October 19, 2007

What’s that in your pocket?

Filed under: Dutch first,Gadgets,Music by Orangemaster @ 11:45 am
pacemaker

If we can believe the hype, the world’s first pocket-size DJ system, The Pacemaker (weird name) will be shown to the public for the first time at the Amsterdam Dance Event this weekend, with people walking around, showing you how it works. It’s the next step from the iPod DJ systems because it’s small and fits in your pocket. Being able to walk around with 180 GB of music is very cool indeed. Needless to say it’s not cheap, not yet available and let’s see what the real DJs have to say about it first.

UPDATE: Laurent Chambon, journalist and DJ at the event says, “Very cool thing, but a bit small. Risky for the DJ without the protection of a booth. I prefer using my Mac and Traktor.”

(Link: spunk.nl, Photo: Flickr set)

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September 25, 2007

24oranges visit Oktoberfest

Filed under: Food & Drink,General,Music by Orangemaster @ 10:02 am

Sometimes, no news is good news. Actually, two days of Oktoberfest is just that: good news! Clear blue skies (see first picture), beautiful autumn sun, beer, dirndls (see beer-drinking woman) and lederhosen.

As a tourist in Munich at Oktoberfest – still going strong – I’d like to share the best tip I got: Go to the Wiesn (huuuuge fairground where Oktoberfest is held – it’s free, right downtown, easy access) BEFORE noon or earlier, especially with children. The lines to the rides are short and you can still walk around normally and get a seat in a beer tent (see other picture). No seat means no beer and no Oom-pa-pa music. And you need both!

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(Photos: Orangemaster and Eric)

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September 23, 2007

Dutch hiphop: the crying rappers

Filed under: Music by Branko Collin @ 3:35 pm
butje.jpg
Whack or whacked?

The Geen Commentaar blog (No Comment) reviews (Dutch) Dutch hiphoppers De Huilende Rappers (The Crying Rappers); apparently their flows are ill, their beats are sick, and a doctor is nowhere to be found. With their nonsensical lyrics, and funny voices and accents they sound like a grown up (*cough*) version of another Dutch hiphop act, De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig. De Huilende Rappers are from Groningen in the “far” North, and mix the local language with Dutch. They publish their music at Myspace. So far I myself like Butje (‘tard) the best.

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September 16, 2007

Rotterdam nails world record jumpstyle dancing

Filed under: Dutch first,General,Music by Orangemaster @ 7:08 pm
jumpstyle dancing

Today the official world record jumpstyle dancing was improved upon with 749 people dancing on the Coolsingel street downtown Rotterdam for five minuntes to the new hit single from the house duo, Jeckyll & Hyde. The Guinness Book of Records watched on and approved. Yet 60 participants couldn’t keep going for 5 minutes. Yes, it can be tough.

Follow this previous posting and have a look at the explanatory video on Jumpstyle.

(Link: nu.nl)

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September 4, 2007

Nice, new, native ringtones

Filed under: General,Music by Orangemaster @ 8:30 am

crazy frogThe Ringtone Society, a platform initiated in the Netherlands by Muzieklab for the artistic development of the ringtone, has been invited by the Grand Canyon Music Festival this month to take part in the festival’s 2007 Native American Composers Apprentice Project (NACAP), for a unique new ringtone initiative in Arizona, USA.

The Ringtone Society, in partnership with New York-based string quartet ETHEL will work with young Native American composers to produce a series of new ringtones. These new mini-compositions will be performed and recorded during the festival.

According to Theo Andriessen, initiator of The Ringtone Society, the public is fed up with terribly produced ringtones that overflow the market. “It is time for an artistic offensive. The ringtone offers a new creative challenge for musicians and composers and a chance to be heard by a new public at several different locations.” The Ringtone Society has already collected more than 500 unique ringtones, poetry tones and videotones worldwide and has been a featured presenter at the popfestival Lowlands in Holland and the Melbourne International Art Festival in Australia.

(Link: earthtimes.org, via webwatch)

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September 3, 2007

Fake bomb was a planted work of art

Filed under: Art,Music,Weird by Orangemaster @ 1:21 pm
bomb

The fake explosive that caused the city centre of Gorinchem, South Holland to be evacuated just before a Rowwen Hèze concert last Saturday was apparently an actual work of art. Thousands of visitors of the Zomerfeesten in Gorinchem and dozens of residents were evacuated from the city centre around midnight once a suspicious package was spotted on the roof of the local museum.

The object that looks like an explosive is part of an exhibition called ‘Leven uit een koffer’ (‘Living out of a suitcase’), which opens on 8 September. According to the museum, artists Marcel Doorduyn and Niek Verschoor wanted to draw attention to the chaos that occurs when a suspicious package is found.

(Link: nieuwnieuws.nl)

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September 2, 2007

Dutch singer’s dream in danger

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 2:42 pm
roelvink

First, Dries Roelvink worked like a madman for decades to finally get his first Top 10 hit, which gave him the opportunity to play at the huge Ahoy stadium in Rotterdam, the symbol of having made it in the Dutch music business. Problem is, ticket sales are not going well. Dries won’t play if the place is half full, which is understandible. He needs to sell 10,000 tickets and so far only 2,200 have been sold. On 15 September, Dries will appear on the Paul de Leeuw show (another successful singer, actor and prominent gay figure) and if need be, he’ll sing in his bathing suit. The Ahoy concert is scheduled for 28 January 2008.

Dries, maybe you should check out this tribute to the Costa Del Sol from Duo Starla, which I saw live last night and had the entire crowd doing their dance moves. It’s original and it’s in Dutch. Watch the video, it’ll cheer you up.

(Link and photo: fok.nl)

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August 28, 2007

One man’s fight for peace and quiet

Filed under: General,Music by Orangemaster @ 9:31 am
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Translation: “Don’t play music from the speaker of your mobile phone. It doesn’t make you cool, it makes you fucking annoying.”

Alexander Klöpping, a student at the Universiteit van Amsterdam started a website that expresses his annoyance with people who play loud music from their mobile phones in public transport. His website, fucking irritant (fucking annoying) lets people get it out of their system.

“Enough with this asocial behaviour! Almost every mobile phone comes with earphones, so the decent thing to do is use them.” Unfortunately, then they just turn up the volume, which irritates folks as well, according to the reponses on the site.

A similar movement was launched in London and was a huge success. Four thousand commuters signed a petition against the “noise criminals” and about a 1,000 told their stories online. The government came into action soon after and signs were posted in buses and metros.

For anyone going “oh, but the use of swearing, how poor”, let me explain the cultural context. The Dutch don’t consider swearing in English a bad thing, in fact, it seems to reinforce their point, as swearing in Dutch is considered less cool and wrong.

(Link: Blik op nieuws)

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August 11, 2007

Better late than never for Dutch singer

Filed under: Dutch first,Music by Orangemaster @ 12:51 pm
roelvink1.jpg

After 23 years of professional singing and a few adverts on TV this year alone, 48-year-old singer Dries Roelvink has finally got his first Top 10 hit, with the single “Op weg naar de zon (Route du soleil)” (roughly, “Following the sun (Route du soleil)”, the highway that leads to the South of France). It went from the 25th spot to the 8th. For Dries, who has nine albums and 34 singles, it is a dream come true. “My career has had ups and down, but this is unbelievable”.

This also means that the Dutch wikipedia article on Roelvink is happily out of date : Dries Roelvink

(Link: rtl.nl)

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July 13, 2007

English beatbox with a Dutch accent

Filed under: Music by Branko Collin @ 12:34 am

In one of his Austin Powers movies, Canadian actor Mike Meyers portrays speaking English with a Dutch accent as basically having some sort of lisp. If you really want to hear what a Dutch accent sounds like, listen to British comedian Bill Baley when he is introducing human beatboxer Shlomo. One minute into the following Youtube clip he compares his own beatboxing skills to those of a “burnt out Dutch stockbroker who is into a bit of Dutch hiphop”. His vowels are particularly good — and he pronounces them while beatboxing!

When I try to speak English, its my vowels that betray my Dutchiness. Plus, of course, the fact that I use words like “Dutchiness”.

(Oh, and “eftenfiften” is not a Dutch word, nor is “achtung”.)

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