feast day of Saints Crispin and Crispinian is October 25. However, these saints were removed from the liturgical calendar (but not declared to no longer be saints) during the Catholic Church's Vatican II reforms.

The reasoning used by Vatican II for this decision was that there was insufficient evidence that Saints Crispin and Crispinian actually existed. Indeed, their role as shoemakers, their relationship as twins, and the timing of their holiday are suggestive of the possibility that they could have represented a local Celtic deity (Lugus-Mercurius) which had been made into a saint as a result of syncretism.

What does this all mean?

Thanks to Mr. C's LOVE of shoes, every year we celebrate St. Crispin's day. This year the party was at Orson, and all the shoes in attendance can be seen on this flicker set. Below are the shoes I wore that evening— pale pink, shimmering and super soft leather strappy heels by AF Vandervorst.

How How

2008-10-17T18:43:29Z

From Yello's 1994 album Zebra, How How always gets me. Mostly on my bike but pretty much any time when I am low energy, I just put it on and bam! I am bopping around.

St. Crispin's Day Shoe Party

2008-10-17T05:54:41Z

Every year we celebrate St. Crispin's day with a party and our coolest sexiest pair of shoes.

The event is upon us but we are still posting photos and comments. Please send photos and notes that we can add to the site.

Thanks to Orson for hosting this year's event. www.orsonsf.com

Date:
October 24th, 2008, 8pm

Location:
Orson

Address:
508 4th St.
San Francisco, CA (map)

RSVP:
http://avantgarde.pingg.com/shoe

]]> What is this all about?

Shoe making has a long history and one that is rich in tradition. Within the trade itself--among shoe and bootmakers--the legends, the traditions, and the history really begin with St. Crispin. St. Crispin is the patron saint of shoemakers. Since medieval times, October 25th has been celebrated as St. Crispin's Day and the Shoemaker's Holiday. In the past, boot and shoemakers traditionally closed their shops on this day, in celebration and commemoration.

Gold And Poison

2007-10-20T07:43:33Z

For some reason I got inspired to check out my old wall of CDs for some "new" (old) music to listen to at the office this morning. What I found was my collection of SPK albums which span dark German Industrial to strange politically slated 80s pop.

Gold and Poison is the later but quite enjoyable. Sheer Naked Aggression is my favorite track by far and quite timely given our political climate and the US' imperial aspirations.

]]> SPK

SPK, formed in 1978 in Sydney, Australia, was a 1980s and early 1990s industrial music and noise music act featuring Graeme Revell, who would later go on to become a successful Hollywood movie composer. The group was formed when Revell (aka Operator) met up with Stephen Hill (aka Ne/H/il). They were both working at a psychiatric hospital when they became inspired by the manifesto of the German radical Marxist group known as the Sozialistisches Patientenkollektiv (SPK).

The meaning of the SPK abbreviation is deliberately unclear; the album covers suggest several different alternatives. The most well known is Sozialistisches PatientenKollektiv, but there are also others, such as Surgical Penis Klinik, System Planning Korporation and SePuKku.

The most notable works of SPK are the early works Information Overload Unit, Leichenschrei and AutoDaFe. SPK's early music is best described as disturbing and psychologically disorienting, in line with their nihilistic, subversive philosophy. Live performances included video backing (some of which was issued in two Twin Vison videos, Despair and Two Autopsy Films), trangressive performances with animal carcasses and other usually successful attempts to make the audience very uncomfortable. The group issued radical manifestos, such as DoKuments 1 and 2, "The Post-Industrial Strategy", which appeared in RE/Search's Industrial Culture Handbook[2]. There is a clear dichotomy between early industrial SPK (1978- 83) and the more commercial music inspired by Graeme Revell. Later releases, such as Machine Age Voodoo (1984), were more synthpop-oriented than industrial. Still later, the group moved into electronic orchestral work, with the release of Zamia Lehmanni: Songs of Byzantine Flowers (1986).

— Wikipedia

Graeme Revell

2007-10-20T07:40:41Z

Graeme Revell was born in New Zealand in 1955. He was graduated from The University of Auckland with degrees in economics and politics. He is a classically trained pianist and French horn player. Revell worked for as a regional planner in Australia and Indonesia and as an orderly in an Australian psychiatric hospital. Graeme Revell was a member of SPK, a 70's music group, for which he played keyboards and percussion. Their single "In Flagrante Delicto" was the basis for his Dead Calm score. This was his first score and won him an Australian Film Industry award. Since then he's done a number of major and minor film soundtracks including The Crow, The Crow: City Of Angels, The Craft, The Saint, and Chinese Box.

— IMDB

Helping People Out

2007-10-09T01:24:57Z

As you can see from this sign posted in Muni Metro trains all around the San Francisco. Avantgarde is positioned to help all those in need.

Combat Mod Squad

2007-09-15T07:07:57Z

The guys over at Rocket World have just released a limited edition set archival giclee prints depicting Titus on scooter night patrol. They are printed 17' x 22" acid free fine matte art paper. Each print is numbered and signed from an edition of 100 pcs.

Titus is part of Rocket World's Insurgents Wilderness Gruppo (IWG).

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IWG

In the not too distant future, the mysterious Astral Overseers put into motion their master plan… an interstellar space vehicle returning to Earth unknowingly carries a specially designed cosmic retrovirus which soon spreads worldwide thru the jet stream. Completely unaffecting humans, this new retrovirus soon begins to find its way into certain animal species. Quickly causing mutations, Earth begins to see a variety of animals evolve into self-aware or sentient life. A formidable combination of all an animal’s strengths, an intelligence equal to humans, and some say new powers. Immediately gaining a new and more profound understanding the danger humans presented to their kind, this new breed of sentient creatures stays hidden from human eyes for years as they develop their own society and culture, albeit somewhat loosely based and culled from observing humans and their media. An immediate goal for these creatures was to organize, and begin resisting the human destruction and domination of what was once their “natural” habitat. Strangely, as they increased in strength, numbers, and sophistication, their tactics, tastes, and habits were increasingly becoming more “human” in many ways.

Swayzak: Some Other Country

2007-08-31T05:29:02Z

Last weekend Swayzak celebrated 10 years in the techno business with a packed out gig at Watergate club in !K7's hometown of Berlin. And this week they return with their 5th studio album Some Other Country.

Swayzak's new opus sounds mature and full. They have always loved their echo pedal, but in their tenth year of existence their dub-techno attains a new, compositional dimension and features vocals from Richard Davis (kitty-yo, Punkt) and Berlin producer and Panorama Bar resident DJ Cassy. And so James Taylor and David "Brun" Brown deliver what is their most expressive album to date. Yes, Swayzak are back, and how! Check the microsite for Some Other Country.

Smashing Magazine

2007-08-29T18:57:04Z

Just ran into Smashing Magazine today. Doug my business partner in LightPole sent over a link and the resources here are pretty amazing. I especially like the article on Free Icons.

They have a lot resources for graphics, programing, design process and UI development.