First it was Polaroid with the film, then Sony with the Walkman line, now Panasonic announces in a statement to The Tokyo Reporter that they will discontinue audio products within their Technics line. Its a sad day for DJs, turntabilists and vinyl audiophiles as the iconic Technics 1200 production will be no more.
Who would have thought that a six-second clip of a brief drum solo performed in 1969 by Gregory Cylvester “G. C.” Coleman in the song “Amen, Brother” performed by the 1960s funk and soul outfit The Winstons, would have spawned entire subcultures of music.
As a fan of music, you owe it to yourself to listen to Nate Harrison as he narrates the history and significance of the Amen Break and how stringent copyright laws deter progress in music.
To trace the history of the Amen Break, is to trace the history of a brief period of time when it seemed digital tools offered a potentially unlimited amount of new forms of expression. Where a cultural production (at least musically) was full of possibilities by virtue of being able to freely appropriate from the musical past. To make new combinations and thus new meanings.
Alright so I was just kidding. You can rinse your mouth all you want, but it won’t help you sing like CLARA. It may help win the fight against GINGIVITIS though. As you may very well know, CLARA has been hard at work recording her debut album at Paramount Studios. Working 12-hours straight into the early morning of her first studio session.
Another guitar-toting pretty girl you say? Not quite the entire story, you’ll have to close your eyes and open up your ears for CLARA (grand prize winner of Kollaboration 10).
