Echte schoonheid zit van buiten

I was quoted in the NATIONAL "De Pers" daily newspaper today. Such poignant gems of wisdom such as:

...De uit Australië afkomstige grafisch ontwerper Andrew McAlpine woont sinds een paar maanden in Amsterdam en vindt boekomslagen hier maar saai. ‘Een goed ontwerp is een geheel: kleuren, beeld en lettertypes moeten bij elkaar passen’, legt hij uit...

and

...‘Die Nederlandse boeken maken ook alleen maar werk van de voorkant’, observeert McAlpine. ‘Foto op de voorkant, foto van de auteur op de achterkant, standaardlettertypes met een schreef, klaar...

My friend Judith is a reporter for De Pers, and for this article she had to "find a story about book covers, and make it newsworthy"*. So last week I went along to a few bookstores to help out however I could.

We came to the realisation that English books that have been translated into Dutch generally have more boring covers than the English versions. The Dutch tend to like photos with straight type slapped on there wherever it fits, while on the English versions there is now a definite trend towards illustrations and customised typography. It was pretty interesting looking at these trends in book design, as I usually just look at music packaging design when Im trying to keep up with whats going on.

The article was (obviously) all in dutch, so I don't exactly know what I am quoted as saying... But I'm sure whatever I did "say", it made me sound smart and witty and attractive in that mysterious, foreign kinda way... right Judith?

*While were all about quoting things that 'may or may not have been said', I'll continue to use my inverted commas and quotation marks in my regular frivolous manner... "ok"?!

A Tourist in My Own Town

A few weekends ago (not the one just passed, the one before) I got to know Amsterdam a bit better. I did touristy things.

Ryan was up from Brussels on the Friday eve for an intensive 26 hours of music recording, eating, laughing, drinking, scheming, networking... and in our spare time, basically just hanging out like a couple 'a dudes.

Ryan lived here a few years ago, so when we weren't recording he took me on a bit of a "locals" tourist ride. We ate Maoz and FEBO, we went through Ryan's old neighborhood, we went to Boom Chicago where I enjoyed free drinks at the staff table while he performed some improv comedy.... We (he) had bike troubles that we (he) fixed on the fly... Again, "locals" tour...

Pic of my laptop screen, with vocals dropped in along the bottom tracks there. Probably not too interesting to many of you, but it's exciting as heck for me to see those vocals, in that track. It was one of my songs I had READY to go when my old computer got robbed. I re-sourced, re-chopped and re-sequenced the beat a few weeks back in time for the vocal recording session. Kinda symbolic of the whole straw that broke the camel and pushed my decision to move here. No regrets so far!

On Saturday morning we got some fresh produce from the markets on my street, and cooked up a "Commonwealth Breakfast" - not quite Canadian, and not quite your typical Aussie "bacon and eggs" either, and then got back to work.

The Lindengracht markets, from out my window. The whole length of my street, about 300 metres? There every Saturday.

Sunday through to Tuesday I was playing host and resident "local" (theres that word again) to my friend Murray (from Canberra, studying in Norway) and 3 of his school friends - 2 Canadian girls and 1 American. Now my house is a great sized place for hosting 1 or 2 guests, but it did get a bit crowded with 5 people in the place. Ahh well it was fun enough, and I did get out of cooking for a few days.

Their stay involved a few more of your classic tourist things: we hired bikes and rode out to the Museum Plein, went to the Van Gough Museum, rode through the Vondelpark and watched some seagulls walking on the frozen lakes. We went to the Anne Frank House, Rode out to the Amsterdamse Bos (woods), past the 1928 Summer Olympic Stadium, went to the Amsterdam Historical Museum, and we even walked through the red light district and past countless coffee shops.

Seagulls on a pond in the Vondelpark.

Amsterdamse Bos. Photo not one of mine, it's by Scott Hansen over at ISO50. He is an inspiration of mine though, both his photos and his design, check him out.

I now have a better understanding of the "sights", and a bit of the history, so should make for a better tour guide when the rest of you come and visit.

OVERBOARD

Lindengracht = Lindengreat!

They say a man's home is his castle. And while the place I'm in may not be quite big enough for a pool room for things to go "straight to", It's still pretty sweet.

It's just me here, and its mine for the next few months. I have always dreamed of having a studio apartment where I can set up my music gear, have a spot for art stuff and just generally be able to customise everything to suit me. Now I do like sharehousing - thanks to my old place, the 'Creswell Crib' being what was a pretty exceptional example of how well it can work - and I do look forward to living in one again sometime soon hopefully.

But while its just me I'm gonna take full advantage. Like a rebel with a cause. Livin' by nobodies rules, except my own... 'Underpants only' policy whilst the curtains are closed (unless its sunny out and then its the 'boxers and singlet' sub clause). Music must be played daily, and loudly on weekends. Top shelf of fridge reserved exclusively for beer at all times... Those sort of things.

Here are some photos.
View out my front windows. I'm on the second floor.

My living room (i.e pretty much the whole place. Bed is just behind me).

Kitchen. It might not look like much, but come-on! As if I really know what to do with "a kitchen" anyway.

View out the kitchen window.

Same view, by night. That house looks cool, with all the different colours coming out of different rooms.

To fill out the few spots not caught on camera, there is also a small balcony off the side of the kitchen, a REALLY small one off the front, a bathroom and a small entry bit with a closet.

All I could ask for really. Very happy to be here.

Ace Rizzle

Saw Aesop Rock lastnight! It was my first time at the notorious Melkweg (the place that taught me how to say both 'milk' and 'way' and dutch), and I was pleased with the venue. We were in the Oude Zaal (old hall), which was kind of like the Metro in Sydney, but about quarter the size. Yep, really small. It had a really good sound system, and an upstairs section which is where we were, so we had a really good view. Not that it would have been hard to see anywhere in a place that small.

The opening act was a Canadian guy called "Anonymouz". He had an amazing (comically speaking) semi theatrical stage show going on. He came out holding a candle looking like a monk or priest or something. At one point he acted out dying/passing out and a buddy of his came and revived him... I think thats what they were doing... At one point they were pooring wine for the people in the front row.. Dan (I think fairly accurately) commented on how the whole thing felt a little bit religious. The music was a bit dark for my taste, but I think under all the acting he had some decent MC skills.

Aesop Rock came out and played with DJ Big Wiz and Rob Sonic. Aes killed it! About half the show was new songs, with the other half filled out by remixed old songs (like Lucy to a double-time D&B vibe beat), Rob Sonic tracks or Big Wiz turntable trickery. The whole show had some cool visuals going on the backdrops, with each song having a different graphic style and artist to compliment the lyrics. Big Wiz had this decks hooked up to a serato thing, which also controlled the visuals in parts, so he "scratched" the visuals as well as the sounds. It was cool.

Aesop was in good spirits and being quite funny on stage. Dancing around like a goof, interacting a lot with the front row and even playing up to various fan's cameras that were recording the show. I think the point of the gig where Aes rapped an acapella was when the non-native English speakers and the less educated rap connoisseur's of my crew really started to appreciate just how talented he is. When I was "selling" the show to Judith I commented on how it may be a bit hard to keep up with his English, but that it didn't matter too much 'cause he seldom makes sense anyway! Tell me I'm wrong, with lyrics like:

flash that buttery gold, jittery zeitgeist / wither by the watering hole, border patrol / what are we to heart huckabee art fuckery suddenly?/ not enough young in his lung for the waterwing / colorfully vulgar poacher outta mulch / like "i'm 'a pull the pulse out a soldier and bolt"

Love it! The more I listen, the more I think Aesop's latest album "None Shall Pass" is quite possibly my favourite from him. Definitely the 'hits' off this album are some of his best. Overall he has proven across the course of his career to be somebody that can innovate and keep it interesting even within his truly unique style.